While there is plenty of developer concern regarding just how far Apple will raise the technical bar with iPad 3, there's also a whole host of enthusiasm bubbling under the surface.

Case in point, Przemek Marszal – game designer and art director at Anomaly: Warzone Earth developer 11 bit studios – wants iPad 3 to provide him the freedom to deliver the most visually striking games he can.

Marszal claims the A5's GPU – currently equipped in iPad 2 and iPhone 4S - is a limiting factor when it comes to game design, with a notable upgrade to iPad 3's chip a priority.

We caught up with Marszal to ask why processing power could turn out to be iPad 3's be all and end all.

Pocket Gamer: From a developer's perspective, what's the least you are hoping for from iPad 3?

Przemek Marszal: The standard iPad resolution is already big enough to display eye-candy graphics, so I don't need any growth in pixels.

What I actually would expect is a slightly more powerful GPU than the one in A5.

A5 is pretty efficient when it comes to rendering demanding effects like refraction, but I love to garnish every single scene I work on until it looks stunning, and the current GPU is filled and can't run more effects.

In fact, I want this style to be our games' signature.

So, to put it simply, I'd like to have more powerful GPU - even just slightly more powerful. But to be honest, I think new iPad will offer higher resolution screen.

If you were making the decisions as Apple, what's the one wildcard feature you'd include?

User interface could do with being refreshed, or even completely revolutionized.

Ice Cream Sandwich and others have popped up with new ideas when it comes to interfaces or refreshing the layout – just like Microsoft did with the new Xbox 360 dashboard, where you have the same functionality but a new layout.

So I would develop a new interface. We've had the same one for a couple of years, right?

The latest suggestion is iPad 3 will come with an 'A5X' chip, rather than A6 as expected. Given we know nothing about either, is this likely to make any practical difference?

That all depends on a screen resolution.

If the A5X is more powerful than its ancestor, but forces me to display stuff on the bigger screen, then eventually it may end up making iPad 3 slower than iPad2.

If the screen grows bigger, the GPU must feature significant growth of processing power.

Where do you think iPad 3's competition is likely to come from?

Windows 8 would need to be an open platform to compete, but Microsoft likes to keep control, so I don't expect it to offer any competition. I don't know if it's good or bad on a consumer level, but it's not a good move for the Redmond giant.

To me it looks like only Android is powerful enough to compete with Apple.

It's an open system, so that means it's attractive for device manufacturers and it develops fast, so I wouldn't be surprised to see powerful tablets and phones running Ice Cream Sandwich in 2012.

Furthermore, I think the two – both Android tablets and iPad - will leave others long, long behind them.

Broadly speaking, what do you think iPad 3 will do for games on the App Store, and mobile gaming in general?

It'll continue to be a successful gaming platform.

It has already proven its ability to be a great gaming device, now it'll add some more fireworks. Just give devs a chance to create magic and they will do.
Thanks to Przemek for his time.

You can find out more about 11 bit studios on the developer's website.