When an apple fell on Isaac Newton he discovered the existence of gravity and thus the laws of motion were born. When Apple discovered how people went bonkers with touch screens the law of ‘i’ was born and now with the launch of their tablet recently, the commandments of ‘i’ can be scribed, shared, reported, documented and read.
Apple, however, has always lagged behind in the world of video games. They could never capitalize the momentum of the secure Macintosh and translate it into meaningful, historic and iconic games. They’ve tried everything under the sun to somehow pave their company into the world of video games. They partnered with Bandai to create the “Pippin”. It’s hard to believe that the company once held the rights to one of the biggest money spinners for their rival company, “Halo”. The company has failed so hard with gaming that we are yet waiting for information regarding Modern Warfare 2 for the platform. Then came the burst of handheld gaming on every conceivable platform on the planet, every device that has the concept of portability had some semblance of gaming built into it. It was as if people wanted to play games everywhere and Apple finally made a big splash in this emerging genre with their ‘i’ family. Now with the launch of the iPad and major gaming companies hopping on board, everyone wanted to know, can we consider this as Apple’s big foray into the world of gaming.
To an average gamer who has been bred on the musical tunes of Miyamoto’s Zelda and the horrors of Black Mesa, Apple’s machine is a joke. It’s a far cry from being user friendly. Development is going to be similar to what it was for the platform ten years ago ensuring that a game with production values as high as Chains of Olympus is never brought onto the platform. All we get are casual knock offs of elder brethrens onto the platform (though we would say Chinatown Wars is an exception). Big companies are extending their support for the machine since development costs for crafting a handheld is low (as low as renting out a basement and crafting games) and they do not have to worry extensively on marketing and making the consumer aware of the product.
The tablet is aimed to consumers who do a lot more than gaming, he doesn’t really care if the sequel to Metal Gear arrives on his handheld, he only wants to play when he is not “making love” or involved in a business presentation which is tedious. Apple knows that such individuals care more about global politics, music and designing their own furniture sets than the death, birth, resurrection of Solid Snake. So even raising the question of the machine being a gaming device stinks. Let some company come up with a cheap knock off as FarmVille (which is a cheap and retarded clone of Harvest Moon) and then the masses get addicted and voila we have a hit on out hands. The core ethics of this machine being able to run a highly realistic version of Need for Speed or a version of the Unreal Engine has no value to a community who respects the virtual world and looks to nurture it.
The ergonomics of the Apple iPad is another point of concern. How the hell do you look at what you are shooting/moving if half your screen is filled with your fingers? We are not fans of gyration either, just imagine the tablet slipping off your fingers while making that pesky hair pin bend in a certain racing game. The worst bit we get in the bargain that we lose the portability of that made the ‘i’ family so popular. We think Nintendo’s has best managed the genre of portability for last two decades though Sony’s machine has come pretty close to fulfilling our ultimate game machine. Apple has miles to jog before it can create a coherent experience in gaming.