I have no problem with this at all, but am a little confused. Is the accelerometer thus disabled for all video games? Will developers have to reformat their games or does this controlpad actually do that on its own?

@Vende: The accelerometer would not be disabled. These controls could be used in tandem with accelerometer and touchscreen controls.

People who want this should stick to their PSP or DS.
I love my iPhone exactly for not being just another handheld copy.
On this device devs are forced to explore new ways.
And they are finding them: see Hero of Sparta, Dropship or Rolando...

buttons are too close together. Why not make it wider on the right side for proper button locations?

This is a great idea. A lot of iphone games could really benifit from this but if the game developers have to spend extra time to make them work with this devise I think the devise will not catch on.

I wonder if this would affect battery life...

Shaun: Probably not significantly.

Quake was probably not the best game for the demo. Once you've played a first-person shooter with a keyboard and mouse, it becomes clear how frustrating and pointless it is to attempt it with a D-pad.

Exactly. That's why Halo 2 multiplayer never caught on... those darn XBOX controllers were the fail.

Yeah but Quake was still keyboard only no? It didn't have Y aiming if I remember correctly, haven't played Quake in forever. This thing could be useful for like BIA because that analog control over a digital d-pad only game sucked, so that would fix almost all my problems with that game. Maybe get those on screen controls off the screen if it detects iControlPad connected. It'd make games like Hero of Sparta look bigger without your thumbs in the way.

I wonder if they could submit this sort of thing to Apple and get it official? I mean...there's that "Works with iPhone" officially licensed iPhone/iPod touch license that Apple has for peripheral makers (batteries, cases, etc.). Would this sort of product be allowed?

i agree that this seems like an unnecessary accessory, given that all the really good games already have good touchscreen controls.
but the thing to realize is that many of them only have good touchscreen controls because that has been the only option. sure, there are games like rolando and enigmo that would only really work with the touchscreen, but for each game like that, there's at least one game that is limited by this.
hero of sparta, for instance, only has two "buttons." is this because the game design required only two buttons? maybe, but it seems just as likely that three buttons would result in extra presses and significantly reduced screen real estate.
to give an example not on the iphone, think about mariokart for wii. have you ever tried playing it in accelerometer mode? it isn't bad, but if you're playing with three people using a nunchuck to steer, prepare to finish dead last.
any number of more traditional platformers or rpgs could be improved with an accessory like this. not every game has to have some innovative use of the touchscreen and accelerometer in order to be a good game—there's a reason that the 2D mario games have remained essentially the same for twenty years now.
not to mention the fact that (i assume) the device doesn't disable touchscreen controls. the nintendo DS (and wii, for that matter) has shown us that there is a lot of fun to be had by combining innovative controls with more traditional ones

What is the point of this? I have a PSP and DS for this kind of stuff, now people expect people to carry around a huge bulk of hardware just to play crappy games on my beautiful iphone?

I think that if they use this, they could use it to either be a separate option, or integrate the buttons with the accelerometer and touch screen, adding more options and controls for things like Hero of Sparta, and such. Sure, some games don't need it, but why would it be bad to have more options?

Also, not everyone with an iPhone/iTouch is guaranteed to have a psp or ds. So, this might be an option for someone who wants to have more... Solid controls without having to buy too much more.

It's like adding on a different controller to a Ps2, like Guitar Hero and Rockband. you do stuff that you normally don't do with the normal controller. Not the same, but the same idea. I would think that you could get enough controls to have a game like Bioshock, going over some options seems like it could work, if movement or aiming would be used with the accelerometer.

And finally.... No one is forcing anyone else to buy this, if you don't like it... Ignore it and keep using the touch screen. The only trouble I could possibly see is if games are made that would require this, but it might be understandable if it were a more major game.

Many games have come out that utilize the iphone beautifully, be it touch screen controls or accelorometer, but there are somethings you just can't do without buttons, case in point: emulators. I will buy the icontrolpad when it comes out if only to play my favorite snes and nes games on the go without the need for flakey virtual control pads. (Although I was quite impressed with the quality of Hero of Sparta's virtual controls.

I don't have a problem with it. The iPhone/touch = very good game platform. Touch controls work well. iPhone/touch + iContolpad = even better. If App store games support it, I'd buy it.

Any word on this working on the iPod Touch 2G? I think the main reason it looks interesting to me is better emulator controls for jail-broken apps. Games like Tetris and Super Mario Bros. play better with a d-pad than touch.

If it does go official, developers will still have to assume the player doesn't have this accessory, otherwise they'll seriously limit their potential customers so I don't think it's completely going to promote these traditional controls.

This may allow certain games to finally properly be available for the platform, for example, fighting games. Games like Street Fighter or Tekken, to me, are far superior with physical buttons, no matter how amazing the touch screen implementation.

This is a much needed accessory to me b/c it opens the door to retro games like joust, pacman, Bruce lee (is c64) and thousands if others. I prefer precise and classic control over accelerometers.

Think of the emulators! It would be worth it just for that.
Can you still plug in headphones?

:O... i want quake... were i get quake.... lol toast

Honestly this is what I really want for the iPhone. Sometimes buttons and a d-pad are the best way to do something and physical buttons will ALWAYS do a better job in those cases than a simulated on screen type that is flat and slick. As much as many of you may not like the idea that this control scheme is presenting, I believe that correctly marketed and easy to program controls for, you will see at least one of these controller units take off as the de-facto standard for the i-devices.

About a month ago I wrote a letter to SwitchEasy (the case company) asking if they would make something almost identical to this item so you can imagine my excitement when I saw this on Touch Arcade. Basically you make the device, make it easy to map the buttons via simple programming, and get in touch with some higher profile game developers or even the indie ones that are popular and noticed. The developers could then add the icontrolpad as a control type, basically allowing everyone to have their cake and eat it too. Some people will not buy things like this, let them have their non tactile buttons for things that tactile can do better, but I believe that many would love to see support for an item such as the icontrolpad and given a head start in the market and developer support this thing could make big bucks for whoever manufactures it.

In short, I'd buy it and I am excited for when it comes out because some games are worth the d-pad and physical buttons.

Any one knows if this work for chinese replicas of the iphone