The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) Add wireless controllers and TV support and I can see the potential. Storage and whether people would pay much higher prices for console style games are another set of potential issues.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) Yeah. I can't wait to start having to buy a new gaming machine every damn year.
The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) You can live off the scraps we leave you in the secondhand market, you insolent cur.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) The other way to think about it: buying a smartphone contract will also mean you get a free HD gaming console included...in the phone. That's the future benefit of convergence technology like smartphones and tablets.
The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) I don't want a console if its the size of a phone. Maybe I'll change my mind when the time comes but all this talk of tablets taking over consoles and stuff makes me die a little inside.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) I'm sure it'd have an hdmi out or something. Still it's a LONG way from happening if ever.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) Not really. They already have the digital delivery service for media, online gaming service, wired and wireless TV connection, cloud service, and global user base. The hardware isn't quite there yet, but it's close, and they need the bluetooth controller support to go live. Plenty of the major developers and publishers seem interested too, with Epic, Namco, EA, Rockstar, Id, etc. being active even without the traditional console setup being available yet.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) This will basically be the most profitable market for them if anything. They'd essentially have a whole new market to take over. I think we already had this conversation. Like, alterego said, with the ios ecosystem, you'd basically have it on your tablet and phone the way it works. Apple also supports all of their prior devices. Look at how they're handling the ipad market. They're going to have the new ipad AND the ipad 2 in the market. Your thought process is like you have to buy the Nintendo DS lite, DSi, and DSi XL after you bought your Nintendo DS because they came out afterwards. That makes no sense whatsoever. Devs code their game for the most compatibility and best user experience. Even after the new ipad comes out, there will still be tons of people with the ipad 2 still.. and they'll probably get a ton more ipad 2 adopters with this new pricepoint. Just like there are still a ton of people with the Iphone 3GS now. Mobile devices are the most connected devices right now in the tech world. It's all based off of digital delivery like alterego said. The only thing holding it back right now is our wireless infrastructure. It's questionable how much our backhaul can handle with the way the market is growing and how much bandwidth is needed. Otherwise, it's only natural for these machines to turn into serious gaming machines in the coming years with how fast the the soc's are improving.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) You make some good points. I guess I'm just not keen on spending £300+ on a gaming machine only for it be outdated a year later. What happens to the games? Say I bought an iPad3 and started playing games on it. When the iPad4 comes out would I have to settle for a limited/retarded version on my iPad3 compared to the iPad4? Or would the games for the iPad4 be limited so they can run on the previous year's model? I like the idea of spending £300 and knowing that my gaming experience is at it's peak (as far as consoles are concerned) and I don't need to spend more money every year just to get the most out of the games that are available. If the iPads were half the price they are now I don't think it would be an issue but they're not.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) Sadly to tell you the truth, I don't think prices will go down (until the devices are about 1 yr old in the market) even in the future. I'm stunned that Apple can provide us this type of hardware at $500 considering the fact that every single other OEM out there can't provide us this type of performance for $500 and it's been 3 yrs since apple debuted with the original Ipad. It's just another one of those cases where the multifunction machine costs more than the single function machine.. although how quickly we forget how much the consoles costed at launch.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) Running the same OS is ruling out variables and is vital for comparing hardware. System comparison is another thing, but it's still important to understand how the hardware directly compares. As for hardware chosen, I think the comparison I linked to is far easier to extrapolate data from than comparing "core 2" to tegra 3 and then saying "apple said iPad 3 SoC is 4x faster than Tegra 3!". You're using marketing claims to make system/hardware comparisons and then call out my comparison as irrelevant? To think that A9 has a higher IPC than Core 2 based off one benchmark done on different OS's is ridiculous. IPC is not some static figure, it's dependent on the software run. As per the comparison I posted, A9 is comparable to Atom, although IPC is a little better. Anyone who's used an Atom can tell you it doesn't come close to a core 2, not even a core duo, as shown in the same comparison. Why do you insist on extrapolating performance, and now IPC, based off no more than marketing material and deliberately vague statements where there is a direct comparison of very similar hardware with variables removed right in front of you? 4 times faster than tegra 3. It's a misleading claim because it only accounts for one test. I was, however, referring more to past examples and not so much the new iPad. Exactly, which is why I said your methodology is akin to Apples, since you are always fooled by their spin it makes sense that your "comparisons" are done in the same vein. So none of the software on your MacBook ever gets updated? Browsers... flash.. iTunes... OS.. nothing? That's fairly irrelevant anyway and I didn't intend to highlight it as the largest issue with software. The bigger issue is software developers working with restraints. With time software development becomes easier, you can get more out of the same general performing hardware as time goes on. There is simply no reason to invest in old hardware though, but for a tablet/phone that is the leading edge for its power envelope, there's more reasons than any other segment to optimize as much as possible. It's exactly the same as what we see with consoles. They aren't the best hardware around, but being a closed system and the fastest (or near abouts) in that particular segment, the effort to optimize pays off. Having a bloated old OSX/Windows install on old hardware is not a good basis for comparison to new systems. I have a Dothan based (like core Duo but lower IPC and single core) laptop with 1GB RAM and I don't find it anywhere near as slow as you seem to find your MacBook. My friend has an iPad 1 and I haven't seen it do anything faster than