If you're a fan of Another World [$3.99] and just so happen to own an iCade, iCade Jr., iCade 8-Bitty, or the numerous other peripherals that work off the iCade-style Bluetooth keyboard emulation, you're in luck. Aside from adding a whole bunch of new language options and some better iOS 6 support, Another World now fully supports the iCade.
Another World is about as classic as you can get when it comes to an adventure game. We lay out the premise in our glowing review:
Another World (which was also known as Out of this World in certain markets) is a cinematic platform adventure originally released on the Amiga back in 1991. The game tells the story of physicist Lester Chaykin. As is illustrated in the game's introductory sequence, Lester returns to his underground laboratory one stormy night to continue work on a particle acceleration experiment. Shortly after the experiment is underway, a bolt of lightning strikes the laboratory, sending millions of volts into the accelerator and resulting in the freak teleportation of Lester to a far-away alien planet.
After close run-ins with razor slugs and a particularly intimidating muscular beast, Lester is taken prisoner by the humanoid aliens indigenous to the strange world. With help from a friendly, captive alien, Lester endeavors to escape from the underground prison to which he was taken, a feat which proves to be extremely challenging given the dangerous environments and creatures (and puzzles) that lie ahead.
Aside from being an amazing port, and an all-around fantastic game, iCade support just adds one more thing to the list of reasons for why you should give this game a shot if you haven't already.
Here's some pre-CES news for your eyeholes: PC and console peripheral maker Mad Catz has a new initiative called "GameSmart" that'll add Mac and mobile support to a fresh run of some of its more popular peripherals via Bluetooth pairing.
You can peep a few of the devices that'll see GameSmart integration on the initiative's official web site. Of note, there's a wireless gamepad, as well as a couple of those RAT mice that people seem to like so much.
"Designed to work seamlessly and wirelessly with a wide array of devices and platforms, GameSmart Technology is the next generation for gamers wanting controller and console-like accessory functionality for their tablets and mobile and smart devices," the web site says. Easy setup and "longer" battery life are being promised, too.
GameSmart sounds promising, but, mobile-wise, there's probably going to be a bottleneck as far as game integration goes. Developers will have to add support for these devices into their games, and well, we know how that usually goes.
Another thing: we've yet to catch a specific iOS mention from Mad Catz -- even the initiative's promo image neglects to show an iPad or an iPhone. It'll be interesting to see if Mad Catz sticks strictly with Windows and Android.
Engadget reports that more peripherals will be unveiled at CES and the hardware "will launch shortly after" they're unveiled. We're definitely open to seeing more.
Hey, in case you were not aware, the 46th annual Consumer Electronics Show is kicking off this week in Las Vegas, and there's already plenty of news pouring out from the Nevada desert. One thing that caught our eye is the Sensus touch-enabled iPhone case from Canopy.
The Sensus was actually unveiled at GDC Online last October, but with a planned release in the first half of 2013 Canopy is giving CES attendees the chance for some hands-on time with the interesting case. You can see the kinds of things Sensus will be capable of in this newly-released promotional video.
The Sensus comes equipped with capacitive touch areas on the back and sides of the case, with the goal being to keep you from obscuring the screen when playing games or just generally using your device. Obviously developers will need to build support for the Sensus into their games and apps, but there will be a free SDK available and Canopy says that support for the case can be added in "mere minutes."
The Verge had some hands-on time with the Sensus, including a short video, and seemed to be pretty impressed with how it worked. The iPhone 4/4S and iPhone 5 should be getting their Sensus case by this summer, with plans for iPod touch and iPad cases to follow.
Have you been asking Santa for an arcade cabinet for the past 30 years and every Christmas you wake to look under the tree just to be disappointed yet again? Maybe that's just me, but if you have a similar longing for some button mashing action then I have something that just might ease the pain a bit.
Thinkgeek, the folks responsible for playing us for fools with their awesome iPad arcade cabinet April Fool's joke, and then making it all better by turning it into a real thing called the iCade the following year, has released yet another model of iCade in 2012. It's called the iCade Jr. and it's a miniaturized, adorable-ized version of the regular iCade for your iPhone or iPod touch. It works just like the big version, connecting via Bluetooth to one of hundreds of available games in the App Store that have iCade support built in.
It seems like more of a novelty type thing rather than a hardcore gaming controller, but at its current sale price of $9.99, which is 80% off the regular price of $49.99, it fits perfectly into the novelty item budget zone.
