OS Neutral iPad as a gaming platform -- some questions

[147798]

Due to a neck injury, I can't really play my iPad for games anymore. Too much bending my head forward puts strain on my vertebrae disks. I have to keep my head up.

But there are some games on there I'd like to keep playing.

I have a 24" Dell monitor hooked up to a 2009 MBP in my office. Is there a solution where I can add a bluetooth controller to my iPad and run the iPad to my monitor, either through my MBP or somehow standalone. I tried the small AppleTV when it first came out, and AirPlay was too laggy to be useful. I don't think my 2009 MBP supports airplay. Is there another solution?

Or maybe I just buy a controller, and somehow mount my iPad up at eye level so I can look straight ahead?

Any help is appreciated. Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I didn't see a logical iPad/iOS forum for this, and I'm hoping to hear from people using games, rather than people having hw or sw issues with their iPads.

 

[Cougarcat]

The problem with controllers is that most games don't support/aren't designed for them. What games do yo want to play? And if you don't jailbreak, your only options are the Mifi ones, which are expensive and not very good.

If I were you I would take this opportunity to explore gaming on the Mac. With Kickstarter, it's the age of indie games, many of which have low requirements and are multi-platform. Shadwrun Returns, Broken Age, Banner Saga, Reus etc. all would work great on your old MBP.

Otherwise, you could try a stand. The downside to this is that touchscreens aren't really designed to work vertically. I could see your arm getting fatigued after short sessions.

IMO I think the iPad forum would get you better feedback.

 

[147798]

The problem with controllers is that most games don't support/aren't designed for them. What games do yo want to play? And if you don't jailbreak, your only options are the Mifi ones, which are expensive and not very good.

If I were you I would take this opportunity to explore gaming on the Mac. With Kickstarter, it's the age of indie games, many of which have low requirements and are multi-platform. Shadwrun Returns, Broken Age, Banner Saga, Reus etc. all would work great on your old MBP.

Otherwise, you could try a stand. The downside to this is that touchscreens aren't really designed to work vertically. I could see your arm getting fatigued after short sessions.

IMO I think the iPad forum would get you better feedback.

Thanks! I do have some Mac games and also a Wii U. There's a brand new game out -- Battle Supremacy (FPS tank battle with online play). It's really cool, and I got hooked into it last night, and could feel the pain in my neck returning, so I was hoping to play it a different way, as it's only (currently) on iOS. The same gaming house eventually released their other titles on OSX, so I suppose I could wait.

 

[korthaj]

I play my ipad games laying on my back with a pillow under my head, the cover lid is used as a support and holds the ipad up supported by my belly. works great for many hours, hope this works for you