iPad for gaming

By Nigel Wood, UK
for www.touchgen.com

Published: January 27, 2010

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So, the event is over… will the iPad change gaming? Well, I’m not sure really. All the apps and games present on the AppStore will run on the iPad. These will run either at iPhone size with a black border, or can be scaled up to full size (see images below).

Some Apps look to be iPad only. Gameloft for example showed off an optimized Nova running in much higher resolution than the iPhone version. An adjusted control scheme was also implemented, allowing you to quickly select enemies to target using an on-screen grid. EA also demoed Need For Speed optimized for iPad with flick shift gear changes and extended rear view mirror features.

The question is, will these be added within the current apps, or sold standalone with a ‘made for iPad’ sticker? I’m thinking the latter, as these HD-a-like version would add significant download packets for iPhone and iPod Touch users.

Firemint have already contacted us saying that they have already been looking at upscaled and enhanced versions of their games, so expect flight control and real racing for iPad, as well as new titles from them.

So when all is said and done the new iPad won’t significantly change the games industry… but I think it will strengthen the line up of Apple portables as games devices. I think it’s a great piece of kit, especially for internet browsing, books and movies. But as for gaming, I think if it came down to playing Need For Speed on the train or bus to work, then I’d more likely whip out the iPhone.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!



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Review disclosure: Any games reviewed on this page may have been provided to us by the developer for the purposes of this review. Note: the resulting review score is never impeded by this fact, all opinions are that of the TouchGen reviewer and not the developer. This is in keeping with our O.A.T.S oath. Read more about O.A.T.S here

iPGN comments

11 Comments on "iPad for gaming"

  1. Jas on Wed, 27th Jan 2010 10:05 pm 

    So far I’m rather underwhelmed. What’s th killer reason for owning an iPad? None so far.

    What PC functions does it have? If it can edit and convert hi def video from my 5Dii for example, that would sell me it, as I could defer my planned PC upgrade as a result.

  2. Evil Timmy on Wed, 27th Jan 2010 10:08 pm 

    It’s an odd bird for gaming. I don’t see anyone dragging this around for on-the-go gaming, and if you’re at home you’ll likely use whatever has the most horsepower and the biggest screen (i.e. not the iPad).

    I also think the bigger form factor will make on-screen controls even more clumsy for action type games. You can forget trying to use a virtual joystick crammed into the corner.

    That said, there are some games that could leverage the large multitouch real estate to great effect. RTS games and anything that rely largely on multitouch of the entire screen to manipulate game elements would rock on the iPad.

    Some keep joking about Farmville on the iPad being the killer app; I don’t think that’s very far off the mark.

  3. Jas on Wed, 27th Jan 2010 10:25 pm 

    Flight Control et al would be good on it - but I can’t see enough people being so imbalanced in the sense/money ratio to buy an iPad just for gaming, over the supremely portable iPod Touch.

  4. Torbjorn Kamblad, Sweden on Thu, 28th Jan 2010 4:59 am 

    I have no use for an iPad in my life. I have just dropped the useless DS and PSP hardware. Why would I want a new clunky device that I can’t justify having at work?

    I hope it flops to teach Apple that all they touch don’t turn into gold.

    Now I will go back to waiting for the next iPhone again.

  5. Nathan Mustafa on Thu, 28th Jan 2010 7:42 am 

    “I have just dropped the useless DS and PSP hardware”

    …. Whaaaaah???

  6. legend.inc on Thu, 28th Jan 2010 7:55 am 

    Its looks good, i like to design and draw so maybe there will be some good apps for that on it. if so i might buy it, although it also depends on the cost.. What is it?

  7. Tim on Thu, 28th Jan 2010 10:20 am 

    It looks kind of cool, I guess, but I don’t think I really need a bigger, less portable iPod touch.

  8. Jas on Thu, 28th Jan 2010 1:00 pm 

    Torbjorn, don’t diss the DS man :-) Best portable gaming platform there is.

    I agree with you about the iPad and PSP though (I no longer use my PSP).

  9. kingsi7e on Fri, 29th Jan 2010 1:58 am 

    In reality I love the idea, and will probably get one as soon as it is out.
    However it is worth noting that iPhone games in their majority suck due to the controls (which for whatever reason try their best to replicate analog sticks and buttons!!! crazy!!!)
    So, games that I would really enjoy on iPad (due to the size of it) would be just those great games that take a full advantage of touchscreen. Namely Space Invaders Inf. Gene, CivRev, Defender Chronicles, and bunch of remade quests (Broken Sword and Monkey Island).
    The games I would not enjoy are those that for whatever reason employ virtual buttons to do things.

  10. Munk on Sun, 31st Jan 2010 9:46 pm 

    It’s a giant iPod. You can’t multi-task, you can’t video network, you can use FLASH, nor does it have even one USB port. It’s a giant iPod.

    That said, for games it might as well be 15 lbs. and 42 inches in terms of portability. You don’t see people gaming on the bus with their laptop for a good reason. So that leaves us where? At home gaming? I’ll stick with my 360 and 42″ in my living room, thanks.

    So where does that leave the device? It alienates the mobile gamers, it alienates those of us who were just hoping for the world’s first Star Trek like tablet computer, so what then? It’s a giant iPod.

  11. Munk on Sun, 31st Jan 2010 9:48 pm 

    Plus I can’t get past that it looks like a digital photo frame.




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