The product description specifically notes that the iCade Jr. is built for a secure fit with an iPhone 4/4S or 4th generation iPod touch, but it will work with the taller iPhone 5 if you leave the top lid flipped open. Not ideal, but I'll take it, and more than likely this will just be my new home for my now retired iPhone 4S. It's just so cute, I have to have one. And ten bucks is super impulse-buy friendly.
Not to try and strain your wallet any further, but I should mention that the iCade Jr. sale is just one part of a massive Winter Clearance sale that Thinkgeek is throwing, and if you're going to order an iCade anyway you might as well flip through all the other cool things they've got on sale. I mean, you might as well just look, right?
Yesterday afternoon my UPS driver dropped off two fantastic new toys for me to play with: The ingenuiTEA which you need to order now if you're at all into tea and the ThinkGeek 8-Bitty gamepad... A product I'm not sure I can give a similar glowing recommendation to. It's something that has sparked quite a debate amongst TouchArcade staff as we all agree on various levels that it almost seems like the era of the iOS Bluetooth gamepad may have passed.
To back things up a bit, let's start with some history of games on the App Store. One of the true revolutions of the iOS platform (or, the iPhone, I suppose as the "iOS" monicker didn't exist until recently) is the full touchscreen design of the devices. While using things like Safari and the mail client totally felt like the future, when the App Store launched, mobile developers who were used to having some form of physical controls were left scrambling trying to figure out how to best translate their games to a platform with no tactile feedback to speak of.
Most early entries in the Games category on the App Store could be described more as "Games that happen to run on the iPhone" rather than "iPhone games." It's an important distinction, and a large part of the reason why we loved early titles like Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor so much [$1.99]. Spider felt like it could only exist on a full touchscreen device like the iPhone.
Just looking at the two above screenshots, the difference is massive. Spider, on the left, is played entirely with taps and flicks and in turn provides this remarkably immersive experience where you're spinning webs, catching flies, and actually beginning to feel like you're really directly controlling this little virtual spider.
Comparatively, Gameloft's Earthworm Jim [$4.99] is the same old console game, made to run on the iPhone, with a massive set of virtual controls plastered on top. To make things worse, these controls were so clunky that they actually reduced the overall default difficulty of the game to account for the kludgy feel that got thrown into the mix when you removed tactile controls. Earthworm Jim is a perfect example of an early release of "a video game that runs on the iPhone" versus Spider's "iPhone game" feel.
Regardless, back in 2009, we were all hungry for some sort of accessory that'd allow us to play these incredible games that were available (like Earthworm Jim) which were broken on some level or another because of the implementation of virtual controls. These days though? It's getting exceedingly rare to see this phenomenon as by and large developers have gotten much better at making games that succeed on the platform instead of just releasing games that happen to run on the devices.
The original iCade was released in early 2011 and we were totally excited for the promise that the peripheral seemed to be making: Plop your iPad in, and all the sudden you're playing video games like an old retro arcade machine. On some level, the iCade delivered, as it succeeded in making some games feel better at the cost of having the massive iCade cabinet sitting on your desk and being locked out from using the keyboard on your device whenever they were paired together.
The Thinkgeek 8-Bitty attempts to take the proverbial torch from the iCade to continue the marathon of physical controller accessories. It works just like the iCade, in that you drop a few batteries (which aren't included) into it, flip the switch on, pair it with your iOS device and you're good to go. Thinkgeek is boasting that the 8-Bitty works with all of the existing iCade games, which is true to some extent, but nearly every game I tried is going to need an update to tweak control mappings as the way they mapped the buttons is just crazy.
The way the original iCade works is by pretending it's a bluetooth keyboard. For instance, when you moved the joystick up, it'd actually send the keypress "w" and when you moved the joystick back down it'd send the keypress "e". The 8-Bitty works via a similar protocol, using all the same character combinations from the iCade. The problem with this is that developers who have implemented iCade controls have largely used the left-most set of four buttons of the eight available buttons to map primary game functions to.
The way this is translated to the 8-Bitty is a little weird, as the top left set of two buttons on the iCade are actually the "select" and "start" buttons on the 8-Bitty, while the lower two left-most buttons are mapped to the right and left trigger. The remaining four buttons on the right of the iCade translate directly to the set of four face buttons on the 8-Bitty.
So, for example, playing Super Crate Box [$1.99] with the 8-Bitty works just as you'd expect, aside from the fact that you need to use the center "select" and "start" buttons to shoot and jump. Sure, an update can fix this, but it didn't seem like the iCade adoption rates were that high outside of our own forum community (as evident by them being sold for significant clearance prices at Bed Bath and Beyond a few months after release) so it's really hard to say how much urgency developers are going to feel to "fix" their existing iCade control implementations to work with the 8-Bitty.
