iControlPad gamepad heads to production, warms hearts
By Tim Stevens 
posted December 23rd 2008 9:07AM
posted December 23rd 2008 9:07AM
posted December 23rd 2008 9:07AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
@Agent
No spell check can fix that...also, best comment contender...
The ability to pick up on sarcasim must be on Christmas break this week.
"pick up on [sarcasim]" - Borderwoot
OK, now this is just too damn funny. Obviously it wasn't an attempt at sarcasm. Cause you seem to have misspelled that word as well.
Nice try on a recovery though.
forgive me agent, for it seems as though I've added a bit too much Christmas Cheer to my coffee this morning. Cheers!
Mmmm. Sounds like a plan.
No need for apologies :) Agent reaches for bottle of Bailey's.
Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all.
I wish they would make something like this for Zune. playing Zune games with the pad is kinda difficult.
There would have to be a market before they invest in creating something like this for the Zune.
Having just downloaded and started 'playing' the excellent X-Plane 9 flight sim on to the iPod Touch, it is 'plane' obvious that using motion control to play/fly games and apps is not only impractical*, but makes one feel queazy. (The only exception is games like labyrinth that by their nature require motion control.) Any mechnical game/flight controller like this is welcome - I just hope it works with the Touch as well as the iPhone.
*One of the most annoying aspects of motion control apps is that if you are (for example) in bed or other non standard position, you have to recalibrate the motion sensors.
The game should have the d-pad option built in.
"your average gamer."
I'm an average gamer, and I have a PC.
This is about as useful as modding a tilt sensor to an old Nokia so I can play "snake" button free.
I might be showing my age here, but this reminds me of a modern day Atari Lynx..
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Atari-lynx.jpg
I was thinking GameGear
I loved my Lynx. Too bad it never caught on...
I wanted the LynX. So bad. For the Fighter Jet game that was offered with it. However, after looking into it a bit deeper, I found the game support wasn't available for the LynX like it was for the Game Gear from SEGA. Sonic and Grand Monaco GP were my favorite games.
I heading to Ebay after this post. :)
Ya, a bit like the Lynx, minus 6 AA batteries, about one fifth the size with a bigger, brighter, touchscreen display.
nice but its butt ugly... you'll be way better with a psp.
Thank you! I can't believe that it took 50+ posts for someone to acknowledge that this thing is downright ugly.
Would you really be caught dead with this cheezy thing wrapped around your iPhone?
sorry, sometime I dont notice im mister obvious...
This thing is gonna rock if it would work with appstore apps after apple makes the tv out option official. But, I don't think it would work with appstore apps :(
Apple should at least give some support to this company!
Wait, I see a game pad on the left, and a collection of 4 buttons on the right!
This thing soo rips off the NES controller! Look at it, now squint... and wow, it looks just like a NES controller.
I see a lawsuit in the very near future... accept it will be apple suing Nintendo for them ripping off some obscure patent that Apple made in the 80's.
Well, it looks like Apple will probably sell a ton of these little things but everyone seems to be missing the obvious- It won't fit in your freaking pocket anymore!!
Umm, hardly. You are forgetting that the SNES controller had 2 shoulder buttons and no touch screen. Duh! :-)
It actually will fit in your pocket just fine; it's smaller than a PSP.
The idea is you don't have it on there all the time.
No true gamer is gonna buy this "gaming" on fruitphone shiaatttt.
This brings an entirely new definition to the term dongle.
If it doesn't have 2 analog sticks and bumper buttons, don't even bother. Did anyone learn from the PSP?
The design of this thing SUUUCCCKSSS!!! I mean even painted black it will be fugly.
Don't they realize that apple fanboys are not P.C. fanboys.
Aesthetics matter!!
No one is going to ugly up their iphone 10 fold with this thing. I designed a controller a while back
as part fun part 'entrepeneur experiment'
*SIGH* apparently its hard as f@#! to get anything made well in the good ol' USA as a little guy
anyway check it out to sooth your eyes from this abomination! YUCK!!!
http://www.iccessory.com/
click to cycle through pics
That's a neat concept for an iPhone game controller, but what happened to the home button?
Seems flawed in it's current design.
I mean, how do the headphones plug into the side? Does that case double the thickness of the iPhone just so I can plug headphones into the side?
