Scoreloop's Gumpinger: iPad will make games more social

While the majority of the early focus on iPad has concerned what game developers will be able to do with the new device, there are also plenty of options for those companies supporting them in terms of social networking.

Scoreloop's CEO Marc Gumpinger gives his views on how things will change.

How will iPad change the portable gaming market?

Marc Gumpinger: Since it not only focuses on gaming as most consoles do, the iPad will - however incidentally - attract users to gaming who may not have played previously.

What most impresses you about iPad?

For some time the iPad was rumoured to be focused on media and reading. Whilst I'm looking forward to read my newspaper on it, what I really like about it is the broad range of nicely crafted options from photo to video to media and book-reading to gaming. This ensures people will use it on many occasions. And this means we can address a broad range of casual gamers. That's Scoreloop's focus.

How does it change things in terms of social gaming?

It will increase the length of gaming sessions. That means people have more time to stay in touch with their friends through games. To us that means we may introduce chat among a number of other cool features.

The iPhone and now the iPad teaches us it's not about having every possible feature. It's about introducing them when they make sense. And the different form factor and focus of the iPad will certainly encourage new features

Does the extra screen size mean you can do more things in terms of Scoreloop user interface?

On the iPad we'll see amazing full screen games that create an unparalleled user experience. Take Astro Ranch for example: The iPhone version is amazing, but the HD version for the iPad will blow you away.

Our white label approach allows Tag Games to implement social features directly into both the iPhone and iPad versions of Astro Ranch without having to distract users with a closed social platform.

The iPad is about a great user experience. Scoreloop gives developers the full freedom to make their games social in whatever way they think is best. And our SDK is available for the iPad now.

Will you support multiple accounts on one device i.e. for local multiplayer?

We've got something really great in the pipe concerning that. Stay tuned.

Thanks to Marc for his time.