Paradox Interactive is targeting multiple high-profile platforms for the release of its tower defense game Defenders of Ardania: Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, PC, and… the iPad?

Yeah, that's right � the iPad. We don't know too much about Defenders of Ardania yet, but this type of development illustrates the ever-growing pull Apple has on the digital market. You see, games that are usually slated for "major platforms" (which generally consist of the PS3, Xbox 360, and sometimes the PC) typically don't see an immediate release on the iPad. Or at least, the iOS version isn't mentioned in the same breath as these other, I guess you could say, "more important" platforms. So, score one for Apple here as it continues to shoulder its way into core development plans.

Oddly enough, this doesn't seem that out of the ordinary anymore. We're seeing quite a few developers bringing substantial ports to iOS. Telltale Games, for example, is queuing up iPad versions of its popular properties. We've seen the release of the first chapter of Tales of Monkey Island and will eventually see a release of the Back to the Future series on the platform. Games like Dungeon Defenders not only run on multiple platforms, but soon will support multiplayer between all of them as well.

It's really cool seeing iOS devices considered a "major platform" by more and more game developers. What's going to be even cooler to see is what happens in the future as the next generation of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are released which will inevitably close the performance gap even more between portable devices and home consoles. I can't wait.