iPad Games (and Apps) Catch All

I have really been enjoying my limited play time so far! I wish I had more of the weekend to devote towards playing with the device. Some random thoughts:

I went to BestBuy yesterday shortly after opening. I hadn't reserved anything, but I wanted to see what the typing experience was like. After typing a few paragraphs into notes, I was hooked. Got in line and picked up a 32GB model. Netflix streaming is what sold me on the device. Once I saw that, and several of the new upcoming apps, I knew that so long as I could type on it reasonably well, I would get one. Netflix streaming is the bee's knees.

On the non gaming front: GoodReader is a must have app, and at .99 cent you can't go wrong. Syncs with Google Docs and you can upload just about any file type via wireless server to the iPad (massive PDFs, movies, whatever). The interface is crisp, and more important, the documentation in the app is top notch.

I didn't splurge on a lot of apps/games yet. CivRev is overpriced compared with the iPhone/iPod version, but it sings on the iPad in terms of playability. We've already gotten in a couple of games of Small World. As Rabbit mentioned, no AI, but flawless 2 player experience.

Didn't bother re-buying PvZ, as it plays just fine and looks okay using the iPhone version at 2x resolution. Same with Ingenious.

I do think that if it were $100/$150 less that would be the sweet spot for many buyers. As it stands though, I am really impressed and very happy with my purchase.

Last note on gaming: I run an occasional Warhammer Fantasy (3rd Edition) Roleplaying group. I have plans to use this to showcase NPCs pictures, thematic pics of buildings/areas, and to display battle maps and the like.

Really looking forward to seeing what sort of great apps and games come out in the next 6 months!

So far I have enjoyed Dungeon Hunter, Plants vs Zombies, Civ Rev and some of the iPhone apps scale up nicely like Bejewled 2 and Inotia 2. I am waiting for the prices to go down to try out some of the other stuff.

If you are a developer and get an iPad, check out the developer docs on it:

iPhone RefLib

My team spent an unbelievable amount of time and effort completely redoing the interface to the reference docs, and I think it turned out quite nicely.

Gravey wrote:

Posting to subscribe and live vicariously through rabbit's thoughts and the rest of you. The videos I saw of Small World are almost enough to tip me over the edge, despite the board game being a tenth of the price and no reasonable role for a tablet in our home's digital ecosystem. Got a big tax return, but also got a wedding to pay for. But holy crap, it's Small World on an iPad! If Fantasy Flight starts putting games on it, then it's all over.

Unfortunately Fantasy Flight just doesn't get it when it comes to digital gaming, at least not yet. Days of Wonder has done a great job with online implementations of their games so its no surprise to see them jump on the iPad. Small World is the perfect pick as it has no hidden information. Why only two player though? Is it just the map size that best fits on the screen?

If Fantasy Flight does ever get their act together though... yeah, I'd be getting an iPad for sure

I'm curious if anyone will try to make a game that requires both iPhones/touches and an iPad? Imagine a board game like Modern Art or something. The iPad is the central play board and each player uses their iPod for their personal hand of cards. Flick your card towards the iPad and it plays it, etc. Something like that could be wildly cool.

Looking forward to hearing more impressions on the device. I'm certainly curious but think I will hold out for at least the 2nd gen of it.

Dreaded Gazebo wrote:

I'm curious if anyone will try to make a game that requires both iPhones/touches and an iPad? Imagine a board game like Modern Art or something. The iPad is the central play board and each player uses their iPod for their personal hand of cards. Flick your card towards the iPad and it plays it, etc. Something like that could be wildly cool.

Scrabble does this.

I expect more board games will do it as well, since it is otherwise rather limiting to only be able to play games with no hidden aspects...

I'll be going to Jacksonville this year for a quick trip. Thinking of saving up some money!
Until then, I will have to enjoy it through you guys

Oh! I forgot about Sword of Fargoal: Legends. I love that game. It takes me back to the old C64 days.

So, what's the consensus on 16 vs 32 GB? Both seem like a minuscule amount of memory for the price of the device. I'm lusting for one but trying to not bust the budget too much, so I'm looking at the 16GB version. I'm just afraid that won't amount to near enough space without any kind of flash card or USB port. Can you access DropBox or something with the iPad, and store another 5 GB of stuff on that and access it?

I wanted to get an e-reader with a work bonus I just got, and almost pulled the trigger on a Kindle 2 Fri night. I agonized all weekend (it's still sitting in my cart on amazon...). In the end I can't see spending $300 on the HW (reader plus cover), then more $ per document, just to have DRM'd, proprietary format data. Especially when, for just a little bit more, I could get an iPad that does so much more...

