The iPod Touch and iPhone, defying many disbelievers, have, as a collective platform, succeeded in transforming gaming as much as they have transformed the smartphone industry. Low prices and a massive App Store library, it can be argued, helped the iPhone and iPod Touch out more than the platform's often better-than-expected graphics. We expected Apple gaming to take off, and indeed it has--in the portable space, at least.
The new Apple iPad hopes to take gaming even further, but the hurdles are higher this time. Everyone doesn't need a tablet, which is a significant challenge to iPad adoption. Millions of iPhone/Touch game players proliferated because millions of people need portable media players or phones, and found that it was easy and cheap to game on the same device they had in their pocket already. On the other hand, at $499, a 16GB iPad will have the same storage capacity as a PSP Go, which costs $249. Though the iPad lacks a memory card slot, its screen and battery life look to be far superior.
The good news is, the iPad looks set to run all App Store games, playing them in original resolution in a smaller window or doubling the pixels to full-screen mode on its 9.7-inch IPS screen. The iPad sports a custom A4 processor that should be much more robust than the iPhone/iPod Touch processor, which opens up potential for even more impressive iPad-specific titles. … Read more