iPad could be the next generation of home consoles

The recent announcement of the next generation iPad has gotten plenty of attention from the gaming development community.  With much beefier specs, this next generation iPad gives game developers the tools to use the device for bigger and better gaming experiences on the console.   In a recent article by Reuters, Epic Games explores how this next generation of iPad might be the one to break into the “AAA” gaming market.

It’s an area that is unfamiliar territory on the iPad.  The App Store is chock full of gaming applications that are both inexpensive and fun time wasters, but apparently big time publishers are looking at the specs of the new device as an entry point into the living room as well.

As it stands, the next generation iPad has more memory than either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.

“It is quite easy to imagine a world where an iPad is more powerful than a home console, where it wirelessly talks to your TV and wirelessly talks to your controller and becomes your new console,” Mike Capps said in a recent interview.

Reuters explains that the biggest publishers are watching Apple very closely.

“When the iPad gets to the processing power that’s equal to an Xbox 360 and it connects to a television, that’s no big deal to us. We’ll put the game through the iPad and have it display through the television.” said one executive of Electronic Arts.

The big question is whether or not those core gamers on the traditional home gaming consoles will go for that.  Will it boil back down to landscape of exclusive games for each console, and that be the deciding factor for where core gamers play?  Xbox Live is a deciding factor for many new console purchasers that have friends already connected on the service.  There are many things that even more robust specifications don’t take the place of.

Apple has proven that they are eager to get the latest technology into the hands of their consumers with yearly renditions of the products, giving alot of credence to recent sentiments from Epic Games.  If the next generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony aren’t “bleeding edge”, they may have a problem on their hands if Apple pushes into console space with the iPad.