"Hardcore" and Apple's new tablet

[TRexian 0]

Was just reading an article about the new Apple tablet gadget that hasn't even been unveiled yet.

But, I read something that made my skin crawl.

Smith thinks hard-core gamers will still own a console and use it as the primary gaming platform at home "for some years to come."

I'm sorry.... WTF? To be hard-core you use a console? Wow. Talk about a paradigm shift.

Look how low PC gaming has fallen in mainstream culture....

[SD_BOB 10]

Lets face it PC gaming in general is going down hill. Look at what we've seen over the past 5 years.

1) Shops selling PC games, have gone from displaying proudly walls covered with PC games, to stuffing them into a corner. Away from the all powerful and glorious console products.

2) Game development in general is being steered more and more towards kids. My god, i wouldnt have even dreamed of a PC game having rankin systems and awards and achievements for playing the game. But it seemed that more time is spent thinking of new ways to keep the short attention spanned kids playing for "prizes", than playing just for the sake of playing.

3) With exception of a few games ArmA included, the stock of players and people in general playing online pc games has been lowered so much. I used to remember playing Delta Force 2, getting up early on a sunday morning to play a few fun games. Where "playing" was almost a side part to the conversation and mutual respect players gave to each other. Again there are too many kids/idiots/ignorant people nowadays. Who moan about everything and dont seem to have anything in their vocabulary bar "noob" & "F*** Y**".

4) Not to mention the almost criminal console ports, that are just well..... You all know the answer to that one.

It almosts make's me want to give up gaming sometimes and in my opinon, if things dont change. PC gaming as we knew it, will cease to exist.

[Zipper5 74]

I do see myself only being able to play products from BIS and Valve on the PC in the future. I'll be forced to play games on a console more, which I don't want, but I also don't want to be stuck without any games. It's a really, really sad possibility. Especially given the mediocrity most console titles have...

[Takko 10]

Game development in general is being steered more and more towards kids. My god, i wouldnt have even dreamed of a PC game having rankin systems and awards and achievements for playing the game. But it seemed that more time is spent thinking of new ways to keep the short attention spanned kids playing for "prizes", than playing just for the sake of playing.

I disagree, games were more stupid in the past

[kavoven 4]

Its officially called iPad... I have to admit that I'm interested, but it can't play flashs, thats kinda weired...:confused:

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article7005290.ece

[-Snafu- 78]

iPad? How creative.

I checked the link above and looked at the 50 Best Console Games page and laughed and almost cried at this.

The first Modern Warfare game was good, but the new one racks the realism up a notch...

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6939481.ece

Lets face it PC gaming in general is going down hill. Look at what we've seen over the past 5 years.

Seems that way.

Edited January 27, 2010 by Snafu

[Binkowski 26]

Apple + Gaming = yeahh right. no.

[oyman 0]

[Madus_Maximus 0]

Apple + Gaming = yeahh right. no.

25,000 + games on the App Store in under 2 years suggests otherwise.

[norsu 180]

Apple + Gaming = yeahh right. no.

25,000 + games on the App Store in under 2 years suggests otherwise.

It's more like Apple + Mainstream gaming & big titles = yeahh right ;).

But about that tablet. I see it as a (quite lacking) tryout to create a proper netbook. I wouldn't be surprised if Lenovo, LG etc. would come up with a product that is as small and thin as iPad but much more capable. My vision would have a thin but sturdy keyboard you can flip under the device so it doubles as a tablet and netbook. And of course a small stand you can flip out of the device to make it stand alone on a desk.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Norsu

[Bavator 8]

Hm, as soon as my fav magazines and newspapers are availbable for the ipad, I´m gonna buy one, I think. But an Ipad for gaming ... pffffffffff....

To be hard-core you use a console?

Kewl. I' m hardcore since 1990 then (NES). AND I still have a SNES/Mega Drive. Triple-Hardcore!

[Madus_Maximus 0]

It's more like Apple + Mainstream gaming & big titles = yeahh right ;).

But about that tablet. I see it as a (quite lacking) tryout to create a proper netbook. I wouldn't be surprised if Lenovo, LG etc. would come up with a product that is as small and thin as iPad but much more capable. My vision would have a thin but sturdy keyboard you can flip under the device so it doubles as a tablet and netbook. And of course a small stand you can flip out of the device to make it stand alone on a desk.

It does, sort of. They have a dock device that has a keyboard on it that acts as a stand to prop it up like a photo frame.

The point of this isn't to be a generic do all thing, like pretty much all tablets have been in the past. In the past it was just a desktop OS with a touch skin on top for some parts of it, but the base OS was made for a mouse and keyboard. This is more specific to certain tasks (designed from the ground up for touch) like reading books (which can have interactive elements like videos and so on if the publisher wishes), watching movies, listening to music, browsing the web, using email and using the vast majority of all those Apps in the Appe Store that turn it into something totally different than out of the box.

What Apple tend to do is create something with limited functionality compared to other devices, but what it does do it does VERY well. It's not a "jack of all trades master of non" device. Think of how the iPhone didn't do some of the things other phones did, but what it did do it totally wiped the floor with those other phones, like web browsing and media consumption.

