Retro Arcade-Game Fans Can Now Purchase The iCade For iPad
by Mike Lata
June 28, 2011
You may recall, much to everyone's surprise, ThinkGeek actually turned their original April Fools prank into a product. The prank-turned-real product can now be purchased for the iPad and is called the iCade arcade cabinet. The attachment gives the iPad a real gaming edge with custom designed physical buttons and a joystick that allows gamers to have real tactile feedback.
Atari's Greatest Hits is required to play games using the peripheral and is the only supported app so far. However, with the recent news of the device's SDK being made available to developers, lets hope support gets added for other App Store games as well as future retro games for the iPad.
The iCade seems like a retro gamer's dream come true. A semi-portable and small arcade machine with a great number of arcade apps that can be made available in one hardware package. The style of the mini cabinet is very authentic and there is even a coin slot to insert quarters. The iCade is compatible with both iPad models; here is a list of the cabinet's features that ThinkGeek listed on their product description page:
The arcade cabinet can be purchased directly through ThinkGeek's website for $99.99.
- Beautifully retro-styled tabletop arcade cabinet for your otherwise useless iPad
- iPad connects to the iCADE controls via Bluetooth
- "Atari Greatest Hits" iPad App ready to go with the iCADE, including support for over 100 classic Atari games.
- Atari App comes with Missile Command for free, other games available for in-app purchase. 3-game packs are $1. All 100 games are $14.99
- Compatible with both the original iPad and iPad 2