iPad Games (and Apps) Catch All

HedgeWizard wrote:

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.

Also re:typing... i've heard rumor that if you have a bluetooth keyboard, voila! problem solved!

Can anyone confirm this? I'm not keen on the idea of of the fixed position of the apple keyboard stand/add-on. having a dual use bluetooth keyboard would interest me though...

TheWalt wrote:
HedgeWizard wrote:

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.

Also re:typing... i've heard rumor that if you have a bluetooth keyboard, voila! problem solved!

Can anyone confirm this? I'm not keen on the idea of of the fixed position of the apple keyboard stand/add-on. having a dual use bluetooth keyboard would interest me though... ;)

I don't think there's any rumor to it-- the guys on TWIT (in the latest episode) were talking about it as a given.

TheWalt wrote:
HedgeWizard wrote:

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.

Also re:typing... i've heard rumor that if you have a bluetooth keyboard, voila! problem solved!

Can anyone confirm this? I'm not keen on the idea of of the fixed position of the apple keyboard stand/add-on. having a dual use bluetooth keyboard would interest me though... ;)

I have used a bluetooth keyboard with my iPad. It was easy to setup, and I would certainly think about using one while traveling if I was planning on writing a lot.

I wonder if WoW could be played on an iPad?

sheared wrote:

I wonder if WoW could be played on an iPad?

I don't think there's any technical reason other than someone writing an assload of code for it and getting it through Apple QC. The biggest issue would be size -- A full wow install is man, many gigs. 7-11 I think at the moment.

FYI, my review of gaming on the thing is up at GameSpy now.

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/108/...

rabbit wrote:

FYI, my review of gaming on the thing is up at GameSpy now.

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/108/...

First I thought gamespy, ugh. Then i thought maybe it won't be that bad. I read the article - good job! Then read the first four comments and said yep this is why I don't visit gamespy.

FYI. Sketchbook is by far the best paint program for the iPad, having now played with them all.. Also warp gate is awesome, and galcon has a whole new life.

Has anyone mucked with virtual/remote control stuff - like the logmein app? I know there are a few desktop controllers out there, but I ain't spending the big ducats on one that isn't awesome.

Godfinger is free today. It's another F2P game from NGMoco, but has a very different feel than We Rule. You are the "god" of a world, and you go about performing "miracles" to gain followers who you can then make perform a variety of actions, like farming. It is very graphically different from We Rule, and there seems to be a bit more there in terms of "things to do." It will join my growing list of F2P games that I am disciplining (torturing) myself by not spending actual money on.

I'm loving loving Space Station and Space Miner with the much bigger display. Otherwise, I'm still getting to know this lovely little device.

Okay, Godfinger seems to require MUCH more frequent checking than We Rule does. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing...

Warlock wrote:

Okay, Godfinger seems to require MUCH more frequent checking than We Rule does. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing...

BAD! Definitely a bad thing.

I am finding that many of the upscaled iPhone games work quite nicely. Horror Racing for one, is a blast and I find it easier to control.

Warlock wrote:

Godfinger is free today.

Thanks for the pointer -- checking it out now.

I'm finally trying out the Farmville style games (having some fun with We Rule). For me it's just getting a taste to see what the fad is about, but I can see a near future where someone puts together the right set of factors to make these kinds of games deep and compelling.

With a bit more city builder (Caesar games, etc) and Civilization mixed in I think we could hit another long-term addictive game type.

Godfinger is MUCH more of a game than We Rule is. I'm enjoying it quite a bit. The art style is fun and the minions you control are hilarious-looking (complete with handlebar moustaches). Interestingly, I felt like I had to pay MORE attention in the early levels than I do now, which I suppose is similar to We Rule (going from buildings that do things in 4 hours to buildings that do things in 24 hours, for instance).

I'd suggest checking it out, both for people who like We Rule and people who were like "why is this a game" and deleted it.

This is not a game, but do yourself a favor and buy Air Video. It streams videos from a Mac or PC to your iPad. More importantly, it does live conversion - if the video is not in iPod format (an AVI, for instance) there is about a 10 second delay, and then the video streams like normal. I tested it out today, and there is no visible quality difference between the streamed AVI I tried and a video that I took an hour to convert with Videora.

It's a must-have, I think, especially if you bought the 16gb model.

Just finished my first game of Small World -- mixed feelings. It's very well-presented visually, but it appears to be a direct port of the board game (which I haven't played) without many of the things that should be there in an electronic version.

