iPad Pro Why is gaming lagging so far behind hardware?

[erik001]

Just bought new iPad Pro 12.9er. Owned iPads in past but have drifted back to PC, I missed gaming, bought this bad boy to try and rekindle my artistic side and re-visit iPad. My art attempts aside. I've been disappointed getting my 'game-fix' as I noticed a fair 'chunk' of my old iPad pay-for games haven't been updated, bugs galore, in over a year or more. What gives? Those crappy free games still seem to reign supreme and the decent pay games seem to be left for dead. Also I would swear the App Store seems like it purposely directs my searches to crap, why?

I don't understand how the gaming market has been so neglected and run astray with the gimmick flash in the pan 'free' games. Those clone MMO games are like a malignancy consuming the APP store. Anyway seems like the hardware is there so where the heck are the games? Why aren't more gaming companies even putting money into older ports, surely Baulder's Gate was a success? The upcoming Total War Rome port will likely be successful, so again what gives?

 

[gobikerider]

Just bought new iPad Pro 12.9er. Owned iPads in past but have drifted back to PC, I missed gaming, bought this bad boy to try and rekindle my artistic side and re-visit iPad. My art attempts aside. I've been disappointed getting my 'game-fix' as I noticed a fair 'chunk' of my old iPad pay-for games haven't been updated, bugs galore, in over a year or more. What gives? Those crappy free games still seem to reign supreme and the decent pay games seem to be left for dead. Also I would swear the App Store seems like it purposely directs my searches to crap, why?

I don't understand how the gaming market has been so neglected and run astray with the gimmick flash in the pan 'free' games. Those clone MMO games are like a malignancy consuming the APP store. Anyway seems like the hardware is there so where the heck are the games? Why aren't more gaming companies even putting money into older ports, surely Baulder's Gate was a success? The upcoming Total War Rome port will likely be successful, so again what gives?

Mario is coming in December as a Free Demo but a single purchase for everything. Games will get better once Nintendo begins monopolizing the Appstore

 

[bufffilm]

I'm no expert, but I think gaming on the iPad...even the top of the line model, is out of vogue.

Has been that way for some time.

I'm not saying you couldn't do it, just that it's not a big thing anymore.

Even w/Mario coming soon.

 

[erik001]

Yeah, I know gaming is taboo for us grown-ups as we should use these for work or rather 'productivity' endeavors. But for folks like me that have no monetary purpose vested in this and willing to openly admit I endugle in games as an adult. I sure would like to play a decent fully realized game on this. Shoot I'd even shell out dough to play a full blown PC game. Granted I completely admit this interface not well suited for FPS type genre, but I'd argue prefect for games like Europa Universalis and Civilization.

 

[Richdmoore]

Yeah, I know gaming is taboo for us grown-ups as we should use these for work or rather 'productivity' endeavors. But for folks like me that have no monetary purpose vested in this and willing to openly admit I endugle in games as an adult. I sure would like to play a decent fully realized game on this. Shoot I'd even shell out dough to play a full blown PC game. Granted I completely admit this interface not well suited for FPS type genre, but I'd argue prefect for games like Europa Universalis and Civilization.

Pay to win games simply have taken over the App Store.. sad but true.

If you are looking for iOS game sites, I would check out toucharcade and AfterPad.

 

[Eric5273]

The problem is that most people are not willing to pay for games. So if a new game is released that cost any decent amount of money, nobody will buy it and it will die. Gone are the days when you had to purchase a game cartridge for $30 to own a game. Just like the music industry, people are not willing to pay money for something that they cannot hold in their hand, whether it be a compact disc or a game cartridge. The day these things went digital spelled the end of people willing to pay for them.

So the only way to have a successful game these days is to give it away for free, and then have in app purchases that "enhance" your gaming experience. You mentioned these "clone MMO games", but that is the only gaming model that seems to be profitable on mobile devices.

And BTW, there are some great ones. I play a game called "Arcane Legends". I have played other PC-based MMOs, and Arcane Legends is right up there with them. But for every game like that, there are obviously a ton of junky ones.

 

[Pakaku]

Besides reasons already mentioned, it's just a fact that gaming on a touch-screen sucks, plain and simple, unless you over-simplify the controls (which is partially why the Mario game is an endless runner) or if the game genre is simple or slow-paced enough that the touch screen doesn't significantly impede your gameplay.

 

[Marco123]

Personally I feel that Apple missed the boat as far as gaming is concerned. They had the gaming world at their fingertips and screwed up.
They have done nothing to help and when I see them promoting how powerful their mobile chips are, I have yet to play anything similar to what consoles provide.
It's the exact same with Apple TV, it could have been a real competitor but all they did was over lock an iPhone 5 mobile cpu and call it a day.
But a Xbox One and a Windows desktop/laptop and try the streaming methods provided and you'll see why Apple are no longer the forefront in what you want.

 

[Skika]

Touch screen makes it an issue for real gaming.

