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业内人士对平板电脑未来创新空间的看法

发布时间:2013-11-04 10:51:59 Tags:,,,

作者:Keith Andrew

上周苹果公布了两款新iPad——iPad Air和重制版iPad mini。而在几个小时以前,Nokia刚发布它自己的平板Lumia 2520。

评论家们早已断言iPad Air和iPad mini只是以前的iPad的轻薄版、改良版,而Nokia的首款平板则借鉴了Microsoft的平板Surface的特点。

所以,我们向行家们提问:

平板电脑行业还有创新的空间吗?从游戏的角度说,新平板设备还能让你兴奋吗?或者说我们只能期待不断的迭代?

ipad mini retina(from pocketgamer)

ipad mini retina(from pocketgamer)

John Ozimek(Dimoso)

我认为苹果的新平板只是一次进化而不是革命;在重整iPad家族以及跟进iPhone 5s和iOS7方面,这样的进化是非常合理的。

但说到是否能兴奋游戏行业和玩家,也许只有价格降低了,因此在与三星和谷歌的竞争中获得更大的优势。另外,A7芯片给游戏提供了更优越的性能,这对图像显示和许多屏幕上的活动总是好事。

我确实认为还有很大的创新空间,但愿我们接下来几年我们能看到苹果发力。

我曾经说过触觉操作是触屏设备的一次巨大飞跃,苹果于年初收购的一家叫作Senseg的公司就有这方面的先进技术。

当然,如果你看看现在占领应用商店的那些游戏,我敢说制作消除糖果游戏确实需要新硬件或软件了。

Scott Foe(Big Head Mode)

如果平板不能让你兴奋,那么你肯定是来自新一季《行尸走肉》的僵尸了。平板的独特之处在于延长了自然游戏时间;期望玩家一次游戏时间超过90秒是很合理的。

因为手机内容太容易移植到平板了,60到90秒的游戏体验将成为惯例,但随着平板的普及,更持久、更深刻、更有沉浸感的体验的商业价值将越来越高。

真的吗?你还想以后一天到晚玩三连消益智游戏?如果你想玩硬核游戏,那么新平板必须让你热血沸腾啊!

Michael Schade(Fishlabs)

我们怎么可能不兴奋?《Galaxy on Fire 2 HD》又被推荐了。

中等硬核的游戏最适合在平板上玩。当你没有办法连续几个小时沉浸于游戏机或PC游戏中,但又想获得与主机游戏相当的体验,平板的意义就特别突出了。

当你的太太霸占电视或你们一起出门前她要洗45分钟的澡,你就可以拿出你的平板了……

Jani Kahrama(Secret Exit)

作为一名开发者,我很高兴看到这个平台和形式因素保持稳定,而性能提高了。

对许多游戏类型而言,移动设备的性能已经与笔记本和游戏机相当了,而对于那些讲究硬件性能的游戏类型(游戏邦注:如射击、赛车、动作冒险),差距也在缩小。

如果以后在不同的设备上玩游戏的唯一差别就是屏幕大小、声音质量和操作方式,我是不介意的。换句话说,只要游戏的内容方面不打折就好了。

lumia 2520(from pocketgamer)

lumia 2520(from pocketgamer)

Jani Kahrama(Secret Exit)

看吧,这种观点让我担忧。我总是认为,为开发者自己的心理状态着想,他们应该希望一切保持不变。

例如,开发者接纳Wii就用了好几年时间。为什么?因为它是新的,不同意味着放弃既定的模式,意味着冒险。然而,那些冒险者中有不少确实人得到回报了。

虽然我不是需要亲自冒险的人,因为那不是我的职责,但我个人认为,开发者最希望的还是保持稳定。

一天又一天,我们看到许多巨头再次书写神话,则小独立开发者却只能捡巨头们剩下的残渣为生。然而,巨头们也曾经是小人物,机遇之窗在他们面前打开时,iOS还处于成形阶段。

新平台、新格式、新设备为新来的开拓者带来新机遇,那正是我们现在所需要的。

我们需要苹果或三星或诺基亚或随便谁来做出一些完全不同于iPhone和原版iPad的东西。因为,如果我们只想让一切保持不变,那么你可以肯定地说,最终还是那帮人赚走所有钱。

John Griffin(Game Sparks)

我赞同Jani所说的平和和形式因素必须/希望保持一定的稳定——这样后来的开发者才有机会迎头赶上,我认为这是非常合理的,因为就目前的平板能达到的程度而言,我们还有很长的路可以走。

我希望看到平板领域的竞争更加激烈,所以欢迎Nokia等供应商加入战场。

不要误解我……我是个忠实的Apple粉。但是,封闭的生态系统对这么多开发者来说太拥挤了。

对于Android和其他更廉价的设备(例如在Carphone Warehouse出售的Avoca平板)而言,事情就更加有趣了,因为这为我们所有人都提供了新机遇。

John Ozimek(Dimoso)