Like sound. Once the game starts there isn't a single sound, which is kind of eery. I don't want music playing, but I'd like something to replace the little board game sounds that let me know I've picked up or put down an item. Some battle sounds would be nice.

Also, I should have access to the rules while playing, and there should be an option for having tutorial tooltips and such. At the beginning of a turn the locations I can attack should be highlighted instead of me having to drag a piece around to see what's legal. For my last attack it should give me a hint that this one is going to require a dice role.

Don't know what I think of the actual game yet, but these complaints aside it's a very smooth experience that shows what a perfect platform this is for 2-player games. I hope they'll update it with some of these niceties (though sound is more than a nicety I think).

And I hope we see a lot more board games -- surprising dearth of them so far. (Carcassone is a must-do...)

For lack of a better thread, I thought I'd share some tips/discoveries.

You can get an apostrophe by holding the exclamation/comma key on the keyboard as opposed to going through the sub-menu.

GoodReader allows you to sync over the cable. It's available from the menu in iTunes, but for some reason I had missed this.

Looking forward to multitasking in the fall... But the more I use this device, the more I love it.

Of all the money I rat-holed away plowing all winter to get a 32GB 3G, every penny was just spent on a root canal for my S.O. I was so close I could almost taste it.

Just think of it this way: You were prevented from accidentally buying a 32GB 3G mere months before Apple will surely announce a new generation. :>

Goodreader also has perrfect integration with drop box, effectively giving me access to every file i ever need aslant as I have wifi.

I have to second the recommendation for Air Video, that is exactly what I've been looking for. The on the fly video conversion is fantastic, and it has no problem working from the NAS.

ELewis17 wrote:

Of all the money I rat-holed away plowing all winter to get a 32GB 3G, every penny was just spent on a root canal for my S.O. I was so close I could almost taste it.

At least you get some brownie points to cash in after your SO recovers.

So far I've been playing a lot of tilt to live, watching video via air video and browsing the web with my iPad. The native games that i have looked at haven't impressed me much bug monkey island looks great on the thing. I am looking forward to mirrors edge when it doesn't require me to give so much money to my former employer. Overall the iPad has replaced my laptop for couch duty just as I'd hoped it would.

I love my iPad for couch duty. It is a pleasure to look at.

I have been completely addicted to harbor master HD. This is a free 1 level game and a must download. I never got into iPhone or touch games so this probably old news for most of you.

Any longterm reviews of civilization revolution?

Greg wrote:

Any longterm reviews of civilization revolution?

I played the heck out of it on the 360, couldn't get into it on the phone, and have bought but not played it on the iPad other than a quick look. From that quick look I was disappointed not to have any character animation, but it looked like moving things around would work much better than on the phone.

Really, though, I'm looking for that next game that bridges the Civ:Rev experience and desktop Civ...

Anyone know of an App that allows you to do these three things?

1. Type
2. record audio
3. sketch

BIG Bonus if it has template shapes (squares, rectangles, etc)

There are a plenty of apps that do any two of these, but none (that I know of) that do all three.

Apparently School Notes Pro does this... checking it out.

Deadron wrote:

For my last attack it should give me a hint that this one is going to require a dice role.

They just released an update to Small World. While the above is the only item I mentioned that they fixed, I'm very happy to see that this wasn't just a "dump it into the app store on the first day for easy sales" game, and that they seem serious about maintaining it.

In addition to fixes and some obviously missing stuff like saving the game between sessions, they also added more content.

I remember once when I got an email from Palm telling me that my Trio had a critical date bug and I could patch it by going to their website, downloading a patch and following a few steps...yay progress!

Having fun with Sword of Fargoal, which is a remake of a 1980s game I wasn't familiar with.

Very basic but serviceable graphics, it's a Rogue-like with some similarities to BG:Dark Alliance and perhaps Demon's Souls. The latter because it has perma-death on all but the easiest setting (a shock to me when I died two minutes in and couldn't figure out how to keep going...)

The perma-death is key, serving to make your actions more meaningful and exciting.

Each game randomly generates the levels for that game and the goal is to get to the 20th level and get the Sword, at which point you have a limited number of steps in which to exit the dungeon (apparently in the original you had 2,000 seconds). To complicate matters, monsters can take the sword from you and then flee to lower levels, forcing you to go find them.

It's also available on the iPhone, though I haven't tried it there.