There’s always an odd assortment of crazy controllers and peripherals at a show like E3, and even on our first day we’ve run across several on the show floor. We’ve been taking short videos on Vine (follow us if you haven’t already!) of some of them, so here’s a quick roundup of the ones we’ve seen so far. I’m sure there’s more stuff like this lurking in the shadows of the expo, so catch them on our Vine or on our Twitter and if there’s enough demand we may even do another roundup like this later this week.
PP Gun
Yes, this is literally called the PP Gun. I like to believe it stands for “pew pew" but who knows. There’s always gun peripherals at E3, but these ones come equipped with special force feedback, and as strange as it sounds it really adds to the experience. Both the handgun model and the assault rifle also come with a full array of buttons and analog sticks placed strategically where you’d place your hands while holding it, which was cool. Unfortunately the models on the show floor were just prototypes and wouldn’t actually connect to any games, but there’s holsters on both to hold your mobile device in so you could conceivably use them to play something like Modern Combat 5. Oh, and the pistol version’s grip actually swivels around and transforms into a small selfie stick. So yeah, there’s that.
MadCatz L.Y.N.X.
The MadCatz C.T.R.L.i and C.T.R.L.i Micro controllers are fantastic, but they’ve got a super-premium controller called the L.Y.N.X. in the works too. When I say super-premium, I mean this puppy will retail for $299.00 and come with a host of additional accessories, like a full keyboard attachment, a stand, a pouch, and everything you need to hook up your device to an HD TV. Also this thing is made of metal and feels like a high-quality piece of kit. It’s only for Android right now, but an iOS version will be coming soon, probably later this year. I really dig the foldable nature of this controller, and it feels great in your hand, but I’m not so sure how willing people will be to drop 300 bones on it.
8Bitdo Non-MFi Controllers
We posted about the 8Bitdo Crissaegrim NES30 controller when it was announced in April, and they had a booth here at E3 with it along with several other nifty controllers on display. Their whole thing is replicating retro console controllers, and then iterating on them with more modern elements like dual analog sticks and trigger buttons. The bummer part is that none of their controllers are MFi certified, they only support the iCade functionality on the iOS side of things. But they are very cool, and there’s still lots of iCade compatible games out there.
Pip-Boy from Fallout
During Bethesda’s E3 keynote event, they announced a special edition of Fallout 4 that will actually ship with a real, wearable Pip-Boy when the game launches on November 10th. The coolest part about it is that they’ll be releasing a Pip-Boy app that will work with the console and PC game, and you’ll actually be able to slide your smartphone into the Pip-Boy and use it like it was real. Because it is real! Definitely very gimmicky, definitely very cool. I need this in my life. Unfortunately we couldn’t actually go hands-on with this bad boy, but here’s a quick glimpse of it on display, and expect the Pip-Boy app to launch alongside the game in November.
