Yes, we touched one. We tilted it, turned it over, and lovingly scrolled through its apps. It’s the iPad, and it’s like four iPhones arranged in a grid—twice as long and twice as wide. After the iPad, our iPhone just doesn’t feel adequate.
In addition to trying the web browsing, photos, video, and iBooks that Steve Jobs demonstrated on stage today, we got to play with several iPhone games that were “writ large” on the iPad. Each game can run in a tiny, pixel-accurate mode (where the on-screen buttons are now unreachable) or a blown-up, 2x version. There is a tiny 1x or 2x button in the corner for you to resize at any time.
Some of the games we played worked great-- others, not so much. Let’s start with the good.
The first game we loaded up was Scrabble by EA, because we wanted to put our “virtual board game” theory we discussed on last week’s podcast to the test. Scrabble on an iPad works extremely well, with tiles sliding onto the board quickly and accurately. With the larger screen, you can put the device in front of you to play with a friend instead of passing it back and forth.
We also played Orbital, a fun little physics game that works great on the iPad. The two-player mode let us lay the tablet down on the table and casually poke at it, sending colored spheres into our opponent’s side of the screen. Our foe, Wired’s Chris Kohler, schooled us with his superior skills. Scrabble and Orbital were the two most natural fits for the iPad’s larger screen.
We then dived into a few hardcore games—N.O.V.A. and Need for Speed Shift. Both of these were a little unwieldy, and neither were the iPad-optimized versions we saw in the stage demo. The default control scheme in N.O.V.A., where you look by swiping the center of the screen, was not as natural as a two-stick configuration. Clearly, developers are going to have to rethink iPad controls for shooters, since they now have much more real estate to work with.
NFS Shift worked fairly well, since the game is mostly tilt-controlled. Our main concern here is the heft of the iPad. At 1.5 lbs, it’s light enough for carrying and reading, but using it as a controller made it feel a little chunky. After all, we’re used to a phone that weighs 5 oz, or about a quarter of a pound. Both N.O.V.A. and Need for Speed Shift looked great blown up, since both games run at a high resolution even on the 380x420 iPhone and iPod Touch.
We then loaded up Assassin's Creed 1 and Sims 3. AC1 is not a great game, in our opinion, and playing it on the iPad didn’t make it any better. This older iPhone game looked jaggy and fuzzy when blown up, and the controls were hard to reach when holding the iPad. We quickly put it down.
Sims 3 worked better, because it’s mostly menu-driven. However, we would hope to see an iPad optimized version of Sims 3 and Sims 3 World Adventures as soon as possible, because the cluttered menus didn’t really show off what’s good about the iPad-- the viewing space.
Next up was Super Monkey Ball 2, a fun game that looks and plays great on the iPad. Playing with it was more like a physical board game, sort of like a handheld version of Labyrinth, but instead of a wooden board and metal ball, you had a colorful environment and a monkey in a ball. The tilt controls were sensitive enough for us to navigate with ease, even though we started on a tricky level that required lots of focus. Again, the weight of the iPad does become an issue for long periods of playtime. Apple had better lawyer up to protect against any long-term wrist damage claims.
A few other games we played, like Madden NFL 10 and Paper Toss World Tour, didn’t seem to be changed one way or another on the iPad. If you liked them small, you’ll like them large, but depending on when the game was made and the style of graphics, certain games will look fuzzy in the 2x view.
Since the iPad will launch with the entire library of iPhone games (about 25,000 and counting), consumers will immediately be overwhelmed with choices. We will work on narrowing down for you which games should work well on the iPad, and the ones we think should be immediately optimized for the larger device. Keep coming back to Slide To Play for a whole lot more information about the growing family of handheld Apple gaming devices.
24 Comments
Probably not games-related, but do you guys know anything about iWork on this? Can I type something up and export/import to Mic Office?
Not sure, but I'd say there is a high probability Microsoft will write an office application for this device.
I would imagine. On regular Pages in iWork, there's an "export to Word .doc" option. I doubt they would leave that option out of this version.
Here's my iWork question: Can it print?
Good question. I would say that if worst comes to worst, you could save your document in an email and print it on your computer, but that's a workaround.
I would say that yes it could print since I have an app on my iphone that allows me to print...
Great to hear some gaming impressions on the device! You guys are so lucky!!
Not all games are going to translate well across from iPhone to iPad immediately. There is a massive border around the device which makes d-pad seem a bit harder to use, and I hadn't considered the weight issue, but your impressions don't make that sound very comfortable. I think touch based games, like Lexic, Drop7, Tap Tap Revenge etc will work the gorgeously on the device. We're already working on an iPad version of Train Conductor, and there's plenty of cool things we can do with its huge screen!
I think it will be a sleeper hit. It won't gain popularity until people get the chance to use it and realise that it suits most people very well for basic everyday light usage; read email, browse the web and play some light gaming. It will also make some new things possible that weren't before on your laptop or iPhone, like kindle style reading. It will probably replace my home laptop...
