14 DAY TRIAL // After revolutionizing gaming with the release of the iPhone, which has attracted a wide variety of developers looking for a breakthrough and proved a threat when it comes to gaming on the go for the Nintendo DS line and for the PlayStation Portable from Sony, Apple might offer another disruptive moment with its announcement of a tablet computing solution at a news conference that is taking place today. And it seems that there are already developers interested in making videogames for the tablet.
Peter Moore, who is the head of EA Sports, one of the most important divisions of the second biggest videogame publisher, has told Bloomberg that “If it's got a great screen, some buttons, you can turn it on and it connects to the internet, it's got the ability to be a games machine.” He does not have any first-hand experience with the new device Apple will soon unveil but he says that the details coming out of media reports are intriguing.
Jon Kromrey, who is the general manager of the Apple games group for Namco Networks America, has also stated that “I’m having fun thinking about all the wonderful things we can do with the device when it’s announced.” The company has managed to sell more than 23 million copies of iPhone games.
The tablet will likely be pretty expensive at launch, with Apple banking on its name to sell it to trendsetters before it actually becomes mainstream. This means that companies like EA Sports and Namco Bandai will probably have around one year to study the new device and see what kind of gaming experiences are well suited to it.
Simpler experiences that will focus on touch and small gaming intervals will likely arrive first before pricier and more ambitious videogames aim for the next big thing.