Love playing games on your iPhone or iPhone Touch, yet hate using simulated touch screen control pads? Australian company 22Moo looks to throw you a bone, with the GameBone Pro iPhone controller.
It looks like the answer to the iPhone gamer's prayers. The bone-shaped device features an 8-way D-pad, four face buttons, and two shoulder buttons, making it every bit the game controller the original Super Nintendo controller was. It even features a 200,Ah lithium-ion battery to supply extra power to your iPhone, should you find your juice running a bit low. Plus,. the GamePro Bone has a built-in microphone and speakers, so you could use it as the phone itself if need be. It seems perfect, but the device isn't without its drawbacks.
For starters, the iPhone doesn't seem to latch onto the device anywhere, connecting through either Bluetooth or a dock cable, meaning that no matter how much easier it is to control your game, you're going to be propping up your iPhone on something else. 22Moo plans to ship the device with a combination horizontal and vertical stand for your iPhone, so I suppose you could just imagine you were playing on a very tiny television set.
Secondly, developers have to specifically add support for the device to their apps, so unless the GameBone Pro catches on, there isn't much of a guarantee that your favorite title will support it.
Then there's the price, which we simply don't know. Rather that issue one, 22Moo is asking visitors to its website to suggest a price, in order to help them determine what a good selling rate would be once the device is released this September.
It's definitely intriguing, but I am envisioning the sort of device that clips on to the back of the iPhone and slides out. That's right - I want the iPhone to have slide-out PSP controls. A guy can dream.