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iCade Mobile adds physical gaming controls to your iPhone


The Ion Audio iCade Mobile will retail for $79.99 when it comes out in May (click to enlarge).


Tired of playing games with virtual buttons on your iPhone? Well, a few companies, including Ion Audio, are making Bluetooth game controllers that work with the iPhone and Android smartphones.

We got a chance to play around with the Ion iCade Mobile ($79.99) and found that it worked well enough (yes, those are shoulder buttons on top). That said, Steve Jobs would probably cringe at its design. The shiny black plastic is a fingerprint magnet and the whole contraption isn't terribly elegant. True, we were using an early version of the device, so we may see some refinements before launch in May.

When it does ship this spring, iCade Mobile is supposed to work with around 100 games (no, not all games will be compatible with it--far from it). It's worth noting that the controller does allow you to turn your device vertically or horizontally, which is good.

At its booth here, Ion was also showing off the iCade Core ($99.99), a less fancy version of its iCade gaming cabinet for the iPad, and had a mock-up on hand of the iCade Jr. ($69.99), a shrunken-down version of the iCade that works with the iPhone.

The iCade open in portrait mode



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