iPads are wonderful devices when you need to take notes, feel creative and want to scribble or drawn something or even just for consuming entertainment in the form of books and Netflix. Do you know what iPads are not particularly good for? Gaming. Apple wants to change all that with some new features aimed at increasing its appeal to gamers, even if those gamers will argue that tablet devices don’t count when compared to consoles and PCs.
Along with its already announced keyboard and mouse support, Apple has revealed that they are also planning to support both the Xbox and Sony controllers, which includes full motion support, feedback and even use of the DualShock’s colour bar and touchpad, with settings to adjust the controls for both controllers. For people want to use a keyboard for gaming, Apple will also allow you to press multiple keys at once, something which was not originally possible and will open up the options for the types of games that can be played on your iPad.
Alongside all of these input improvements, Apple is also overhauling its Game Centre user interface. The refreshed design will include a new dashboard with a transparent layer on top of games that supports both landscape and portrait orientations. Apple is also redesigning its achievements section of Game Centre, to make the app look and feel more consistent across iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and macOS systems.
These are minor changes, but ones that could have a significant impact on how gamers can finally play games on their iPads – and perhaps more importantly, the type of games they could possibly play better on them. Getting game developers to make better games for the iPad that aren’t littered with microtransactions though, is going to be a completely different battle although Apple Arcade has already made great strides in this area with a more traditional pricing model for solid experiences.
Last Updated: June 29, 2020
