Gaming On the iPad 2 and What It Means For Apple 93
The Digital Foundry blog took a detailed look at gaming on Apple's recently released iPad 2. While most reviews of the device focus on the tablet's size, accessories and software features, this one puts the new A5 processor through its paces, finding "anything from a 4x to 7x leap over what was seen in the original version of the tablet." The authors suggest that it has boosted mobile gaming to a point where Apple could be preparing for a much bigger entrance into the gaming market.
"Either we are looking at a company looking to consolidate its iron grip on the mobile games market by combining its existing unparalleled developer support with state-of-the-art technology, or else iPad 2 represents the first stages of a plan to expand iOS' reach from mobile phones and MP3 players through to tablets and perhaps in the near future, home games consoles. ... Technical and hardware challenges aside, there's no doubt whatsoever that Apple is extremely well-placed to expand its reach in the games market and launch a new, disruptive assault on the status quo every bit as effective as its mobile offerings have been. There have been plenty of creditable attempts at claiming the multi-purpose set-top box market, but there has been no outright winner. Arguably, Apple has the brand presence, the games, and the music/video services to actually make it happen."
Pippen pad? (Score:3)
But will do a basic 1080p unlike the like 640p is 720p HD efforts still on sale.
Lets hope the SDK is easy to work with and cheap.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, I'd rather play on the Pippin than on a friggin' touchscreen.
Re: (Score:1)
Once you get used to the touchscreen it is very playable. Likewise with the keyboard.
I played "Galaxy on Fire 2" all weekend. Excellent game and shows off the iPad2 as a games console better then Rage/EC would.
Re: (Score:2)
Galaxy on fire would play far, far better with a proper mouse or analogue controller. Refer to: Freelancer.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Well, I'd rather play on the Pippin than on a friggin' touchscreen.
It depends on the type of game and how it is designed - On the one hand, we have FPS, for which I don't think they've cracked the touchscreen controls yet, but in the case of (say) Plants vs. Zombies, the touchscreen works well (if anything, it made PvZ a bit too easy and they should have cranked up the difficulty a bit to compensate). Settlers was fine, too (except for the unforgivable lack of skirmish mode).
ISTR the iPad2 has better motion sensing than the original - which could make for better FPS g
Pieces of the Puzzle (Score:2)
So the Apple TV becomes your console and the iPad becomes your controller. You wouldn't play your typical games on it but with a bit of creativity I could see some rather interesting games coming out of it. Board games could work really well under this scenario. Especially quite complex ones.
Re: (Score:2)
I suspect the iPad 2 is more powerful than the Apple TV. Why would that be your "console"? And if you think there's a big market for board games on PC then.. oh, why do I even bother..
Think different... (Score:2)
I suspect the iPad 2 is more powerful than the Apple TV. Why would that be your "console"?
Because the Apple TV is wired into your TV - its hard to use the iPad/iPhone as a Wii-style kinetic controller if its got an HDMI cable hanging out of it. Maybe Apple will speed-bump the Apple TV before this can come to fruition - or maybe the iPad will be the console and smaller iDevices the controllers? Or maybe Apple would like you to buy a Mac Mini or an iMac as your home entertainment centre
And if you think there's a big market for board games on PC then.. oh, why do I even bother..
In other news, there wasn't a big market for tablet PCs until the iPad came along. One way iPad distinguished its
Re: (Score:2)
So the Apple TV becomes your console and the iPad becomes your controller.
AppleTV is unneeded when the iPad already has more horsepower.
There's already a dock -> HDMI adapter.
You wouldn't play your typical games on it but with a bit of creativity I could see some rather interesting games coming out of it. Board games could work really well under this scenario. Especially quite complex ones.
Why wouldn't we play typical games? [ubergizmo.com]
Re: (Score:2)
So the Apple TV becomes your console and the iPad becomes your controller. You wouldn't play your typical games on it but with a bit of creativity I could see some rather interesting games coming out of it. Board games could work really well under this scenario. Especially quite complex ones.
Problems: 1) TV output 2) Response Latency 3) Wired controllers (esp detachable connector) suck for moving around.
