We’ve long been waiting for an Apple gaming console, and we may be on the cusp of getting one- the Apple TV, Apple’s TV set top box that provides video on demand and media management, will be getting a refresh at the Apple event on September 9 where the new iPhone is also expected to debut- and apparently, this new Apple TV will have an extremely strong gaming focus.

9to5Mac reports that the Apple TV will now have deep, integrated support for gaming, representing Apple’s largest-ever effort to lure players from traditional consoles. The new Apple TV will allow for downloads of games from the App Store directly, a bundled remote control to control these games, as well as support for more complex, console-style Bluetooth game controllers with the pressure-sensitive buttons and joysticks.

This Apple Tv is expected to start retailing for just $149, which would lead it to undercut every single major console on the market entirely. If Apple can get the kind of major third party support for the Apple TV that they did for their iOS devices, then the Apple TV could theoretically impact the console market in the same way that the iPhone and iPad did the handheld market.

We’ll know for sure on September 9, at any rate.

Apple has managed to become a massive part of the gaming industry in spite of almost no active participation on their part, all thanks to the rise of mobile and tablet gaming, which has been fueled largely because of the App Store delivery infrastructure that they laid down for their iOS devices. That said, a lot of people have expected a real, aggressive move by Apple to attempt to enter the gaming industry proper for a while now- while the game console business is hostile to newcomers (just ask Microsoft, who, after more than ten years of Xbox, are cumulatively still in loss for that department), gaming itself is a massive, lucrative industry, and it’s not difficult to see why Apple might want in on that.

So far, Apple has done absolutely nothing, but it seems that might be about to change this Friday. Mike Wehner, a well known journalist of Daily Dot, TUAW, and USA Today, took to his Twitter to post the following not so cryptic message:

‘Hey tech/Apple/games fans. Prepare your Twitter b-holes for Friday. It’s going to be a bloodbath,’ before he followed it up with, ‘Mark it on your calendar and you’ll see.’

The tweet has since been deleted- which lends credence to the fact that this writer might have leaked something he wasn’t supposed to- but we managed to get a screencap for you before it vanished into the ether of the internet, which you can see above.

Now this is certainly very interesting- the first impulse might be to expect that Apple is about to make a major announcement, but Apple does not work that way- they don’t make major announcements like this before sending invites out to the press often a month in advance (so this would be out of the blue and incongruous), and they also never make announcements on Friday- they usually prefer the middle of the week like Tuesday or Wednesday, when all eyes are on them.

So what could this possibly be? A popular theory is that this might just be a refresh of the Apple TV, which would make it a proper Apple made, iOS based microconsole, which might just have more success in the market than any Android or PlayStation microconsole has so far. Another theory is that Apple may have, somehow, managed to secure a major exclusive, either for their iOS device, or for Mac. As for what that exclusive might be that might cause a ‘bloodbath,’ I have no idea.

Stay tuned, and we’ll keep you posted anyway.

Inifnity Blade, one of the highest rated, highest grossing, and most downloaded apps from the Apple App Store, will finally reach its epic conclusion with the just announced released to the final installment in the Infinity Blade trilogy, Infinity Blade III.

Infinity Blade III will be the first game to utilize the 64-bit capabilities of the new iPhone 5S, and will be the perfect means by which to show off the beautiful potential the 5S has when it comes to graphics.

In this latest Infinity Blade, players will take on the roles of both two characters. They will level up individually. All quests and game modes will be launched from The Hideout, which will act as home base.

While the 64-bit version will only be available on the iPhone 5S, Infinity Blade III will be compatible with the iPhone 5C, the iPhone 5, the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 4, 4th generation iPads, 3rd generation iPads, 2nd generation iPads, the iPad mini, the iPod touch 5, and the iPod touch 4.

Infnity Blade III is set to release sometime next week.

Space Inch’s Say the Same Thing was the 50 billionth app downloaded by Brandon Ashmore who received a $10,000 App Store Gift Card in return.

