Apple's recently upgraded iPad is leading the smartphone market's assault on traditional console-based gaming, challenging how we think of play in the living room.

That's according to ngmoco CEO Neil Young, who has told GamesIndustry.biz that the tablet market is delivering games that can keenly compete with those we're typically used to playing on our television.

Applauding Apple

Speaking during GDC 2012, Young gave Apple plaudits for the upgrades delivered in the latest iPad.

"It's awesome, a strong evolution," said Young.

"I'm really looking forward to what they do with TV. That has the ability to complete the loop for Apple."

Indeed, one of the few disappointmentss cited by commentators in regards to Apple's iPad unveiling was the company's decision not to add apps to its Apple TV platform.

It's an evolution everybody expects, but no-one can pin down exactly when the transition will be made.

"They've disrupted phones, they've disrupted handheld gaming, and then to disrupt consoles and television viewing, that's going to be pretty exciting," added Young.

For the moment, however, Young believes iPad – combined with AirPlay Mirroring – is doing an admirable job of disrupting the living room all by itself.

Tablet time

"We have a studio in Sweden, run by Ben Cousins, who was the EP on Battlefield, and he is assembling an all-star team, and they are building something pretty cool for tablets," he added.

"Our view is that tablets really have the opportunity to reinvent living-room play experiences. They're powerful enough that you can take the tablet with you and continue an experience that is essentially exactly the same, and they're also used predominantly in the living room as control surfaces."

Young, whose company was acquired by Japanese social gaming giant DeNA in 2010, also took time to take a poke at rival GREE, which is planning to relaunch its rival gaming platform to DeNA's Mobage in the west later this year.

According to Young, the platform will simply be "OpenFeint with a virtual-goods layer."

He concluded, "But being able to combine those three pieces, the platform, the third-party ecosystem, and then first-party studios, you need all those three things to build a very successful company."

[source: GamesIndustry.biz]