my old POS laptop. It does have a fairly fresh and well maintained windows install, of course. It's seems to me like that is more of the problem here, as I have seen in countless "old" macs that people upgrade thinking their machine is just too out of date. Yes, for sure the same thing happens in Windows, but everyone knows you can take a Windows machine to a technician and have it restored. Mac's are treated as if they don't have any of these problems, so if your Mac is slow the only solution is to buy a new one. That demo at its core looks like a DX8 showpiece, very reminiscent of the Unreal Warfare engine used on the original Xbox. It does look more modern in many ways, but this is simply because of newer API's being more efficient and developers more capable than 10 years ago because of this, not because the hardware is on par or superior. In fact, despite the greater amount of RAM, the hardware in the original iPad is actually very much on par with the original Xbox. With more RAM and a more efficient API, I can see how that demo looks a fair bit better than what the Xbox could do, but in no way does it approach the 360. If you think it looks just as good, great, just don't use this as reasoning for the hardware being almost equal when it is clearly not. He was misleading because he was counting on people assuming that the exact same demo would be run on a future iPad and thus the hardware must be equally powerful. And this is exactly the effect the statement has had. If a future iPad will be as fast as a 360, why is the demo not running on a 360 now? Surely they would love to show that off if it were possible as it would make them a lot of money. Right, so they know what they're doing doubling the hardware for 4 times the resolution. That's a lot of faith to put into them, which is a pretty a odd thing to do, putting your faith in engineers for a tech company. It seems to me like they are happy with iPad 1.5-2 level graphics at higher resolution. That's fine, really, it's actually very impressive. But you haven't at all taken that into account when talking about the holy grail of Xbox 360 level performance in "a couple of years". Let me tell you, it has set the progress back a couple of years in this regard, as all resolution bumps will. Yes, the games look nicer in fidelity because of the higher resolution, but running the Samaritan demo at such a res on a current high end PC is a stretch... whatever Epic show you on some future iPad will not be this demo, no matter how much is may be made to look as if it is.
The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) I don't mind spending £300 for a console that will last me at least 5 years and the games won't suffer. If tablets replaced consoles you'd have to spend a lot of money just to keep up with the current standard of games, just like pc gaming. Not a fan.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) Despite being a 4G device the iPad 3 will not work on the UK's 4G LTE network as it uses the 800-2600MHz spectrum, doesn't seem to be stopping Apple marketing it as a 4G device. Trading standards will surely be knocking on the door soon and people will be within their rights to return it when they realise it doesn't do what is advertised. Apparently Vodafone have removed the 4G information but Carphone Warehouse are still using the Apple provided banner. http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/iPad-4G-UK-4G-LTE-Carphone-Warehouse-Vodafone,news-37981.html Not to mention that the UK's 4G network is still being tested and isn't up and running for public use yet.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) I think the idea is to have it up sometime this year but exactly when is anyone's guess.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) There's no reason to think that the hardware would become outdated in a year once it reaches a certain level of sophistication, and I think mobile SoC's are pretty close to that point now. The general rule when it comes to software development is that it lags behind the capability of the hardware by a factor of years. You already know that's the case with consoles like the 360. Bethesda didn't achieve the software performance level of Skyrim until a full 5 years after the launch of the hardware. I think you could expect it to work like a hybrid of PC gaming. The majority of developers would aim for a performance sweetspot, and then provide scaling of the details for the tech that was above/below that point. You already see that in the App Store, where devs will roll out an update that adds higher detail to existing games for the new hardware.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) Again, your "variables removed" scenario uses a different chipset and is running a different OS. The whole point of the iPad is to increase performance through customization of the entire device, and you've previously acknowledged that approach works quite well in things like consoles. Is my Core Duo laptop really as customized as the iPad? Not by a long shot. The processor and GPU are "off the shelf", and many of the high end and mid range applications are not really optimized for the OS. If what you were saying were correct, that simply comparing theoretical specs would guarantee better performance, then my iPad should seem very sluggish for virtually everything vs. the Core Duo and Mobility X1600. In practice, that isn't the case. It's not hyperbole to say that many things seem significantly faster on the iPad than the laptop, and many other things seem just as good. Do you know why that's misleading? Because that isn't what Apple said. They said "twice as fast" as the Tegra 3. Epic Citadel ran on the original iPad, which I specifically said was considered by Epic to be roughly 1/3 the performance of the 360. Then I posted the chart showing that the iPad 2 graphic performance was VERY far beyond the original iPad. That's where the comparisons to the 360 come in. If the original iPad was 1/3 the performance and iPad 2 had graphics performance that was 7-8 times greater, then there's nothing out of line with theorizing that the iPad 2 must already be fairly close to the graphic performance of the 360 in some ways.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) If you want to compare it to a gaming console I suggest it's more like the PlayStation model. PS - PS2 - PS3. PS2 is alive and well but if you want to play Uncharted with your buddies you better get a PS3. Nobody gets excited about a PS2 game launch. We can forget because it has been about 6 years since the PS3 launch and it was 12 years before that for the original PS launch. That's an18 year spread and still no PS4 in sight. By comparison Apple has released 3 iteration of the iPad in just 2 years and we can already expect with some certainty an iPad4 release in another 12 months.
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) Yeah, but the PS2 didn't come out only 1 year after the PS1 did it?
Re: The New Ipad (Ipad 3? what the hell is the name of this thing) the purpose of my statement was to addressing pricing of the tablet. it would seem rather silly to complain about the price of tablets and then boast about the console industry.