Infinity Blade 2, Modern Combat 3 are big games. They run fine on the mini. Better than fine actually.
So the developers are going to update their games to make them unplayable in all those iPad 2s and Minis? Ok. Sounds like a great move on the game developers part.
No not updated games, i mean new games like NOVA 4 or the next infinity blade. They will either tone down effects and make it run at a WAY lower FPS or just not release it for the 2 or mini. Seriously the mini is using internal that are 2.5 times less powerful. And also asphalt 7 doesn't run as smooth, i saw it on youtube with an ipad 4 and ipad mini comparison.
Asphalt 7 runs fine. It was free yesterday so I downloaded it and played it. You are making your comments based on a YouTube video you saw?
Anyway even my old Iphone 4S which is just as powerful as your mini lagged a bit on Asphalt 7. Especially when you are going 400 km/h with a Ferrari. Also it stuttered a lot on NOVA 3 online multiplayer. I am not lying to you, once you get a high speed car on asphalt 7 you will see the FPS drops quite a lot and stutters. If you want flawless gaming for this year and probably 1 or 2 in the future, the iPad 4 and iphone 5 will only be able to provide that. Imagine NOVA 4 on my old 4S or the mini..
Anyway even my old Iphone 4S which is just as powerful as your mini lagged a bit on Asphalt 7..
Developers will always support the low common denominator device until apple ceases to support that device any longer. Do you think thee are more retina iPads sold than ipad 2's, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S??
Don't even worry about the ipad 4. Even with an a6x chip you will end up selling that for an iPad 5 come 6 months time. Owning a mini is safe for a few more years. And most of the games play extremely well.
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And the iPad mini is slightly faster than your iPhone 4S based on today's released review of the iPad mini.
I am not getting the next iPad and its most likely not coming out in 6 months. I will be getting the ipad 7 and will enjoy flawless gameplay on high end games up until probably the 6th one. I understand that the mini will handful game like angry birds very easily but i am talking about games that require the full capabilities of the most powerful IOS devices (iphone 5 and ipad 4) like NOVA 3 and real racing 3 which will come out soon. The mini is a bit faster than the 4S, the geekbench scores of both are approx 650 and 750 respectively. You can not be serious if you think that a 2 year old mini will be able to handle the games out in two years. As i said earlier my 4S cannot handle NOVA 3 flawlessly so i doubt the mini will be able to. You are right when you say "most of the games play extremely well." It really comes down to what games you wanna play.
Developers will always support the low common denominator device until apple ceases to support that device any longer. Do you think thee are more retina iPads sold than ipad 2's, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S??
Don't even worry about the ipad 4. Even with an a6x chip you will end up selling that for an iPad 5 come 6 months time. Owning a mini is safe for a few more years. And most of the games play extremely well.
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And the iPad mini is slightly faster than your iPhone 4S based on today's anandtech released review of the iPad mini.
No not updated games, i mean new games like NOVA 4 or the next infinity blade. They will either tone down effects and make it run at a WAY lower FPS or just not release it for the 2 or mini. Seriously the mini is using internal that are 2.5 times less powerful. And also asphalt 7 doesn't run as smooth, i saw it on youtube with an ipad 4 and ipad mini comparison.
Not only do most games run very well on the older (not outdated) hardware, you're apparently not familiar with the multiple game developers who have noted that if they intend to continue to sell their games to the widest audience, then for the next year at least, the "sweet spot" for development will continue to be the A5/512Mb combo sported by the iPad 2, iPhone 4S, 5th-gen iPod Touch and iPad mini.
The idea that only the iPhone 5 and 4th-gen iPad will be able to play games well in 2013 is nonsense, and is not an argument actual app developers agree with.
Not only do most games run very well on the older (not outdated) hardware, you're apparently not familiar with the multiple game developers who have noted that if they intend to continue to sell their games to the widest audience, then for the next year at least, the "sweet spot" for development will continue to be the A5/512Mb combo sported by the iPad 2, iPhone 4S, 5th-gen iPod Touch and iPad mini.
The idea that only the iPhone 5 and 4th-gen iPad will be able to play games well in 2013 is nonsense, and is not an argument actual app developers agree with.
The iPad 4 is a beast compared to the iPad 1,2,3mini, iPhones. I would buy that but I like the form factor of the mini very much for games and web stuff. Too bad there is not a6 for the mini at this release. The big game titles will sure take advantage of the newest hardware but for the older stuff it will run just fine but without the extra eye candy effects on the iPad 4. It's not like it runs like it does on competing tablets (androids and windows). Maybe there won't be support in two years but that's quite a bit of time left to enjoy the gadget. But then when the next gen mini comes out, most will just buy it without hesitation.
