Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft will have another Apple product to worry about this Saturday, according to some venture capitalists and developers. What is interesting is that these iPad supporters are not starry-eyed entrepreneurs, but many are themselves veterans of the video game industry.  At a press conference Wednesday, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins announced it was doubling its iFund investment to $200 million in anticipation for startups focusing on the iPad. The firm's iFund currently invests in 14 startups, including iPhone game developers Ngmoco and Booyah.  Kleiner Perkins partner Bing Gordon told Forbes at the event that he thinks the iPad will encroach on the territories of the console-makers. "The question is, how much?" he says.  Before joining Kleiner Perkins in 2008, Gordon spent a decade working as the chief creative officer for game publisher Electronic Arts.  Console-makers have dismissed the Apple threat, and said they would distinguish themselves from all-in-one devices like the iPhone, and now the iPad, by continuing to focus on creating high-quality game experiences. When asked to comment about this apparent market dichotomy between a do-everything device like the iPad and a game-centric device like the Nintendo DS or Sony's PlayStation Portable, Gordon says the iPad will grow even if some hang on to their more traditional consoles.  "The secret in gaming is that 70% of gamers have two devices and a PC," says Gordon.  Neil Young, the chief executive of Ngmoco, thinks that the iPad will encroach on both laptop and desktop PC gaming as well as living room gaming with consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Young, like Gordon, left EA in 2008, where he worked for 11 years and managed projects under the EA Los Angeles and EA Blueprint divisions. He went on to co-found Ngmoco. The developer will have seven games ready at the time of the iPad launch, including "Flick Fishing" and space strategy game "Warpgate."  Young called PlayStation's dual-shock controller "clumsy" and said even the "revolutionary" Wii controller couldn't compare to the touch experience of the iPad.  "When you pick up the device in your hands and you're interacting with the software, a switch goes on in your head that you're actually interacting with something," said Young at the event. "For games, that's really important in terms of engagement and suspending disbelief."  Keith Lee, co-founder and chief executive of Booyah, also thinks the iPad will proliferate.  "The iPad is going to be in places that the console is in like the living room, and even in places like the bedroom," said Lee noting the mobility of the iPad.  Prior to founding Booyah, creator of the location-based iPhone game MyTown, last year, Lee was the lead producer for Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo III franchise.  Gordon says his gauge of a platform's success is how excited developers are and its ease of use.  "The big message is that the iPad's easier to develop for than we thought and more delightful than we hoped," he said.
Venture capitalists and game developers think the iPad will take over more and more of the game industry