CP Design's iPhone Game Pad prototype does Donkey Kong Country right (video)

With the iControlPad seemingly slipping further and further from reality, iPhone gamers with an affinity for buttons have fewer reasons to get out of bed in the morning and face the world. If that's you then it's time to wake up, Sunshine, because the iPhone Game Pad is here to bring a little light to your life. It's a somewhat chubby slip-on case that, as of now, works only with the original model iPhone. (There's a 3G/3GS model to come.) On the face it offers four primary control buttons plus a D-pad, what appears to be Select and Start buttons, plus a pair of shoulder buttons atop. This combination should make it perfect for emulation hounds or any 'ol heathen who values tactility over design purity. As of now it's just a prototype, but if you have the resources to bring this thing to production the folks at CP Design who crafted it would surely love to hear from you.

[cswksu Posted Jul 26th 2010 10:25AM]

@Lundmark
you can get NESoid and gameboid and even a ps1 emulator for android now without jailbreaking.

you can't say android doesn't have games anymore

[maxbalboa Posted Jul 26th 2010 10:54AM]

@Lundmark
not just that.. android phones needs consistent form factor.

[maxbalboa Posted Jul 26th 2010 11:03AM]

@cswksu
"you can't say android doesn't have games anymore"
yeah, but you have a bigger issue to be concerned about. Android phones has different designs and form factors.
You have HTC, motorolla and etc.. each of them has at least 3 different models.. which is of course NOT a very good deal for 3rd party add-on device developers.

[fourzero40 Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:58PM]

@Lundmark I'm pretty sure there's many roms for an emulator :\

[osiris2600 Posted Jul 26th 2010 10:11AM]

The guys over at icontrolpad did not patent the idea before they released information. Apple then went and got a patent for this same design. They will most likely never produce a product but they have the patent to stop other people from doing it.

This, nor the icontrolpad, will not come to market unless design changes are made to avoid patent infringement.

[OradFarez Posted Jul 26th 2010 12:59PM]

@osiris2600 The iControlPad people have prior art over Apple and any other company plus Apple has only filed for a patent but I haven't heard any more about them actually receiving it. Anyone know more? That could get messy. :) This new gamepad could be in trouble if Apple or the iControlPad people went after them but it looks like it is just a concept and prototype in order to get interest from an investor.

I just wish that damn iControlPad would come out already! I'm sick of waiting. It makes me so mad that I could... just sit here and wait some more! :)

[osiris2600 Posted Jul 26th 2010 10:13AM]

http://icontrolpad.com/

[Ivan0310 Posted Jul 26th 2010 10:22AM]

Would this not conflict with Apple's patents for functional cases which would have similar product lines?

[jsbaugh Posted Jul 26th 2010 10:24AM]

It's been 4 years and we still don't have anything on he market like this. I don't get it. Apple could release their own version and make a killing especially for the iPod.

[Chehaven Posted Jul 26th 2010 10:46AM]

What an excellent idea. I love my iPhone and the only time I miss physical buttons is when I'm playing something like Megaman 2, so this would be perfect for mini gaming sessions. Make an iPhone 4 version, stick a couple of analogue sticks on it and sign me up!

[Vakarian Posted Jul 26th 2010 10:47AM]

In my opinion the iphone needs to have something like this to ever really be compares to the ds or psp, "real games" like GTA Chinatown wars are crap on the iphone because of the touchscreen controls.

[MikeyMike01 Posted Jul 26th 2010 10:57AM]

You don't get downranked for not liking something. You get downranked for being a dumbass.

[Twist Posted Jul 26th 2010 10:58AM]

This doesn't look completely horrible but the only way I can see something like this catching on is if Apple makes it. If Apple makes it then lots of developers will support it otherwise very few will.

[annoynimous Posted Jul 26th 2010 11:16AM]

something like this will definitely get me to start up my 3g again, right now the droid with gg is still the champion :)

i believe the case connects to the dock port? and the buttons can function with the emulator, can certainly hear a click sound when he insert it fully.

[shizzledmg Posted Jul 26th 2010 11:38AM]

coolio

[stephenvw Posted Jul 26th 2010 12:58PM]

is that a mini-usb in the bottom right hand corner?

[AndyatCPR Posted Jul 26th 2010 1:13PM]

Looks cool, but I'm lovin' the Game Gripper Tim reviewed recently for the SNES emulator on my Droid.

[StarcasM Posted Jul 26th 2010 1:35PM]

PLEASE MAKE THIS!!!!!!

[kenny goo Posted Jul 26th 2010 3:50PM]

Hmm. That's actually kinda cool. I wish Apple would get their shit together and make a quality first party one themselves. This is such a cool idea. The reason why I'll never take iOS seriously as a gaming platform is because there's no buttons. So many games just completely fail with a touch screen.

[maythetechbewithyou Posted Jul 26th 2010 4:30PM]

This is a great advancement for jailbreak apps. Good work. I hope they get an iPod Touch version.

[thedunn805 Posted Jul 26th 2010 6:06PM]

wasn't the whole point of the iPhone to have no buttons? anyways it still looks cool

[acme64 Posted Jul 26th 2010 6:11PM]

make one for the evo!

[dds1043 Posted Jul 26th 2010 6:13PM]

where is the ipad version...

[monkan Posted Aug 18th 2010 12:07AM]

He forgot to get the free life at the beginning of the level. :(