131 thoughts on “in which the case for buying an iPad is almost made”

1. It’s a great idea, something my crew has been mulling. The interactivity of a Microsoft Surface, but in a portable device. Too bad the App Store process mutilates any form of homebrew experimentation!
   If they would just add Flash support in the browser and an SSH terminal…
   Have you played Catan on the iPhone yet? Very competent version of the game and is exactly what you’re talking about here.

2. Wow I never thought of that, but that would be amazing. I have made the trek with my gigantic axis and allies box many a time on the subway and if i could just bring an iPad… that would be awesome!

3. Boardgames, and of course, this: http://gizmodo.com/5505809/someone-had-to-do-it-the-star-trek-ipadd

4. I was “meh” about it at first too, but the idea of the iPad grew on me. My mom’s constant talk of getting one wore me down as well. Ours should be here Saturday and now I almost salivate thinking about possibly playing Carcassonne or Catan on it.

5. Of course that still doesn’t make any kind of case for an iPad — merely for some kind of tablet. One that’s cheaper and isn’t just an iPod Touch with a large screen, specifically.

6. Yep. Boardgames seems like the killer app for the iPad. I thought about this a while ago, too. Being able to take games like these on the road easily would be awesome in the least.

7. And jigsaw puzzles (well, very small ones). My cats eat the pieces, or knock them down to the dogs to eat the pieces).

8. Definitely true, I love my board games and I really could see this being awesome playing while being on the train. This and that LCARS Star Trek padd app that Gizmodo showed actually make me consider getting an iPad if it’s going to be cheap enough. Sad, but true.

9. what about what it could do for electronic comic books? E-readers with E-ink are great for books that you just read but the case for tablet computing comes in when you want great design as well as interactivity, like magazines or if you want to digitally view certain comic books, that perhaps linked all your editions and story lines together.

10. This is exactly why I want the iPad. I have plans to port stuff to the platform, if it is as cool as it looks. The idea of setting an iPad down on the table(or say, an airplane tray table!!) and play a game with another person…pretty awesome.

11. Oh, I totally agree with you, but the reality is that Apple leads the pack right now, and developers who hope to get a return on their investment are going to be making their apps for Apple devices.
    Come on, Linux community! Get on this, will ya?!

12. I’m waiting until some comic book publishers get on board. Having a comic-sized, full color e-reader for comic books and graphic novels would be fantastic.

13. What about D&D character sheets. Sure your party would have to be all equipped (or not) but it could definitely work, and work well. Save a lot of erasing and scratching.. with the right app written the right way, it could completely streamline the adventures.

14. I don’t know about other games, but there IS a Settlers of Catan game for the iPhone (and thus for the iPad as well) that’s very satisfying and a good adaptation of the game. It even includes AI opponents with different styles of play and not just different difficulty levels. It’s extremely fun, and I can only imagine what an iPad-optimized version would bring to the table (especially since I’m not buying an iPad).

15. I love the idea of using it for gaming!
    I also, though, am a fan of the iPad in general. I do see, though, how it won’t be for everyone. Still, for me, having a web surfing pad that’s Mac, but not a full sized laptop, is great. I run a theatre, and spend a ton of time downloading/reading/emailing scripts and schedules, and for a while now my iPhone has done that, but the screen is tiny. Having a bigger screen that’s not as obnoxiously bulky as a full laptop is something that I think will fit my needs wonderfully – maybe not everyone’s needs, but I’m looking forward to using one… and you’re right – gaming on it just makes it that much more appealing! 🙂

16. I felt so bad for the Apple Store guy I talked to just after the iPad was announced. I could tell that even he didn’t give a crap about the thing. He asked what I thought of it and I told him, honestly, “I was hoping for something more like a Cintique. I don’t even know why this thing exists.” He nodded and said, “yeah.” An Apple Store guy heard me say that and then agreed with me!
    But the idea of maybe someday being able to run a D&D session on one is pretty rad.

