The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

It will most certainly be paid man, Zod doesn't put work into something difficult without getting paid; that's how he justified all the work he put into GPSphone to optimize it to what we have now.

That said, this is retarded unless iControlpad ever gets off their asses and releases something (and even still, as there probably isn't enough buttons still.) I get the feeling they're delaying to try to make it work with the 3Gs, but it really pisses me off, as we've been waiting for years now. Release it, and then work on an updated version for 3rd gen hardware!

Without some real external controls (or an external display, which defeats the purpose) there is _no_ way you'll ever be able to play any N64 game effectively, as the screen real estate for all the buttons simply doesn't exist.

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Where would the R button be!? haha, under the iphone?

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SF Rush is the reason I'd get it too :)

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Sure, Mario wouldn't NEED all the 14 buttons. It did use them (for camera work or other functions) but you could argue they wouldn't be COMPLETELY necessary. But that is only one game...

There are many different games besides Mario, and many ways to hold the N64 controller based on that particular game's button layout/needs. "The Nintendo 64 controller's design seems controversial with its trident shape, making for three ways to hold the controller. The most used way in games to hold the controller was for the left hand to hold the center grip, so the thumb could move the analog stick and the index finger could press the Z trigger. The right hand would be on the right grip of the controller and have access to all the main face buttons, and the R button." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamepad#Nintendo_64)

Even if they removed the buttons not utilized by a game, it would have to be implemented on a game-by-game basis (read: pain in the butt to develop the emulator). They would also need to have specific emulator ROMs that do not include certain buttons (read: pain in the butt to develop ROMs). That just ain't gonna happen...

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Playing the Mario 64 port on the DS was already a painful enough experience without a joystick, I really REALLY would not want to attempt to play any n64 games on my iPhone without some sort of external gamepad attachment.

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Agreed- I'm also waiting for a buttons addon for my Touch, especially now that such devices can get Apple's blessing.

I tried some emulators on my jailbroken Touch, and some games work OK, but touch controls aren't sufficient for even games like Mega Man. And once you go up to N64 control complexity, things get even hairier- controls will have to be smaller, making them harder to use. It's tricky mapping N64 controls even onto a keyboard or USB gamepad- it'll be even trickier on a touchscreen.

The only way I can see to make it even remotely work is if there's multiple control setups, probably built around popular games, so you can pick the setup that works best (i.e. one built with Zelda in mind, one with Mario Kart, etc.) I used a similar setup with sixtyforce (www.sixtyforce.com)

I'm also kinda doubtful about the speed- unless N64 emulation has drastically improved recently, my old 15" Powerbook (1.5 GHz G4, 64 MB Radeon 9700) couldn't run games like Zelda Ocarina of Time, F-Zero, or even Mario Kart at full speed. They were playable, but I really can't see the 3rd gen devices having sufficient power to even reach that level.

All skepticism aside- this would be awesome, and another reason for me to upgrade from my 2nd gen Touch. :)

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Quite simple. Joining the Made for iPod program is required, but the few samples I have for small to medium size companies suggest that Apple either focuses on big companies, think Nike, or they don't have the resources to deal with all companies with nice ideas for cool products. As far as I've heard they charge some bucks per the license which shouldn't be an issue for most products.

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