Develop: 'iPad HD' will soon match Xbox 360

Fishlabs CEO predicts that 'iPad HD' will match Xbox 360 quality games within a year
Fishlabs CEO predicts that 'iPad HD' will match Xbox 360 quality games within a year

Speaking at this week's Develop Conference in Brighton, the CEO of developer Fishlabs has claimed that the quality of mobile gaming will overtake that of home consoles within a year.

Fishlabs CEO Michael Schade also said that he thinks Apple will release an "iPad HD" which will run games of an equivalent standard to a Microsoft Xbox 360 within the next year.

Schade was speaking in a Develop session called "Mobile becomes Console" and remains incredibly bullish on the opportunities for better quality handheld games in the very near future.

iDevices close in on PlayStation

"I think you can expect some time next year to have rendering capabilities onmobile devices superior to the Xbox 360," claimed the Fishlabs CEO.

He added that he thinks Apple's range of 'iDevices' (iPod touch/iPhone/iPad) could have sold 120 million copies by the end of the year putting them "close to a par with the PS2's 140 million."

"When we have made it so that someone buys a mobile device to play a game, then the mobile has become a more important platform than consoles," said the developer.

Nintendo clearly hopes that its recently-announced 3DS handheld console is going to be appealing enough to gamers to help the Japanese gaming company maintain its current market-leading role in the handheld gaming market.

Via Develop

Adam Hartley