17. I love the feel of a book in my hands… or dice, or a magazine. But shiny… yeah, it is that.

18. Changing Wil Wheaton’s mind on the iPad?
    There’s an app for that.
    😉

19. I was NOT sold on it, and then I watched some of the tutorial videos they just put up, and now I’m excited about it. I think there will be some amazing innovations mixing video games with videos with text. New forms of media could come with this technology. Also, the board game thing looks GREAT you’re so right!

20. Comic book readers. Mark my words, these will be HUGE (ha!) on the iPad. If somebody works out a subscription deal with Marvel, DC and the others, it’s going to turn conventional comic book buying on its ear. As it is, the comic book readers being made for it now look really good.
    Can you imagine it? Turn on the iPad, there’s a little badge with a “1” on it on your comic book reader icon. Open it up, and there’s a brand new issue of one of your favorite comics sitting there waiting for you to read it, and on that 10″ screen it’s not quite but almost full size.
    Yes sir, I love living in the future. Or close to it, anyway.

21. Is it even big enough for that? I see more something like Surface being the killer boardgame device.

22. They have a subscription with psp so maybe it’s on the way?

23. Ok, *that* would be cool. I tried to find people to play OGRE with this weekend at PAX and it just never worked out. I have the set that came in the VHS case (was there any other release?)but that still took up a lot of room in my limited space non-magical bag of holding. An iPad would have been a lot more efficient.
    Well, send out a Twitter if that ever happens. Until then I’ll be walking the lonely road with this VHS box looking for challenges while the theme song to The Incredible Hulk plays in the background. 🙂

24. I think Surface is like 60,000 dollars, though. That’s a bit of a deal-killer for me.

25. That is unless you’re “The Flash”.
    Bazinga!

26. Oh crap, now I totally want one…. I have spent a frightening number of hours playing Settlers of Catan on my iPhone!
    *Chants to self – never buy first gen Apple products, never buy first gen Apple products, never buy first gen Apple products*

27. I was thinking about this when I first heard about it but honestly, I was more attracted to the idea of reading comic books as other have stated here.
    However, upon doing nerdy stuff I came upon another idea. I play Warhammer 40,000K and the Ipad would be an amazing way to upload PDF versions of a codex or rule book and take it with you. This would allow you to search for rules fast, jump to pages easily, and you could take as many codex’s you want easily. I know this might seem much for 500$. But when you think about all the nerd rule books you could potentially use this for…I think it really makes a good case for it.

28. OGRE also came in a Deluxe edition that's pretty awesome.
    I think I read somewhere that SJGames is releasing a new version, with 3D pieces. Or maybe I just dreamed that, because it would rule so hard.

29. Joanna-
    I followed that link, & then saw this on the side:
    http://gizmodo.com/5462178/captain-picard-laments-twitter-lauds-the-iphone
    Wil, you should watch it. 🙂
    -Alicia (@AliciaWag)

30. Well you know there is this one convention…

31. My wife and I play a lot of iPhone/iTouch scrabble. It’s always handy and easy to stop and start. If we’re waiting for a table in a restaurant we can just pull out the phone and go. When we’re places with wifi we can play on both devices rather than passing back and forth.
    It would be even more pleasant on a larger device, though that’s partly my aging eyes talking…

32. While I’m on the fence on actually picking one up myself, I think it’s actually a brilliant little gadget, specifically BECAUSE it’s a big iPod Touch. I see the way my parents use their Touch — they leave it on the kitchen counter, pick it up as they walk by to check their email, news, weather, etc, and casually use the internet the way they once picked up sections of the newspaper. The iPad’s the first really casual computer. And it’s the first computer with no windows, no files, nothing to click on… just apps (and yes, I understand why that gives Linux people the heebie-jeebies). I guess what I’m saying is that I think it fills a really interesting niche, and I’m fascinated to see how it’s going to be copied by everyone. Windows with no windows?

