ThinkGeek Finally Releases iControlPad, The D-Pad For Your iPhone

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eb2b_icontrol_pad

I’ve been in the blogging-in-my-underpants business for a long time now, and over the years, one of the only things that has been an immutable law is that the long-awaited iControlPad for iPhone will always be just on the cusp of release.

So imagine the way my whole world flipped topsy-turvy when I checked my email box this morning and noticed that the unthinkable had happened, and iControlPad had finally been released. Is this even real life?

If you’ve never caught a single one of the dozens of blog posts about the product since it was first announced way back in 2008, the iControlPad is a physical, SNES-like D-Pad for your iPhone that pairs through Bluetooth. Originally, the guys behind iControlPad were going to use the Dock Connector, but they ran afoul of Apple’s approval process.

Now iControlPad is finally here, thanks to a partnership from our buddies over at ThinkGeek. By releasing through ThinkGeek, iControlPad is compatible with any game that works with the ICase Control Cabinet, guaranteeing compatibility with a few dozen games, at least. The iControlPad is also compatible with Android, and on that system, there are a lot more games to avail yourself of.

The bad news is the price: $75 seems like an awful lot of money to pay for a bulky physical add-on to your iPhone that is only compatible with a handful of games, especially when you could pick up a used DSi for about the same price.

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