Solution: How chopper2 [apple.com] (and probably other games) have resolved it... iPad (or iPhone) is the console/connector, iPhone/iPodTouch is the controller via bluetooth (or wifi, unsure). It works on the iPad2 with 1080p.
The only thing keeping this from flourishing (and disrupting consoles) is that the "controller" is rather expensive (at least $200). If there were a "controller" from Apple whic
Re: (Score:2)
Meanwhile full fledged mmos have arrived on the i-devices in the meantime. I do not see any reason why you couldn't play pretty much any game on such a platform, including shooters and racing games (pretty much the figureheads of console games).
Re: (Score:2)
So the Apple TV becomes your console and the iPad becomes your controller. You wouldn't play your typical games on it but with a bit of creativity I could see some rather interesting games coming out of it. Board games could work really well under this scenario. Especially quite complex ones.
That's what I'm looking forward to. A complex board game or tabletop RPG where each player holds a pad/phone that links to a central large tabletop screen or TV where the main "board" is shown in spectator mode. Apple TV or a MAC/PC linked to a large monitor or TV would serve as the "board".
yeah right (Score:1, Funny)
wow I already see anti aliased angry birds on the horizon!
Do you remember (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Rock Band games could still be "the thing" if they didn't oversaturate the market, and pump out expensive new peripherals (that you need if you want to get the full features of the game) each generation.
Hype will brew sure, but mobile games won't just die away after the hype has died down (same as Rock Band will probably still be going in a couple of years time, even if Activision have done their best to destroy Guitar Hero). The market has always been there, just that a lot of people were stuck playing "Sn
Not an all in one solution (Score:4, Interesting)
Gaming boxes are poorly equipped to be a general solution for loads of reasons.
Also, the margins on a machine that is just used for games can't be as high as apple likes to sell its hardware.
The real question is whether people will care about high-performance gaming or not, if so, apple is an equal competitor with an already functioning market.
So, no, a console has too many requirements to behave in the same fashion for a long while to suit apples needs.
Re: (Score:2)
The summary is talking about using a general solution (tablet) for gaming.
As for gaming boxes being "poorly equipped to be a general solution", the PS3 and Xbox are like an iPad on steroids. They are very powerful and had app stores before the iPhone even existed. They're very well equipped, it's just that Sony and MS probably don't want their games consoles eating into the PC market. In Sony's case they would lose out on hardware sales, in MS' case they'd lose out on Windows/Office sales..
Re: (Score:2)
What gaming machines are just used for games anymore? If you care about high-performance gaming, you don't care about Apple. Apple can sell anything for any price and people will buy it.
Re: (Score:2)
"Apple can sell anything for any price and people will buy it."
Fat nano. People didn't like it. Skinny nano. People liked it. Apple TV version one. It was a bit confusing to use and didn't work well. People didn't buy it. Apple TV 2. Cheaper and easier to use. Selling well. iPod Hi-Fi. Rather expensive, no killer features, and it didn't sell. iPhone. It worked great, reinvented the market, and sold like hotcakes. The Apple Bluetooth headset for the iPhone. Poor battery life, poor reception. Didn't work well
Re: (Score:2)
Gaming boxes are poorly equipped to be a general solution for loads of reasons.
Also, the margins on a machine that is just used for games can't be as high as apple likes to sell its hardware.
The real question is whether people will care about high-performance gaming or not, if so, apple is an equal competitor with an already functioning market.
So, no, a console has too many requirements to behave in the same fashion for a long while to suit apples needs.
The key to disruption is to provide key functionality the incumbents don't or can't provide, while ignoring many "hard requirements" that incumbents feel they must cater to. mp3s disrupted the music market because though they were much lower quality than CDs (seriously lower in the early days), they were a) free and b) considerably more portable. A y2k mp3 player could tote the equivalent of 100 discs in a smaller form factor or maybe 1-2 discs in an extremely small, solid state, form factor.
Apple is bu
No buttons, no deal (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Yes, thats one point apple definitely has overlooked they need to push a standardized gaming api for such controllers so that the game makers can hook into. There already are bluetooth gamepads for the iphone but none of them has standardized apis so they have to rely on the mercy of the gamemakers to support them.
