It's a warning shot across the bow of the current generation of consoles: One of the biggest First Person Shooter franchises, Battlefield 3, is coming to the iPhone and iPad, and it looks good. IndustryGamers got a glimpse of what EA Mobile characterized as an “early pre-alpha” version of Battlefield 3: Aftershock on the iPad 2, and it looked at least equivalent to the Wii, graphics-wise. The controls, even in this very early version, were very responsive and worked well.
The game will be capable of single or multiplayer action, though how many players can participate is not yet certain. No doubt the number will be as big as they can make it without causing the hardware to choke.
The game looked very good with the graphics displaying on an HDTV screen, though of course not up to the Xbox 360 or PS3 version. As the old Russian proverb goes, “It's not how well the bear dances, but that the bear dances at all.” Watching and playing a AAA title on an iPad brings home the imminent arrival of the top console titles to smartphones and tablets. The fact that this version isn't up to the current consoles isn't the point; it's getting close. When the iPad 3 arrives, with its rumored 2048 x 1536 resolution (better than 1080p HDTV resolution), and a quad-core chip to drive it, the games will look even better. AirPlay allows you to put the graphics on your HDTV if you have an Apple TV, or you can use a cable. If you really miss you controller, a wireless one can take care of that. Or, for an FPS like Battlefield 3, one of the numerous Bluetooth keyboards along with a mouse will put you in FPS heaven, controller wise (that combo beats a console controller any day of the week, according to FPS fans).
There's no word yet on when this title might ship, but sometime in 2012 would be a likely time. There will be some connectivity with Battlefield 3 on other platforms, but limited to things like achievements and weapon unlocks. Though EA Mobile wasn't saying, it would seem that this title would also work well on Tegra 3-powered Android tablets and smartphones, too. It's yet another reason for console makers to worry, and make sure their next-generation consoles can meet the increasing challenges of mobile platforms.
