gamepad

Fund this: Keychain game controller for smartphones and tablets

How many smartphone or tablet games have you abandoned in disgust because your fat fingers couldn't master the onscreen controls or blocked too much of the action?

The solution, of course, is a game controller, one that connects wirelessly and is therefore compatible with most any mobile device. Just one problem: most of the controllers currently in development are on the larger side, meaning they're not practical to tote around in a pocket. So much for gaming on the go.

Black Powder Media's iMpulse is a Bluetooth-powered game controller that's small enough to attach to your … Read more

Turn your Android or iPhone into a controller for Flash games

WanderPlayer is the name given to a set of apps that you install on your computer and also your mobile device. These pieces of software work together to allow communication and create a gaming controller. The app is free and works for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

Step 1: Head over to www.wanderplayer.com in your browser of choice. Click on the Download button on the right side of the window (Mac users can click "Not using Windows" to see a Mac download option).

Step 2: Once the first download is started, options to download the mobile … Read more

Hit and run: Grand Theft Auto 3 arrives on iOS, Android

Mobile phone and tablet games are fast becoming the repository for all things retro, and there's no better indication of that than tomorrow's release of Grand Theft Auto 3: Ten Year Anniversary Edition.

Available from the App Store and the Android Marketplace on December 15 for $4.99, it's the exact same PS2 game I remember fondly--with improved graphics and a touch interface, of course.

This isn't the first GTA game to hit mobile: Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars is a port of a Nintendo DS and PSP game, but relied more on top-down gameplay. GTA 3 is a third-person game that's the precursor to the console-based Grand Theft Autos we know today, complete with a truly 3D Liberty City. It's all there to browse, cruise, and complete secret missions in. After spending some time this morning playing the final version, I can attest that it's as good as a touch-based GTA could be.… Read more

Unofficial iPhone gamepad coming soon

Fed up with using your iPhone's touch screen for games and looking for a proper gamepad experience? Look no further, because the iControlPad will be with you soon.

The device has been in development for some time. It allows you to fit a jailbroken iPhone in between two side clips that hold a gamepad below the phone in landscape mode, like you would a Nintendo DS. It's connected with a sync cable.

A different form of the iControlPad appeared before in 2008, but the developers decided not to go with that design, as it resulted in poor controls … Read more

Survival of the baddest

BloodnGuns is a top-down, dual-stick arcade shooter with quick controls, a simple but fun set of power-ups and weapons, and an almost comically bloody backdrop.

The aptly named BloodnGuns has no back-story, but the quasi-apocalyptic setting has you running and gunning against huge hordes of skeletons and zombies--specifically, zombies wielding enormous Final Fantasy-style swords. Your weapons range from the nondescript but fantastic (e.g., fusion, plasma, and pulse rifles) to the mundane and weirdly specific (e.g., Benelli M4 shotguns and M4A1 carbines). The gameplay is as straightforward as the interface: a virtual joystick under your left thumb controls movement, … Read more

Mad Catz consumes Saitek

You know when you're playing video games at a friend's house and you have to use the "bad" controller while he uses the one that came with the system? Mad Catz is probably the company that made that "bad" controller, and it just got bigger.

According to Kotaku, Mad Catz just acquired PC accessory maker Saitek in a $30 million dollar deal. Saitek produces PC gamepads, joysticks, keyboards, and audio devices, and the company's purchase could indicate that Mad Catz is looking to expand its meager line of PC products. News of this … Read more

Saitek's Cyborg Rumble game pad lets you flip the stick

Which layout do you prefer on your game pad? Do you like Sony-style, with the left analog stick low and symmetrical with the right analog stick? Or perhaps you prefer Microsoft-style, with the left analog stick high and level with the face buttons. Regardless of your preference, usually that choice is limited to the system you're on or which PC game pad you use.

Saitek has released the Cyborg P3600 Rumble Pad, the first PC game pad we've yet seen that lets you choose between the two layouts on a whim. Instead of a fixed layout, the Cyborg … Read more