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Latency would make this unplayable for me on most games of my liking.

Which makes me wonder: how is latency in this solution with jailbreak and PS3 controller over Bluetooth? Sounds like it could be good in theory, but how is it in practice?

I know there's some noticeable latency when using OpenEmu on OS X with a PS3 controller, and that's even with a USB cable. But I guess there might be other factors involved in that case and might get fixed in future OpenEmu versions.
 
Simply awesome.
This should be an official update to iOS. "Now you can hook up any Bluetooth controller to your iOS device". Boom! (btw, hooking up a PS4 controller would be even cooler — that controller is just perfect, imho).

Apple is a "happy dictatorship". That is a double edged sword.
No controller support and no emulators is really one of the worse things of Apple (iOS) regarding software.
Nobody is forced to buy Apple, but is still a pity they do this things so often.

Windows tablets (e.g Surface) work great with USB or BT controllers of all kinds out of the box, and I guess Android is similar. And both have emulator in their official stores.
 
I think insisting on buying and carrying around peripherals to get the full, enhanced experience would harm iOS. Apple would sooner adopt a stylus *shudder*

There are other devices that play games with controllers. The iPhone is brilliant in part because it doesn't need one, and the best games on iOS wouldn't be improved in the least by controllers.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (and the other ones for that matter) certainly would be
 
I'd think touch controls would work well enough for those systems... You don't really need the seperate controller until you start talking about trigger buttons, pressure sensitive buttons, and joysticks. And rumble.

You'd THINK, but no, I've tried multiple emulators. I always end up focusing on the button placement more than the game.
 
And once again we see how the MFI programme has literally no advantages for consumers whatsoever.

It just makes the entire ecosystem worse so Apple can try and reek out a profit from things where it doesn't do any work like a greedy feudal landowner.

The closed nature of iOS is the worst thing that's ever happened to Apple - it's enabled this culture of lazy rentseeking over creating good products to take hold.
 
Windows tablets (e.g Surface) work great with USB or BT controllers of all kinds out of the box, and I guess Android is similar. And both have emulator in their official stores.

Android has had support for this since honeycomb 3.1 which was released on the 10th May 2011.
 
Latency would make this unplayable for me on most games of my liking.

Which makes me wonder: how is latency in this solution with jailbreak and PS3 controller over Bluetooth? Sounds like it could be good in theory, but how is it in practice?

I know there's some noticeable latency when using OpenEmu on OS X with a PS3 controller, and that's even with a USB cable. But I guess there might be other factors involved in that case and might get fixed in future OpenEmu versions.

If you have a fast enough network, the latency was good enough to play. I never had any issues air playing to my living room 1080p TV playing some old nes and SNES games. I have to airplay with airparrot since the Mac Pros lack quicksync. I'd like to pick up a couple more ps3 controllers for some old school Mario mart parties.

I'd imagine air playing from a jailbroken iPhone to Apple TV is no more patty than from a Mac to an Apple TV.
I could possibly jailbreak and test it out.
 
If enough of you jailbreak for this, Apple will include it officially. ;)

nope. like many things, it's a matter of licensing costs. MFi costs money (licensing fees) because it costs apple money to support vendors to guarantee compatibility for users. if Sony doesn't feel like participating in the MFi program, how could Apple give them the API support for free while charging vendors who are paying their license fees?

----------

And once again we see how the MFI programme has literally no advantages for consumers whatsoever.

It just makes the entire ecosystem worse so Apple can try and reek out a profit from things where it doesn't do any work like a greedy feudal landowner.

The closed nature of iOS is the worst thing that's ever happened to Apple - it's enabled this culture of lazy rentseeking over creating good products to take hold.

that's a nice fantasy you have. as a developer, let me ground it in reality -- companies charging vendors fees is nothing new. the purpose of MFI is not to make a few bucks in fees -- that's absurd because it's a rounding error in Apple's bottom line. no, the purpose of MFI fees is to cover the costs of supporting those vendors. developing and supporting the APIs in software, as well as the hardware interface in various apple products.

why do this? because it directly benefits the consumer, in the form of guaranteed compatibility. MFI products just work, period. you don't have to worry about a hardware vendor's crummy implementation not working properly, because hardware vendors are curated via MFI just like app store apps are. this gives MFI customers the same guarantees as App Store customers. this is, in apples mind, a good thing. and judging by all their sales and consumer satisfaction reports (highest in industry) they aren't wrong.

as for walled garden, that's always, always been the case with apple since the original apple computers. they are now the most successful, most profitable PC makers and mobile makers, again with the highest consumer satisfaction levels.

I think it's working out all right. it's just not what you want.
 
why do this? because it directly benefits the consumer, in the form of guaranteed compatibility. MFI products just work, period. you don't have to worry about a hardware vendor's crummy implementation not working properly, because hardware vendors are curated via MFI just like app store apps are. this gives MFI customers the same guarantees as App Store customers. this is, in apples mind, a good thing.

What you are saying sounds nice in theory, however it's far from reality. As has been covered on this site and elsewhere, MFi game controllers DON'T "just work". They are crummy, overpriced beta products. Most developers are not impressed with them either and are not exactly rushing to update their apps.

Here's a decent article about their issues: http://9to5mac.com/2014/01/16/insid...urrent-crop-of-controllers-arent-up-to-snuff/

For consumers who have spent twice as much on controller of half quality compared to console ones, there's no official list or appstore category of compatible games, the only way to find them is to carefully read descriptions and release notes.