33. I’m in a similar boat, Wil. As an iPhone owner, I’ve been following the hype-machine for iPad with some interest. However, I’m still not 100% clear what the USP will be on the device. It’s starting to become clearer though – I watched some demo presentations by Penguin/DK books of their upcoming educational iPad apps. Some of them, particularly the stargazer app where it seems you can hold the iPad up to the sky with both hands and get a superimposed constellation view with names etc displayed as you move around, looked AWESOME.
    I was going off the idea of buying one, again on the cost basis and ‘what was the USP, again?’ (in fact, I was looking at a netbook) but ‘unfortunately’ received around 75% of the cost in monies for my “39 + or – 1” birthday last week. Looks like they probably will get a sale when it arrives in the UK end of April…
    They do have a bit of a magic wand in product launches, it seems. Pity that some of their control freak business methods (total control of the App Store and how iPhone devs are treated) leave a bad taste in the mouth.
    Did the article you read have some firm non-mainstream boardgame apps being launched or was it just speculation? Sounds like your USP box could be ticked there.

34. WIN.

35. If two (or more) people had the game and the game board expanded across multiple iPads put next to each other? Yeah, that would tempt the hell out of me.

36. Only $15,000! Plus, this have SurfaceScapes running on it, an awesome D&D port.
    http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/27/bring-dungeons-and-dragons-to-your-15-000-game-table/

37. I been working on using the Johnny Lee Interactive Whiteboard Project for large scale table gaming.
    Never thought to use an IPAD for solo/portability.
    Back to the Science Cave !!!!
    Tis great to work as an Engineer and play at the same time

38. Holy grammar gail. “Plus, it has…”

39. So it only costs one year of college instead of four? SIGN ME UP!
    Also: so sorry I missed you at PAX. I was hellabusy.

40. There’s already a few great board games for the iPhone, like Catan, Zooloretto, even Werewolf (aka Mafia.) I agree that hopefully the larger format will spur publishers on to making even more available. I watched a game of Pandemic take place on one of the food court tables last weekend at Pax, and that would be way easier on an iPad.

41. Perhaps Panelfly will win some of you over … especially if the catalog expands.

42. This is an awesome idea, but you’d really need an iPad XL to truly take advantage of it. Plus cameras underneath (like the MS Surface) to read multiple fingers and such. But the idea of playing Galaxy Trucker on this has me almost paralyzed with joy. I hope some of the board game companies check out the dev kits and start working on this. I’m looking at you, Fantasy Flight Games and Days of Wonder.

43. and dice-rolling D&D players around the country go: been there, doing that. 🙂

44. This is where I'm conflicted: those guys playing Pandemic in public are great ambassadors for our hobby, because people can see actual gamers playing a game that is beautifully designed and visually interesting to look at; we're just not going to get that if we're huddled around a tablet device.
    That said, the idea of being able to play solo when there's nobody around, or to carry a big stack of games with me somewhere in a device that weighs less than my D&D core books is pretty interesting to me.

45. $10,000 but I played with one at the N.E.R.D. meet and greet before PAX East and it was pretty damn cool… but yeah, $10k is still waaaaay tooo much!

46. You’ve hit it there, Wil. The Windows experience on a slate is horrible. I suspect that the iPad will do well just because it’s the first usable slate! I’d prefer something a bit more open, myself.

47. On a similar note, never buy a new Windows OS until Service Pack 1 is out. (Aside from if you even want to buy Windows in the first place…)

48. You need to check out this D&D on Microsoft Surface (table)
    

    I really want!
    -edit as kinda seen in an above post 🙁

49. iPad tabletop gaming applications? Yup. Some of us are working on just that very thing.

50. I can’t find my Deluxe Edition. It was pretty awesome, and it is somewhere in the parents attic…
    On a note…
    http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG30-7203
    You can purchase the rules via pdf.
    Their product page is pretty cool too.
    http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/
    I need a Nook.
    

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