Someone talk me into or out of it. Teh Tech-Lust, it is strong.

Also, did I read correctly that there is no muti-tasking, but only for 3rd party apps? Does this mean 1st party apps can muti-task? I assume they did this so some crappy programmer doesn't create an app that pegs the device regularly, resulting in people thinking it sucks or something?

No! I don't have money!

Khoram wrote:

Can you access DropBox or something with the iPad, and store another 5 GB of stuff on that and access it?

Yes. There's even a handy-dandy "Open in Pages" or "Open in Numbers" button that pops up when you load a document through the DropBox website. I'm sure a native iPad app is forthcoming as well.

Khoram wrote:

Also, did I read correctly that there is no muti-tasking, but only for 3rd party apps? Does this mean 1st party apps can muti-task? I assume they did this so some crappy programmer doesn't create an app that pegs the device regularly, resulting in people thinking it sucks or something?

Yep. As an iPhone user, I'm used to the concept of running one thing at a time. This is not your laptop, with AIM, TweetDeck, and Mail all open at all times. But with push notifications, I never really feel the need with my iPhone to have two things up, even if it COULD handle it, processor-wise.

Khoram it is not like an iPod where you want your whole music collection on it. Spacewise it is really up to what you want to do I think. Apps are tiny, it is more do you want to carry around dozens of movies, thousands of pictures or all of your music for some reason. A 16gb should be plenty.

You can access drop box with apps, GoodReader being the best one.

If your primary task is reading I would get an eink device. If you want media, apps and Internet the iPad is the winner.

No multitasking although it is rumored for OS4.

Deadron wrote:

Scrabble does this.

I expect more board games will do it as well, since it is otherwise rather limiting to only be able to play games with no hidden aspects...

Hah, nice! That is pretty cool. I'm certainly not going to run out and get an iPad and iPhone to do this but for folks that already have all the hardware it seems like a pretty cool way to play games and more importantly take them with you.

An entire mobile board game collection? Yes please.

Warlock wrote:
Khoram wrote:

Can you access DropBox or something with the iPad, and store another 5 GB of stuff on that and access it?

Yes. There's even a handy-dandy "Open in Pages" or "Open in Numbers" button that pops up when you load a document through the DropBox website. I'm sure a native iPad app is forthcoming as well.

that's great!

Khoram wrote:

Also, did I read correctly that there is no muti-tasking, but only for 3rd party apps? Does this mean 1st party apps can muti-task? I assume they did this so some crappy programmer doesn't create an app that pegs the device regularly, resulting in people thinking it sucks or something?

Yep. As an iPhone user, I'm used to the concept of running one thing at a time. This is not your laptop, with AIM, TweetDeck, and Mail all open at all times. But with push notifications, I never really feel the need with my iPhone to have two things up, even if it COULD handle it, processor-wise.

Well, as an Android user, I'm used to running many things at the same time. So, if I'm reading comics with my comic reader, and I get email, I get a notification without having to close the reader and open my mail app.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Khoram it is not like an iPod where you want your whole music collection on it. Spacewise it is really up to what you want to do I think. Apps are tiny, it is more do you want to carry around dozens of movies, thousands of pictures or all of your music for some reason. A 16gb should be plenty.

You can access drop box with apps, GoodReader being the best one.

If your primary task is reading I would get an eink device. If you want media, apps and Internet the iPad is the winner.

No multitasking although it is rumored for OS4.

Awesome, thanks for the reply. While I anticipate doing modest reading on it, the combination of reading + other media (Netflix streaming? Yes please!) + apps + internet makes me think a more PC-like tablet device is a better investment.

rabbit wrote:

My son has been Playing dungeon hunter on it for the last hour. Not sure I'll ever get it back.

Do you get slowdown when typing on gwj threads with a lot of posts? This has been an issue for me on the iPhone for a while.

Also, if iPhone apps work on the ipad I suggest you try the Murcury browser. Better tab support and full screen browsing. I've been using it for a few weeks on my iPhone and I love it.

Edit: To clarify, by "a lot of posts" I ment "a lot on a single page." whenever a new page is started and it only has 1 or 2 posts the slowdown goes away.

Dreaded Gazebo wrote:

Days of Wonder has done a great job with online implementations of their games so its no surprise to see them jump on the iPad. Small World is the perfect pick as it has no hidden information. Why only two player though? Is it just the map size that best fits on the screen?

