Video: Working iControlPad adds buttons to the iPod touch

It's pretty wild to have seen the iControlPad go from idea to concept to production, and here's the final step straight from Engadget: video of the device working just as planned. ZodTTD is playing quake4iphone on it, and while the naysayers will probably still have some nays to say, I'm convinced. If Apple is as serious as it seems about turning the iPhone and the iPod touch into serious gaming devices, it would be worth selling something like this as an official accessory. It's fine and good to say that the multitouch screen works even for traditional controls, but so far, we haven't seen a developer that's been able to put "buttons" on the screen and still be able to make worthwhile use of screen space.

As Engadget says, there's still no price or release date on the iControlPad, and given that it's working on jailbroken games right now, there's no sign yet that we'll have any official App Store support. But it's an idea for which the time, in my humble opinion, has come.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/icontrolpad-gamepad-frags…

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Analysis / Opinion Gaming Odds and ends Mods iPhone App Store iPod touch

It's pretty wild to have seen the iControlPad go from idea to concept to production, and here's the final step straight from Engadget:...

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collide000

Reminds me of those biological controllers on the film 'Existenz'.

January 22 2009 at 5:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

jthollister

Well, IF this actually gets produced, and IF it is allowed to work with legit App Store apps, then I will still wonder... WHY? The iPhone Touch Screen and Accelerometer add up to a far superior user experience than the old gameboy style. Why would we want to move backwards?

Certainly the game would have to be a little better integrated than what was demoed here. It looked incredibly unintuitive and difficult to move around. I can imaging making it a lot better if you could look around by using the touch screen, and move/strafe with the D-pad.

So, maybe if you got some smart coders you could do some cool stuff with this, but there are a lot of big IFs involved, so I'm not really ready to get very excited about it at this point.

January 20 2009 at 6:24 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to jthollister's comment

massimo.berta

Totally agree! It's usefull like an usb floppy drive for macbook air!

January 20 2009 at 4:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Spoon Tangy

What game develop is going to support it anyway?

January 19 2009 at 11:09 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Boydbme

I hope apple is serious about making iphones into worthy game devices, and I hope this catches on and allows more console like games on the devices.

although I can see lots of complaints from people who buy a game and then realize the only good way to play it is with a $30 (guessing on price) accessory.

January 19 2009 at 8:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Christian A. StrÃ¸mmen

Is it just me or does it seem to really lag? It seems he presses right(/left/up/down) and then it takes a while before the game registers it.

January 19 2009 at 7:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Stephen.4

The iPod touch with the phone speaker at the top... It must be a mod?

January 19 2009 at 7:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to Stephen.4's comment

Ted

It's an original iPhone.

January 19 2009 at 7:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Stephen.4