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Technology Behind Hit Videogames Comes to iPhone and Ipad

The Mac will probably never be THE system for gaming, but iOS just might.
 
What is needed from a hardware point of view to make BIG titles run on the iPad and phone?

We have a 1Ghz CPU which sounds great.

Though I'm fully aware 1 Ghz means nothing unless it's in a table against other CPU's also running at 1Ghz.

Do we need more GPU speed?

I guess we need more GPU memory for texture storage, and more RAM for the program to actually run in.

And or course more storage also :)

I'd be interested is anyone could work out what spec PC the iPad as it is now nearest matches?

Pentium 2 at 800Mhx with a Voodoo2 card?

Better than that?

Reason I'd be interested as then you could have a better idea of the type of game, from that era that should run well on the iPad.

Doom2 for instance should run great, and I can't understand why it's not been converted as it's a classic.

Quake 2 I think will run ok and that's 1997 based and back then many PC's had to struggle a bit to run it ultra smooth.

I'd love the iPad to be THE mobile/Home gaming platform as I hated tiny 3" screen on the Nintendo and Sony games portables.
 
Piggie said:
What is needed from a hardware point of view to make BIG titles run on the iPad and phone?

We have a 1Ghz CPU which sounds great.

Though I'm fully aware 1 Ghz means nothing unless it's in a table against other CPU's also running at 1Ghz.

Do we need more GPU speed?

I guess we need more GPU memory for texture storage, and more RAM for the program to actually run in.

And or course more storage also :)

I'd be interested is anyone could work out what spec PC the iPad as it is now nearest matches?

Pentium 2 at 800Mhx with a Voodoo2 card?

Better than that?

Reason I'd be interested as then you could have a better idea of the type of game, from that era that should run well on the iPad.

Doom2 for instance should run great, and I can't understand why it's not been converted as it's a classic.

Quake 2 I think will run ok and that's 1997 based and back then many PC's had to struggle a bit to run it ultra smooth.

I'd love the iPad to be THE mobile/Home gaming platform as I hated tiny 3" screen on the Nintendo and Sony games portables.
Click to expand...
Considering it can run the Rage engine and Unreal 3 engine and result in graphics like Rage and Infinity Blade, I'd say the iPad is much more capable than Doom and Quake. The word from John Carmack is that it's closer to an Xbox 360 than anything, and far surpasses the DS or PSP, and even outclasses next year's 3DS. :)
 
EssentialParado said:
Considering it can run the Rage engine and Unreal 3 engine and result in graphics like Rage and Infinity Blade, I'd say the iPad is much more capable than Doom and Quake. The word from John Carmack is that it's closer to an Xbox 360 than anything, and far surpasses the DS or PSP, and even outclasses next year's 3DS. :)
Click to expand...

Far being for me to be sceptical of statements.

But I don't believe this :)

Or rather the 3D game engines they are talking about. There is something very fishy going on.

There is a difference between a tech demo which is just the world being rendered and nothing happening, and an actual game.

So far games that looks ultra impressive look (and an saying just look) like they are using pre rendered stuff, almost like movie playing, and also camera viewpoint panning around a pre rendered scene.

I don't know how they are doing these very fancy games, but I'm sure there's a lot of smoke and mirrors going on. And we are not actually getting what we think we are getting.
 
I like where gaming is headed for the mobile platforms. It will be a while before we see mainstream games that made portable gaming entertaining on the iPad though. I am talking games like Pokemon, and the likes of those.

For me, when Pokemon came out, everyone bought a Gameboy. If they could make games that were much more multiplayer-friendly, they will succeed very quickly.
 
If only we could see Nintendo convert their games and write games for the iPad

Unfortunately I can't see that happening in my lifetime.

Zelda on the iPad = Happy Happy Joy Joy.

This is what I mean by PROPER BIG games.

"Ocarina Of Time" one of the best games ever and it ran on a N64
 
3DFX Voodoo II. Now that's old-skool! :D
In console terms, the iPad & iPhone 4 definitely are better than a PlayStation 1, though not as good(albeit higher resolution) than a PS2.
I'd say it's Dreamcast level.
In PC terms, a 1997-8 spec Pentium II with a Voodoo I or II, as a previous poster said, seems about right.
 
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iOS will never be a serious gaming rig without hardware controls. Granted there is some amazing stuff on iOS, and maybe it will create a new genre. But even the big players are having to make serious compromise. Look at 2 of the bigger players, of which I have purchased both games. RageHD (and Doom resurrection before it) is beautiful, but it was made as a game on rails because they knew it wouldn't play anywhere decently as a FPS. Infinity blade also, while beautiful, still makes compromises even from it's tech demo which hinted at having free reign instead of being on rails.

I think the game which comes closest to a FPS shooter is NOVA, but it's still a huge pita to control anything with the virtual joystick. Dungeon Hunter wasn't too bad, but still would have been much nicer with a hardware joystick or joypad. There is a reason why games like Angry Birds are on the top of the sales lists.
 
i agree the no controller is a bit of a drag. it would be sweet if apple supported it via bluetooth. all they would need is a software upgrade with a new lib and the developers could take advantage of it.
 
I'd also like to add my name to the list of people who think Apple need to basically make a BlueTooth joystick controller if they really want to be taken seriously in the games market.

Yes, some games play superb on a touch screen, totally brilliant.

But FPS games, driving games, platform games, anything that needs quick controls and very responsive and 100% accurate feedback it just hopeless

I've tried the soft buttons on screen, but without anything physical your fingers just lose track of the control limits.

And be honest, with some games, you don't really want your hands over the screen.

Anyone else would do it. But I fear, Apple will see it as failure if they do.

Like the Stylus thing, it's not admitting failure at all, it's giving people the options to use the best tools for the job.

Steve: Not everything works best with fingers on a touchscreen.
 
Acorn said:
i agree the no controller is a bit of a drag. it would be sweet if apple supported it via bluetooth. all they would need is a software upgrade with a new lib and the developers could take advantage of it.
Click to expand...

Yep this is part of Apple's weird strategy to introduce potentially game changing advances, then let poor implementation and support ruin them. Like facetime, A2DP, etc the reason why they wait sometimes literally years to implement these type of things is beyond me. The ipad could be a serious gaming contender, and I don't mean Angry Birds, but Apple for some reason just isn't putting in the innovation to cross those last 10 yards.

A bluetooth controller would be pretty awesome. The other issue affecting this though is battery life. 45 minutes on Infinity Blade and your ipad is pretty much toast.
 
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