[Murklor 10]

But about that tablet. I see it as a (quite lacking) tryout to create a proper netbook. I wouldn't be surprised if Lenovo, LG etc. would come up with a product that is as small and thin as iPad but much more capable. My vision would have a thin but sturdy keyboard you can flip under the device so it doubles as a tablet and netbook. And of course a small stand you can flip out of the device to make it stand alone on a desk.

And the same has been said about the iPhone.

Face facts: Pure hardware isnt everything.

Its also about the software and how it affect the user. This Apple has perfected, rather than putting out a new phone with a new OS that hasnt got anything to do with the last phone and then repeat it 10 times over the year by adding keyboards, changing the screen or possibly releasing it under another manufacturers name.

I predict that the iPad will be quite popular. There is absolutely NO competition in its field AFAIK. But I wont be buying it personally: too expensive and I dont like the square with unused side space. In a slightly smaller format with an 8" widescreen, wifi and 3G internet for maybe $300-350 I would have bought it on release day. Because that is a type of hardware I've been longing for ever since Star Trek :D

[NoRailgunner 0]

Bigger screen = bigger i-wooble and 1000+ similar apps. We are living in a p0rn i-world.

Who knows maybe BIS is going to develop an app for "apple-i" fashion victims too?

[Murklor 10]

OFP Mobile would rock ;)

[norsu 180]

And the same has been said about the iPhone.

Face facts: Pure hardware isnt everything.

Hardware isn't everything but lack of it means quite a lot still. At the moment iPad is a big iPod with a few extra features. I wouldn't compare iPhone situation to this because iPhone is a couple of times smaller with very similar functions - functions that are more than enough for a smartphone that fits your pocket. Here's a quote from Engadget that sums my impressions very well:

The iPad takes all the disadvantages of a MID -- primarily the fact that it doesn't run a desktop-class operating system -- and combines it with all the disadvantages of a larger-format device, leaving you with a giant iPod touch. You can't carry it around the same way you do a smartphone (and even if you could, you couldn't make cell calls on it), but you also can't use it to run your favorite Mac apps on the go. What's more, it suffers from all of the same software restrictions the iPhone does -- you live in Apple's world and play by Apple's rules.

With a lighter version of OS X this device would make so much more sense to me. Add in USB outputs and 3GS by default and I'm sold :).

Edited January 28, 2010 by Norsu

[HotShot 0]

It looks too big to be portable enough to not have to carry it in a bag, but too small and without a keyboard to be of work/typing use - whats the point? The apple laptops don't seem much bigger than this, but you can have more functionality, and it seems everything you can do on this ipad you can already do in apples other small gadgets. This is just a massive iphone/ipod touch - a C21st ghetto blaster.

OFP Mobile would rock ;)

Ah, you mean like this, this too, and also this? here

[Balschoiw 0]

I´m not impressed with the Ipad. It has no USB, no slot for Memory cards, no external connectors. This is what I really love with my netbook. I have it with me on all travels, can insert the SD card of my camera and instantly use the photos or use the firewire interface to transfer the videos from my videocam. The USB slot is needed to connect external drives and a mobile DVD burner or the bluetooth device to connect my mobile phone or just a stick to swap some music.

There are no interfaces like that with the IPad at all and that´s really a big deficit imo. Those things need to be mobile, compact and connective. Ipad lacks big time in the last compartement and therefore will not be bought by me. Stylish or not, it´s the functionality that counts for me.

[joey_45 0]

Is it just me or is Star Trek is becomming a reality...

[vektorboson 8]

Is it just me or is Star Trek is becomming a reality...

Well, there was already the Nokia N800/N810 'pads':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaBJb8nkXac

(which btw can do multitasking...)

[Madus_Maximus 0]

For all those who "don't get it".

[norsu 180]

For all those who "don't get it".

Or maybe we just have different needs ;). For example I'm looking for a device that replaces my ACER A150 and iPad clearly isn't such a device but comes very close. That's why I'm giving my opinion so that some manufacturer (I don't care which) comes with a device I find suitable for my needs.

[Murklor 10]

Well, there was already the Nokia N800/N810 'pads':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaBJb8nkXac

(which btw can do multitasking...)

N800 is hardly a pad, its just a fat phone with a 4" screen.

The video Madus_Maximus posted is quite excellent, because it brings up a good point. I already have a 3GS that I'm more than satisifed with, but if I didnt and was interesting in getting one I would seriously consider getting the iPad+cheapass phone rather than the iPhone costing more than both. In this situation it matters little what functionality the iPad lacks since its the same as the iPhone.

[vektorboson 8]

N800 is hardly a pad, its just a fat phone with a 4" screen.

It's an internet tablet, not a phone. Please don't make uninformed statements.

[ricbar89 0]

That made you're skin crawl? Talk about getting worked up about nothing.

Just because you dont play ARMA on the PC doesnt mean you're not hardcore. If someone who plays Modern Warfare on their console 5 hours a day, mastering the game, is fanatic in there interest of the game they're hardcore, and theres more Modern Warefare players then most games. Sorry if you want to claim such a widely used term for a small group of PC gamers but its not the definition.

Total non issue to be making threads about.