The question posed in this article’s headline is somewhat unanswerable, considering the iPad hasn’t even shipped yet. To claim that a product has failed before it’s even started the race is… asinine.

Given the amount of gamers in my community, I was largely surprised by the “it’s like an iPod Touch with a bigger screen” commentary. That’s like hating on the PS3 because “it’s like a PSP with a bigger screen.” Either analogy doesn’t make a lick of sense.

What gamer in his or her right mind would admonish any device with a larger screen?! Now, if you’d rather spend your money on another product, fine – that’s not the argument (and for you to get pissy over someone else’s decision to buy something with THEIR OWN money is a beyond immature). The day you start paying my bills is the day you can tell me what I can and cannot appreciate.

Consider the following screen shots (as submitted by iPhone OS developer, Kevin Ng). What, again, “sucks” here?

First is a shot of his iPhone game, WordCrasher, running 1×1 on the iPad emulator. Go ahead and click on the thumbnail image to see the full resolution screen capture:

Yeah, that’s not terribly impressive. Second is a shot of WordCrasher running in 2x Zoom on the iPad emulator. It’s a bit more usable, but the jaggies would drive anybody nuts:

Now, the pièce de résistance. Third is a shot of WordCrasher redesigned for the iPad’s screen:

With those images open in separate browser tabs, flip between them – specifically notice the differences between the 2x Zoom and native iPad versions of the same game. Night and day.

Because iPad supports OpenGL ES 2.0, I can use bump maps and other shader techniques to present more realistic materials. And the high resolution means better detail without making the game look too busy and unreadable. Whilst these shading techniques are available on the latest hardware revisions of the iPhone and iPod touch, not all models support them, so you’re left with a two-tier system. With iPad, these shader effects are available from the start, so you can rely on all the players getting the same experience. At least, for now.

How can any self-respecting “gamer” dislike a device that will undoubtedly enable the production of breathtaking games and game-changing gameplay… especially if they’ve never used it (to fairly judge)?

And to put your mind at ease, it’s okay to own both an Xbox 360 and an iPad – just as it’s okay to own both a Sony PSP and a Nintendo DS. You can buy whatever you want to buy (including a forthcoming “Slate” product that happens to run Windows 7). It’s your money, it’s your choice.

However, you might want to wait until you have something in your hands before you decide it’s a big fat bucket of FAIL.