Forget the eBooks, just give us the video games. For all the talk that Apple Inc.’ s iPad would prove to be a beacon of hope to the publishing industry and the saviour of newspapers and magazines, the most popular type of iPad-exclusive applications in the App Store is currently video games. According to a new study from Distimo, video-game applications make up 35% of the 2,385 iPad exclusive apps in Apple’s iTunes App Store. There were about 833 gaming applications built for the iPad in the App Store as of Tuesday, compared to 260 “entertainment” titles and 205 education applications. However, video games and entertainment apps remain more popular on the iPhone than on the iPad, with 70% of the most popular apps on the iPhone published to one of those two categories, compared with about 40% on the iPad.

The tech-savvy world is out of its mind today with iPad fever as Apple’s new “coffee table” device that combines the power of the iPhone with the size of a Kindle hits shelves. Pundits call it a revolutionary device; critics say we don’t need a larger version of the iPhone that can’t even make phone calls. Whether you fall into the first camp or the second, here’s what we can tell you about the iPad’s effect (or lack thereof) on video games.

Does this mean the iPad is irrelevant to gaming and that things will stay just as they are? That’s not how smaller developers feel. A Flurry survey conducted weeks ago found that 44 percent of applications in development for the iPad were video games and while larger publishers like EA Mobile and Gameloft dominate the launch lineup, there’s a healthy percentage of smaller developers with games ready to go. Something about Apple’s new device appeals to developers and plenty are ready to evangelize the iPad’s gaming potential.

Christian Svensson, Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development at Capcom, said it best during an MI6 session titled Game Distribution 2015: “I’m not seeing where the iPad fits into my life versus what I already have that’s better.”

Catching up with him after the conference, Svensson that while everybody sees downloadable games in the future (you’d have to be blind not to), he didn’t necessarily see the whole gaming world owning iPads for the purpose of playing video games

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