Ipad 2 vs ipad 3

It plays fine on the iPad2, runs smooth and looks great, no complaints here.

The higher resolution display makes it much easier to read all the tiny text on the tables, and makes the whole game look much more photorealistic. Haven't tried the game on an iPad 2, but it runs beautifully on the iPad 3. I recommend making sure you've disabled "banner" style notifications for all apps (in the Settings app, under Notifications), as the frame rate can drop momentarily when one of those appears, and if you're really unlucky, it could happen at just the right moment to cost you a ball.

There's an optional "post processing" setting (off by default), but it really wrecks the frame rate, so I'm sure you'll want to turn it off immediately. Can't say it looked noticeably better anyway.

As for other reasons to get the new iPad, it makes reading a thousand times better. Couldn't stand reading pixellated text on the original iPad, but thanks to the new iPad, my Kindle mostly gathers dust now (except when it's bright out…still can't beat e-ink for lack of reflectance). The display alone is more than enough reason to upgrade, IMO.

I have to agree with all the comments here regarding the third-gen iPad. All the tables look better and the physics seem smoother -- especially on the RBION table. One of the most dramatic differences is the way the table reflects up into the rolling ball. It’s just jaw-droppingly detailed and smooth on the iPad 3.

The only caveat is -- as "Stormchild" stated above -- the optional "post-processing" mode. It turns all the tables into a herky-jerky mess. It’s supposed to provide more realistic lighting, but It’s just Not Ready for Prime Time yet. Hopefully it will be more useful when the July update hits. If not, then Farsight should just drop the "feature". Honestly, the lighting seems fine to me in the default mode so I don’t really see a need for it anyway.

vfpcoder said:

I have to agree with all the comments here regarding the third-gen iPad. All the tables look better and the physics seem smoother -- especially on the RBION table. One of the most dramatic differences is the way the table reflects up into the rolling ball. It’s just jaw-droppingly detailed and smooth on the iPad 3.

The only caveat is -- as "Stormchild" stated above -- the optional "post-processing" mode. It turns all the tables into a herky-jerky mess. It’s supposed to provide more realistic lighting, but It’s just Not Ready for Prime Time yet. Hopefully it will be more useful when the July update hits. If not, then Farsight should just drop the "feature". Honestly, the lighting seems fine to me in the default mode so I don’t really see a need for it anyway.

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I actually like being able to turn on post processing, as I hope they figure out a way to get it to work properly. At least we get to see how it would look like when it is fully optimized. In fact, I wish they threw in other modes for fun that we can try out graphcs wise. It just means they are a down to Earth dev team that wants to show us they are working hard on certain features.

As far as Ipad 3 vs 2, without a doubt this game runs smooth and looks its best on the 3. It even looks better on the Ipad 3 than it does on the Playstation 3. Much sharper graphics and smoother more responsive action without latency.

I am very in love with the retina displays. I only have an iphone 4 currently and the retina is great but the sceen size is just to small to fully enjoy like on a pad. I also have an Android asus transformer (1st gen) tablet and an xbox 360. I bought every table on all my different devices becouse I love this game and I want to support it's sucess as much as possible. Mostly I play it on my Asus pad, it's to small on the phone and holding it vertically on a pad is so much cooler than wide screen on the xbox.

I am obsessed with the idea of pinball arcade on a retina display tablet. Currently ipad 3 doesnt sell me enough to get one becouse i dont think it has enough power to fully render the tables as good as ps3 or xbox 360, I'm hoping the next new ipad can really do this. it would be amazing.

I'm very seriously thinking about the new Asus Infinity Pad, it doesnt have as many pixals as ipad 3, but it has almost as much (more than an hdtv does). The Infinity definitly has more graphics power than ipad 3, but I wonder if they can get pinball arcade fully rendered on it like the xbox.

I can now confirm that the new Ipad is in another league than Ipad 2 Had it for 5 days now and do not regret upgrading for one second. How on earth can a game like this look so damn nice on a tablet? And I'm not troubled one bit that I have to start over on those wizard goals. You all helped me on the path to the right decision and I salute you.

Well done Karl, you made the right decision. I love my iPad 3 and TPA is amazing on it.

Yeah, it really is amazing, isn't it? I could stare at some of these tables for hours, going back to anything with lower res is painful.

I just hope they never add console-quality light effects or bluetooth controller support, because that would kill my already seriously damaged productivity

karl said:

And I'm not troubled one bit that I have to start over on those wizard goals. You all helped me on the path to the right decision and I salute you.

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Hopefully with Game Center and iCloud support, those issues will be a thing of the past.

Karl,

Welcome to the Party!!
I know this is hard for some people to understand, but for me TPA is *reason enough* to own an iPad 3!!! My nephew actually owns some*real* tables in his basement, and even he states that playing the tables on my iPad 3 is "close" to playing perfectly maintained versions of his tables!!

While you have already made your decision, I thought I would do a photo comparison myself. Screenshots only show part of the difference, and are hard to compare when the sizes are so different. The tables look brighter and more colorful on the iPad 3 retina display, which you can't see in screenshots.

iPad 2 on the left, iPad 3 on the right:



Theater of Magic iPad 2 and iPad 3. (the forum only allows four images per post)

Just Some Guy said:

While you have already made your decision, I thought I would do a photo comparison myself. Screenshots only show part of the difference, and are hard to compare when the sizes are so different.

