60Beat, a Proper Game Controller for iOS

iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

have turned out to be great for

games. I play more these days

than I have anytime since I was

a stoner in college, hooked up to

a SNES all day long. But

sometimes you just really need a

proper controller. Enter the

60Beat GamePad, a Playstation-

style joypad for iOS devices.

The 60Beat has almost as many

buttons as the keyboard on

which I’m typing this post.

There’s a D-pad, dual analog

sticks and a host of regular

buttons and shoulder buttons.

As if this wasn’ t enough to get

you entertaining thoughts of

jailbreaks and SNES emulators, it

gets better. The 60Beat doesn’t

use Bluetooth, or the 30-pin

dock connector. Hell, it doesn’t

even need any batteries.

Instead, it plugs into the

headphone jack. Check it out:

The only problem is that–

currently–there are only two

titles that work with the pad:

Bugdom 2 and Aftermath.

Adding support to games should

be pretty easy, though, so

hopefully there will be some big-

name titles joining the list. Grand

Theft Auto 3, currently on almost

constantly in the offices of

Gadget Lab Spain, would be a

great candidate.

The 60Beat GamePad is shipping

now, and costs $50.

Rudz