 

[psac]

I'm with you. I love my Mini2 as a game device, but the availability of good games is small. I'm "lucky" in that I never played a number of Final Fantasy games back in the day, so I'm going through FF9 now, and that's a 40-50 hour game. I only play a few hours a week (except on vacation), so something like that can last me months. And there are some quality games/ports out there (Bastion, Banner Saga, BattleHeart Legacy, Heroes & Castles 1 & 2, XCOM, Transistor, etc), but they are few and far between. There's a lot of crapware out there for all of the reasons stated above. The crapware is what makes money, for devs and for Apple. It's very sad.

 

[gobikerider]

I'm with you. I love my Mini2 as a game device, but the availability of good games is small. I'm "lucky" in that I never played a number of Final Fantasy games back in the day, so I'm going through FF9 now, and that's a 40-50 hour game. I only play a few hours a week (except on vacation), so something like that can last me months. And there are some quality games/ports out there (Bastion, Banner Saga, BattleHeart Legacy, Heroes & Castles 1 & 2, XCOM, Transistor, etc), but they are few and far between. There's a lot of crapware out there for all of the reasons stated above. The crapware is what makes money, for devs and for Apple. It's very sad.

Mini 2 still kicking eh, how's the A7 doing these days?

 

[GoldfishRT]

I play a lot of games on iOS and there's still awesome stuff coming out. You're right in that most of it gets buried under the stuff that actually makes money.

I'm replaying through XCOM and Baldur's Gate. Slowly making my way through Monster Hunter to get to where I was in my previous save (I'm so happy they fixed the game). I play Minecraft and Hearthstone with some work friends. Generally it's an awesome time.

As for recent awesome games, PinOut and Lumines have proven to be great time wasters, and I'll get to Jade Empire eventually.

In terms of graphical fidelity - the developers have to weigh whether destroying battery life is worth the prettier stuff. iPad Pros are stupid powerful but I have no doubt that a truly A tier game with the best graphics the machine could pump out would result in the battery only lasting a few hours.

 

[beernut]

Touch screen makes it an issue for real gaming.

touch screen is an issue for games that you've been trained on and used to over years and years of handheld control and or keyboard/mouse combo.

but for games that put real thought and effort into touch based controls from the ground up, it can be just as enjoyable.

-i didn't think anything could top my tetris dx playing time on gameboy, but i think Bejeweled (lightning mode) on ipad has done it.

-Monument Valley is like a soothing interactive version of Inception

-Not sure how long Lost in Harmony has been out but if anyone hasn't tried it yet, give it a go. I thought it was decent on iphone but then i gave it a go on the ipad 12.9 and it is absolutely mind-blowing; sights, sounds/music, and touch all come together in near perfect...er...harmony

 

[psac]

Mini 2 still kicking eh, how's the A7 doing these days?

Mostly fine. I had one memorable crash on Heroes & Castles 2 after an hour or so on endless mode that was a major bummer, but I don't know how much of that was the device or the game (which is a great one.) It's aging though, I'm hoping they do come out with a mini-sized pro in the spring, they'll get my money for that one, I'm due.

 

[fuchsdh]

I think there's a couple of issues here. The first is that Apple is not a gaming company. They don't appear to have anyone there who actually remotely understands games. That's not conducive to a platform's health as a place for games.

The second is that the App Store was virgin territory. No one knew what it was going to be, what the economics were going to shake out as. You had crazy expensive games, you had cheap or free ones, you had apps that existed solely to show that you were rich because you bought a crazy expensive app that did nothing.

In that tumultuous environment... we got the games we have now. Partially I think this is the fault of gaming companies refusing to accept that they might have to change their business models to work on this new platform, part of it was the actual interface not lending itself to a lot of what people considered AAA gaming at the time, and partially I think it's that games and stuff like productivity software are not at all created equal, but sticking them into the same store creates cross-genre expectations that games couldn't get out of. And so we ended up with games never being more than $10, often much less.

And now you have to make up that money *somewhere* else, because games development, unlike a lot of industries and disciplines, hasn't gotten cheaper. And those iOS updates are coming out often, so you're going to have to actively maintain your game much longer if you want it to be viable. And so games as a service has become the inexorable trend a lot of games (including now the AAA console space) are bending towards.

 

[blkjedi954]

Just bought new iPad Pro 12.9er. Owned iPads in past but have drifted back to PC, I missed gaming, bought this bad boy to try and rekindle my artistic side and re-visit iPad. My art attempts aside. I've been disappointed getting my 'game-fix' as I noticed a fair 'chunk' of my old iPad pay-for games haven't been updated, bugs galore, in over a year or more. What gives? Those crappy free games still seem to reign supreme and the decent pay games seem to be left for dead. Also I would swear the App Store seems like it purposely directs my searches to crap, why?

