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(Posted by: Eric Rees)  Even though it may be hard for us console and PC gamers to believe, there is a huge following out there that thrive on mobile gaming. With the rise of Angry Birds and DoodleJump, people around the world have been introduced into mild gaming through the iPod/iPhone/iPad. Apple looks to up the ante with it's newest member of the family. Hit the break for all the goodies.
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(Posted By: Eric Rees)  Yes you read that right, I'll give it a moment to sink in.
Now that you have settled down here is the news; the iPad will be sold in Verizon stores by the end of this month. But, this announcement does not mean that this iPad is CDMA capable, which makes the announcement slightly less shiny and new. For those who aren't down on the new fangled cell phone lingo, CDMA is the network that Verizon runs their signals off of. The iPad as it is now runs off a GSM network that ATT uses. This is an announcement that you can pay for the iPad and then pay a monthly fee to run their at home network so you can use your new tablet. While not necessarily groundbreaking this does pave the way for the unicorn down the road, the Verizon iPhone. The rumblings seem to be getting stronger towards Big Red finally getting Apple's money printer sometime soon. (Posted By: Eric Rees)  It'd be a stretch to say RIM, Research In Motion the company that owns Blackberry, shocked the world yesterday when they announced their tablet, but it definitely got people talking. Announced yesterday at a press conference full of tech geeks, RIM's CEO Mike Lazaridis got onstage and started spilling information of their new hardware. The sleek new tablet will utilize an OS that was recently acquired when RIM bought a company called QNX. The tablet will be 7 inches of touch screen goodness and will support Flash 10.1, a point made to take a stab at Apple, who has yet to jump on the Flash bandwagon. Inside the tablet, a Cortex A9-based dual core 1GHz CPU will be handling all your duties along with 1GB of onboard RAM and a 3 megapixel front facing camera incase you ever have to video conference with someone. There's a 5 megapixel rear facing camera, an HDMI port, micro USB port, Bluetooth 2.1 ready, WiFi ready and weighs less than one pound. Sounds like a pretty packed in device that Blackberry is looking to hit a home run with. Considering the consequences of their smartphone market share that I talked about in an earlier post, Blackberry needs this tablet to do well to gain some of their swagger back. Enjoy some of Blackberry's press shots of the new tablet in our photo gallery below.       As I'm sure you have discerned from my previous posts, I'm buzzing about the new Apple Tablet. Whether it is called an iSlate, iBook, or some other i name, it's going to be the only thing you hear me talk about next week (you may want to block my twitter if you don't want to be beat in the face with everything coming out of Cupertino from me).
Along these lines, I've decided to do a "crossover post" for today. In what is sure to be an historic event, one of us tech gentlemen is posting about *gasp* gaming! However, this is more along the lines of gaming hardware, so it's really a hybrid of sorts when I can talk about gaming on a new platform. Kotaku posted an interesting story earlier about gaming on the Apple Tablet. As is the current thinking, the Tablet will be essentially an oversized iPhone with new features and an OS that will either stun, or be a rehash of the iPhone OS. All will be revealed (hopefully) next Wednesday. the subject of serious gaming has risen more than once with Apple, and most times they have shut down any rumors that they would be entering the fray with a purpose-built gaming device. In any case, they have somewhat lived up to that statement, but one fact still remains; the iPhone and iPod Touch have some pretty solid games! That's right, Apple's current "touch" devices have steadily become great, innovative gaming platforms. With highlights like "Crush the Castle", "Field Runners" and "Cro-Mag Rally", the handhelds have become more than just music and media devices, but full featured game systems. With the announcement that Final Fantasy I and II would be making their way to the App Store later this year, I can only see gaming becoming more prevalent on Apple's touch platforms. So, where does this leave the tablet? Already, a handful of developers have been asked to create higher resolution versions of their apps and games, so they can take full advantage of the Tablet's larger display. However, don't think it will stop there. I can foresee some games being made strictly for the Tablet simply because, call it a hunch, it will have more capabilities than the iPhone. Not just in software but in hardware as well. I can recall my friend receiving a laptop/tablet combo for his birthday one year. He immediately picked up Sim city 4, as his old PC simply couldn't handle a game like that but the shiny new Gateway could take it in stride. After installing the game and playing for a bit in normal, keyboard mode, he had the novel idea to pivot the screen. WOW! What a game it turned into then. Commands were instantly easier and the whole experience was made deeper throuh being able to have that tactile feedback that we crave. So I wonder what games we will see once the Tablet is opened to developers of more than just the typical iPhone/iPod Touch apps. Remember that the Sim City 4 example was on one of the lack-luster Windows tablets of a few years ago, so if Apple revolutionizes the tablet, we could see big things for gaming. Once the Apple Tablet launches, and if it is the game changer (no pun intended) that everyone hopes for, I'll be very excited to see where it goes as a gaming platform. Stay tuned and stay stuck to your computer next Wednesday, it's gonna be a brave, new, touchy-feely world |
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