Re: (Score:3)
the problem here is how to hold the things, if you have a seperate controller, then the controller/pad/phone combo gets rather wieldy, you either have to set the tablet down (at which point you might as well suck it up and get an xbox with a tv), or dock the tablet/controller, making for a very poor form factor psp/ds competitor, and device specific controllers.
a plug-in controller would allow me to play decent nes/snes games on my 7" android tablet (no bluetooth sadly, and only a resistive screen), but for
Re: (Score:2)
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/01/stick-on-joypad-upgrades-ipad-gaming/ [wired.com]
Re: (Score:2)
similar to what people said about the Wii (Score:4, Insightful)
I heard pretty similar comments when the Wii came out first (no HD, no conventional controller, etc.) and yet it was a huge success.
Apple is known for taking a different approach when trying to solve issues. That's the way they succeeded with the iPod (hard disks instead of tiny flash RAM back then), the iPhone (all touch, almost no buttons) and the iPad. I won't be so fast to predict a failure because of the lack of conventional and established controller styles here. Don't forget that there is a huge market with people who are not die-hard players, who do not care about how a PS1 controller looked like, etc.
It's a fairly common mistake to think only the hard core games matter. They only do matter if you have a hard core game. For all the rest it's the casual gamers that count and there ease of use is the key.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"However, you can reasonably expect the market for the $50 game to be largely the same in three years time."
Tell that to Rock Band. Yes, they oversold, but -- like Rock Band -- how long are people going to continue buying games that are just "more of the same"?
On the flip side of that argument, I half suspect that the major-release $50 two-years-in-the-making video game is going to diminish in favor of $5 downloadable once-a-month add-on maps and missions for things like Halo or Mass Effect. Or the same, bu
Re: (Score:2)
besides controllers via blu-tooth would be piss easy to support with a firmware upgrade.
i reckon an appleTV style box for say 300 dollars with ipad 2 hardware would be well within the ballpark given that it won't need gps, 3g, gyroscope, touch screen, etc.
There's a HUGE developer base currently writing for IOS who will be able to do some pretty interesting things with more powerful hardware. to develop for a console has previously required learning a new API/toolkit, etc. IOS is already familiar.
Re: (Score:2)
This may be
Re: (Score:2)
My only caveat with the current apple TV2 = lack of flash. it has 8gb sure, but that won't go very far unless they're planning to use it merely as cache and stream content from the cloud (possibility? would suck without decent net speed though).
Perhaps they can re-jig the usb port to support additional storage?
Re: (Score:2)
Are iPods not competitively priced at a wide variety of price points? Are iPhones not available for the same $199 or $49 carrier subsidy as Androids and Blackberrys? Are tablet manufacturers not having fits trying to meet the iPad's $499 price point?
Stop repeating what everyone "knows"...
Re: (Score:2)
The Wii came with conventional controllers as well as the option to plug in 'classic' controllers. There isn't a game for WII that I'm aware of that didn't use the tradition
Re: (Score:3)
The comments to the Wii still apply. Take a look at some of the most successful games on the Wii, the Mario franchise and the new release of Donkey Kong. The thing about the Wiimote is that while it was fundamentally a motion controller it still had a D pad and 2 buttons. The Nunchuck despite how it is used in the boxing game ultimately still ends up being a joystick and two buttons. This is essentially a classic game controller that has been sawed in half.
Many of the games on the Wii opt to allow a traditi
Re: (Score:2)
There is a lot of true and useful information in the post above. Most significantly that a game needs to be designed with awareness of what kind of input method is available and common. Especially strategy game (also mentioned above) are very well suited for the iPad and similar devices due to the fact that touching your units (or whatever you have to deal with) or group selecting by spanning a square over the units in question is very natural on a tablet and works even better than classic mouse controls on
Re: (Score:1)
> Without the traditional set of buttons, a joystick and for FPSers a mouse it's really a non-starter.
They are just what you are used to. There are already FPS out for the iPad. The most famous being Nova2 which includes 10 player multi-player.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1mf8hDA4-Y
Re: (Score:2)
Sure. There are also flight sim and FPS games for keyboards without mouse.
There are also various whips and clamps and such for people who are slightly more true to themselves as to why they really play with those things.