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Something's fishy about your Cirqus Voltaire screenshots. Surely you didn't just happen to get the ball in exactly the same place, with the exact same score, on both the iPad 2 and 3? Seems more like that one was just scaled down and back up again (i.e. you just took one screenshot on the iPad 3, then scaled it down to 1024 x 758, and back up).

The iPad 2 also only has a resolution of 1024 x 768, so the iPad 2 shots must have all been scaled up, which pretty much renders your comparison completely invalid.

If you really want to do a proper comparison, you'd need to post unaltered screenshots from each platform. Scaling screenshots (up or down) is always going to result in a loss of quality).

Stormchild said:

Something's fishy about your Cirqus Voltaire screenshots. Surely you didn't just happen to get the ball in exactly the same place, with the exact same score, on both the iPad 2 and 3? Seems more like that one was just scaled down and back up again (i.e. you just took one screenshot on the iPad 3, then scaled it down to 1024 x 758, and back up).

The iPad 2 also only has a resolution of 1024 x 768, so the iPad 2 shots must have all been scaled up, which pretty much renders your comparison completely invalid.

If you really want to do a proper comparison, you'd need to post unaltered screenshots from each platform. Scaling screenshots (up or down) is always going to result in a loss of quality).

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x2 I agree. Pinball Arcade definitely looks better on my iPad 2 than in those screenshots.

Stormchild said:

Something's fishy about your Cirqus Voltaire screenshots. Surely you didn't just happen to get the ball in exactly the same place, with the exact same score, on both the iPad 2 and 3? Seems more like that one was just scaled down and back up again (i.e. you just took one screenshot on the iPad 3, then scaled it down to 1024 x 758, and back up).

The iPad 2 also only has a resolution of 1024 x 768, so the iPad 2 shots must have all been scaled up, which pretty much renders your comparison completely invalid.

If you really want to do a proper comparison, you'd need to post unaltered screenshots from each platform. Scaling screenshots (up or down) is always going to result in a loss of quality).

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There's nothing fishy about the scores, I just pulled the plunger all the way back on both devices, and tried to take a screenshot as soon as possible. I guess the physics are such that you're going to get the same (or similar) results each time, and it was just a weird coincidence. If you actually switch between them, you'll see that the ball has moved and the lights are on a different sequence.

They are not scaled up screenshots, they're scaled down photographs of both my iPads, because scaling screenshots to match resolution are not an accurate representation of what the iPads actually look like, and don't show the color differences. Here are the uncropped originals. (with the photo positions aligned—the camera had moved slightly between the two shots)



The iPad 2 really is that grainy compared to the iPad 3 retina display.

mmmagnetic said:

It´s an insane jump in pixel density - imagine your computer doing that!.

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I have a GTX670 with 4GB RAM onboard capable of displaying 2560 x 1600 as opposed to 2048 x 1536 on the iPad.... so yeah.... I can imagine my computer doing that, only better and faster All I need is $1500+ or so for a monitor that can keep up with that.

Is the iPad not capable of anti-aliasing ? all the screenshots in the thread so far look horribly aliased... Having seen the iPad 3 screen personally, it's best viewed at arms length I guess where it does, indeed look very impressive. I play on my iPad 1 still, at 640x480 or what ever it is...

What's the pixel density though? That's where you really notice it between the iPad 2, and the 3.

true, that IS a lot of pixels for a less than 10" screen

laughing_lunatic said:

Is the iPad not capable of anti-aliasing ? all the screenshots in the thread so far look horribly aliased... Having seen the iPad 3 screen personally, it's best viewed at arms length I guess where it does, indeed look very impressive. I play on my iPad 1 still, at 640x480 or what ever it is...

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The iPad is capable of anti-aliasing, but probably can't keep The Pinball Arcade running at 60fps when using it at 2048x1536.

Don't forget that if you view an iPad screenshot on your monitor, it is significantly larger than it would be on the device. This is why I used photographs for my comparisons rather than screenshots. Assuming you have a 30" display, which should have a 100 pixel per inch density, this would be actual size, so aliasing is far less of a concern.



Rather than this.

Edit: 3110 again. I guess that just happens every time!

It is tricky to convey the ipad2 vs 3 difference in screenshots. Because in order to make an ipad2 matching screenshot, you do need to blow it up to the same size as ipad3 for proper comparison, & that resizing may introduce artificial antialias, & also the blown up size can make text actually easier to read than it is on the tablet. In order to truly see what 2048x pixels looks like when jammed into such a small screen... well you need a device capable of doing that, which is only the ipad3! It is easy to figure how things can look though. Take the resolution of ipad2, double it, then shrink it back down (in your mind). Or, if you play with the screen nearly at arms length, imagine straight angled lines having almost ZERO stepping (jaggies). That is exactly what iPad3 does, you really need to look close sometimes to see jaggies. We are talking a resolution beyond 1080p, yet jammed into such a small screen. I've always been a tech geek, I pay $500+ for my PC monitors, get the nicer HDTV's... yet I was still blown away when I first saw the iPad3. If you think 1080p games on the PS3 have nice resolution... once again iPad3 has that beat too. Beat quite easily I might add.

Yeah, it really makes every other screen look like Super Nintendo pixel city.

I mean, I could look at pictures like these for hours:
http://pinball.org/videos/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/IMG_9679.jpg
(Whirlwind)