Are tablets now as good as games consoles | Best Technology ...

Comparing tablet computers to games consoles is fairly tricky because on the surface they are very different products.

Tablets are all-in-one devices designed to let you consume media content, apps and games when you are sitting on your sofa or out and about. Games consoles are dedicated systems aimed at delivering interactive entertainment in a living room environment, with no innate portability built in.

But in recent years the lines between these two types of gadget have blurred, raising the question of whether you could replace a console with a tablet and still satisfy your gaming needs.

So should you get money for your old games console and invest it in a tablet, or is there still space for both devices in your home?

Ways to Play

Tablet gaming is all about bite-sized play sessions that can last just a few minutes, with most titles relying on touchscreen or motion controls to let you manage the action.

Consoles, on the other hand, remain the premier platform for longer bouts of gaming, with story-driven single player experiences and online multiplayer experiences which can last for hours at a time. Physical control pads are also the chief form of interaction, although some tablet-style features have begun to appear on certain consoles.

The Wii U, for example, has a primary controller with a large touchscreen display at its centre. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 can be used with a tablet app called SmartGlass which turns your portable device into another controller. The upcoming PlayStation 4 DualShock 4 control pad will have a built-in touch panel.

Graphic Content

You may think that the biggest difference between tablets and home consoles is in the visual department, since games like Angry Birds use simple 2D graphics while high end console releases deliver rich 3D worlds with hundreds of thousands of polygons on show.

Interestingly, however, most tablet games belie the power of the device on which they are running. The iPad can, for example, support a modified version of the Unreal Engine, which is the same toolkit used to create console franchises like Gears of War.

So the point is not that tablets are less able to generate realistic 3D graphics than consoles, but rather than developers choose not to harness this technology particularly often.

Value Considerations

One reason to choose a tablet rather than a console for gaming is the price of the software. With a console, you not only have to buy the hardware, but you then also pay ?40-?60 for a new game.

Tablets, on the other hand, have access to thousands of games that are free or incredibly cheap, offering hours of fun for relatively minimal investment. So even if a tablet costs more than a console upfront, you will pay less in the long run, particularly when you compare the price of cross-platform games.

Using a tablet is easy ? it is always close to hand ? ?so if you have a console gathering dust, it makes sense to sell it to raise cash for a tablet.

Source: http://www.besttechnology.org/2013/07/30/are-tablets-now-as-good-as-games-consoles/

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