Awesome work Kmacleod,been reading You're site from long,long time,and i can say only that You do an amazing work,with passion,put a lot of You're time,you have updated it constantly week after week,and it's worth all The time!!
Here are my first impressions of the Horipad: - Controls very well, no issues with d-pad, joysticks or buttons. - Joysticks are on the stiffer side, no looseness. - Good build quality, doesn't feel cheap (although I'd prefer a matte finish rather than glossy) - Haven't experienced any lag - A bit larger than a PS3 controller, mostly due to fatter handles. Control layout is about the same though, with buttons being slightly closer together. R2/L2 on the Hori are more angled down (imagine the PS3 triggers fully depressed). - Extremely light (I actually find this the most distracting thing, being used to more substantial console controllers. It feels like nothing... is there really a battery in there?) - Can't comment on battery life as I haven't depleted the initial charge yet, but seems decent Overall I have no hesitation recommending this, despite not having tried other iOS controllers. From my research, all the other solutions so far seem to have some issue or other, and as a result I've waited a while before finally taking the plunge with the Horipad. I'm a primarily an oldschool console gamer, and this suits my needs well (my number one priority being the d-pad). I would love to see an MFI replica SNES pad someday though
iOS 7/8/8.1 Game Controller Supported Game List/Wishlist + Controllers My Mad Catz controllers arrived and I've had a few days to get used to them. The smaller one (micro CTRLi) has a more conveniently removable clip, but seems to have some significant dead zones in the control sticks. I have to move the sticks further to start getting a tilt response than with any of my other controllers (including the non-micro CTRLi). The big CTRLi really feels pretty good. No dead zones that I can perceive, very good button feel, the clip holds onto my 6 plus tight. Only problem is the clip is a pain to take off if I want to stow the controller in my backpack (wouldn't want the clip getting bent). I don't quite get why they went to a thumbscrew fastener. I guess they couldn't just reuse the same clip-on clip design as on the micro
Mad Catz CTRLi dead zones I got my replacement Mad Catz CTRLi from Amazon. This one no longer has the jumpy controls sending out spurious signals like the one I sent back. However the new one has worse dead zones on the analog sticks. The middle dead zones are about the same as the other one, and are also similar to the dead zones on my Xbox 360 controllers, so I'm fine with accepting that. However the new controller has large dead zones around the outside of the sticks' range too. If I open the Mad Catz app or Game Controller Tester, it shows the sticks reaching full deflection when physically the stick is still between 1/8" and 1/4" from the edge. So the last 1/8" or so of movement around the outsides doesn't do anything. Combined with the center dead zones, this means the total usable range of stick movement is considerably smaller than the physical range, which makes the sticks more sensitive than they should be. This is fine in cases where it only matters what direction you move the stick but not how far, such as twin stick shooters and platformers. However for cases where it does matter how far you move the stick, such as steering in driving games or aiming in FPS games, this makes it a bit harder than it should be to make fine adjustments. The effect is similar to using a controller with smaller sticks. Since I love playing driving games this matters a lot to me. Can anyone else who has the CTRLi or other controllers try the same test in Game Controller Tester and see if it uses your whole range of stick movement?
@kmacleod, I noticed in your latest update you mentioned the lack of HoriPad availability in the US, for anyone interested you can also find them on the Hori US website: http://stores.horiusa.com/horipad-wireless-gaming-controller-for-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch-mac/ The thing is not cheap ($80) which I would say was the only major negative point for me (albeit one that is shared with MFI controllers in general).
Whoops, forgot about that, good catch! You can also get them on Amazon. They say they aren't available, but you'll get one eventually if you order. I was more commenting on how odd it was that Apple doesn't carry them here, but does carry them in Japan.
I just thought I'd follow up on my broken Mad Catz CTRLi (in short, the firmware update broke it). Mad Catz didn't really get anywhere with troubleshooting after a few email exchanges, I knew the only thing there was to do was somehow force a firmware update over the USB port, they eventually just said I should contact the reseller. So I go onto live chat with Amazon, explained that as I'm in Australia, I didn't really want to spend the time and money sending it back (took about three weeks on its way here), and I could provide plenty of evidence of it not working as well as my exchanges with Mad Catz, pretty much straight away they said that was ok and just put a new one on order with express shipping! So now I have a broken CTRLi and a working one! Thanks a lot Amazon!
I got my Madcatz Micro CTRLi replacement a couple of days ago and i definitely have a better one now regarding the dead zones.I was a bit shocked first because the first movement i tested (right stick straight to the right) was terrible.Even a bit worse than my old Micro.But it turned out this was the only direction that bad,more or less all other directions are quite ok.Definitely better than on my old Micro at least.After my first test with the very good implemented MFI support (in a 1st person shooter)in Dead Trigger 2 i can say,it plays great and precise aiming is possible and fun.No problems doing headshots most of the time.I'm a bit more relaxed now.But it definitely depends as well on how good a dev implement it.Aiming in Stranger is still a bit to"nervous"for my taste but an update with added controller sensitivity is already submitted to apple. @Bilboa:i have dead zones only arround the center position,not at the"end"of the sticks.
It seems to me the quality of the analog sticks must be inconsistent from unit to unit. Given that I've had one with really jumpy sticks, and now another with big dead zones, and you've gotten a bad one, and the pocketgamer reviewer's description sounded like my first one, I guess there's a bit of luck involved in whether you get one with good analog sticks. It's too bad. If I were going only on how the controller feels, it seems very high quality. In any case, I've decided to just keep the one I have. It works well enough, and a lot of the games I play with it are shooters and platformers, so the dead zones don't matter anyway. It's mainly when playing a driving game that I notice it.
I just ordered a MadCatz Micro based on Afterpad's recommendation (thanks!) and i was wondering if it works well with MHFU, the main reason i want a controller, so i can play it on my HDTV. All the other games are icing on my purchase Hopefully i get no issues on my amazon purchase. Crossing fingers, and happy gaming everyone!
I want to do this, too! Specifically for MHFU, lol. Please make a post in the MHFU thread and let us know how it works. I haven't decided on a controller yet. I prefer the playstation style layout over the xbox style, but all of the PS style mfi controllers are rather pricey so I've been looking at the madcatz one.
Hey guys, Happy to report that Monster Hunter works great with all MFi controllers! You have to manually enable it every time you boot up the game, but after that, you get full controller support. Menus work, as does using the right stick to control the camera
I certainly do prefer the playstation layout over the xbox layout, but since i'll be using the analog stick to move mainly (in MHFU), i think having an xbox layout can be easier on the thumb. Plus, it'll be my first time to own an xbox layout controller, just so i can get acquainted with that.
Glad to help They're actually making a big deal of promoting it in Japan, in combination with the Horipad. I have to admit, the two are a nice combination