If Fantasy Flight does ever get their act together though... yeah, I'd be getting an iPad for sure

Small World is only $4.99, which I think is one reason why they limited it to 2 players. Perhaps depending on the success of this app, they might come out with a full 2-4 player version (definitely doable on the iPad) for a higher price point.

IIRC FFG was hiring some developers; I can't remember what technologies were listed though. The one encouraging thing is that if FFG enters the arena, they have the resources to ramp quickly and in a grand way.

Apple has announced iPhone OS 4.0 event for this week: iPhone 4.0 Event on April 8th. Looks like we'll get to see what the next version will be capable of, and I assume that will include the iPad.

Khoram wrote:

Well, as an Android user, I'm used to running many things at the same time. So, if I'm reading comics with my comic reader, and I get email, I get a notification without having to close the reader and open my mail app.

As you alluded to in your original post, Apple does allow multi-tasking, but only for their own apps. That means that you WILL get email notifications and other alerts while doing other things. They also allow multi-tasking with the iPod app, so you can listen to music while doing other things. Push notifications have become much more prevalent, too, so you can get texts and other pop-ups in the middle of whatever you're currently doing.

Of course, with this OS4 announcement coming in a few days, I guess this is all kind of moot. Seems sort of weird to me that Apple would push out the iPad and THEN discuss the new OS within the same week. Why not just launch the iPad with the new OS? I suppose that must mean that while it's being announced now, it will still take a while to hit.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Khoram it is not like an iPod where you want your whole music collection on it. Spacewise it is really up to what you want to do I think. Apps are tiny, it is more do you want to carry around dozens of movies, thousands of pictures or all of your music for some reason. A 16gb should be plenty.

You can access drop box with apps, GoodReader being the best one.

If your primary task is reading I would get an eink device. If you want media, apps and Internet the iPad is the winner.

No multitasking although it is rumored for OS4.

The storage space is an issue for me, as well. There's no way 16 gigs is enough, and 32 is pushing it, especially if you're planning on using it for video.

I have a 32 gig iPhone, and it's damn near filled with apps, songs and videos. Ideally, I'd have 128 gigs.

TheCounselor wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:

Khoram it is not like an iPod where you want your whole music collection on it. Spacewise it is really up to what you want to do I think. Apps are tiny, it is more do you want to carry around dozens of movies, thousands of pictures or all of your music for some reason. A 16gb should be plenty.

You can access drop box with apps, GoodReader being the best one.

If your primary task is reading I would get an eink device. If you want media, apps and Internet the iPad is the winner.

No multitasking although it is rumored for OS4.

The storage space is an issue for me, as well. There's no way 16 gigs is enough, and 32 is pushing it, especially if you're planning on using it for video.

I have a 32 gig iPhone, and it's damn near filled with apps, songs and videos. Ideally, I'd have 128 gigs.

It sounds like you like to keep your phone loaded for bear. I actually sync my ipod touch (and now iPad) on a case-by-case basis. My touch will contain the majority of synced music and podcasts (though I have several hundred GB of music at this point so I have to manage it already to some extent), and I'll sync specific movies, books, and other files as I need to the iPad depending on the trip/use case.

The real question for me will be the new apps, particularly games.

Here's a link to download the top 100 free ePub books... great to bulk up your iBooks library:
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top

HedgeWizard wrote:
Dreaded Gazebo wrote:

Days of Wonder has done a great job with online implementations of their games so its no surprise to see them jump on the iPad. Small World is the perfect pick as it has no hidden information. Why only two player though? Is it just the map size that best fits on the screen?

If Fantasy Flight does ever get their act together though... yeah, I'd be getting an iPad for sure

Small World is only $4.99, which I think is one reason why they limited it to 2 players. Perhaps depending on the success of this app, they might come out with a full 2-4 player version (definitely doable on the iPad) for a higher price point.

IIRC FFG was hiring some developers; I can't remember what technologies were listed though. The one encouraging thing is that if FFG enters the arena, they have the resources to ramp quickly and in a grand way.

The only other issue with FFG games is that their rules can be notoriously vague, which means creating digital versions would be more than just implementing the rules—they would have to spell them all out so they were actually clear cut and unambiguous. Although I would appreciate those new rules as a PDF!

I'm not planning on putting much on it in terms of music or movies, so 16 Gigs seems like it will hold me a while. The fattest apps so far are real racing and Xplane, which clock in at about 150 megs. Most aps are under 100, and a LOT are under 10. I've used about 1/3 of my available memory and I bought an assload of stuff over the weekend.

