Welcome to Tab Gaming: Your's Next BFF (Part- 1)

Many a time, you went to near by local gaming store and came back with nothing. Are you one of them?  Here, I ‘am not talking about recession. A new kind of gamers are evolving, blame tablets than. They are smart enough to play games and work simultaneously. What an idea? 

We all face one big hurdle with gaming consoles these days. I mean from the very beginning. You know, what I am taking about.  On an average a modern gamer spent $60 on new game. And for a handheld console, add $40. Even discount stores, don’t make any difference.

So, what’s the solution? Yes, we want awesome games to play. But, we also want some productive things out of it. What’s wrong with tablets?  They are smart, sexy and productive too.

I know many of you are obsessed with your sane ipads. Many of you also own Asus transformers, Motorola Xoom among others. Now, Amazon has announced Kindle Fire, since than, the whole world is going Gaga about tablets. Amazon entry into tab market has made Apple jealous for sure. Even Sony is not far behind; they recently launch their much hyped Tablet S for $499. Another model tablet P will be available to consumers in coming months. The Japanese giant aims to be No 2 tablet maker after Apple. The Sony tablets are compatible with old PS1 titles and PSP games. Even small players too making crackling sounds with their innovative tablets.

Apart from Apple “Magical” ipad, most of the manufacturers like Sony, Samsung, LG, Asus, Acer and Toshiba use Google’s Android operating system. Though, Apple still holds most of the pie but Android based tablets would be a driving force to make market sustainable.

Now, come to the gaming aspects of tablets. When Apple launched ipad back in 2010, critics were not pleased with this adolescent baby. Some said, gamings on tablets are not up to the mark and other said it has a potential to change the face of gaming. Just like Angry Birds changed the face of gaming. On the other hand, tablets still looking out for “THE” game but don’t worry in coming months you might see tablets gaming were being ported to console gaming. 

Alienware's M14x to lure gamers with its monstrous specs

After a long gap, we get to see a gaming laptop leaked by some Chinese site. Dell’s upscale brand Alienware, known for its Aurora series is going to launch M14x laptop in coming days. Lot of buzz is there about its specs & features. The laptop (as seen in the image) comes in RED chaises (Dell will add more colors 4 sure). Let’s talk about specs; the laptop comes with Core i7 quad-core processor, 14-inch HD display, NVIDIA GPU, 8 cell battery, 8 GB of RAM , 750 GB of space , wifi & Hdmi among other.  Dell has yet to confirm its existence. As far pricing is concerned, we hope it will retail upwards of $1000 mark. The machine looks bulky, maintaining Alienware’s culture. PC gaming is on ventilator, sales are down with few developers making quality games for PC Audiences. Recently, Microsoft admitted that “Future of PC gaming is Terrifying “. Expect similar comments from other big developers in coming days. My Question to Alienware is why they don’t foray into tablets.  Expect similar comments from other big developers in coming days. Tablet market is booming at present, there is no healthy competition except for few such as Apple & Sony. Incidentally, Apple never admitted that Ipad is meant for gaming but now they keep counting its performance with latest generation consoles, thanks to its dual core A5 chip. Another wealthy competitor in the gaming tablet market will be Sony’s rumored PlayStation centric gaming tablet. Though details are pretty sketchy at the moment, but analyst believes that it might give Ipad run of its money. So going by above mentioned instances, it’s clear that Tablets might become the 1^st choice among gamers

Angry Birds Rio inaugurated Amazon's new App Store

Credit- Amazon. com

Amazon’s App store, the new champ in “APP WORLD” category announces Angry Birds Rio as stores Exclusive. The game is based of the same line of popular Angry Birds series, now gamers get more features plus improved game play. To celebrate Amazon’s new brave attempt in crowded App store circle, the company is selling Angry Birds Rio for just $0.00 down from $0.99. On launch, Amazon is offering more than 3,800 apps, which is quite impressive for a new app store.

Update: Apple Inc is planning to sue Amazon .com over “App Store” trade mark.

Love. Game. Apple

Apple fans: We have 65,000 Apps exclusively for Ipad.  Isn’t it great?

Android fans:  We have Motorola Xoom. Honeycomb…baby

Apple fans:  Ipad can run games.

Android fans:  So. What’s big deal in it? Even Android Market place offers gaming.

Apple fans:  Motorola Xoom failed to entice gamers because it lacks games.

Android fans: We have Android Market Place

Apple fans:  Do u have any other words to say, except Android Market Place.

Is there any end to this stupid conversation? The truth is that Apple has become an undisputed king, especially with the coming of App store. Recently, Steve Jobs announced that, Ipad now boost more than 65, 000 apps. Most of these apps are games. It’s true that Android market place offers gaming, but there is no “A” level gaming found on Android store. 

Honeycomb, the latest from Google’s stable is still new & offers negligible apps as compared to heavy loaded Apple’s app store.

Industry Analyst believes that Apple’s second installment to popular Ipad, will head the next –generation of consoles. Due to built in dual -core processor & the ability to deliver console like gaming, this tablet will reach greater heights than its contemporaries such as Nintendo’s popular DS & Sony’s PSP.

Handheld gaming is going through a sea change. Nintendo is ready with its 3DS rivaling Sony’s upcoming NGP a.k.a PSP2. With the coming of Application stores from Apple & Google, the whole game has changed. Now users can download cheap games from these app stores. Here, cheap games doesn’t mean low on quality, instead games are quick & comes to an end in less than 15 minutes, as compared to hours of game play on DS & PSP.

Apple is known for its user experience & quality to deliver excellent products such as ipod, iphone, and ipads. The company now wants a bigger slice in booming gaming market.

Is Cloud- Gaming the next big thing?

HTC's recent stake in OnLive(cloud –computing based gaming on demand platform) for $40 million sparked rumors that Cloud -computing could rival console gaming in near future. According to HTC’s Maggie Cheung, deal will strengthen its gaming capabilities & and help to tap into increasing demand for games on Smartphones. If HTC is betting big on cloud –computing, our very own Apple is also not behind. Recently, the Cupertino based company released the third version of its iOS 4.3 beta last week, which indicates that gaming is coming to Apple TV. If we go by ios 4.3 beta number three a string of code with the heading ATVGames, while another indicates ATVThunder. This could rival OnLive Inc for sure. If go by the pricing of OnLive, the whole set up will cost you somewhere around $99 which makes it as par with Apple TV. Are we going to see a kind of gaming in future? Will Cloud-Gaming proved to be a savior for gaming industry? With the coming of heavy industry titans like Apple Inc & HTC , the debate on the future of Cloud –gaming gets hotter. 

Credit- Apple Inc

Credit- HTC

Credit- OnLive