Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Ion expands iOS gaming with iCade Jr and iCade Mobile for iPhone, iPod Touch

Ion, the company that helped ThinkGeek turns its joke product iCade gaming cabinet into a reality, is expanding the iCade concept to include the iPhone and iPod touch. At CES, the company is showing off a new iCade Jr miniature cabinet and iCade Mobile gaming controller launching this year.

The iCade is a compact cabinet that turns an iPad into a mini arcade machine. It includes an arcade-style joystick and eight arcade-style buttons that can improve the experience of playing a variety of games, including classic arcade games, fighters, and more. It connects to an iPad using Bluetooth, and Ion offers a free SDK for developers to add support for the iCade to their games.

When the iCade originally launched this past summer on ThinkGeek, the only game that was compatible was Atari’s Greatest Hits, but that list has expanded to include Commodore64 and ZX Spectrum emulators, Frogger, Pac-Man, and over 100 other games available from the App Store.

The iCade Jr is exactly what it sounds like—an iPhone-sized version of the original iCade cabinet. Slide in an iPhone or iPod touch, connect via Bluetooth, and you can play arcade games on its tiny joystick and buttons. Since the front only includes room for four buttons instead of the eight on the iCade, the iCade Jr adds four buttons on the back that can be used like shoulder buttons on a console controller.

Ion will also offer the iCade Mobile, which adds a directional pad, four buttons, and four shoulder buttons to an iPhone or iPod touch. Sliding either device into the iCade Mobile transforms it into a handheld gaming device reminiscent of the Sega Game Gear. Since it connects via Bluetooth, the iCade Mobile could also be used with an iPad as a wireless game controller. It’s theoretically compatible with Android smartphones—as are all versions of the iCade—but Ion product manager Fred Galpren told Ars that only a handful of games on Android have added iCade support so far.

Additionally, Ion is adding the iCade Core to its gaming line up. The iCade Core does away with the retro cabinet styling of the original iCade, looking more like a fighting stick with a slot for an iPad or other tablet. Like other iCade devices, it connects via Bluetooth and is compatible with all the games that already support its SDK.

Full article: http://arstechnica.c … and-icade-mobile.ars

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