Hardware
Something I didnt think of about the iPad
Ok, we are all iPad crazy. The first reviews are out. The media is in a frenzy. Apple fanboys are frothing at the mouth. Tech pundits are waiting to get snarky about them. Consumers will be waiting in line for them.
A lot has been said about their usage. Its going to be the ultimate media consumption device (i.e. email, photos, video, web surfing, music). But what about games? Yes, there was some mention of gaming during the iPad event in January. There were some demos. Game companies are working on iPhone/iPid Touch/iPad versions of some of their games. But, will the gamers buy it?
Well, Wil Wheaton of WWDN.Net (and of course ST:TNG), has something to say about the iPad and gaming:
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However, I saw an article this morning that made the first move toward a compelling case for the iPad: boardgames. I’m not talking about checkers and chess or even Monopoly … I’m talking Ogre, Car Wars, Settlers, Battlelore, Talisman, Arkham Horror, Dungeon … I think you get my drift.
It would be incredible to play boardgames that look like boardgames on a tablet device. You know that awesome Carcassonne game on Xbox Live? Like that. Imagine how awesome it would be to play Car Wars on a tablet: it would look just like the Deluxe Edition, with counters and a map grid and everything, but all the math and DCs would be done by the computer – unless you really wanted to overlay a turn key, I guess. You’d never have to worry about the dog crashing into the table and knocking your vehicles around, you could play against an AI, and you could flip over to another window to go shopping at Uncle Albert’s, all the way back (or, uh, forward) to the fantastic 2037 catalog.
If I could take books, and movies, and boardgames I love with me when I went on trips (even if it was just a commuter train trip for an hour) then I would have to make a substantially more difficult saving throw versus WANT. Right now, I just have to roll a positive number, with a +20 bonus and no chance of critical failure.
Considering Wil was the keynote speaker at PAX East this past weekend, he knows something about the gaming community. So, will the iPad get its foothold in the gaming world, time will tell.
Nameless
04/01/2010 at 9:51 pm
As an avid core gamer, I never saw much interest in the iPad as a gaming platform, casual fare aside.
But now that you bring up board games-something I would expect to be reserved for a larger platform like the Microsoft Surface-it might just work out pretty well, especially as they generally aren’t twitch-based video game affairs that would be better suited to more traditional physical controls. No pieces to be lost, either!