Okay - so, the thing that sold me on the iPad was pretty bizarre. It wasn't the web browser, or the form factor, or most of the awesome stuff that I think makes the device what it is. The thing that sold me was the page turning animation in iBooks. The fact that it *felt* like something was a big deal. On a giant screen, you can do a LOT more with a touch-based interface than you can with an iPhone. More than that, you *should* be doing more. If you're just using the iPad as a giant iPhone, I feel like you're completely missing the point of developing on the iPad. As soon as the iPad launched, we knew we wanted to have a version of Word Ace & the Card Ace games for the iPad, but we also knew we absolutely didn't want to just release an uprezzed large version of the iPhone games. So it's taken a little time to get it right, but I wanted to show you this: As you can see, the obvious difference is that the interface is completely revamped from the iPhone versions of the games, if you're familiar with them. But more than that, and we haven't seen anyone doing this on the iPad yet, this is a card game that's meant to replicate how you play cards in real life. There's no "fold" button. You just muck your cards. There's no "All-In button" - you just take your stack of chips, and you slide it into the pot. You want to fiddle with chips while you're waiting for your turn? No problem. Bounce 'em around the table. Split them using the "expand" gesture, or "pinch" two stacks together. Toss your cards around. We've tried to make everything as similar to real-life as it can be. You've got shortcuts to common bet sizes in the lower right - this is a videogame, after all, so where we can make the interface faster/better we have - and you can pinch & expand in the "staging area" to manually change your bet. All the features you're familiar with, if you've played the iPhone version of Casino are also here - tons of Awards, in-game gifts, cross-compatibility with EVERY version of our games out there. You can play with people playing on iPhone, Pre, Facebook, Android... We've also got new Sit & Go tournaments in Hold 'Em, in-game leaderboards, and a really cool picture-based emote system to go along with the in-game text chat. Add friends to your Friend List, and see them on the new People Grid when you start up a game. It's a completely bonkers new way to play card games on a tablet, and I think it's going to set the standard for how people want to play card games online. We're submitting it to Apple in the next 24 hours - and I've heard approval takes a while these days, but hopefully, you'll be able to get your hands on it soon. Thanks! seppo
Thanks! It's actually really weird. We've spent the last year playing cards online by hitting tiny buttons, it was a surprisingly difficult transition back to actually manipulating *stuff* to do what you needed to do. As a first effort at this style of interface, though, I think it's a huge leap forward from what people have been seeing on the iPad so far. To me, this *feels* like all card games *should* feel - and once you've played this, I think everything else is going to seem spectacularly uninspired. seppo
