Dreamcast-mounted iPhone dock sends VMU into jealous rage

It was just over 10 years ago that Sega made the ill-fated move to release the Dreamcast, taking it down a road that would result in the company ditching the hardware scene entirely -- well, almost entirely. Out of the deal we got this wonderful white console, which Jay Hauf has remembered with this bit of simple hackery. He's popped the D-pad out, removed the controller's bottom-mounted cable, threaded an iPhone dock through, then, apparently, went back to creating cute little box-headed figurines. It's perhaps not the most amazingly complex controller mod of all time, but a worthy one nevertheless.

[Via iPhone Savior]

[Mark S Posted Oct 5th 2009 8:36AM]

Im sorry, but this looks like a story about someone shoving an ipod cable into a dreamcast controller. Really?

[MrTam Posted Oct 5th 2009 8:39AM]

yeah, maybe im missing something here, but...this isn't great?

[Mark S Posted Oct 5th 2009 8:54AM]

Hey I threaded a mini-USB cable between my buttcheeks to make an Xperia dock. Who do I talk to about getting someone to make this into a story?

[NeoJew Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:03AM]

@mrTam
You are missing something. This is revolutionary!

[Chefgon Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:07AM]

I have found that the average gadget blog editor is unable to resist stories about Apple or stories about Dreamcast. I have a feeling this "mod" is actually an experiment in how little effort can actually be applied to get yourself on the front page of both Engadget and Gizmodo.

[branttaylor Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:41AM]

yeah but the cable came out at the bottom of the controller! can you imagine the skill necessary to maneuver that cable through the innards of that... nevermind, i bet the guy spent 5 minutes on this project.

[morissen3k8 Posted Oct 5th 2009 10:42AM]

Engadget is really going low on modding standards. This is hardly a keypad mod, all this guy did was gut out most of the internal and cut a slot for the ipod adapter and that's it. If it was really a mod, the analog joystick would still be usable in the form of an eyephone as a flightstick/visual joystick working with the buttons on the joypad.

[NeoJew Posted Oct 5th 2009 11:19AM]

He didn't even cut out a slot, he just used the space where the d-pad was.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 11:59AM]

It's because Bender is in the background. And you can't ignore Bender.

[Mark S Posted Oct 5th 2009 3:46PM]

I used the hole that was already there too...

[DavidVogt Posted Oct 5th 2009 8:39AM]

Wait so...the controller is rendered useless? Hey, can I make a banana-mounted iPhone dock and get a story posted here...?

[NeoJew Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:22AM]

It's funny you should mention that as I just put the finishing touches on my Zune HD banana dock.
http://www.burn-blue.com/view/6320/PA050096.JPG

[Xeno Posted Oct 5th 2009 12:05PM]

No Duck tape?

[AdamSpruijt Posted Oct 5th 2009 2:42PM]

@NeoJew: where do I order? and do you take PayPal?

[Sea Urchin Posted Oct 5th 2009 8:39AM]

Some people really do have too much time on their hands. At least i blog all day long.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 8:41AM]

I'm waiting for the icontrolpad but to tell the truth, if I could link a Dreamcast or PS2 controller to iPhone to play First Person shooters, I'd be doing it too.

[tikicult Posted Oct 5th 2009 8:40AM]

What a waste of a perfectly good controller...

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 8:41AM]

It's not even occupying the VMU's slots.

[DarKlar Posted Oct 5th 2009 8:42AM]

I want both the little Doraimon and the Bender figures. Way cool.

Wait, what was this article about again??

[versionII Posted Oct 5th 2009 8:45AM]

Really engadget? Really?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:30AM]

Well, it's either this or yet another cell phone announcement. Can't get enough news about phones.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 3:58PM]

Where's Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler when you need them?

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 5:24PM]

Hey, at least its not another pointless PSP Go story!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 8:50AM]

Engadget,

Feeling the heat from Apple for nearly missing your weekly quota?

I mean, seriously, THIS is news? Really?

The poster above said it perfectly -- why not just shove an iPhone into a banana to see how long (not if) it will take before it makes the headlines here.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:08AM]

Get that pile of rubbish off the fantastic dreamcast right now!

[Aaronage Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:09AM]

Engadget, you call this newsworthy?

Really?

*sigh*

[Macinmypocket Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:13AM]

After a while, won't that hurt the iPhone? I mean the whole weight of the iPhone put onto the dock connector sideways?