John,你说的好像是鼓励平板市场分裂……

但你是对的——我们正在英国开发的Wikipad,就采用了Android设备的标准,并通过预安装和设备设计添加了额外的特性。

只要我们避免智能手机领域也很快产生“Android+额外特性”的模式——因Samsung的优势而被削弱,那么我敢说开发者们会很高兴的。

Dave Castelnuovo(Bolt Creative)

仍然有一些创新的空间,但大部分是属于软件方面的。

正如John所说的,一个硬件创新是触摸反馈,但我认为还有很长的一段路要走。很难想象如果iPad没有变得这么薄还能实现那种技术。

如果iPad的表面能像扫描仪一样,允许你放一张名片在上面平板就能通过OCR识别并添加到你的联系人名单中,那就太酷了。使用摄像头来扫描条形码有一点儿怪异,我永远不会用我的自己的手机读取现实世界的条形码。

NFC仍然可以是可以玩得转的。专用的图像识别的双核处理器很好。甚至在最好的情况下,图像识别的质量也参差不齐。触屏笔需要更好的支持。电容笔真的很招人讨厌。

动作处理器和感应器的更新将会非常有用。Airplay必须改进。

也许可以使用一些辅助处理器,这样就不必大大减少帧率了。还要想办法解决像通过wifi发送数据等的延迟问题。

Airplay播放视频还不错,但说到游戏,它还有很多承诺没有兑现。在这方面,我很期待Vita/PS4的遥控会运作得多好。

Oscar Clark(Applifier)

我绝对为新平板感到兴奋,坦白说,这两款平板都不错。

然而,我认为重制版的iPad Mini只是兑现了它原本许下的承诺;尽管我仍然为保留4:3比例感到有点儿惊讶。

与Nexus 7相当,尽管价格上便宜多了,性能上差不多。我认为问题是,Android平板还没有理解大部分用户的想象力。

我选择iPad Mini主要是因为我的Galaxy Nexus的电池不行了,所以它变砖头了……真是扫兴

iPad Air也不错,更快更轻更薄了,但对我而言,它有一个常见的问题,我升级iPad时发现它的改进并不吸引我。

作为一名贪婪的Android和Windows 8 PC用户,我惊奇地发现iPad仍然是最实用的游戏设备;与主机相比,我用iPad玩游戏的时候更多。

Lumia平板看起来不错,似乎很经典,就像Nokia的手机一样……但我个人仍然对它无感。因为我还是更爱Windows 8。我知道这很疯狂,但我想我还在等Microsoft兑现相同的而不是相似的体验的承诺。

我想随着iPad成为千家万户的娱乐工具,市场竞争将会更加激烈。然而,我认为Jani说的很对,平台和形式因素的稳定性与性能的革命性改进相结合,对开发者来说是件好事。这也是我通常忽略的。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Developers don’t want innovation from Apple’s new iPads, they want stability

by Keith Andrew

Last week saw Apple lift the lid on two new iPads – iPad Air and a revised iPad mini – just hours after Nokia unveiled its own tablet, the Lumia 2520, to the world.

Critics have already claimed that both the iPad Air and new iPad mini are simply thinner, more powerful versions of their predecessors, while Nokia’s device appears to be a more consumer-friendly take on Microsoft’s existing Surface range.

So, we asked the Mavens:

Is there any innovation left in this sector? Do tablets genuinely excite you from a games perspective any more, or is iteration the best we can expect?

John Ozimek, Dimoso

I think Apple’s announcement was evolution not revolution; and it made a lot of sense in terms of re-aligning the iPad family alongside the iPhone 5s and iOS7.

In terms of whether that’s exciting for gaming and gamers – perhaps only really in terms of the price point being lower and therefore a better competitor to Samsung and Google. Also, with the A7 chip there’s even more horsepower to play with, which is always good for graphics and a lot of on-screen action.

I do think there is lots of room for innovation and hopefully we will see more from Apple and the rest next year.

For a while now I have been saying that haptics will be a big leap forward for touchscreen devices, and Apple acquired a company called Senseg early last year that has the technology to really do some clever stuff.

Of course, if you look at the handful of games currently dominating the app stores, I’m not sure that new hardware or software is really needed to create matching candy games.

Scott Foe, Big Head Mode

If tablets aren’t exciting to you, you must be a zombie extra from the new season of The Walking Dead. The tablet is unique from the perspective that natural play sessions are longer; it is reasonable to expect players to play longer than 90 seconds.

Because mobile content is so easily ported over to tablet, 60 to 90 second play experiences will be the rule, but deeper, more immersive and engaging experiences will make more and more business sense as the tablets become a more dominant market reality.

Really? Do you want to be stuck making match-three puzzle games for the rest of days? If you want to get hardcore, you want to get excited about tablets!

Michael Schade, Fishlabs

How could we be not excited? Galaxy on Fire 2 HD was featured yet again.

Short to mid-session hardcore games are the perfect for the platform. It’s for when you don’t have a few hours to sink into a deep console or PC game experience but want to have console like experience.

Like when your better half takes over the TV, or takes 45 minutes in the bath before you go out…

Jani Kahrama, Secret Exit

As a developer, I’m quite content seeing the platform and the form factor remain stable while the performance goes up.