X-Plane (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
It sounds like you have to put up with some crap and compromises just to play on the ipad. Why bother when there are better and cheaper solutions?
Re: (Score:2)
I would much rather have the casual gamer market than the market that is hardcore enough to worry about issues like mouse vs. Gamepad vs. Motion interface when gaming, were I interested in being a gaming company.
First, economically, it makes sense. Inexpensive to make games that can be quickly brought to market and when one takes off you can quickly crank out sequels and add-ons completely change the risk:reward situation. It let's you capitalize on fads in a way not possible in the AAA marketplace.
Second,
Re: (Score:2)
The problem for the casual game producer is that the market is way, way more open. A major game studio knows exactly what it's going to be competing against when it releases in the pre Christmas rush. The casual game producer might find it's release window dominated by something a kid in his parents' basement threw together over the summer. How many failures, even cheap to produce failures, can a company sustain and remain viable?
Of course, upping the capabilities of the machine can help by making game pro
Re: (Score:2)
"How many failures, even cheap to produce failures, can a company sustain and remain viable?"
Hasn't that been the main business model for the music industry? The book publishing industry? The movie industry? Heck, for the venture capital industry?
You produce a lot of stuff, most at least make their bones, and the occasional blockbuster more than subsidizes all of failures.
Re: (Score:2)
...for traditional games.
A device with a multi-touch interface opens up all sorts of new possibilities for gaming which would be impossible (or, at least, difficult) to do with traditional control methods. For example, I cannot see how someone could implement two player "Flight Control" using buttons, a joystick and a mouse and get it to be remotely as enjoyable as the version on the iPad.
Personally I think
Re: (Score:2)
Is the iPad a fun and convenient way to look at web pages and read books? Maybe. A flight simulator it is not.
The best flight simulator setup is a yoke/stick, throttle, pedals and a huge LCD screen or projector and a TRACKIR, and you would probably have enough left over from not buying an iPad to buy a few games like: Microsoft Flig
Re: (Score:2)
For someone who claims I have a right to be wrong, you've managed to get off to a fine start. Flight Control a flight simulator? Are you joking? Have you actually heard, seen or even played the game? [youtube.com]
Assuming you weren't trying to put words into my mouth, then you misunderstood the term "done to deat
Re: (Score:1)
And production companies don't have the enormous barrier to entry that the consoles do, so lots of high-quality indie games will emerge.
Consoles are already dead. They just don't yet know it.
Then buy the buttons (Score:2)
Without the traditional set of buttons, a joystick and for FPSers a mouse it's really a non-starter.
Start 'er up then, because buttons are simply something you can buy [thinkgeek.com] them [icontrolpad.com]
I don't think you or many other people on Slashdot understand the HUGE depth of the third party accessory market based around iOS devices. That "mini cabinet"? Used by the Atari Greatest Hits app. When you get the device count Apple has reached with a relatively small number of devices, a range of really interesting accessories become
Re: (Score:2)
I don't really give a rat's ass what sort of "third party accessory" Apple makes for the iPad, it's not a gaming platform without a decent control surface. Once you a
It's not the screen, it's what is behind (Score:2)
assuming you'll put down the iPad to hold the controller that is.
Since neither is true of either link I provided WHY are you assuming that?
In fact your comment is exactly backwards because the other way you can go is that the iPad or iPhone runs the game out to an external display, and you are using the device just as a CONTROLLER, not a SCREEN.
Once the the iPad is just a screen it has nothing over any of the other entrants into the arena.
Yes it does. Software.
I don't really give a rat's ass what sort of "
Not the screen, what's behind: Readable version (Score:2)
Missed a closing tag back there... here's the readable form.
assuming you'll put down the iPad to hold the controller that is.
Since neither is true of either link I provided WHY are you assuming that?
In fact your comment is exactly backwards because the other way you can go is that the iPad or iPhone runs the game out to an external display, and you are using the device just as a CONTROLLER, not a SCREEN.
Once the the iPad is just a screen it has nothing over any of the other entrants into the arena.
Yes it do
Re: (Score:2)
No. I'm not sure what you're looking at, but it reads fine for everyone but you.
Because the devices you linked to are so incredibly lame
Re: (Score:2)
You are obviously still in high school or middle school, your grammar is terrible, and when you're not outright stating a falsehood you're totally incoherent.
