Earlier this week, the first batch of the Apple TV 4 development kits they have reached the developers. Slowly but surely, these developers are revealing more information about the device and how it works.
Developer Steve Troughton-Smith has revealed through a series of tweets, that the Apple TV 4 will automatically turn on your TV screen when I pick up the Siri remote control. In addition the old controls remote from Apple TVs are also compatible with the new Apple TV, although obviously they will not be able to provide access to Siri since they lack a dedicated button for it.
Another developer James Addyman, has gone ahead and created an emulator for the new Apple TV called Origin. This is compatible with emulators for SegaGenesis, Game Gear / Master System, sega cd, SNES, NES, GB / GBC, G. But don't get your hopes up, Apple is not going to allow it to be on the App Store.
So the gamepad situation is even more dire: you have dpad, accelerometer, and one button. They * really * need to revert that gamepad decision
- Steve TS (@stroughtonsmith) 18 September, 2015
Developer Troughton-Smith voices the same concerns as Addyman and says Apple should reverse your decision to act remotely with Siri, and use it as a gamepad for all games for the Apple TV 4.
... no pressure pic.twitter.com/TnxbvXkpGf - Steve TS (@stroughtonsmith) 18 September, 2015
In addition to everything commented on the command, the trackpad has a glass coating. The Apple TV 4 developer kits are different than what we'll see when the product hits shelves later this fall. These teams have a special wording on the box, and contain featured notes as well, we can see it in the Tweet above.
Upon receipt of this precious product, developers will not be able to simply connect the unit to the TV, as they have to install the beta version TVOS through iTunes. There is a thread available on the Apple support forums to get you started.