The 8-Bitty hardware itself has the same super-square retro feel which also makes the device seem fairly solid even if it's surprisingly light when you pick it up. It's small enough that it'd easily be thrown in a bag, and the recessed on/off switch will guarantee no accidental battery drain as it'd really be something if it got turned on unexpectedly. The D-Pad works great, and the buttons all have a good feel to them. The pairing process is simple (holding down the two center buttons for four seconds kicks it into pairing mode) and because it uses the Bluetooth keyboard profile it'll pair with basically everything including all the iOS devices, Android devices, and even your computer.
The $29.99 price point definitely makes the 8-Bitty an attractive accessory to pick up, as that's in line with the price of cases, cables, and car chargers- But the 8-Bitty does a whole lot more. It's just really hard for me to get excited for these devices now. In 2009, the 8-Bitty would've been heralded as the "must have" companion to any iOS device as it'd be an immediate solution to horrible virtual control implementations.
However, this isn't 2009 anymore, and it seems like games where I find myself thinking "Wow, these on-screen controls are really bad I wish I was playing this with a real controller" are few and far between. As I've mentioned, developers by and large have just figured out how to make games for the platform rather than games that merely run on the platform, and in essence, have almost entirely solved the problem that the 8-Bitty tries to fix.
I look forward to watching the progress of 8-Bitty supported games, as the iCade saw a fairly large swell of support from many developers. Who knows, a game might come along that totally makes sense to play with the 8-Bitty. Until then, the device is likely just going to live in my desk drawer with other iOS accessories that seem like good ideas but rarely make the cut when it comes to being thrown in my bag or pocket.
Early last year, Thinkgeek and ION combined forces to turn what was originally a clever April Fool's joke into a real-life thing called the iCade. The fully-functioning mock arcade cabinet that housed your iPad released the following May, and we thought it was a pretty interesting piece of kit when we reviewed it. Since then, iCade has really been the only 3rd-party Bluetooth control option that's gained any sort of traction at all on iOS, despite it still being pretty niche.
At the beginning of this year at CES 2012, ION and Thinkgeek announced a trio of new iCade units: a new, trimmed-down version of the original, a handheld version for the iPhone, and an iCade Jr. which was just a really tiny, shrunk down version of the original iCade that was also for use with your iPhone or iPod touch.
They weren't done, though, as the very next month they announced a fourth version of the iCade, this one they were calling the iCade 8-Bitty. It was essentially an NES-style wireless controller that could connect to your iOS device and control any iCade-compatible game on the App Store, just like the other iCade units.
Today, Thinkgeek has announced that the iCade 8-Bitty is finally available in their online shop at a price of $29.99. I've got to be honest, I'm a little bit tired of all the various controller options for iOS, and I'd much rather just focus on games that harness the inherent abilities of the device. However, I think there's a huge novelty value to these iCade units, and for $30 bucks I could see myself keeping an 8-Bitty around just for kicks.
Head on over to Thinkgeek to order up an iCade 8-Bitty if it strikes your fancy, and while you're over there be sure to check out the sales they're currently running on the other iCade devices. The original iCade is now 10% off at $89.99 (though I've seen them much cheaper at various places around the 'net), and the newer iCade Mobile which is an almost Sony PSP-like unit that your iPhone sits cradled in and works in both portrait and landscape, is a whopping 64% off at $24.99, down from its original $69.99 price point.
Thanks largely in part to Kickstarter, we've been absolutely drowning in various bluetooth gamepads for iOS devices ranging from actual shipping products to obscure prototypes. Today, Gameloft with the help of Duo have announced the Duo Gamer, the first bluetooth gamepad to make it through the Apple certification process. Comparatively, all other bluetooth gaming devices (including the would-be OnLive controller) work via the entirely Apple-unsupported method of pretending they're a bluetooth keyboard and barfing a barrage of key presses to your device which various iCade (and similar) supported games can interpret as control input.
With the Duo Gamer paired via Bluetooth, it works, well, just like a game pad. You still get the keyboard popup for typing (Something iCade-like devices "break") and if you don't have any supported games installed when you first pair it you even get a slick little popup suggesting titles that are supported. The way it all works is shockingly seamless and feels how using a device like this should. Unfortunately, the down side of this compatibility and the same Apple certification process that's going to allow them to have the various made for iOS devices branding on the box and distribution through the actual Apple Store is a significant one: The Duo Gamer only works with Gameloft games, and as of this writing only five are supported:
Presumably, future Gameloft titles will be supported as well as other previous titles as it's in both Gameloft's and Duo's best interest to get this device supporting as many games as possible- especially for the $80 price tag.