I was saying that it wont be able to run the very high end games, for example many games require an iphone 4 or higher. I was also saying that they wont run the high end games flawlessly.
Yes, but as I was pointing out, according to the developers themselves it isn't in their best interest to release "very high-end" games that simply don't run at all on that "sweet spot" cluster of devices (two of which are brand new releases) that all use the A5 chip and have 512Mb of memory. It'd be a spectacularly foolish move to exclude the userbase with the newly updated iPod Touch and wildly popular iPad mini, to say nothing of all those still using the iPad 2 or hanging on to the iPhone 4S because of contract or other reasons.
The app store is a ridiculously difficult place to make a profit at the best of times, which these folks understand all too well, and they're not about to hamstring themselves unnecessarily. As such, it's almost guaranteed that you're not going to be seeing many successful games that list "iPhone 5 and iPad 4th-gen" as the minimum requirement any time soon - soon meaning the next 12, quite possibly 18 months.
I'm not sure how the iPhone 4 as a minimum requirement is relevant here, given that the devices in question are all more powerful than that one; the iPhone 4 as a minimum requirement is currently still quite a way below the A5 "sweet spot", technologically speaking, even if the minimum requirement gets bumped up over the next year. You really need to go and read what the developers from the various game companies have been saying, because their whole point is that they will be deliberately designing their games to run pretty much flawlessly on these A5-based devices, with additional bells and whistles for the newer Apple products. It's not going to be a case of designing primarily for the high-end first and having the larger demographic be "second-class citizens" coping with an unavoidable 12 frames per second.
...Also the games that i play on my iPad are those few games that require the power of the A6/A6X chip...
There are no games that "require" the A6...
...It's impossible to claim that the Mini is the best iOS gaming device; the iPad4 is more powerful and the iPhone/iTouch are still easier to have with you always.
The problem with "best" claims is that they depend on the definition. I find the screen on the iPhone too small to enjoy gaming. So for me iPhone/Touch can't be the "best" iOS gaming device.
Having spent the last day playing on the mini, I find it a better device than the iPad 3. Obviously not because of the screen, but because of the weight. I find a lighter device more enjoyable to hold for longer periods. For me, that makes it "better".
The screen on the Mini is big enough to enjoy the games (it's only 1.8" smaller than my iPad 3). When I first got my iPad 3 I ran Infinity Blade (retina optimized) and compared it to my ipad 2. Guess what? I couldn't see the difference. I had to read an article that had side by side pictures and they had to point out what to look for. I don't call that a "big" difference.
Also the games that i play on my iPad are those few games that require the power of the A6/A6X chip.
Mini will defs be able to play 90% of games without any trouble for maybe 2 years.
There are no games that "require" the A6...
The iPad 4 destroys the mini in CPU, gpu, and screen and is a far better gaming device.
Nope, game playing device should be around 4-5 inch screen.
I used to own playbook 7 inch and gaming is still irritating because your finger can't reach all area while holding on to it.
Btw, if Ipad mini is just mainly for games then better invest more on Wii U. Games should be casual on the touch gadgets.
I'm surprised the iPad mini is handling games well such as Fifa. I'm interested to hear how the newest NOVA and Modern Combat 3 play. I assumed the performance would be sub-par because of the older chip.
Does this mean in a year games that come out will be sub par while my 8 month old iPad 3 is handling them just fine? I like the mini a lot but I feel like I'd be trading in for older technology
No big games such as NOVA3 can even run smoothly on the mini. Also no retina, No thanks. Ipad 4 is the best for gaming by FAR. Try playing modern combat as well. Or even try playing asphalt 7. They wont run anywhere near as smooth.
Also even if they can just manage to run those high end games now, they will fail in a year and be totally unplayable on the current mini. Also retina makes a huge difference.
Very good points, but that "sweet spot" will imo move to A6 in the next year. if not then by the iphone 6/ipad6 (2 years). Also the games that i play on my iPad are those few games that require the power of the A6/A6X chip. It all depends on what games you wanna play, you raise a good point with most developers wanting to hit that A5 sweet spot but like i was trying to infer before, is that the iphone 4 with the A4 chip was the sweet spot a couple years back. Mini will defs be able to play 90% of games without any trouble for maybe 2 years. The reason i got the 4 is because i want to be able to play 100% of all games pretty much without any staggering at all for the next three years (till i upgrade). As is said earlier i guess its up to what type of games you like.
Yeah i meant to say i play the games that are purposely made around the highest chip. For example when NOVA 3 came out, lots of effects were missing on the iphone 4 and ipad 2 in order for the device to be able to run smooth. I don't think games will actually require an iphone 5/ipad for a long time. Maybe 5 years. I didn't use the right words before lol.