What Does The iPad Mean For Gamers?
by AtulApple’s iPad announcement was probably one of the most highly anticipated product launches in years. Apple showed off it’s new tablet “iPad” which I like to call the supersize version of the iPhone or iPod Touch at the Apple event a few days ago. Let’s find out what’s in it for gamers.
Since we are concentrating on the gaming side of things, I am not going to talk about the lack of Flash support, multi-tasking, camera, solar charging and other rumored features but something what it does offer i.e gaming on the go. Since the iPad runs a modified version of the iPhone OS (3.2), with a few obvious tweaks here and there, the iPad will run all games currently available on the App store(for iPhone/iPod Touch) out of the box. This does not mean the iPad won’t have it’s own set of exclusive games, Apple reps have mentioned that games are currently being developed by the likes of gameloft and EA which will make use of the tablet’s blazing fast custom 1Ghz processor.
Check out the iPad Games shown off at the launch
All the games shown at the event are already available on the App store and your iPhone 3Gs would pull off without breaking a sweat so until developers max out the hardware of the iPad with platform exclusive games the graphical capabilities will remain a mystery. A dilemma for game developers when developing iPad exclusive titles would be to alienate iPhone/iPod users, and lose out on millions of potential buyers while only appealing to the small install base of the iPad.
Although, a lot will depend on the success of the tablet in terms of sales, it seems Apple does not intend to woo hardcore gamers with it’s new tablet and is aiming for the casual gaming market in a bid to provide a bit of interactive entertainment along with other features.
Tell us what you think in the comments below.
