Earlier this month we got our hands on a pair of Fling iPad joysticks. The device is a clever design with two suction cups on one side which stick to the iPad screen and a concave conductive joystick suspended in the center of a plastic ring with a spiral spring. Because of the spring arrangement, the Fling joystick always returns to the center, and as you get closer to the edge of the ring it becomes more and more difficult to push until it stops. It works surprisingly well in dual stick shooters, and many other types of games with virtual joysticks.
I highlighted some games that seemed to work especially great with the Fling in our preview:
The good news is, for many games, the Fling is absolutely outstanding. Playing dual stick shooters using the Fling is, in a word, glorious. I easily decimated my Geometry Wars [99¢] high scores. With real joysticks, Max Adventure [99¢] is a joy to play. Age of Zombies [$2.99] feels like it was made to be played with the Fling, with the secondary weapon buttons positioned perfectly outside its plastic ring.
First person shooters work great as well. In fact, I almost felt like I was cheating in N.O.V.A. 2 HD [$6.99] my overall accuracy improved so much. It’s really incredible just how much of a difference it makes, almost making N.O.V.A. 2 feel like an XBOX game with a real controller. Similarly, the Fling works really well in every Gameloft game I tried, as the ability to move the various on-screen controls around allows you to perfectly position the Fling wherever you’re comfortable, while also placing the buttons within reach. …Read More
The down side of the Fling at the time was that while the preorder price was in line with other iPad accessories, it still seemed a tad expensive. However, the economy of scale works in wondrous ways though, and apparently, demand for the Fling has been quite high. This has allowed Ten One Design to drop the price of Fling units from $25 each and $38 for a pair down to $20 each and $30 for a pair. If you’ve already preordered, expect a refund for the difference to show up sometime soon if it hasn’t already.
If you were holding out for a price drop, now is your chance to head over to the Fling site and preorder now. Also, while we haven’t been able to get our hands on one yet, ThinkGeek has a joystick that is similar but with a more retro feel that might be worth considering as well.
