Epic Games Thinks A Controller Will Help Apple Beat Consoles

When Tim Cook took the stage on March 7th to announce the new iPad, he controversially said that the tablet would be a good replacement for a traditional home console. Some haven't taken kindly to that notion, even if Apple are positioning themselves in that direction, with the ability to push out games in realtime via AirPlay to Apple TVs.

Epic Games are one such studio to join Apple on their gaming crusade, having created the graphically impressive Infinity Blade, as well as the new Infinity Blade: Dungeons game, a Diablo clone for the iPad. In a new interview, head of Epic Games, Mike Capps, says that even more immersive gameplay could be on the horizon.

Capps speculates that Apple or a third party could create a standalone controller, designed to work with the iPad or other iOS products, which would allow users to interact via hardware instead of using touch controls. One of the key criticisms levelled against touchscreen gaming is the lack of proper hardware controls to provide haptic feedback, so some sort of official controller would be a welcome move.

Meanwhile, Electronic Arts don't seem to think too much of Cook's console comment:

When the iPad gets to the processing power that's equal to an Xbox 360 and it connects to a television, that's no big deal to us — we'll put the game through the iPad and have it display through the television

All options seem to be open to gaming companies then. While the iPad can occasionally impress with games such as Infinity Blade, for the most part graphical prowess and an immersive experience isn't the key reason to game on a tablet, or even smartphone. The problem isn't one of power, but of developers being able to hold consumers attention longer than a couple of minutes, by providing more interesting and entertaining games. Would you really want to play a graphically detailed version of Angry Birds on a television for longer than five minutes?

[via Gotta Be Mobile]