Hey buddy, you might want to support it somehow, else you might end up with an iPhone that's been "abused" and will have no chance of getting it fixed.

[Joshs Red Pants Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:13AM]

Read the iPhone Savior article. They're suggesting this guy is an "iPhone dock master."

[DarKlar Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:53AM]

LOL @ 'Dockmaster'

[moonbase2 Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:23AM]

This is the most pathetic story I've ever seen on Engadget. I keep re-reading hoping to find something that I MUST have missed, but no. This really is just a wire strung through a controller. What a sad day for Engadget. Hey guys, do you think this will make in on the second episode of the show? LOL!

[KermMartian Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:17AM]

I declare this to be an abomination of the Engadget front page. Let the banana-docking commence.

[DavidVogt Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:21AM]

You know what? I think I will really do that.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:24AM]

The box headed things are more interesting, can you get templates somewhere?

[NeoJew Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:33AM]

http://www.cubeecraft.com/

[NeoJew Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:36AM]

I already posted it up above, but here's my Zune HD Banana Dock... also F you Engadget for making me double post :(
http://www.burn-blue.com/view/6320/PA050096.JPG

[NeoJew Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:38AM]

OK, that one was probably my fault, but still... I HATE THIS COMMENT SYSTEM!!!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:32AM]

I love the Bender in the background

[DarKlar Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:46AM]

All yours!

http://www.cubeecraft.com/characters/character027.jpg

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:33AM]

This sucks. Just because there's two gadgets we all like, bringing them together in one cacophony of dysfunction does not make something engadgetworthy.

[ZeroCorpse Posted Oct 5th 2009 2:23PM]

So very THIS.

I've been complaining about this trend for a while now. I'm glad to see others are starting to realize that "mod" and "throwing one thing inside another thing's case" are not interchangeable.

[XChrisX Posted Oct 5th 2009 10:11AM]

This story isn't THAT bad. It was already posted on the big G blog last week.

[ran Posted Oct 5th 2009 10:21AM]

I don't think this is really story worthy. I can think of a few ways to make it a lot better:
1) Move the connector to the middle and somehow support the iPhone, so it doesn't break the dock a friends comes over to smack you.
2) Write an app that can use the controller.
3) Rewire the controller and program it.
4) ???
5) PROFIT!!!

[jfitz136 Posted Oct 5th 2009 10:44AM]

i dig all the cubeecraft in the background

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 11:13AM]

This is BULLSH*T.

[tylersmyler Posted Oct 5th 2009 11:15AM]

I still give him props doing for all that Papercraft work..

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 12:09PM]

What would it take to get some iPod dock coverage around here?

[mezzb Posted Oct 5th 2009 12:56PM]

Yes - The Cubeecraft is the real story here. I love those things and so don't my kids. Go buy a ream of cardstock, an exacto knife and self-healing cutting pad, and have a ball.
+1 on bananazune

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 5th 2009 12:59PM]

I'm... ah.... well, I was going to say maybe engadget posted this one as a sort of a bit of irony/sarcasm... like it was their intent to shame this modder to no end for such a non-mod. But then I remember some of the other posts and realize no... someone at engadget has such a boner for the word 'mod', they'll post just about anything.

Whatever, what the Mod Community finds as 'worthy' mods VS What The Rest of the World Thinks hasn't always been on the same page anyway. You know, you take a car enthusiast for example.... "modifications" in their world involves improving either peformance or appearance. If a car enthusiast were to take a page out of a gadget modder's book, putting a light bulb on the roof would be considered a 'worthy' mod.

And as a left-handed person, let me throw this out there: No more lefty mods. Most of us are ambidextrous and do just fine. I find lefty mods to be insulting and unnecessary. If you hear a lefty person whine about how they need a lefty this or a left that, you can smack them (with your left pimp hand) on my behalf. Its the equivalent of a welfare recepient complaining about goverment cheese. Cry me a river you weaklings.

Now if anyone from enCrapget is reading, now's a good time for a "Top 10 Worst Mods of 2009" piece. Yeah, you're welcome for that one.

[eSocrates Posted Oct 6th 2009 4:32AM]

"I grew up on government cheese. I prefer it!"

[ZeroCorpse Posted Oct 5th 2009 2:20PM]

This is not a mod. This is arts and crafts.

But again, I say you all would be slobbering all over the place if he had stuck some game console guts into a life-size plastic R2D2... So Engadget hardly knows where to draw the line.