Regarding Gameloft's Unreal Engine game I will say this. Unreal Engine doesn't work miracles. There is only so much CPU, GPU power and RAM in these devices. Infinity Blade looks far better, but its also much more simple in terms of the action on screen (just 2 characters), AI, and non free-roam etc. March of Heroes looks fairly action packed, with explosions, lots of enemies, bigger levels, more AI and most likely larger scale online multiplayer. All of that uses the systems resources, which is no doubt why it doesn't look as good.
Dude, Look at Shadowgun on the iPad 2, That looks just as good as an Xbox 360 game. I Think by "iPad 3" We'll have achieved Full Xbox 360 Capabilities (Maybe even PS3, who knows?). Not to mention that the iPad 2 has MUCH more RAM then the PS Vita, It's also just a matter of time before iPhone/iPad surpasses that aswell.
Sure it does. A game dedicated device like Vita or a PSP can do more with lower specs than something like an iPhone. They are optimized for gaming. Same thing with PC vs console specs. The point is even if Vita has worse specs on paper, it will likely have better graphics and performance vs idevice games for a long time.
Look at 3DS, that Handheld was Optimized Exclusivley for Gaming. And yet my iPhone 4 Trumps it in every way (Hell, even an iPhone 3GS). Yes, the PS Vita Could do more with Lesser specs. But Probably not that much more. by iPad 3 ,PS Vita is going to be Surpassed. Especially if it uses a "PowerVR 6 GPU", Which is 100x More powerful then the PowerVR 5 GPU, which is being used in the iPad 2.
So many people seem to compare iOS to xbox, ps3 etc. I don't know if how may pixels a device can process defines great. I think alot of people would be happy with something like Ocarina if Time of iOS and I would say even a 3Gs could handle that. If you wanna compare graphics, an iPhone can pump out alot better looking stuff than a nintendo ds and alot of those games are great. But pixels aside, still cost a buttload to make. Which brings me back to my first point. An engine is just a blank canvas.
If Ocarina of Time was Remade for the iPhone 3GS, it would look Way better then the 3DS Version. iPhone more Powerful then DS?, Really?, just a DS?. an iPhone/iPad is more powerful then the Consoles/Handhelds I listed before. But yes, I agree, an Engine is a Blank Canvas.
Well any one could make a far better game than gameloft did. The problem is you need cash and loads of it. So thats why iphone games with UE looks cheesy...
Yeah, I've been following Shadowgun. It's a pretty game, in part thanks to a lot of clever tricks. It used baked lighting (rather than dynamic) for the environments (calculated on a much more powerful computer beforehand and essentially drawn in to the textures), they used an interesting method to light the character, but it still doesn't have dynamic or self cast shadows - definitely one of the bigger "wow" features of current gen consoles for me. Again on the environments, what we've been shown so far is all fairly confined small rooms made up of almost entirely flat surfaces - a bunch of squares. Doesn't make for a super detailed geometry. They do have the statue and crashed plane(?) but overall a lot simpler than console/dedicated gaming handheld levels (ever played God of War?). Have you seen this Epic Citadel demo running on NGP? Watch it till at least 45 seconds when they reveal the amount of the world it is able to render at once - even while populated with characters. How about Real Racing 2. Another amazing, high budget (I read around 2 million dollars to develop) iOS game. It doesn't compare very well to Forza, GT5 or DiRT though. Your RAM comment is largely irrelevant, but I might as well comment on that too. NGP is rumoured to have 256MB of system RAM and 128MB of video RAM, yes, less than iPad2's 512MB total. But consider that the PS2 only has 256MB system RAM and 256MB video RAM and the 360 only has a pooled 512MB of RAM shared between CPU and GPU. RAM alone isn't going to contribute much to a game. I'm not hating on iOS developers or iDevices, it absolutely blows my mind what some of them have been able to do with the hardware - especially as it wasn't built specifically for gaming, but I still think you're being really fanboyish in your comparisons. Current gen iDevices are good, but they're not that good. Quick note: I own a 4th gen iPod touch (32gb) and iPad 2 (64gb wifi) and use them both - a lot. Mostly for gaming even. I'm not just some jerk that goes around trashing apple products (not that that is what I did here).
Check out what I did on iPad 2/iPhone 4 with realtime shadows and dynamic lighting on Zombies HD. It can be done, at the expense of fewer polygons on screen. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel iDevices can do these effects but you still need good artists to compete with Infinity Blade. Unreal Engine also requires you to use Windows, which is kind of yucky to me as a developer now.
