On its surface, Apple’s iPad may seem like a
glorified e-book reader, but developers working on games for the system
say they see within its extra-large screen and faster processor, great
gaming potential.
“Our creative teams are really just digging in and
brainstorming ideas that the power and specs of the iPad might bring to
life,” said
platforms for PopCap games, maker of Bejeweled and Peggle. “Nobody
could have anticipated the huge blossoming of creativity engendered by
the iPhone and iPod Touch and I think the iPad could easily take this
to the next level.”
The iPad is essentially an over-sized iPod Touch.
The device features a 9.7-inch re-engineered multi-touch screen, a 1Ghz
processor and 16GB to 64GB of storage. The device will be available
either with WiFi only support or with the ability to connect to the
Internet through a 3G
Game developers looking to support the new device
have two ways of doing so. Because the iPad will run the same sort of
operating system as the iPhone and iPod Touch, it can also run the same
apps built for those devices. But those apps will either have to run at
their original, smaller size, or lose a bit of fidelity when they are
artificially enlarged. Developers could also decide to develop games
specifically for the device or to develop a higher-resolution version
of their iPhone or iPod Touch games for the iPad.
Firemint, which has a community of 6 million people
playing its games Flight Control and Real Racing GTI, says it is
already working on an “enhanced for iPad” version of Flight Control.
“We want to do more than just up-size the art assets to the higher resolution,” said
Firemint’s community manager. “When we design a game we always think
about the fundamental and unique qualities of the platform and how we
can best work with those.”
But, Peters says, they can’t forget that there are
75 million people with the iPhone and iPod Touch and currently zero
with the iPad.
“We wouldn’t be surprised if people line up at Apple
stores around the world on the day iPad is released but even so,
there’s a logistical limit to how quickly devices can be manufactured
and sold, so it will take a while for the iPad installed base to ramp
up,” she said.
PopCap, despite its exuberance for the iPad and
successes with the iPhone and iPod Touch, hasn’t yet announced any
games for Apple’s latest bit of gadgetry.
“Apple has a tough act to follow in the iPhone and
iPod touch — they really rewrote the book on portable gaming with those
devices,” Stein said. “From a technical spec, the iPad looks like it
could be a phenomenal gaming machine and I would expect games to be the
leading revenue category of apps. Commercially, the iPad is in an
interesting niche and we’ll have to see if Apple has hit another home
run a la iPod and iPhone.”
The team behind one of the iPhone’s most talked about gaming success,
to the best-selling puzzle title, is being developed for both the
iPhone and iPad and Trism Spinoff is being developed exclusively for
the iPad, said Demiforce founder
“Trism Spinoff is intended for a larger footprint
device because of certain characteristics such as a higher count of
trisms as well as an onscreen metagame,” Demeter said. “
2 was originally going to be exclusively for iPhone and iPod Touch.
However, when we realized it would be so easy to cross-compile apps for
the iPad, we decided to do
Namco Networks were already thinking of what it
would do with more screen real estate before the iPad was announced.
Now it’s moving forward on a number of “concepts and plans,” said
That includes updates to existing titles like
Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, which will get new capabilities and have
social gaming features added, he said. And, Kromrey adds, Namco has a
“big announcement” planned for March’s
iPhone game publisher Ngmoco think the device will push developers to make more substantial games for the iTunes Store.
“It is easy to imagine that gamers will be more engaged and less snacky on the iPad,” said
Ngmoco chief publishing officer. “Games like Eliminate, which are
perhaps more time-and focus-intensive, will benefit from couch play. We
envisage that the iPad will take game time away from the frontline
videogame consoles, and drive the usage of those devices to be yet more
hardcore.”
While more processing and screen space could mean
more complex games, the feature developers seem most excited about is
the iPad’s ability to allow the portable device to become a platform
for multiplayer gaming.
“It’s the perfect device to have in the lounge
room,” Firemints’ Peters said. “There’s something very satisfying about
a group of people sitting in a circle with a single shared focus point,
whether it’s gathering around a camp fire, around the kitchen table or
around an iPad. At the moment multiplayer games are physically
distancing, either because you’re in completely different places as
with (massively multiplayer online games), or because you are all
facing a large screen instead of each other, as with lounge room
consoles. Once a family has gathered around an iPad to play a board
game, they are far more likely to try other kinds of games as well, so
it could open up yet another huge new audience for all game developers.”
Demiforce’s Demeter, Ngmoco’s Jeffery and Namco’s
Kromrey also see the potential for single-device multiplayer gaming as
the iPad’s biggest addition to the realm of portable gaming.
“We are looking closely at extending the Mobile
gaming experience to the couch in a transparent, frictionless way,”
Jeffery said. “It’s important that one of our customers can get off the
bus after playing an iPhone game and then pick it up again seamlessly
on the couch.”
Much of the iPhone’s surprising gaming success was
driven by its ability to tap into a group of people who had never
played or even considered playing games. Rather than cannibalize those
customers, the iPad could achieve that a second time because the
audience picking up this e-reader and video and music playing tablet
are likely to be made up mostly of an entirely new audience.
But Apple’s past successes have almost always been
driven by its ability to stay focused on a single message, a single
device. The iPad’s launch diffuses that message, coming at a time when
the iPhone still enjoys rocketing success and the potential market
needs convincing that they need a device that fits awkwardly between
laptop and iPhone.
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