I’ve got to say, as intriguing as the thought of controller peripherals for the iPhone was a few years ago, I’ve really grown to dislike all of these new controller solutions that seem to pop up every month or so. I think the iCade offers a neat experience and has amassed a respectable library of supported games so far, so it’s somewhat exempt from these feelings.
Beyond that though, I’ve come to realize that the exact reason I love gaming on my iPhone so much is that it’s an all-in-one device I have on me at all times. I’ve struggled since the original Game Boy to find that perfect case to house my handheld and all its games and accessories in one tiny on-the-go package.
Well, the iPhone is that dream realized in a way that’s better than I could have ever imagined, and I don’t want to sully that with the additional hassle of toting around some peripheral. iOS comes equipped with its own set of unique control possibilities with its touchscreen and gyroscope, and if your game requires traditional buttons to truly shine then I feel like you’re kind of missing the entire point.
However, I think they might be onto something with the upcoming iMpulse controller. Rather than being some kind of harness you stick your device in like many of the controllers we’ve seen thus far, it’s simply a very tiny Bluetooth controller, about the size of a large keychain. In fact, it actually IS a keychain, and like your iPhone, chances are high that you’ll always have it on you. Here’s a quick video of it in action.
I do have reservations about the iMpulse though, first the fact that it seems to only come equipped with half the buttons of an iCade, and second that it’s strictly an analog stick-like slider for directional control rather than a traditional d-pad. However it’s compatible with any iCade game right out of the box and best of all it will retail for just $20. At that price and with a respectable list of supported games it’s a little easier to justify an “impulse” buy for something like this.
The iMpulse controller is slated to hit later this year, and you can currently pre-order the initial run of black and silver ones over at the iMpulse website. We’ll be looking to get our hands on one soon and will report back with out impressions.
ThinkGeek and manufacturer ION's dreamy handheld controller add-on for iPhone and iPod Touch, the iCade Mobile, is now a thing you can buy on the Internet. It's $70, and it's still available despite appearing earlier this weekend. The final build looks identical to the one we saw at CES earlier this year -- it's still nice and glossy, supports eight buttons and a d-pad, and allows you to flip your device in its cradle if a game is only playable in portrait mode.
Mobile works with any iCade supported game and it's compatible with a host of devices, both new and old. iPod Touch 3rd and 4th generation, as well as iPhone 3, 3G, 3GS, 4, and 4S can all be jammed into the peripheral.
We've got a list of good iCade supported games on our site, but do note that most of these games don't support Mobile's specific layout of physical buttons. This will change if Mobile is adopted at the rate iCade proper was.
Here's an interesting rumor: Apple has worked on a controller for its devices, according to a couple of lines in Anandtech's iPad review. Here they are in all their glory:
I know of an internal Apple project to bring a physical controller to market, but whether or not it will ever see the light of day remains to be seen. As smartphones and tablets come close to equalling the performance of current game consoles, I feel like the controller problem must be addressed.
Play with us for a second and consider this: what would the easiest way to stop all the fracturing inside of fracturing going on in the third-party controller space? If Apple was to do something with a peripheral, we wouldn't be writing a story every week about a brand new controller that has its own proprietary code that studios' need to plug into their software. Everyone would just automatically support Apple's New Thing, and there would be no other viable market.
But, that's just reading tea leaves inside of tea leaves. Also, there's a billion ways to read into this, if it's even accurate, which we doubt, since a controller compromises that vision of iPad and iPhone. These things were meant to be used with our fingers, not with styluses or controllers or other peripherals.
Then again, who knows. Maybe this will be a "one more thing" at a keynote.
As more and more third-party controllers enter the mobile market, the wicked small base that wants something physical in their hands as they play games becomes steadily more fractured. It's through this lens that we view the latest controller to catch our all-seeing eye, the Bladepad. It's an NES-like controller with an admittedly cool hook: it's thin, slide-out design theoretically makes it possible for you to carry around the phone with the controller firmly attached. Other products, including ION's upcoming PSP-alike shell, obviously don't embrace portability like this does.
Bladepad’s case fits around your phone and a razor-thin gamepad slides out from beneath the case. The gamepad can also be removed from the case for enhanced mobility and convenience.
No word on when this will be released, or if it's even actually in some sort of production phase. The page does mention that the company behind Bladepad is actively looking for developers to support the device, so get ready for some weird splintering or a lackluster show of support upon release.
