Well, if you want a "hardcore" game that works really well (user-interaction wise) on the iPad, get "Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition" - a game originally released for the PC about 15 years ago and one of the best in it's genre (CRPG).

One word of warning though: this version is still quite buggy and might be considered an alpha release. Very enjoyable game though and I'm confident Beamdog will release updates in the coming months to further improve gameplay and reduce bugs.

Might also want to download the "12 days" app by Apple. Near the end of the month they will give some apps / music / books / etc... away for free. Last year got (among others) a "Broken Sword" (adventure) game this way.

+1 to Baldur's Gate. It's the right mix of nerdy humor, deep gameplay, and play-for-15-minutes you want in a thoughtful iOS game. It's also sold me on picking up Baldur's Gate II from Good Old Games once I'm done.

Three must have apps: Goodreader: PDF reader which also plays audio and video, it's like having a proper file system on the iPad. I use this endlessly

Awesome note: great note taking app with todo features, link to calendar and great organizing features.

iThoughtsHD: mind mapping par excellence, and the author is really responsive to new ideas; he implemented a feature to automatically number sections so I could use the software for work breakdown structures

Yes on Goodreader. It's amazing if you're constantly trying to manage a collection of textbook PDFs or academic papers.

Twitterrific for a no-frills Twitter client with a clean interface. The antidote to Tweetbot.

NextDraft is a great "summary of the day's news" app. No frills, no Newsstand subscription, and it's free.

The NYT app is a bit unstable, but it's arguably the best Newsstand app (yes, better than The Magazine, which is too barebones for me). You also get top stories for free.

Check The Weather gets you hourly rain forecasts (using the Dark Sky API) as well as daily/weekly weather.

Xbox SmartGlass is great for the 360 gamers here. The second screen is useful for, say, checking challenges or K-D ration in Halo 4.

I just started using Textastic to code the next issue of our iPad magazine and I LOVE it. Freaking awesome app, can't say enough good things about it. On an iPad 1, never crashed, always smooth, its just a blast to use.

Recently, I've been addicted to Ticket to Ride (board game).

If you like music (or have kids), check out Tiny Piano (shameless plug, as I'm the developer).

For typing notes, I like Daedalus.

Also consider checking out the Anomaly graphic novel. You get the first chapter for free. It's interesting to see if this could be the future of graphic novels. (It's a big download.)

What I use: chrome, flipboard, iSSH, sketchbook pro, pages, evernote, kindle, iBooks, dropbox, AvPlayerHD, garage band

Instapaper, Google Authenticator and Google Chrome and Youtube Player, 1Password.

There is no good HN reader app

Penultimate

Paper by 53

^^my inner designer coming out^^

I also like Note Taker (forget if it's HD or Pro) for notes. It lets you zoom in on a part of the page and write there, which gives you a ton of control over how your page is laid out. Great app for going paperless.

Prompt for SSHing into servers. ia Writer for writing.

As in apps for developers or just apps in general?

Just apps in general - I am a developer though, so geeky stuff interests me. Not necessarily apps _for_ development though.

Angry birds.

Chrome