After years of gamers crying out for an officially supported Apple controller solution for iOS, I really don’t think anybody expected that solution to be the Duo Gamer Controller from Gameloft and Duo Games. We reviewed the product in early October, and found the seamlessness with which it’s able to connect and work with games to be fantastic, especially in the face of the hack-ish solution of sending keyboard commands over Bluetooth to simulate controller movements which is what the iCade and several other unofficial controllers do currently. The Duo Gamer was an actual, real, Apple-approved Bluetooth controller for iOS, and it worked really well.
I mean, functionally it worked well. It still had some huge drawbacks though. One was the shape of the thing. The Duo Controller has one of the oddest, boxiest shapes I’ve ever seen for a controller. It’s sort of like a big brick with analog sticks, and without any sort of ergonomic shape it became pretty awkward to hold for long game sessions. The second big problem was that it only worked with a handful of Gameloft games, specifically Asphalt 7, Modern Combat 3, Order & Chaos Online, Brothers in Arms 2, and N.O.V.A. 3. If you were hoping to use the controller for any other games, well currently you’re out of luck. Finally, the Duo Gamer rang in at a hefty $80, which is pretty steep for a controller with very limited support.
Well, today Gameloft announced that they’re trying to tackle 2 out of 3 of those drawbacks by announcing a huge price cut for the Duo Gamer Controller as well as support for additional Gameloft titles in the near future. As of today the controller has been marked down by 50%, making it $39.99. Yeah, that’s still kind of a lot for a controller for your mobile devices, but it’s better than $80. Also Gameloft has revealed that Wild Blood and NFL Pro 2013 will be the next games to get support for the controller in the very near future, with more titles planned for 2013.
I don’t want to sound totally negative about the Duo Gamer, as when you’re using it with a game like Modern Combat 3 it really is a great experience, and if you’ve got your device plugged into a big screen TV it really approaches something like a traditional game console. However, the controller itself is still kind of clunky, it’s still a bit expensive even at half-off, and it’s still got a limited library of supported titles. But it’s getting better, so if you were even somewhat interested in the Duo Gamer Controller before then now would be a great time to jump on it during this huge sale. You can order one through the Amazon link below or find them in retail Apple Stores and Best Buys nationwide.
Amazon Link: Duo Gamer for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, $39.99