Mobile devices have already reached performance parity with desktop and console platforms in many game genres, and the gap with high-performance games (shooters, racing games, third-person action adventures) will become quite narrow during this new console generation.

I wouldn’t mind a future where the only difference in playing experience on various devices is the size of the screen, the quality of sound, and the shape of the controls. In other words, no compromises would be necessary on the content side.

Keith Andrew, PocketGamer.biz

See, this kind of view worries me. I always get the impression with developers that, for the sake of their own mental state if nothing else, they want things to remain the same.

It took developers years before they took to Wii, for instance. Why? Because it was different – it was a risk. It meant moving away from established models. Those who did take the risk, however – well, for many of them, it really, really paid off.

It’s very easy for me to be pro-risk given that it’s not my business on the line, but I personally think the last thing developers should be calling for is for things to stay the same.

Day in, day out, we on Biz see stories of the big boys running away with it, while the smaller indies fight for the scraps. There was a time, however, when those big boys were the small guys themselves, and the window of opportunity that opened for them was when iOS was still in its formative stages.

New platforms, new formats, new devices open up possibilities for new players to emerge, and that’s what we need right now.

We need Apple, or Samsung, or Nokia, or anyone to serve up something radically different in the way the iPhone and original iPad were. Because, if we’re just happy with things staying the same, then you can bet it’ll be the same people who end up making all the money.

John Griffin, Game Sparks

I like the point Jani makes about needing/wanting some stability in the platform and form factor – it gives developers the chance to catch up, which makes a lot of sense to me as it seems we still have a way to go in terms of what we can achieve on the current generation of tablet devices.

I would like to see a lot more competition in the tablet sector going forward and so welcome new releases from vendors like Nokia.

Don’t get me wrong … I am a massive Apple fan. However, its closed ecosystem is too restrictive for many indies.

Things are far more interesting on Android and the range of new cheaper devices (for example, the Avoca Tablets on sale in Carphone Warehouse) open up a lot of new opportunities for us all.

Pre-installation of content, new & more open stores … bring it on!

John Ozimek, Dimoso

John, that sounds suspiciously like a rallying call for more device fragmentation…

But you are right – devices like the Wikipad, which we are working with in the UK, take a standard Android device and add extras through the pre-installs and device design.

As long as we avoid the ‘Android with extras’ approach that happened quickly in the smartphone space – it’s only really diminished through the dominance of Samsung – then I’m sure developers will be happy.

However, it’s a very difficult market to launch a new device into. The main traction outside of Apple and Samsung seems to be at the very low end – such as the Hudl.

Dave Castelnuovo, Bolt Creative

There is still some room for innovation, but most of the near term innovation will happen on the software side.

Like John said, one hardware innovation is haptic touch feedback, but I imagine that is a long way off. It’s hard to think of a way to include that kind of technology without the iPad getting a lot thicker.

It might be cool if the surface of the iPad acted like a scanner where you could just lay a business card on the surface and it would recognise it through OCR and add it to your contacts. Using the camera is a little awkward for things like that including bar code reading, I could never get my phone to read a barcode in real world conditions.

NFC could still be something that could play around with as well. A second processor for dedicated image recognition would be great. Even at it’s best, image recognition is pretty spotty. Better support for a stylus would be great. capacitive styli really stink.

An upgrade to the motion processor and sensors would be really useful. And Airplay needs to get better.

It could probably use some kind of co-processor to help it work better without reducing frame rate so much. They could also use something that is a lot less laggy than sending the data over wifi.

Airplay is great for video but its a huge unrealized promise when it comes to gaming. I’m curious to see how well the Vita/PS4 remote play works in this regard.

Oscar Clark, Applifier

I’m definitely excited about tablets and if I’m honest these are both fine releases.

However, the iPad Mini is just the spec it should have been when it laucnhed in my opinion; although I’m still a little surprised they retained the 4:3 ratio.

It keeps a certain level of prestigue above the Nexus 7, although that is significantly cheaper and fairly similar in performance. The trouble is I think Android tablets have yet to capture the imagination of most users.

I will be getting an iPad Mini, mostly because my last Galaxy Nexus battery died leaving it a hunk of junk… quite disappointing.

The iPad Air isn’t a bad update either; its faster, thinner lighter, but for me it has the classic problem in that I upgraded my iPad in the last generation and the iterative improvements aren’t really compelling enough for me to upgrade this time.

Given for an avid Android and Windows 8 PC user; I find it curious that iPads stubbornly remains the most useful gaming device I own; I play more games on my iPad than my consoles.

The Lumia Tablet looks really nice, seems really well built; just like Nokia’s phones… but I still can’t get excited about it personally. The trouble is I haven’t warmed to RT. As much as I love my Windows 8 PC. I know its crazy, but I think I’m waiting for Microsoft to live up to the promise of the same experience everywhere – not just a similar one.

I wish that we would see something to compete more effectively with the iPad to make our lives more interesting. However, I also agree that Jani make a good point that I often fail to recognise that stability combined with gentle evolutionary improvement in performance is a good thing for developers.

So its not a “Meh!” but its not a “Wow!”(source:pocketgamer)


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