With Steve Jobs no longer around to tell us these things aren’t elegant enough for his device, it appears we’ll finally get a proper gamepad for the iOS this year. This will be one of them, made by Logitech.
Can’t tell you who gave it to us or where it was seen, but we can vouch for this image’s authenticity. The controller is large enough to fit an iPhone 5. When iOS 7 introduces third-party controller support in the fall we’ll see this thing, plus a bunch of others, probably. Apple evidently won’t be making its own.
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Comments
10 responses to “Here’s A Look At One Of The iPhone’s New Game Controllers”
eww.
Remember when Apple adamantly said they didn’t need buttons or a control stick for the iphone for gaming… remember that… yeah…
But that being said, I’m glad they made this. So many games on my android tablet are better cause of the 360 controller! This’ll do the same for the iPhone games.
Yeah this plus Apple TV streaming and the still superior app selection are a pretty killer combo. Definitely levels the playing field.
At the same time, it is worth considering how the iOS games market would have evolved if something like this was available from the start (and for applications in general).
While some games are clearly designed with a controller in mind, using virtual thumb sticks and buttons, others make intuitive use of the inputs that are available. Would they have developed if traditional controls were also common?
In a similar pattern, the original Macintosh keyboard lacked arrow keys. At the time, a lot of full screen applications used those keys to navigate their user interface. Some sources say that the lack of these keys was intentional, and intended to get developers to make mouse-based applications.
Great comment and awesome point.
Gamechanger
If I played more iOS games I’d be lining up for one of these, great idea.
I think this would promote the development of more high-quality iOS games that would appeal to core gamers, so it’s possible you and I could *start* playing more iOS games, as they’re released. If they get the price right and games start supporting this, I think it can only be a positive thing for everyone.
I also don’t think this could have come at a better time for Apple. They’ve approached what may be the maximum market penetration within the current model of casual games. Especially with the new generation around the corner and the 3DS finally having a great back-catalogue, if they want to take a stab at the more core market, they need to do it now.
I hope there’s going to be an iPhone 4/4S version, although I have my doubts.
Completely agree, great points! There can only be so many games on touch devices before innovation with the controls and mechanics become stagnant.
This would make me play more iOS games, personally.
All it needs to be is cheap and I’m sold.