I don't understand how the gaming market has been so neglected and run astray with the gimmick flash in the pan 'free' games. Those clone MMO games are like a malignancy consuming the APP store. Anyway seems like the hardware is there so where the heck are the games? Why aren't more gaming companies even putting money into older ports, surely Baulder's Gate was a success? The upcoming Total War Rome port will likely be successful, so again what gives?

There are tons of great console quality games. Some are hard to find others have been removed(but some have come back). I'll attach a pic of my games and let you decide. See my next reply

 

[jamesrick80]

There are tons of great console quality games. Some are hard to find others have been removed(but some have come back). I'll attach a pic of my games and let you decide. See my next reply

I will like to see your game list as well...thanks

 

[TheRealAlex]

Mario is coming in December as a Free Demo but a single purchase for everything. Games will get better once Nintendo begins monopolizing the Appstore

Yeah Nintendo Is really taking No Prisoners, they Partnered with NVIDIA to kill the Shield Tablet and Shield TV.
And soon they will be releasing Tons of Nintendo Branded App Store Simple Games for very cheap but they are super Simple Pokémon Go and Mario Run, so people appetite gets wet for more Full featured Nintendo Games which can be found on the Nintendo Switch release date late March 2017.

So we only get a tiny sample taste test on the App Store.

I for one would like to see $10 or $20 Full Featured games that take Full Support of the iPad Pro GPU which is close or better than an Xbox 360. Problem is due to Heat and Battery I doubt the GPU can run at Max Power for more than 10 minutes.

 

[erik001]

There are tons of great console quality games. Some are hard to find others have been removed(but some have come back). I'll attach a pic of my games and let you decide. See my next reply

I would agree there are some good ones, but my concern is they aren't receiving updates and their bugs aren't being addressed, leaving some unplayable. I sure wish a 'top dog' at apple was a closet gamer...come on IVY!! LOL

 

[Abazigal]

There are still good paid games out there, just have to know where to look. Toucharcade is a good place to keep abreast of the latest games.

Offhand, I can recommend implosion, batman telltale series, oceanhorn, transistor, battleheart legacy, adventures of pip, dust: elysian tale. Most support game controllers as well, which is always a nice plus.

 

[M. Gustave]

...I've been disappointed getting my 'game-fix' as I noticed a fair 'chunk' of my old iPad pay-for games haven't been updated, bugs galore, in over a year or more. What gives? Those crappy free games still seem to reign supreme and the decent pay games seem to be left for dead. Also I would swear the App Store seems like it purposely directs my searches to crap, why?

I don't understand how the gaming market has been so neglected and run astray with the gimmick flash in the pan 'free' games...

Agree 100%. The "Freemium" concept is a scam, and is ruining the App Store. Also what happened to that story that Apple was going to remove any app that hasn't been updated in the last year? Obviously that hasn't happened.

When game makers had to put rock solid code on 150,000 game cartridges or CD-ROMs, you had better quality, period. Now the attitude of all software companies (including and especially Apple) is that all software is "beta". Release it asap, fix bugs if possible in future push updates. I would pay $20 or $30 for a fully realized iOS port of a Nintendo DS game for example, without bugs or "in-app purchases".

The current trend is so stupidly short-sighted. Many people literally decide to go all-in on Apple products based solely on the reputation of the App Store ecosystem. Apple is trashing that reputation now.

 

[bufffilm]

Agree 100%. The "Freemium" concept is a scam, and is ruining the App Store. Also what happened to that story that Apple was going to remove any app that hasn't been updated in the last year? Obviously that hasn't happened.

When game makers had to put rock solid code on 150,000 game cartridges or CD-ROMs, you had better quality, period. Now the attitude of all software companies (including and especially Apple) is that all software is "beta". Release it asap, fix bugs if possible in future push updates. I would pay $20 or $30 for a fully realized iOS port of a Nintendo DS game for example, without bugs or "in-app purchases".

The current trend is so stupidly short-sighted. Many people literally decide to go all-in on Apple products based solely on the reputation of the App Store ecosystem. Apple is trashing that reputation now.

Nice to see your rose-colored glasses are off for this topic at least...

A lot needs to be fixed with the whole App Store, how it's run and governed, much less the future direction we need to promote better software and revenue potential for software developers.

We needed it revamped even before the Pro 12.9" debuted in 2015 and Apple hasn't done squat except sit back and collect money from it and abdicated any responsible governorship.

Now the chickens have come home to roost...way to go, Apple.

 

[psac]

There are still good paid games out there, just have to know where to look. Toucharcade is a good place to keep abreast of the latest games.

Offhand, I can recommend implosion, batman telltale series, oceanhorn, transistor, battleheart legacy, adventures of pip, dust: elysian tale. Most support game controllers as well, which is always a nice plus.

The only one of those I don't have is Pip. Never heard of it. All good games, though I liked Bastion more than Transistor. I couldn't really get the hang of Transistor's combat system, and gave up on it after a while. I think user error, though. I should get back to that one.