News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

August 27, 2008

games

iControlPad turns your iPod Touch into a serious gaming device

Posted Aug. 27, ’08, 12:57 PM PT by David Dahlquist
Category | Games

iControlPad.jpgSo gaming on the iPod Touch and iPhone is supposed to be top notch as far as handheld devices go (we’ve all seen that Quake 3 video), but without a physical controller to give your little gaming hands tactile feedback, the thought of throwing repeated hadoukens or multiple killer c-c-c-combos becomes troubling at best.

Let’s face it, as cool as an entirely touch screen device may be, ↓↘→P just doesn’t feel the same without a Dpad.

Enter the iControlPad, a brilliant little gaming device that latches onto your iPod Touch and blesses it with a real life Dpad, ABXY Action Buttons, and even a Start and Select button. It’s like turning your iPod into a Game Gear, but without the half hour battery life and annoying little cartridges!

It’s not out just yet, but iControlPad is aiming for a $30 pricetag, which is pretty darn reasonable in my book. One stumbling block for such a product will be that any app that wishes to support it will have to have special code to make it work, but as the iPod Touch and iPhone continue to be recognized as capable gaming machines, I’m pretty confident that controllers like iControlPad will become common amongst the gaming crowd, as will apps that support them.


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