Game companies eager to support new iPad's launch today

Many of the game industry's largest mobile publishers have been keen to support Apple's newest tablet model, "the new iPad" as it's called, which launches today and introduces new hardware features that can benefit their games. The iPad is one of the fastest-growing platform for games -- 15.4 million consumers purchased the tablet in the last quarter alone (ending December), and tens of thousands are lining up at stores around the world to buy its third-generation model today (Apple has already confirmed that demand outpaced online pre-orders). With the new iPad, game makers have more to work with than before: namely a high-resolution Retina display (2048 x 1536, compared to iPad 2's 1024 x 768) enabling sharper details and more vibrant graphics, an A5X quad-core graphics chip, and more. Apple's iOS family of devices are responsible for more than 25 billion downloads for games and applications, and many developers are making sure their titles are updated and ready to take advantage of the influx of consumers who will pick up a new iPad today or in the coming months. Namco Bandai has already released Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy, a new title that's optimized for the new tablet and was shown at its unveiling last week. And though Epic Games hasn't put out Infinity Blade: Dungeons yet, which was also shown at last week's event, it's updated big-seller Infinity Blade II for the new iPad's Retina screen. Other major game publishers have released updates targeting the new iPad, including Electronic Arts (Mass Effect Infiltrator, Flight Control Rocket), Gameloft (Modern Combat 3, Order & Chaos Online), Illusion Labs (Touchgrind BMX), Wooga (Diamond Dash), and others. Starting today, the new iPad is available across 10 countries, with various models ranging in price from $499 to $899 (the iPad 2's base price was cut from $499 to $399). It will launch in 23 more countries on March 23.