Developers have barely begun to scratch the power of the iPad 2, Don't judge the Hardware based on "Launch Titles" like Real Racing 2, and Infinity Blade. Shadowgun is Beautiful, But That also doesn't take Full advantage of the iPad 2 (It's only used for a 60fps framerate) RAM is also VERY important, It's used for Texture Quality/Detail, Sound/Music Quality, and many other things. Regardless, iOS Devices will overtake Handhelds/Current Consoles Sooner rather then Later. the iPad 3, will do just that Especially if it uses the "Power VR 6" GPU, which is 100x More powerful then the Power VR 5 GPU which is being used in the iPad 2.
This was largely my point, though I didn't make it very clear. Current iDevices can't do both, current consoles however do. (Nice lighting/mapping, though. Do the zombies self-shadow? Was hard to tell.) But you're using NGP and 3DS launch titles for judgement . Saying iDevices will take over dedicated gaming consoles (handheld and home) at some point is a bit redundant, More powerful handheld consoles will be released even later than trump whatever the current gen iDevice is. What I am trying to argue against is your belief that current iDevices are going to overtake current gen consoles and handhelds (I'll call NGP a current gen handheld for the sake of this arguement). Also, I did say RAM on its own isn't going to contribute much to graphics, a well textured cube is never going to make a believable rock.
I fail to see how it is Redudant, Newer, much more powerful iPhones/iPads get released Every year. And even if Gaming Handhelds are released Later, by then, they would only have Slightly better hardware then what an iDevice at that Time would be. Then once Another iDevice comes out, that Handheld would be defeated, and the Cycle continues. My mistake If I said "Current" Devices (Though, iPad 2 is an exception). also, yet a Poorly Textured cube (Pixelated Textures, Low Detail) is going to make a Believable rock?.
I'm not a huge fan of the yearly hardware updates, especially when it means your device isn't going to be able to run the games coming out in 2 years, or even the next. Are you prepared to shell out $499 (cheapest ipad, 16gb wifi only) every year to be able to play the few AAA titles that are released with each new gen? I'm sure this causes a disincentive for developers as well, as they want to generate as much income as possible so have to support as many devices as they can. In any case, the reason I say it is redundant as you are basically saying new devices are going to be more powerful than old devices, in a couple of years iDevices may surpass current consoles/handhelds in power, but then a while after that consoles and handhelds will catch up. That's just how it works, its not really a strength of iDevices. (apologies, I know what I want to say but for some reason what is in my head isn't translating to words. I hope it's making some sense.) I'm glad we're getting to a middle-ground with this 'discussion' though. =) On your last point, either you didn't get what I meant or just typo'd your answer. Of course a low res cube isn't going to be a believable rock, but a higher poly count shape (CPU/GPU here, not RAM) that actually resembles a rock with a low res texture should be more believable. NGP seems to have sufficient RAM to display nice textures at it's resolution though, so this is not an issue, and too much more RAM in an iPad wouldn't add much more to games. It would however make running many applications at once a more stable experience.
I don't recall saying Anything about Buying a new iDevice every year. Don't start a different Conversation here, this is about Hardware power. Consoles (Not handhelds, As i've stated before, those are Defunct in this case) Will,of course, be the the most powerful, but, It would be just a matter of time before iDevices catch up to those Consoles aswell. Epic Games' Mark Rein Also agrees with this, It's just a matter of time before iDevices would be able to run their "the Samaritan" Demo. Also, a Rock with a High Poly count but Shitty Textures are DEFINATLEY not going to make a Believable rock. I'm sure your just Trolling me on this part. If an Enviroment, Is High-Poly, yet has PS1-Quality Textures all over. It's not going to be Realistic in the slightest.
a lot of people upgrade every 2-3 years. Games typically will run on older gens, just not the best. IB, RR2, etc. all run on 3rd gens. Some awesome looking games even run on second and first gens. You can keep your idevice a couple of years and still be able to run the new games...
NGP/PS Vita defunct? I don't think so. If you seriously think so there's probably no point in me even trying to show you reason - back to the fanboy thing again. Even the 3DS. Sure the 3D is just a gimmick and it is relatively underpowered, but it's good enough. Plus people love Mario/Zelda games (even if they're just rehashes) so Nintendo is going to be around a long time. And back to the redundancy, so what if iDevices can eventually run an Unreal tech demo that other consoles/hardware can run today? By that time the other hardware will be more impressive. New hardware is better than old hardware, I'm pretty sure we've both agreed on this. Getting better over time is NOT an iDevice exclusive thing. As for the rock, not trolling you in the sightest. Perhaps a rock is a bad example as any dirty grey texture would be realistic. Go run Crysis (a 4 year old game that has a sequel on the consoles you're claiming iPad2 can compete with) on lowest everthing and tell me it doesn't look better than Shadowgun. The textures are pretty hideous but the environments are still high-poly enough for everything to be believable. Was using a bit of an extreme example with the cube anyway, of course the iPad2 can render more complex geometry than a square, and even with a little less RAM current handhelds and consoles are able to load more than adequate textures.
