Next Big Thing – multiplayer AirPlay gaming

Yawn. I’ve been AirPlaying on my iPad 2 since the summer.

That’s different. Yes, Real Racing 2 creators Firemint announced in June that you could use your iPad 2 as an AirPlay controller for the app, viewing racing stats on the tablet while the track takes up the whole of your (Apple TV connected) big screen. But with this week’s iPhone 4S launch, things just got a lot more interesting.

Four times more interesting?

Exactly. Firemint’s next update to the Real Racing 2 and Real Racing 2 HD iOS apps not only bumps up the graphics to work the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S’s dual-core A5 processor to the max – it also takes full advantage of iOS 5 AirPlay Mirroring with the new Party Play feature. So you’ll be able to see the racecourse on your portable iDevice with Apple TV supporting split screen gaming for up to four players on your TV screen.

Will we be able to test this out on iPhone 4S launch day?

Not quite. The Real Racing 2 blog didn’t let on when the AirPlay Mirroring update would make its way to the App Store but we hope we won’t be kept waiting too long. Especially since Nintendo’s stab at combining touchscreen and big-screen gaming, the Wii U, won’t drop until 2012 – and it only supports one WiiPad touchscreen controller per console. AirPlay it is then.

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Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home