Hey everyone, I hope your term is going well, whether that is a school or work term – though gaming is much easier on a work term, of course. With the holiday season fast approaching, the big game manufacturers, developers, and distributors are all looking forward to pretty much the biggest money making season of the entire year, and this year, we actually have a new console to watch for. But there is also a fundamental shift in the gaming industry that is becoming more apparent each month, and that is the rise of tablet gaming as a distinct entity apart from the traditional mobile gaming market.
Over the last few years, mobile gaming has exploded on iOS and Android phones and tablets, with quick simple games becoming the dominant entry in the developing market. These games are commonly offered for a very low introductory price (or free) then supported by microtransactions over the lifetime of the game. So far, tablets have basically just been used as a larger screen for the same games, or with the occasional tablet-only game that is actually developed to take advantage of the improved specs of a tablet. Recently, Nintendo Executive Vice-President Sales and Marketing Scott Moffit acknowledged “the growth of tablets and their ability to play games” and they are approaching this change in their own way with the introduction of the Wii U and its new gamepad. The Wii U tablet style gamepad is unique among tablets in that it has actual gamepad controls (analog stick, buttons, and triggers) as opposed to using standard onscreen digital joysticks. There is no denying that tablets have a way to go before they become truly viable as a gaming system, especially in terms of controls. After playing a couple of tower defense and FPS games on my tablet (Acer Iconia Tab A500), the fundamental problem of your fingers blocking the onscreen image is definitely an issue, but there are a number of companies that are trying to change that.
First, an upcoming tablet called the “WikiPad” is a full-featured Android-based tablet with a special controller style docking station. The tablet features an NVIDIA Tegra quad-core processor and a twelve core GPU for amazing specs, and is optimized to run games using its controller docking station instead of the standard touch screen controls. The great thing about the WikiPad is that when you aren’t gaming, it is a fully functional Android tablet with access to all the same apps as any other tablet – it isn’t a specialty system with a single purpose like standard mobile gaming systems. While the Wikipad has currently been delayed to optimize its specs, it will be released soon, and will hopefully spur development of more tablet optimized games.
Another approach to tablet gaming control involves an external controller while the tablet itself functions as the screen only. Nyko is releasing their new PlayPad and PlayPad Pro controllers, having already shipped the product to retailers. The controllers connect to Android tablets and smartphones, and an accompanying app, Playground, enables controller support on games that were not specifically designed for the controllers, with user-defined control schemes. Nyko is offering two sizes of controller, the PlayPad, which is a miniature controller with phone stand included, and the PlayPad Pro, which is a full-sized console-style controller. Both packages are supposed to retail for $40, and should be available soon.
Both the WikiPad and Nyko PlayPad represent a shift towards viable controls for tablet gaming, and as a result, the potential for a new section of mobile gaming. Eventually, we may see more tablet-only games taking advantage of the better processors and graphics capabilities over a smartphone. As Microsoft has now released the iOS version of its Xbox SmartGlass app in addition to the Android version, some people may have noticed that tablets have mysteriously been left out. While support is expected eventually, the only tablets currently supported on SmartGlass are on a Windows 8 based system. Hopefully, this will change soon and game developers will start to develop for this great new app. With improved controls, console connectivity, and rapidly advancing specs, tablet gaming is definitely a newly emerging section of the gaming market.
In other news, the ease of access to gaming news on the internet has claimed another victim. The Official Playstation Magazine will cease publication after this year’s holiday issue, ending a print run of five years since taking over as the “Official” magazine for Playstation in 2007 (the magazine itself has been in print since 1997). Playstation Magazine is the latest casualty after the same publisher, Future US, announced this summer that Nintendo Power Magazine will also cease publication in December, 2012. Nintendo Power Magazine has been in publication for 24 years. This now leaves Official Xbox Magazine (OXM) as the only official console specific magazine in print, though how long that will last is questionable. With many print publications focusing on digital distribution, it is only a matter of time before hardcopy distribution becomes too expensive. When you can find out the latest gaming news on your favourite gaming sites as soon as it is available (one of my new sources is Polygon.com), who wants to wait a month for a magazine filled with old news? I have ended up throwing out most of my back issues of OXM because the previews are for games I stopped playing years ago, and the reviews are often biased – I even cancelled my subscription earlier this year.
We are currently in a period of change within the gaming industry, both in terms of technology and platforms, and the way we get our news. In the meantime, take a look at some of the emerging markets and technology, and Keep on Gaming.
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