Apple iPad and gaming – the next big thing, or the lost platform?
When I was a kid, there were lots of gaming platforms, but several failed due to existing IP. A prime example is the Commodore 128. Commodore touted the computer’s C64 compatibility as a major plus, but it meant no-one created C128 games, because loads of C64 ones already existed. The same, to some extent, went for the Amstrad CPC, which got loads of duff ports from the ZX Spectrum, due to some shared architecture. I wonder how iPad will fare. Apple’s device not only resembles a giant iPod touch—it also runs almost all existing App Store content. You get apps sitting centrally in the screen or ‘pixel doubled’.
With nearly 30 million iPhones and millions of iPod touches in the wild, and many thousands of games available, I wonder how many devs will target iPad, and how many will just continue developing for Apple’s already popular handhelds. If the former happens—and developers take a punt, hoping Apple’s new device will become as successful as iPhone and iPod touch—you end up with another top-quality gaming platform from out of nowhere. If not—which could so easily be the case—iPad will be a pretty device playing games that look OK, but were ultimately designed for another system. Here’s hoping the former’s the case.
I’m kinda surprised at the whole pixel doubling thing, it’s almost like Apple aren’t quite confident enough in the platform to let it stand on it’s own feet, because lets face it, running a non native app on the iPad is going to be like buying a Blu-ray player to watch your DVDs.
And as you point out, because there’s also a huge range of apps that you can use on your iPad without modification will devs not bother scaling them up for the new platform… 😕
Point and click adventure games.
That is all.
@Nathan: I think it’s a gamble. In the short term, it’s a smart move: this device has 140,000 apps out of the box. But it’s utterly reliant on devs reworking their apps, which could be costly, given the device’s higher resolution. Still, the success of Apple’s other handhelds could suggest early adopters will end up making a lot of money.
@Martyn: Well, they work very nicely on iPhone and iPod, so I imagine they’ll be making the transition!
Also, what about board games? Chess, snakes and ladders, scrabble?
It might take time to get there (and shake off its demons) but bugger me this thing has potential. Once the geek brigade get used to the fact it doesn’t need a forward facing camera etc. etc. they might start to notice things they wished they had…
The lazy developers won’t upscale or come up with iPad versions, or just charge extra for cosmetic changes. The genuine and good developers will come up with something interesting. The whole idea of connectivity between devices (Mac, iPhone, iPad) could also trigger some genuinely interesting experiences.