Thinkers, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers of all shapes and sizes are still trying to bring us useful, physical controllers for iPad and iPhone. We've seen a lot, over the years, but none have struck as novel as the one currently in an early development stage at Keio University in Japan. It's an analog stick similar to the Fling, except it uses the iPhone's front camera to control the action on the screen.
Here's what makes it possible, according to the following video from DigiInfo:
There are small markers in this elastic device and the markers are detected by this built-in front-facing mobile phone camera. By tracking how the markers move as the elastic device deforms, this system enables a variety of inputs. Basically, the system’s precision depends on hardware factors, like the camera resolution and refresh rate.
It's a neat idea, and while it has a couple of obvious issues working against it, we'd love to see this end up as an actual product. Who knows, maybe it'll catch on.
Bandai is looking to fuse the world of smartphones and virtual pets in a big way with their just announced "smart pet", as reported by Macotakara. Some details are a bit fuzzy due to translation issues, but from what I can tell the smart pet sounds like a pretty interesting idea. An app is downloaded to your iPhone or iPod touch, and that acts as the face of your virtual pet. Your device then sits inside a robot dog body and connects to it through the headphone jack, allowing the two pieces to act as one so you can interact with the smart pet.
The smart pet uses the front facing camera on the iOS device to recognize and react to certain gestures, and there will be over 100 different kinds of expressions that the pet can make. There will also be support for importing your own photos of your pets (or whoever you want, really), and there will be some sort of Bluetooth connectivity to allow multiple smart pets to interact with each other. And, perhaps most important of all, your smart pet comes equipped with the ability to sneeze. Sounds adorable.
The smart pet app is on course for release in Japan on March 31st, and will be a free download. With just the app you'll still be able to begin training and interacting with your virtual puppy, and it sounds like it will be a complete Tamagotchi-like experience all on its own even if you don't spring for a plastic robot dog body. If you must have the full experience, the smart pet body will be available about a month after the app, but no details on pricing as of now.
Neither the app or the body have been confirmed for US release just yet, but we'll keep an eye on the situation for our own curiosity, and so we can be prepared once the robot dogs decide to turn against humanity (you know it's bound to happen).
Blogger and DIYer Paul Rickardswrote about an awesome discovery today: he figured out how to rig an NES controller, via USB, to his iPad. Even better, he made it work like an iCade does, which theoretically opens up the support of his homebrew controller to every iCade-enabled game out there. He hasn't posted the code yet, but he did go over the story of how he made discovery and linked to some pretty important literature.
Like most of the world's greatest inventions, this was the result of an accident. While playing in iMAME, Rickards accidentally pressed some keys on his homebrew Commodore 64 USB keyboard. The app then said it was enabling iCade mode. Cue the "A-ha!" moment.
From here, Rickards manufactured another USB keyboard utilizing Arduino, but instead of using a keyboard matrix, he used his NES gamepad. A couple of legos for casing and two jacks later, he had a working NES controller for his iPad. Sweet!
We've asked Rickards if he intends to do more controllers in the future because this is pretty exciting news. Think about it: someday, you might finally be able to play an iPad game with the Duke, the ultimate gaming controller.
Well ... that is, if every game plays nice. Atari Greatest Hits [Free] collection and iMAME are the only games he's tested so far.
So, in the madhouse that is CES, I managed to track down the IonAudio booth to get some hands on time with the new iCade Mobile.
The details remain the same as when we previously reported on it. The iCade Mobile will be priced at $79.99 when it launches. It's got eight buttons, and a d-pad. Like the original iCade, it connects over Bluetooth.
What's nice about the design is it supports both landscape and portrait modes. The iPhone or iPod Touch sits in a specially designed cradle that can rotate freely.
Of course, one side effect to this design is that it makes the whole device pretty big. You'll be able to see in the hands on video that it adds a considerable amount of bulkage to your iOS device:
Unsurprisingly, control-wise it felt the same as the iCade. Some people seem to complain of a very slight lag in controls, but as you can see in the video, it's pretty minimal. To my hands the controls felt nicely spaced out, though I didn't really get a chance to test out the shoulder buttons in action. As with any of these accessories, it's hard to imagine lugging one around with you everywhere you go, but the added convenience (over the original iCade) of being able to lean back in your couch is nice.
And here's an official video from Ion Audio showing people having a hilarious time with it:
You too could look this happy. The device is coming this spring at $79.99.
If you're a fan of Another World [$3.99] and just so happen to own an iCade, iCade Jr., iCade 8-Bitty, or the numerous other peripherals that work off the iCade-style Bluetooth keyboard emulation, you're in luck. Aside from adding a whole bunch of new language options and some better iOS 6 support, Another World now fully supports the iCade.
