Reckless Racing
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RoboTouch brings NES controller to iPad
Mix a handful of micro servos, an old Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) controller, a pinch of open-source Arduino magic, an iPad running Reckless Racing, a few pounds of ingenuity and elbow grease, and what do you get? Most of us would probably end up with an iPad and a small yard sale. But avid technology tinkerer Joven of ProtoDojo used these ingredients to build a contraption that let him play his favorite iPad game using a classic Nintendo controller. "I hacked my old NES controller to control micro servos with custom conductive arms that simulate touches to the screen of my iPad," writes Joven. "The servos are attached to the screen with mini suction cups and can be easily positioned for any game." The RoboTouch appears impressively responsive in the video demo below, allowing its builder to play Reckless Racing, a game fittingly reminiscent of R.C. Pro-Am for the NES. Joven hasn't provided the complete recipe for cooking your own Nintendo-controlled iPad, but he does briefly explain how to convert a classic NES gamepad into a USB flash drive secured by the Konami Code. He also suggests this article as a reference for adapting your old NES controllers for use with Arduino. Keep reading to see the video demo.
Hack connects NES controller to iPad using robo-fingers
The solution found after the break for using an NES controller with Reckless Racing on the iPad is more mechanical than anything -- it attaches the boxy gamepad to a series of robotic fingers that interact with the iPad's capacitive touchscreen. But that doesn't make it any less awesome.
RoboTouch brings a wired NES controller to a wireless iPad (video)
Oh Arduino, is there anything you can't do when put in the right hands? The hands in this case belong to a guy named Joven of ProtoDojo, and they whipped up the contraption you can see in the video below. Basically, it's a wired NES controller that goes to an Arduino board, which in turn controls a set of servos. Those servos articulate conductive arms to touch the screen in just the right places. The whole contraption enables a rather playable version of Reckless Racing, making it feel all the more like the RC Pro Am successor it's trying to be. Check it out in the video below, and then hope that Jovan hurries up and posts the instructions so we can start building our own. [Thanks, Chad]
App review: Reckless Racing (iPhone)
Developed by Swedish firm Pixelbite and released just a few days ago by EA and Polarbit, Reckless Racing is a game we've been following since it was known as "Deliverace" early this year -- and honestly, there was a spell where we'd gone so long without having heard anything about it that we'd kind of assumed the awesome-looking project had been canceled. Fortunately, that wasn't the case -- it's now available on iPhone, iPad, and Android -- so we decided to take it for a quick spin. After all, top-down racers haven't really made much noise since the heady days of R.C. Pro-Am and perennial arcade favorite Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road... and after playing Reckless Racing for just a few minutes, we're not sure why that is. %Gallery-105883%
EA lets Reckless Racing loose on iPhone and iPad
It's time to get Reckless with your iPhone! No, wait, don't do that, these things are expensive. It's actually time to get Reckless Racing for your iPhone. Yes, that's much safer. Pixelbite's top-down rally racing game features multiple driving styles, and three game modes: "Dirt Rally," a time trial mode, and "Delivery," a sort of relay in which you pick up items on special tracks and drop them elsewhere. It's meant to evoke "classic" top-down racers, but without that free-spinning wheel we used to love to play with as we walked by the Super Off-Road machine in the arcade. Reckless Racing is on the App Store now for both iPhone and iPad.%Gallery-105679%
