When I moved to the United States, my parents bought their first Mac: an iBook G4. It was an absolutely devastating choice for me, personally, as it meant that I would not be able to play the newly released RTS game Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth, a title it had felt like I had been waiting a Third Age to play.

Now, 20 years later, Apple's gaming prospects look a lot different. Not only did the Mac move from a Power PC processor to Intel, it has now left those chips in the dust as well for Apple's own silicon. And of course, the iPhone launched, which not only revolutionized the mobile phone landscape, but the gaming industry as well; hundreds of millions of people have played titles like Candy Crush and Angry Birds.

At a showcase of games and devices that Apple put on for media last week in New York City, I got a chance to check out a selection of titles across the company's various hardware options, which put the reality of Apple's gaming prospects into focus. The company recognizes the potential, and it hopes that AAA video game experiences will catch fire on its hardware. What we were shown was a compelling argument as to how it would achieve that.