Appletell

Does the lack of buttons on the iPhone leave you less than stunned about the state of gaming on the device? Hope may be on the horizon for your button-craving thumbs.

Apple has always noted that the lack of buttons on iPhone is a feature, not a limitation, and I can see Apple’s side; you can’t add buttons after you ship a device, but you can add virtual buttons to later software updates. This is all great, and I’m even pretty good with the virtual buttons…for typing.

There’s still something missing, though. The iPhone needs some buttons for gaming. Having your fingers on the screen using virtual buttons during a game is not really practical. Not only do your fingers cover valuable screen real-estate, you can’t “feel” the buttons, so your fingers are likely to keep slipping off of their active areas.

That problem is what iControlPad is seeking to fix. They want to build a gamepad to surround the iPhone. They’re pretty far along already, with a working prototype.

The gamepad, or case, has a d-pad, four standard buttons, shoulder buttons, a start button and a select button in their standard configuration. The whole thing looks a lot like a GameGear, if you remember SEGA’s portable system. All you have to do is slide your iPhone into the case. It locks with the serial port connector, and is removable at any time.

Developers will, of course, have to support this device by writing their games to use the gamepad. It’s already supported by some pretty big iPhone developers; mostly emulator devs (read jailbroken apps).

The only real problem I can see with this device is that Apple does not currently allow it to be used with App Store apps. It certainly seems like a great solution to a problem that has plagued games for the iPhone. But, at the current time only jailbroken iPhones will be able to take advantage of this gamepad. I hope Apple will see how this device can make the iPhone more functional (and the App Store more profitable) and consider officially allowing its use.

Product [iControlPad]

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