All superior to being willfully stupid like yourself.
Only idiots confine themselves to precise grammatical conventions.
And a little hint about age? Look at my UID. It's older than you are.
No. I'm not sure what you're looking at, but it reads fine for everyone but you.
My god. Can you really be this stupid? Note the subject said "readable version", wh
Re: (Score:2)
You may have some weekend gamers pick up a bubble buster game or two in lieu of reading a book or watching TV but hardcore gamers will never touch it.
Except that the mass market that Apple targets is not composed of hardcore gamers. Look at the Wii, it outsold the Xbox and Playstation because of targeting casual gamers and older people; many of its customers were probably first time gamers.
Hardcore gamers will continue to play their blockbuster releases on consoles or monster PC rigs.
It's NOT a console (Score:2)
There have been plenty of creditable attempts at claiming the multi-purpose set-top box market
Apple would have to be kinda suicidal to try a Set-top-box with Sony and MS hogging that spotlight, and the last time they tried it it didn't work so well.
The iPad is not a universal set-top box for playing "traditional" (AKA console controller based) games. The iPad/iPhone have a heavy dose of casual/popcorn/social network gaming, and that has been a huge part of their success. That type of gaming is shooting through the roof while more "traditional" gaming struggles.
TL:DR version: You won't be using
I can't believe they haven't released a controller (Score:2)
I'll never understand why apple hasn't released a controller, and either a dock for ipad or grip for Iphone (so the controller holds the phone in place)
They have the critical mass so all game devs will start supporting it. How hard would it be, and not exactly expensive to develop either.
Such an official Iphone grip and a bunch of fps and racing titles and sony/nintendo can kiss the portable market goodbye.
Re: (Score:2)
I'll never understand why apple hasn't released a controller,
According to Jobs, buttons are stupid.
Re: (Score:2)
i think that needs to be taken in context.
In context with day to day ordinary use, Jobs is one hundred percent correct. Buttons suck.
With gaming? Different story.
An official controller stack via bluetooth or dock connector(or both) would really create an actual threat to nintendo and sony in the handheld field. Playing games like Street Fighter and Sonic on the iPhone kind of blew compared to playing it on the PS3 or 360(Sonic 4 ep 1 was a full 5 bucks cheaper on the iPhone; making it worth it for me; pl
Re: (Score:2)
Its an addon, devs can use it or not.
If its there then its trivial to say map all those gameloft clone fps and action games across, and you can be sure more will follow.
At say a 100 bucks it will sell like wildfire esp if it fits an ipod touch (kiddie market...).
From what I've seen ipod touch / iphone graphics are on par if not better than psp. 100 buck optional snap on for instant PSP, those who like buttons will devour, those who don't can stay away, Apple wins (and it would be such a tiny outlay that eve
Possible Market (Score:2)
...and if an Android gamepad gets sufficient success, you can bet that at least some company will attempt to build a "portable game console + PDA/Smartphone" hybrid.
Something like Tapwave did with their Zodiac (running PalmOS, both usable as a PDA and as a game console).
With proper marketing, this could become a real success among young students. And as a Smartphone hybrid, it could get better subsidized and thus cost less than the next-gen Sony portable console.
Re: (Score:2)
It really only threatens the mobile market (Score:2)
Since we got iPhones, and eventually an iPad, the real loser in my household has been the Nintendo DS, which went from being the usual way to wind down before sleep or to kill a little time on a lazy saturday afternoon, to being basically a paper weight.
Angry Birds and the like are just as compelling, well suited to short play times, offer about the same portability on similar or bigger screens, and way way cheaper. Even if you choose to ignore the many quality and totally free games on the App Store, you c
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Since we got iPhones, and eventually an iPad, the real loser in my household has been the Nintendo DS, which went from being the usual way to wind down before sleep or to kill a little time on a lazy saturday afternoon, to being basically a paper weight.
I'll offer a similar anecdotal experience, although I do pine for some higher-quality Advance-Wars or Zelda type games, the DS offers nothing similar to titles like Sword&Poker, Battleheart or Carcasonne which are unique in their mechanics, playability, controls and graphics (Carcasonne is amazingly beautiful and the push notification turn-based-over-network is quite workable).