I will say this-- I think this thing will grab people. You will see someone playing with it, maybe a friend, maybe a stranger, and you will want to have it. Unlike the iPhone, this is a device that encourages you to share (as opposed to keeping it 2 inches from your face). For that reason I think this will be a big seller.
Nice!
2012 Zombies Vs Alines would be cool on this, since it dosent involve moving your relatively heavy iPad like crazy
Sit, tap and drag :)
Exactly, these are the kinds of games that will work great in full-screen iPad glory. =]
man, I soo... need this now! When is it coming out, any idea?
Wifi in March, 3G in April.
I must say, as cool as the bigger game screen is, I can't help but be reminded at the moment of the Super Nintendo cartridge that you could put a Gameboy game into for it to play on your TV - thus far, the iPad seems like the iPhone only bigger as far as games are concerned.
I'll be really interested to see if some iPad-exclusive games are developed, and whether or not Apple takes any initiative in terms of partnering with EA or some other big-name or big-ambition developers. Or if this console will draw some new developers who were previously discouraged by the small size of the iPhone.
That's my compilation of thoughts.
Heh, I had forgotten that Super Gameboy peripheral. It is a bit like that.
I suspect that the iPhone games are running in an emulator, and that is why they don't load any faster. But, if the iPad is more powerful like they say, then once we see iPad specific apps made for it, they'll be nicer looking and faster. But we just don't know yet.
Specs are better and it isn't an emulator... the tablet runs on iPhone OS 3.2 with some new APIs and tweaks to the stock apps.
Loads of devs have immediately gotten to work on optimizing their games. Honestly, I must have heard from at least 15 developers about this today. I know there are plenty, plenty more, though.
Some games are really going to shine on the tablet. For example, I am trying out the new update for Beat It and can't help but think having the sequencer on a larger surface would make it even more manageable.
I do not think this will sell as well as the iphone/touch. The very asset people are lauding, the size, works against it in. I like to put my touch in my pocket, then whip it out and play a quick game while waiting for a appointment. For the pad, this would not be as simple.
It's a niche product, it won't go mainstream I predict.
I was hoping the bezel (the border around the screen) would be smaller than it is. The bigger the bezel, the harder it is for your thumbs to access the screen when holding it like an iPhone.
Count me as a bit skeptical of the gaming value proposition of this device. NOVA looked kind of unwieldy to control in that video. I think that only certain games are going to work well for the iPad, and a lot will depend on the skill of the developers as they create brand new iPad games from the ground up. And I'm not sure if tilting the much larger iPad to steer it in racing games is going to be much of an improvement over the smaller iPhone/iTouch.
There are many awesome games available for the iPhone OS that are not available anywhere else and that are really suited for times when you want a short, pocketable game experience, but I'm kind of regretting my purchase of shooters and RPGs such as NOVA and Modern Combat and Inotia 2, when I can now play games such as Bioshock or Dragon Age: Origins (and hopefully Mass Effect 2 in a few months) on my Mac Book. People who own a Windows PC or laptop (or a console) have even more choices.
The iPad will be used a lot less by people on the go than an iTouch or iPhone, simply because you can carry a little 5 ounce iPhone with you all the time in your pocket, and an iPad is closer to a laptop in size/form factor. So why wouldn't you play a much superior game on your home PC or laptop or console when your home sitting on the couch, instead of playing on an iPad?
I still have my iPhone for games such as Hook Champ, GTA: Chinatown Wars, Spider, Sword of Fargoal, Earth vs Moon, Ground Effect, Jet Car Stunts, and various retro-games such as Shattered Sword. But if I can have my laptop with me, I'm going to reach for Dragon Age before I launch Inotia 2 or NOVA on my iPad.
Having tried the iPad myself yesterday, I can say that once you've used it you will not want to go back to squinting at your tiny iPhone or iPod anymore. But I admit that the form factor is a big obstacle for most games. Touch-only games will be unaffected, but games that use tilt or "grip" controls (where you hold the device and use your thumbs to hit buttons) may need tweaking.
I hope that you are correct. I mean, I want iPad to be a great gaming device. I'm just a bit skeptical right now.
Off topic, more than anything I would like Mass Effect 2 to soon follow Dragon Age: Origins over to the Mac OS! I'm not buying and installing Windows and Boot Camp on my Mac Book.
They should be honest and call it the iPod touch XL, or JUMBO.
No multitasking is a pure crime as well.
correcto, iPod Touch XL would be the most honest name....
I wonder if they will begin to offer the same no-contract AT&T data plan ($15 for 250 mb, or $30 unlimited) for the iPod Touch? Theoretically, there is no reason not to, and I can't believe that it would be very expensive to add 3G data to the next version of iPod Touch.
I can't wait to play Crusade Of Destiny on iPad. I have it on iPhone and it's an awesome 3D RPG. Much better than raensword and Dungeon H.
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