Microsoft has the XBox 360. Sony sells the PlayStation 3. Nintendo offers the family-friendly Wii. Apple, by contrast, doesn’t sell a gaming console.
Or does it? Load medieval fighting game Infinity Blade onto the iPad 2, hook it up to a high-definition television using Apple’s $39 digital AV adapter and it can be hard to tell.
Apple claims the new version of its tablet computer offers 9x the graphics performance of the old model. Quite a claim, but game developers report the new tablet’s graphics capabilities are impressive. “Apple surprised us,” says Rob Murray, Chief Executive of game developer Firemint.
Want a demo? The updated version of Chair Entertainment’s Infinity Blade medieval fighting game has been built to soak up some of the extra graphics power offered by the Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR SGX 543MP2 GPU built into the iPad 2’s A5 processor.
Infinity Blade runs just fine on an iPad. Put it on the iPad 2, however, and gamers will notice a big leap in graphics. There’s more coming, promises Donald Mustard, creative director at Chair. “We’ll be able to do things that are just mind blowing.”
Graphics, however, are just a start. The new machine’s advanced built-in gyro turns the tablet into a tossable, turnable gaming controller — kind of like the Nintendo Wii’s Wiimote.
That lets players send virtual cars carooming across a virtual racetrack in new games such as Firemint’s Real Racing 2 HD, which turns the iPad into one big steering wheel.
Gamers can compete in battles with players on iPads and iPhones anywhere on the net — a little like Microsoft’s XBox Live.
And HDMI video mirroring lets users put the action on the screen onto a high-definition television set — just like cutting edge consoles do.
To be sure, the iPad lacks a gaming console’s graphics power, but that’s coming. “We’re about two years away from surpassing consoles,” Mustard says.
Apple claims the new version of its tablet computer offers 9x the graphics performance of the old model. Quite a claim, but game developers report the new tablet’s graphics capabilities are impressive. “Apple surprised us,” says Rob Murray, Chief Executive of game developer Firemint.
Want a demo? The updated version of Chair Entertainment’s Infinity Blade medieval fighting game has been built to soak up some of the extra graphics power offered by the Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR SGX 543MP2 GPU built into the iPad 2’s A5 processor.
Infinity Blade runs just fine on an iPad. Put it on the iPad 2, however, and gamers will notice a big leap in graphics. There’s more coming, promises Donald Mustard, creative director at Chair. “We’ll be able to do things that are just mind blowing.”
Graphics, however, are just a start. The new machine’s advanced built-in gyro turns the tablet into a tossable, turnable gaming controller — kind of like the Nintendo Wii’s Wiimote.
That lets players send virtual cars carooming across a virtual racetrack in new games such as Firemint’s Real Racing 2 HD, which turns the iPad into one big steering wheel.
Gamers can compete in battles with players on iPads and iPhones anywhere on the net — a little like Microsoft’s XBox Live.
And HDMI video mirroring lets users put the action on the screen onto a high-definition television set — just like cutting edge consoles do.
To be sure, the iPad lacks a gaming console’s graphics power, but that’s coming. “We’re about two years away from surpassing consoles,” Mustard says.
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