Defcon for iPad
Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:19 am
it would work, and i would buy it.
xander wrote:Given that the iPad is basically a glorified iPhone/iTouch, Defcon would have to be completely rewritten in order to run. Given that IV are still finishing up Darwinia+, have yet to release Subversion, and are possibly still working on Chronometer, I highly doubt that they have time to port it. Ambrosia could, conceivably, produce a port, but I don't know why they would bother.
Moreover, it looks to me that the iPad probably doesn't have the graphical horsepower to actually run Defcon without some major changes to the way in which it does things. So, even if someone wanted to produce a port, it would likely not be the same game, and would not interoperate with other versions of Defcon (that is, it would have its own little ecosystem). Given that the Defcon community is already rather small, I find it hard to believe that fragmenting that community would be at all healthy.
xander
Pyr0qvy wrote:And I bet you troll 4chan too...
Pyr0qvy wrote:...I don't see why you think a game that's essentially colored line has to take a super computer to run...
Pyr0qvy wrote:...but there's an app called isubs on the AppStore with simmilar graphics to defcon and runs fine, and yes I know the game itself isn't the same but the graphics are simmilar...
Pyr0qvy wrote:...and whats wrong about downing the graphics for a portable version?
Pyr0qvy wrote:I mean really, do you just hate apple or something? There not the best company ever but they make one of the best devises yet to play portable defcon and/or multiwinia.
Pyr0qvy wrote:And if anything else it will increase the playerbase by far more than notif not released.
Pyr0qvy wrote:Also could increase pc sells by increasing intrerst in the game name and products of the company.
Pyr0qvy wrote:And I bet you troll 4chan too
martin wrote:Why do you think that an iPad version wouldn't play against a PC version, xander?
xander wrote:Given that the iPad is basically a glorified iPhone/iTouch, Defcon would have to be completely rewritten in order to run.
xander wrote:Pyr0qvy wrote:And if anything else it will increase the playerbase by far more than notif not released.
I disagree. Rather than increase the size of the playerbase, it would likely fragment the playerbase. The current players would probably not be able to play against iPad players, thus you would end up with iPad players, and everyone else. They would not compete with each other, and probably would not have much to do with each other. I see the same thing happening with Darwinia+ vis-à-vis Multiwinia. The difference is that the XBox is a dedicated gaming platform, and, as such, owners of XBoxes are immediately more likely to buy and play games. Hence there is a large XBox market for Multiwina.
The iPad, on the other hand, is not a dedicated gaming machine. The market is far more fragmented, and someone who owns an iPad may have no interest in any kind of game, let alone Defcon in particular. Thus the market for Defcon on the iPad is going to be much smaller than that on the XBox. Not to mention the fact that, in all likelihood, there will never be as many iPads as XBoxes.With the XBox, IV are going after a small piece of a large market. With the iPad, IV would be going after a very small piece of a small market.
It just doesn't make sense.
xander wrote:First off, your graphs and links really do not support the point that you are trying to make, namely that it is worth IV's time to make a version of Defcon for the iPad or iPhone. In fact, the second link seems to confirm my point that the iPhone market, when compared to the console market, is relatively small ($500 million compared to $10 billion).
Second, you are looking at the wrong statistic. The total amount of money made selling games on a particular platform says nothing about how well any one game will do. Looking at the Apple store, I get the impression that there are a very large number of relatively cheap games (a quick perusal of the app list gives the impression that most prices are less than $10), while there are fewer, more expensive games on the XBox (again, a quick look seems to indicate that most games are at least 800 points = $10, with a few that are cheaper, and many that are more expensive).
Thus, it seems that the iPhone generates large revenues by selling a lot of cheap stuff. Any one app is (a) unlikely to sell in large volume, and (b) does not make the same amount per sale as an XBox Live game. Now, if you could cite some actual sales numbers on some particular titles, I would be more than happy to admit my mistake, but my (admittedly quick-and-dirty) search of the intertubes simply does not support your assertion that any particular game on the iPad or iPhone is likely to make that game's creator a lot of money, especially when compared to a release on XBox Live.