Tablet gaming to reach console levels in coming years, expert says

Donald Mustard, creative director and co-founder of video game developer Chair Entertainment, believes that gaming on tablet computers won't always be a novelty. In the near future, he says, tablets will reach the same power levels as consoles, which could spark a new breed of serious tablet gamers.

In an interview with TabTimes, a tablet computer news provider, Mustard highlights the evolution of tablet technology in the few years that it's been available. He notes that despite the youth of the market, tablets have already gotten remarkably faster, video and picture clearer and games more dynamic.

Chair Entertainment is the developer of the tablet-based action role-playing games Infinity Blade and Infinity Blade II. The games were released only a year apart, but Mustard suggests the details of the latter are superior to its predecessor thanks to advances in tablet technology within that time.

"Looking from Infinity Blade to Infinity Blade II just in one year, the hardware has gotten fast enough that we’re able to push a lot more texture resolution, a lot more of the high-end rendering techniques like dynamic character shadows and more particle effects from the screen, whether that’s big magical effects, or particles blowing in the wind," Mustard says.

At the moment, tablet gaming is generally fairly simple and reserved as a time-killer while waiting for an appointment or sitting on the bus. However, as the technology continues to evolve, serious gaming may be in the future of tablet computers.