Gaming

This is not the first picture of a gaming controller for the iPhone.

Neither is it the first picture of the iControlPad – although it looked a lot different back then.

But all of this has been filed in the ‘vapour-ware’ drawer as nothing has materialised apart from good ideas.

Well – if you’re getting cheesed-off with having to use your iPhone’s touchscreen for games and are in desperate need of some proper portable gamepad geekahol – the iControlPad will actually be with you soon!

For those that have been following the iControlPad’s development you’ll know that it has been worked on for a year or so.

Your iPhone slips in between two side clips that hold the gamepad below the phone in landscape mode – just like a Nintendo DS and it’s hooked up via a sync cable.

Designer Craig Rothwell says the new design locks the iPhone in place with a padlock connected with a spring mechanism. It also has an integrated battery, which Rothwell claims could double the iPhone’s battery life for gaming – sounds schweeeeet to me

The thing is (unsurprisingly) Apple isn’t feeling the love and has not given its support. This means that games have to be specially written to take advantage of the controller and, you need to jailbreak your phone.

Rothwell’s Twitter feed reveals that he’s hoping to release an app which would allow you to configure the jailbroken phone to work with the iControlPad – He’s also looking to include BlackBerrys and Android phones into the iControlPad gang.

The iControlPad will have an initial run of 3,000 units in September.

There’s a mailing list which you can sign up to on the iControlPad website but you might get the breaking news if you follow Rothwell on Twitter.

Pricing is yet to be announced.

Are you willing to jailbreak your phone and buy the iControlPad even though it’s coming from a unknown and probably without any kind of warranty?

Let me know – til then check out the vid:

{ 0 comments }