The iControlPad is the long-promised gaming add-on for the iPhone that adds proper gamepad controls to your phone. The device has been in developent for years but is finally available.. with more to come.
We first told you about the iControlPad back in 2008. At the time the designers said that they were ‘just working out a few bugs’. Well, they must have needed an extra large can of RAID but now – a mere two years later – the iControlPad is ready to ship.
The iControlPad grips your iPhone between two vertical bars, one of which contains a connector that plugs in to your phone’s sync port. With your iPhone held in landscape mode you can hold the pad like you would a DS or a console game controller.
Games will need to be specially written to take advantage of the controller, and currently you need to be running a jailbroken phone to take advantage of emulators like PSX4All and gameboy4iphone. No pricing details are available yet, but the initial run will only be for 3000 iControlPads, so if you want one you should get your credit card at the ready .
Owners of other phones can take heart – the developer reckons he is working on a model that can be used with other handsets (Android? Please?) although we would not recommend holding your breath, based on the way this one turned out.
Available soon | £tbc | iControlPad (via Engadget)