On the dropbox front -- Props to hedgewizard for pointing the thread to GoodReader, which features dropbox integration, and does it very very well.

rabbit wrote:

On the dropbox front -- Props to hedgewizard for pointing the thread to GoodReader, which features dropbox integration, and does it very very well.

GoodReader sounds excellent and the dropbox integration sounds really nice, but from what I can tell, GoodReader only allows you to view files and has no ability to edit or annotate, is that correct?

My wife has a 3g on order, so I'm prowling the thread to feed my buildling jealousy :).

So how is it, typing with the virtual keyboard? I'm not going to write the Great American Novel on it, but I would like to be able to write emails and post to GWJ on it.

It'll take some getting used to, but I am doing just that - getting used to it. I hunt and peck while typing on a regular keyboard (pretty much one finger on my left hand and three on my right - weird, I know) and I am able to do that on the iPad. Landscape mode is where it's at, though.

lostlobster wrote:

So how is it, typing with the virtual keyboard? I'm not going to write the Great American Novel on it, but I would like to be able to write emails and post to GWJ on it.

Better than I expected. Much better than the iPhone keyboard. I am hoping OS4 brings some iPad-specific stylings to make better use of the screen space, right now it is basically a copy of the iPhone keyboard just bigger.

Also whoever asked before about posting on GWJ, I haven't noticed any slowdowns posting to this thread from my iPad.

rabbit wrote:

I'm not planning on putting much on it in terms of music or movies, so 16 Gigs seems like it will hold me a while. The fattest apps so far are real racing and Xplane, which clock in at about 150 megs. Most aps are under 100, and a LOT are under 10. I've used about 1/3 of my available memory and I bought an assload of stuff over the weekend.

Some games require more space to install than their download size suggests. GTA:CW is about 200MB, but you actually need about 600MB free to install it. So I need to keep at least 1GB open on my 8GB iPhone so I can install updates for GTA:CW and Dungeon Hunter.

As iPad games may get bigger, that could be something to bear in mind.

If you're a baseball fan, the MLB 2010 app is pretty stellar. It's expensive ($15) but gives you play-by-play, audio, and video highlight coverage for EVERY. GAME. The audio + play-by-play (stats, pitch location, etc) is pretty great, and I'm trying to talk myself out of spending another $120 an MLB.TV account so I can watch live (pause-able!) video throughout the season. Good thing I love the Tigers' radio announcers so much more than the TV announcers.

Also of note RE: Multitasking - there is a feature which will exit out to Safari, load the audio for the game you are currently listen to, and play it, at which point you can click the Home button and continue listening as you do whatever else with the iPad.

Warlock wrote:

If you're a baseball fan, the MLB 2010 app is pretty stellar. It's expensive ($15) but gives you play-by-play, audio, and video highlight coverage for EVERY. GAME. The audio + play-by-play (stats, pitch location, etc) is pretty great, and I'm trying to talk myself out of spending another $120 an MLB.TV account so I can watch live (pause-able!) video throughout the season. Good thing I love the Tigers' radio announcers so much more than the TV announcers.

Also of note RE: Multitasking - there is a feature which will exit out to Safari, load the audio for the game you are currently listen to, and play it, at which point you can click the Home button and continue listening as you do whatever else with the iPad.

I bought the iPhone app last year, and got some use out of it, mostly for listening to games while I was in the car. I used a buddy's MLB.TV account to get the video, but I found that I used that less, mostly because I would have killed myself watching it while driving.

Regarding Typing: this was my big unknown and the last possible barrier to entry. So I went to Best Buy morning of release. I picked up a demo unit (no waiting thankfully), opened up notes and typed several paragraphs to get a sense. It was WAY better than I would have thought. I can comfortably type ~90 WPM without looking on a standard keyboard, and while I won't get there on the iPad, it's still a very comfortable experience and only gets better as you use it.

Regarding GoodReader/dropbox: I haven't played with it too much, but when you access your Google docs, you can d/l the doc as a TXT file and then edit it. Alas, there is then no way to push it back to the cloud. Google will likely solve this problem by allowing you to edit GDocs natively from the browser or app. As for PDFs and the like: no, you can't annotate or mark it. It may be that if you include a .doc file AND you have the Pages app, it will allow you to edit natively (as Pages allows you to edit and export in .doc format). Also, I believe if the PDF is indexed properly (can't remember the format name) you can search on it.

All it(goodreader) does is allow you to load things onto iPad, view them and move them back to your system. Still would have preferred a memory card approach, but it wasn't a barrier to entry, and this app allows me to upload some old PnP gaming PDFs to read and review.