iControlPad for iPhone

As I have posted before, the iPhone has the potential to take over handheld gaming. It’s already a popular device for multimedia and communication, adding third-party games (providing the iPhone is capable enough of playing them) would make it a great handheld console. After seeing some of the game demos at the iPhone SDK event, many people have been awaiting some serious gaming on their iPhones. Obviously there are two main inputs the iPhone can have: Touch screen and motion sensors; most games consoles today have physical buttons as controls, rather than a touchscreen with no tactile feedback.

However, there is now a new gaming accessory for your iPhone: iControlPad. It adds physical buttons and a joypad to your iPhone. It slips onto your iPhone like a skin or case that you may already have, which gives some extra protection. The buttons are positioned similarly to Sony’s popular PSP handheld console. The buttons are connected to your iPhone through the dock connector on the bottom. It can already support some current games on Jailbroken iPhones, and are planning support for official SDK games when they are launched next month.

The iControlPad isn’t available yet, but development kits are available for iPhone developers who plan to make games through the SDK.

Via [TUAW]