How iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch Interactions Could Effect Gaming

I am very much anticipating April 3rd and the arrival of the iPad. The more I think about it the more I think about the impacts it will have. I have recently been spending a lot of time thinking about the new interaction opportunities we can have by combining the iPad with an iPhone or iPod Touch. I think these interactions become even more interesting in the context of gaming.

With the dimentions of the iPad, I can imagine placing it on a table facing up with four people surrounding it like a board game. Each person holding an iPhone or iPod Touch. For simplicity sake, imagine a game like Scrabble. On each person's iPhone or iPod Touch they can view their own tiles. On their turn, they can flick the tiles off their device and they could land on the iPad where the tiles can be moved into place. This type of interaction could work with anything somebody wanted to keep private like cards but then shared at the approriate time on the iPad. This interaction could also be used for photos much like the Microsoft Surface demos.

Now imagine turning the iPad up on its side or strapping it to the back of a car seat. Now you have a video game console. An iPhone or iPod Touch could be used as a game controller for a first person shotter , a stearing wheel for a driving or simulator game where tilting it could be the accelorator or finally a Nintendo Wii style remote for games including vibrating feedback and two sounds sources. So, instead of swing your iPhone around to make it sound like a light sabor, you can also make your first person game character wield a light sabor.

Now my son is sure to shatter my iPhone.