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WoW On an iPad Via Gaikai
Gametap writes "If cloud gaming works for enough genres, it can't help but find popularity. Even just a game like WoW might be enough to make it happen, and Gaikai's Dave Perry posted a picture of doing just that on an iPad. So is it the future or not? Could somebody make a tablet with nothing more than a screen, battery, network port, and video decoder, and have it be a good gaming platform? Will it change the mobile, PC, console, and TV world as we know it? Lots of questions, lots of skepticism, lots of players and money being invested — but one thing is for sure: it will be very interesting to see how this evolves."
Is ever the problem with such systems, the only two mmog I have ever been able to play reasonably well with just touch pad is EVE-Online and City of Heroes/Villains (and that in a limited capacity, requiring a lot of macros).
Without commenting on the whole "which MMOG is bigger/better" thing, I would hazard to guess that for this to work, the games would HAVE to be built for it.
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Could somebody make a tablet with nothing more than a screen, battery, network port, and video decoder, and have it be a good gaming platform?
It depends on your definition of "Good gaming platform".
From the top of my head, I could certainly play Go, Civ, Galciv, BB, and just about anything that's turn based.
I wouldn't try playing anything with direct action, to avoid the frustration of high ping and lag spikes.
Oh and also, since this seems to be about streamed gaming, wouldn't any Tablet PC.. what am I saying.. any device with a compatible browser be able to do so?
I had WoW playable on my T-Mobile G1 (an Android phone) via VNC over a year ago. With the added bonus of a hardware keyboard for text input..
That a more modern device with a better processor and bigger screen can also do something like this isn't a surprise at all.
For me the form factor of the iPad precludes its use for serious online interactive gaming. It's a sleek elegant device with diabolical gaming inputs. Why bother?
Now, getting WoW to run natively on my n900.. that's a fun and worthy achievement. It still wont be a viable replacement for a 1920x1200 screen with full sized keyboard attached.
But surely the title should be: Fully Featured MacOS Computer Runs Game That Already Runs on MacOS Computers
No, wait, I have a better one: Expensive Fully Featured MacOS Computer Runs Game That Already Runs on Any Cheap-Ass Commodity Windows Computer
A little verbose, but I think accuracy is important in journalism.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.