Compare that with iCade: no licensing fees, no interference from Apple, easy and cheap to implement for both developers and manufacturers, as a result there are lots more compatible games, more and better hardware options. Pretty impressive for something that started as a neat hack to get around iOS limitations rather than officially-blessed standard.

and judging by all their sales and consumer satisfaction reports (highest in industry) they aren't wrong.

MFi game controllers are too new and too few to have any effect on iDevice sales and customer satisfaction. Most users probably don't own any accessories at all, except for cases.

The last point is probably the main reason why MFi game controllers program is not top priority for Apple. It's therefore surprising that they bothered at all.

I think it's working out all right. it's just not what you want.

And there you have it — Apple is putting their own interests above their customers', just like any other for-profit corporation.
 
I think insisting on buying and carrying around peripherals to get the full, enhanced experience would harm iOS. Apple would sooner adopt a stylus *shudder*

There are other devices that play games with controllers. The iPhone is brilliant in part because it doesn't need one, and the best games on iOS wouldn't be improved in the least by controllers.

Sure, I'm not saying it should be the only way to interact with games on iOS, but the fact is that game controllers are supported on iOS.

Nobody is insisting you use a controller. Some of the best games on iOS (like GTA) would be much better with a controller. Attached would be better (like a PS3 pad with a lightning port), but if we rely on people like Logitech to make them we're going to be stuck with poor-quality, hugely overpriced controllers for a long time.
 
I wish that they had done this hack the other direction, by which i mean modify the ps3 controller firmware to output native ios mfi commands.

That would allow use with stock ios 7 devices instead of only jailbroken ones.

I have no idea if the firmware of a ps3 controller can be updated however.
 
If you have Retroarch installed this seems to break it... just FYI. I haven't been able to reinstall, either. Tomb Raider is great with the PS3 controller, though:D:D

I've only just discovered Retroarch, sounds awesome. I jailbroke my iPad yesterday to get this PS3 controller working. :D Downloaded a bunch of controller supported games to try out, so much more fun with actual buttons!

FWIW, Sounds like its an either/or situation...Uninstall ControllersForAll and RetroArch works, or re-install CFA for MFI games, but break RetroArch. Maybe that'll get worked out in time.
 
nope. like many things, it's a matter of licensing costs. MFi costs money (licensing fees) because it costs apple money to support vendors to guarantee compatibility for users. if Sony doesn't feel like participating in the MFi program, how could Apple give them the API support for free while charging vendors who are paying their license fees?

----------



that's a nice fantasy you have. as a developer, let me ground it in reality -- companies charging vendors fees is nothing new. the purpose of MFI is not to make a few bucks in fees -- that's absurd because it's a rounding error in Apple's bottom line. no, the purpose of MFI fees is to cover the costs of supporting those vendors. developing and supporting the APIs in software, as well as the hardware interface in various apple products.

why do this? because it directly benefits the consumer, in the form of guaranteed compatibility. MFI products just work, period. you don't have to worry about a hardware vendor's crummy implementation not working properly, because hardware vendors are curated via MFI just like app store apps are. this gives MFI customers the same guarantees as App Store customers. this is, in apples mind, a good thing. and judging by all their sales and consumer satisfaction reports (highest in industry) they aren't wrong.

as for walled garden, that's always, always been the case with apple since the original apple computers. they are now the most successful, most profitable PC makers and mobile makers, again with the highest consumer satisfaction levels.

I think it's working out all right. it's just not what you want.

I... I fear you misread my obfuscated humour. I was making fun of the people who like to say Apple steals all the popular jailbreaks and incorporates them in to the official build.
 
nope. like many things, it's a matter of licensing costs. MFi costs money (licensing fees) because it costs apple money to support vendors to guarantee compatibility for users. if Sony doesn't feel like participating in the MFi program, how could Apple give them the API support for free while charging vendors who are paying their license fees?

----------



that's a nice fantasy you have. as a developer, let me ground it in reality -- companies charging vendors fees is nothing new. the purpose of MFI is not to make a few bucks in fees -- that's absurd because it's a rounding error in Apple's bottom line. no, the purpose of MFI fees is to cover the costs of supporting those vendors. developing and supporting the APIs in software, as well as the hardware interface in various apple products.

why do this? because it directly benefits the consumer, in the form of guaranteed compatibility. MFI products just work, period. you don't have to worry about a hardware vendor's crummy implementation not working properly, because hardware vendors are curated via MFI just like app store apps are. this gives MFI customers the same guarantees as App Store customers. this is, in apples mind, a good thing. and judging by all their sales and consumer satisfaction reports (highest in industry) they aren't wrong.

as for walled garden, that's always, always been the case with apple since the original apple computers. they are now the most successful, most profitable PC makers and mobile makers, again with the highest consumer satisfaction levels.

I think it's working out all right. it's just not what you want.

As a consumer I would rather also have the option to use unsupported (so scary) controllers. Walled garden provides best profits obviously. That's the whole reason behind it.

iOS controllers are a mess. Pay more for an inferior controller
 
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Can you use a Wii U Pro controller without having a Wii? Can you charge it with any USB wall charger? Do you need any extra stuff? I'm asking this because I would buy the controller just for jailbroken iOS devices.
 
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