How do you access the volume, power, mute, and home buttons?
Also, looks like you would need to take it out of it's case to talk privately unless you want all your conversations on a speaker phone. (Unless you use headphones or blue tooth I suppose.)
I do like the idea of routing the speaker and mic to the front and being able to plug the headphones in the side since most games are played in landscape mode. Having the speaker facing the user would be soooo much better for media in general.
Hey soltero did you try clickng the pics and cycling through before you start talking, I'm guessing NO.
It would be rerouted through the serial port, and have it's own port for headphones. Thanks for the critique though, I can always use them
When people bash Apple for saying that the iPhone is a "gaming console", they are missing the point. It's not a console in the sense that the PS3 or X360 are. It's more like a combination of a DS and a Wii. Portable, and casual. Plus, the games are cheaper ($5-10) and easier to get (download over the air). The iPhone as gaming platform isn't aimed at people who are hardcore gamers... it's for people who are waiting for the train or at the doctor's office. I'll wager there are a LOT more people like that vs hardcore gamers.
This was my sketch a while back. http://flickr.com/photos/danielmacdonald/2127089390/
Yeah, really, let's not be coy about this.
This has nothing to do with official Apple games released in the App Store. This has everything to do with "homebrew" games (read: pirated ROMs) available on Jailbroken iPhones. The "homebrew" community can pretend they're a bunch of tech-loving game enthusiasts who are just trying to provide proof of concept by running hacked ROMs on the iPhone, but the truth is that they're turning their iPhone into an emulation device, and this gizmo makes it easier for them to slap SNES games on there and play them properly.
Apple isn't going to have a bunch of Apps that use this device. It's another one of those not-so-subtle products that enables piracy without outright, blatantly saying that's what it's for... Like DVD backup software.
I'm not opposed to it. I just hate it when people are disingenuous about their actual intentions. You wanna play some ROMs. Great. Have a ball. These guys are about to make it easier.
Just don't tell me it's for the slew of Apple-supported software on the way. I know a lie when I hear one.
Lord Steve described the no button tip at an angle interface device as being a gaming device. He so is aiming it at hard core gamers. We all know that buttons are essential but that doesn't fit in with Steve's vision of the future where buttons no longer exist.
One day evolution will cause the thumbs of descendants of fanboys to recede and then the physical form of mankind will catch up with Steve's vision. If this device is accepted by Apple and games are made that utilise it then the whole aim of the exercise to breed Apple loving, thumbless mutants will be entirely defeated. The future won't be all about Grand Dark Overlord Jobs looking down from his throne over a universe where he has total control and has terraformed entire apple worlds.
This would obviously be a terrible thing so we should all sneer at this attempt to reintroduce buttons and hold back the advancement of the empire.
Damn you people just get so off topic sometimes.
Fi ally! I've been waiting for this thing, I cant wait to see how it actually works!
yeah i made this same concept in the middle of November...
http://www.theremainsofaliving.com/Site/The_Remains_Blog/Entries/2008/11/18_iPhone_Attachment.html
@sacapuntas:
Have you seen virtually every single game controller from the '90s? How the hell do you think "D-Pad on the left, butons on the right" rips off Nintendo? Thats what ALL digital game controls look like.
This thing has been long in the making and long overdue.
I guess it's extended gestation is due to the fact that, you know, the developers were aware of what a tiny niche product the iPhone is and they were afraid that this poor selling product might just disappear. ; )
I'm all for it regardless if its a good/bad idea because more games would be desired though the apple store. Look at what Dark Alex did for the PSP....MORE GOT SOLD. Cant say the same for the games because MORE GAMES GOT RIPPED and we found out which ones are really worth their weight in the asking price for them. Same goes for when an artist you like brings out and album... you buy it only to find out its ENTIRELY IN AUTO-TUNE. If you knew it beforehand you would leave that s@#*% on the shelf and hit it up on the bay. Goes back to the reason why some game reviews could not release a rating less than 8 when the latest Tomb raider dropped. Most know why they couldn't release a truthful rating. You want people to buy? Do it right and don't get lazy with the final touches of the final product. Otherwise it wont sell as much and people will hold out & wait for the next reiteration of it. Five megapixel w/flash & upgradable memory iphone anyone?