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Preview of Bartleby Vol. 2 iPad app shows possibility of future AirPlay integration
We covered Monster Costume's interactive children's book Bartleby in 2010, and multiple TUAW reviewers found it to be a charming and well-crafted iPad app. Monster Costume is hard at work on Bartleby Volume 2, and even though I don't have kids of my own and am about 25 years beyond the target age group for this app, it still looks like a lot of fun. As you'll see in the video demo below, Bartleby Vol. 2 is really taking iPad interactivity seriously. Like many other iPad apps, it allows you to plug your iPad into your TV and use the iPad as a sort of oversized controller for the game. The video shows an iPad 2 hooked into an HDTV via an HDMI dongle, which may seem clumsy and possibly a recipe for disaster with smaller kids -- but if you've got an Apple TV 2, there may be a solution to that problem coming this fall. The upcoming iOS 5 update will allow wireless video via AirPlay for any app that supports it, and in fact, it seems the only reason Monster Costume isn't showing off the AirPlay functionality already is because of Apple's NDA for iOS 5 features. AirPlay could turn the Apple TV 2 into a de facto game console for apps like Bartleby. Seeing this demo has now got me thinking about the upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics release for the iPad and hoping Square-Enix includes this feature, too. Bartleby Volume 2 looks great so far, and Volume 1 is currently available for free until Volume 2's release. If you've got young kids, definitely check it out. Bartleby Airplay Demo from Monster Costume Inc. on Vimeo.