Apple’s Eddy Cue released a statement, saying, “Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded.

“The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We’re absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years.”

The App Store currently houses more than 850,000 apps for iPhone, iPad and iPhone.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the Duke Nuken franchise, 3D realms is bringing one of the Duke’s earlier outings into the world of video games to iOS devices this April.

Interceptor Entertainment is the developer handling the port. The game’s 32 stages will be remastered to run at higher resolutions, and will also feature some new original music. All this, and more for just $1.99.

“Before Duke Nukem 3D, before the sunglasses, before the one-liners, and before the strippers – many gamers never knew there was another incredible alien ass-kicking Duke game, a cutting-edge game for its time that still holds up 20 years later,” said Scott Miller, CEO and co-founder of 3D Realms.

Although The Duke didn’t achieve cult status till Duke Nukem 3D, the 2D side scrolling entries did brake some new ground when it made its debut in the early 90s.  You can check out the announcement trailer below.

What is Avengers Initiative? We’ll let the PR decode that one for you:

“Avengers Initiative burst onto the mobile scene on September 6, 2012 as Marvel’s first episodic game created exclusively for mobile devices. The first installment of the series centers on the Incredible Hulk, fittingly one of the most groundbreaking characters of the Marvel Universe.

“With visual and combat controls suited for consoles but fit for a finger, players adopt the Hulk identity to confront the barrage of super-powered criminals who have escaped from a top-secret S.H.I.E.L.D. holding facility. The Avengers Initiative project promises more story, gameplay and free content over the coming months.”

Now Activision is celebrating Pitfall’s legacy, with a Pitfall! app now available on the Apple App store. Pitfall! will be playable on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. A straight translation would’ve been great, but developer The Blast Furnace decided to shove some new environment and gameplay tweaks into the experience

Chief creative officer of Activision Mobile Gordon Hall stated. “This new incarnation delivers a best-in-class experience of the game for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The team has kept the elements that made the original so much fun to play, and merged them with a cool, retro HD art style, updated controls and play mechanics to keep both old-school fans and newcomers happy.”

An Android version is also in development by The Blast Furnace.

Kristoffer Waardahl, studio manager of Crytek Budapest states:

Upon the feedback we’ve had from our growing Fibble community, we decided to extend the adventure. We have seen that most gamers really enjoyed playing it and were wishing for more levels to try their hand at. We were only too happy to oblige, not just by adding a new area to explore, but also prolonging the gameplay of the former rooms.

And that’s not all. You can now unlock new Fibble skins, and back up saved games via iCloud. This coupled with new social media support for posting high scores to Twitter and Facebook, all for a reduced price.

Okay, so the richest company in the world got a lot more richer in spite of announcing $45 billion in dividends over three years and what not. Yes, it’s time for their quarterly earnings report and it is massive.

iPad sales are up by a whopping 151%, and they managed to sell 11.8 million iPads in just three months.

“The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver,” said the Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Last year same quarter they posted $24 billion in revenues and $6.0 billion in profit, and this quarter it’s doubled with $39.2 billion in revenue and $11.6 billion in net profit.

iPhone and iMac sales are up by 88% and 7% respectively with 35.1 million iPhones and 4 million Macs sold.

iPods are dying, though. Down 15% but that’s expected. It did its job back when there was no iPhone and Apple is in a dominating position now.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

According to a report on AnandTech, Apple is working on a separate, wireless physical controller for all their iOS devices. The report claims that the project is “an internal Apple project to bring a physical controller to market”.

It’s certainly a logical decision, however I’d take it with a pinch of salt right now. But gamers have often complained while playing games on their iPads and iPhones that the touch buttons aren’t very responsive at times, and that the screen can get congested.

Having a controller would certainly help with that.

Last year, Google did something similar by releasing a wireless controller for all Android devices named Honeycomb 3.0. So this isn’t something that’s completely unheard of, and actually makes a lot of sense.

Stay tuned, we’ll keep you updated as more info comes our way.