An App for That?

SPARKY (36) ASKS: GamerDad, I noticed you got an iPad – nice rationalization by the way – since I got an Iphone Touch (ed- I assume he/she means iPod Touch) for gaming, mostly, it looks like the iPad would make a great gaming device. I know you like a lot of iPhone apps do they play well on the Pad?

Yes. Sparky. YES!

For some reason App games never entered my head when I was thinking about Apple’s new Giant iPod machine. That’s why the biggest surprise so far has been how well these games I’ve already paid for work on a big screen. Even the older, cheaper, already-paid-for iPhone titles look and play great and the HD iPad ones? Well, lets put it this way, the iPad is now the prettiest and best playing portable on the market – bar none. It blows the PSP way, is prettier and has better controls than the iPhone and the mighty DS, even the big screen one, falls short because the games are so expensive. On the Pad, like the Phone, game apps hover between $0.99 and $14.99.

I’m playing Doom Resurrection, Band of Brothers 2 HD, Need for Speed Shift, Plants vs. Zombies, Sim City, Peggle, Katamari Damacy, Monkey Ball, Civilization Revolution, Call of Duty: Zombies, Bookworm and Resident Evil: Degeneration. The controls are much better, since your fingers don’t block your line of site so often and using the accelerometer to drive is painless. More accurate than my Xbox steering wheel.

Music games like Rock Band, Tap Tap Whatever and many others are at a disadvantage though. It takes some pretty big thumbs to reach all the notes comfortably, especially when it’s a song that’s all over the place like FREEZEPOP’S Super Science Girl. Because of that, any game that requires using both sides of an Ipod in horizontal mode, with both fingers at the same time, is going to be a problem.

Aside from that, and the steep price tag but considering the overall multiple uses for this machine, I believe the iPad is the best portable platform ever and one of the best gaming consoles bar none. I mean, every pro-game is a bargain bin. And it’s a Reader. And it’s a movie player. And it’s a browser – that Flash thing is annoying though. And it’s an iPod. And the App Store makes it many, many, other things to boot.

It’s also terrific for the kid stuff. Aquarium lets kids poke at fish, Ants lets them burn and blast tiny critters you can now see and anything involving drawing or finger painting is so much better. Google Maps, programs showing space and even that enhanced Alice in Wonderland prove that this system trumps a Kindle, DS or PSP.

No Responses to “An App for That?”

  1. When I went to the Apple store to check out the iPad, I probably spent more time with the games than anything else. I probably wouldn’t admit this to my wife, but the games are definitely a big check mark in the Plus column.

  2. The best controls out of all of them? Well for certain games, but for others (anything that tries to emulate a joystick) I have my doubts….

    I play a lot of games on my iPod Touch, most of them on the strategy side, and the screen interface is great. A few of the action ones I’ve done, I’m not a big fan of the “fake” joystick circle mode of playing…

  3. I just think that although the ipad was a big success, Apple fails to realize that putting an ipod touch and Iphone OS on a larger screen is not better than using the ipad to its potential and porting OS X to it. It just seems to prove that Apple Fans will buy anything thats shiny and white no matter what the value to the user is. I now wonder if Apple will be found guilty in anti-trust issues by the IFC, as Gamerdad previously stated “the flash thing is annoying”

  4. Matt, I meant iPad controls are better than iPod Touch controls by virtue of being bigger. I mean, of course I’d rather have a keyboard and mouse for Bros in Arms (or even Civ Revolution) but one of the un-touted features of the iPad is the extra value it brings any apps you’ve already bought for your phone/touch.

    Avmeister, yeah, I bought the iPad because it’s shiny. That’s exactly why. But I don’t think OSX would be a huge improvement. It’d raise the price and lower the battery life, which are two BIG strengths of the iPad for what it IS. USB and a disc drive would be nice too… but again, price. When they make a MacBook with a touchscreen, I’d be interested in that, but not because of the reasons I bought an iPad.
    (And you don’t understand anti-trust.)

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