I spent most of Saturday playing with my new iPad at WordCamp San Francisco 2010. Of course it was a bit odd playing around with the famously proprietary device while Richard Stallman was on stage, but oh well. I have to say I’m very impressed with the iPad. I bought it mostly as an e-reader and excuse to test games, but am surprised at how the device fills me with a desire for other forms of interactive entertainment.
At home I love streaming Netflix movies through a Roku. Equally I was happy to see I could stream the same movies on the iPad as well. However I haven’t been able to sit more than a minute watching any of them on my iPad. My thumbs are right there, I want to interact, I want to do more than just watch. For me static media isn’t going to be enough, I want more.
Sure I can jump on Twitter or some other social media apps but I find even those don’t capturing my attention. I want more, I want entertainment. So I download a few games. Yet even these don’t keep my attention for long. Sure they’re clever how they take advantage of the iPad’s novel interface but I just don’t find them that compelling. Maybe it’s a consequence of that very novelty? Maybe it’s still early in the evolution of these games? In either case I find myself wanting more.
What I want is a mashup of Netflix and games – interactive drama. It would be more akin to visual novels or dating sims. Sadly the only visual novel I could find in the App Store was in Japanese and there are no dating sims yet. After spending the day with the iPad I find it to be as revolutionary as Steve Job’s attests and believe it should find an equally revolutionary medium to complement it.
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