What it means for Apple, and the industry. (Score:3)
The question this is all dancing around is, will this kill traditional gaming platforms?
Short answer is no.
Long answer is no, and I consider your argument ignorant and misinformed.
Nintendo and Sony made roughly the same gains they otherwise would have in the market. Apple being around isn't going to stop Hideo Kojima from putting out Metal Gear on the PSP or Nintendo from putting out Pokemon on the DS.
What Apple IS doing is expanding the market place for mobile devices, they're making the pie bigger and taking that expanded pie away. There's some pull over, but, the types who were crazy for portable gaming before aren't going to stop because they have an iPhone or a Droid somethingoranother.
What is happening is that those who wouldn't have normally been gaming on the go, or even gaming for that matter, are now gaming on their phones in their down time. A few levels of angry birds before bed, a sudoku while waiting at the dentist, etc. I don't think that Nintendo largely has anything to worry about. They're digital crack dealers and just because someone, say Apple, comes by offering digital heroin doesn't mean that their bottom line is compromised.
my idea (Score:2)
I had no response, so i reckon it was close to the mark :D
Re: (Score:2)
The phrase is actually "champing at the bit", but otherwise yes.
just give it a dock and some controllers, WINNER (Score:3)
Seriously, they've already got all the power they need in the ipad... It just needs a few, rather cheap, pieces to bring it all together.
First off, give it a dock, something nice looking, but small to fit in your stack of electronics. On the front, nothing except maybe a light to let you know there's something docked. On the back, power, video/audio out. Maybe ethernet, but that's not really apple's way.
As for controllers... just make it bluetooth. This way, when you're travelling with your games, you don't need the dock, just grab your pad and controllers and go.
$50 for the dock, $25 for each controller.
So, now, for everyone who already has an ipad, for $75 or $100 they can now have a console that's considerably more capable than a wii. Oh yeah, it's also a damn good web browser. Oh, and facebook. And outlook, and gmail, and maps, and reminders and media player and everything else you can imagine. Oh, and lets add facetime to it. Cisco is now trying to get into home video chat. This may raise the price of the dock a bit because when docked the camera wouldn't necessarily be exposed.
It may not be as powerful as an xbox360, but id has already shown that some good stuff can come out of it. And who needs 55million poly/sec for angrybirds?
Re: (Score:2)
"It may not be as powerful as an xbox360, but id has already shown that some good stuff can come out of it. And who needs 55million poly/sec for angrybirds?"
You would buy a games console for the promise of playing Angry Birds? ....
Yeah .. The cost of the iPad 2 (plus the accessories you mention) vs the cost of a Wii / 360 / PS3 - Hmm tough choice . Lets see ... a games library of Angry Birds clones / Physics games or a huge back catalogue of content rich engrossing games spanning many different genres.
Na
Re: (Score:3)
The point is, many people already HAVE an ipad, based on it's current merits alone. No one in their right mind would buy an iPad to play angry birds... But if they already had one (and maybe an iphone4/5 as well) and all they had to do was buy a dock and controller, no brainer.
But how many people WOULD spend $500 for a box that plays games, surfs WELL, has TONS of free apps and overall does a lot more than an xbox or 360. Sure those two devices have the hardware to do all this, but they don't have the so
Re: (Score:2)
Enough Said... (Score:1)
Apple Games Console ? (Score:2)
The article suggests Apple may be considering a future Games Console. On the face of it though might sound like a nice idea - However - Im not sure I like the idea of replacing my games console every 6months to keep up with apples upgrade cycle. If i wanted that kind of experience i would go back PC gaming. You can count me out on that one thankyou very much !
N.
The real gaming iPad will be the 3D iPad3 (Score:1)
While having a dual core is nice (and I mean that on a personal level, since my "laptop" is an iPad2), the actual "gaming" iPad will be the 3D iPad (iPad3). The only problem with the alpha of that has been the battery life when you're in 3D mode, and personally I found it hard to play for more than an hour, but then I'm not that young.
I think this version will be the one to attract younger gamers, and will sell like hotcakes.
me, I'm sticking with my iPad2 now - the week long battery life (when not doing vid