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Geezz Would ya look at all the Debbie Downers on MacRumors...

This type peripheral will succeed. Hopefully a full size fold up keyboard won't be far behind. Go ahead and laugh but there is a market for both. :p
 
What if it added a huge external battery for the iPhone, allowing extra game time on the device. Then if Apple teamed up to allow companies to sell their emulators, Sega would be back in business! Think about it... Although its kinda farfetched. But Gameboy, Gamegear, Sega CD, Sega, Nintendo, etc.

There is no way there will ever be a legal emulator for any of the Nintendo platforms on the iPhone, nor will any Nintendo games get ported. It would take a major deal (or merger) between Apple and Nintendo and that ain't going to happen - Nintendo are stronger now than they've ever been.

Sega will port their catalogue to any platform there is. I'm sure they're just waiting for something like this and then they'll test the market.

Whilst the controller seems like a good idea on paper I can't see there being that much of a market for it. There would have to be a lot of them sold before it would be worth while for any serious developers to develop for it and no one will buy them until there is decent games for it - catch 22.

If you want to play games with a controller on the move you buy a Nintendo DS, if you haven't already got one. I just don't see the attraction in being able to play them on an iPhone and drain the battery even quicker.

Nice idea, could (and maybe should) be a massive success, but it won't be.
 
If it's coming from Belkin, I'd guess it was officially Apple supported.

arn
Not necessarily. If you think about it... right NOW... signals are sent to iPods to raise and lower the volume for devices connected to it. Also signals for "prev/next song" and "pause/play toggle". My question, is can normal iPhone SDK applications TRAP these communications in anyway and "repurpose" them, if written properly? I'm thinking the answer is "YES".

Something LESS LIKELY is that you could add a device that expands functionality... like a GPS. But if you're simply using "existing" functionality, trapping it, and utilizing it in a different way... the idea sounds very plausible.

Someone else might attempt to "add" new functionality... but trapping existing functions and repurposing them... while limited... it can easily fit the bill.

~ CB
 
There is one MAJOR problem with this device... BELKIN.

Belkin has never made a product that was any good. Every Belkin accessory I have ever purchased has been returned to the store for a refund due to defects or lack of usability. It would be nice if another company tried making a similar device.
 
Looks like my Tapwave Zodiac:
zodiac_1.jpg

Beat me too it :cool:

But Duke Nuken on an iPod would be awesome. Hail to the king baby :D
 
it will sell... just like the iphone originally eliminated the need to carry a phone and an ipod, this eliminates the need to carry a psp... it will sell a million with all the new teenage iphoners out there... brilliant.
 
I kinda like the idea.

A month ago when I purchased Bomberman, the very first thing I said was "dammit, I wish I had a standalone control for this." And really, it would work great with games like that. Or pacman, etc.
 
LOL Not only is this invention stupid, its HIDEOUS! Come on, its UGLY? Get to it Belkin, if you are going to make a device for the iPhone, at least make it look semi-decent!
 
I was looking forward to the iControl Pad for so long. It never came, but this looks pretty cool. I don't have any use for it, since I needed it for emulators and such while jailbroken, but, it's useful to have in case I ever need buttons again.

On another thought...It'd be cool to see a full-size keyboard that can connect to the slot in the bottom of the iPhone so that people who really needed to type quickly with their iPhone could do it. Maybe not the most practical, but it'd be cool...Or one of those mini-keyboards people used to have for Pocket PCs.
 
haha~anybody know when this baby gonna to released? it gonna be fun while playing game with it:p
 
I doubt it

I don't believe such an accessory would be desirable for Apple to approve, for the same reason that they didn't ship a multi-button mouse for so long, for the same reason songs in iTunes are all the same price - you want to eliminate how much the customer needs to evaluate before purchase.

Imagine I don't have a joypod iphone strap-on, and I'm shopping around the store. How will I know which games I can use without buying the accessory? How will I know which games which say they work either way, but really only had touch control added as an afterthought?

The touch interface is the primary way of interacting with the device, a brand new metaphor. Adding a secondary, more traditional interface would become a huge crutch for developers who do not want to map their ideas into a new paradigm.

But on the bright side, it looks like another company, already linked on this thread, is considering making such a device for jailbroken phones. Thats where the emu crowd really needs it anyway.
 
Imagine this though.

What if it added a huge external battery for the iPhone, allowing extra game time on the device. Then if Apple teamed up to allow companies to sell their emulators, Sega would be back in business! Think about it... Although its kinda farfetched. But Gameboy, Gamegear, Sega CD, Sega, Nintendo, etc.

Plus to answer your calls you would have a headset in and could just answer the call that way.

Great minds must think alike, atleast about the battery thing.

As a far as games go though that is a diffferent story. I see the big potential in new games using new technology. Cobine that with Apple delivering an iPod Touch turbo. That is with a touch that doubles clock rate and RAM would leave Apple in a leadership position as far as portable gaming goes.

As to that doubling of clock rate - yes I think it is possible and still keeping power under control. That would take some integration and a lot of skill with power management from PA Semi. I think many people here would be very happy with a Touch that ran at 800 MHz instead of 400. Add in mesh networking and the fate of the other gaming handset manufactures is sealed.

Very optimistic on my part I know. But let's face it to do the low end of the market Apple has to drop features along with price. However what everybody is missing is that just because Apple needs lower price Touches doesn't imply that they will drop out of the high end. All Apple needs to do is add features that justify the higher price. Of course on an iPod part of that price always means more flash space but let's also face that that isn't of concern to everybody. Touch at the high end will offer unique features to draw purchases!

Dave
 
I personally..

I personally don't think its ugly... but then again, your going to have to look at it when your hands are covering it up. You know?? (haha)

But on a more serious note. I think apple should just call up the icontrolpad people and cut a deal with them. they dont have a bad design, the are past a working prototype, So why not?
 
Proximity button?

what I don't get is why they haven't made the proximity sensor available as a button yet??? It would be perfect for racing/jumping/shooting games so you would not have to touch the screen as a button and block your view. I'm really surprised they didn't think of that yet...:confused:
 
Gonna call fake or epic fail on this one.

"Fail fail fail. I don't want it. You don't need it. You can't have it."

How much more do we have to endure this pretzel logic ? Everytime something new comes out or something isn't available on an Apple product we hear the zombie crypto luddites chant that something is stupid or will fail. :rolleyes:
 
I quite like the idea of this, and it does look very cool imo. Maybe thats just because I play games a lot, but oh well :D

One thing I really hope that they do not go down is having apps that 'require' a certain accessory to work. That to me would really start cluttering up the app store and have stupid compatability issues. Please just make it optional to use this on some apps.

Sounds about like what I'd say. The controls for Cro-Mag Rally are virtual buttons and they're kinda hard to use at times, but doable. I would be worried about a lot of games requiring numerous accessories, but maybe this could be done on a limited basis.
 
Looks like a Gizmodo - hopefully not an indication of iPod touch/iPhone gaming to come.
 
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