Yay! My girlfriend bought me an iCade for Christmas! It´s a jolly little gadged, or should I say a mini bar top with a Bluetooth based control panel system. It runs via an Ipad which resides in a small passive dock and communicates as mentioned via Bluetooth. This is more or less hassle free, but I have to admit that a regular Ipad-dock as we know it would be a tad better.
Right now the games available is via the AppStore and is right now only represented by Atari´s Greatest Hits. You get one game free (Missile Command) and have to buy the rest for about 9€ pr. arcade game. Atari also offers most of their home console (Atari 2600) games if that is your cup of tea.
One thing though... It´s kinda strange that Atari offers "Missile command" as a freebie. My problem with that is that "Missile Command´s " cabinet sported a trackball that you spun around as you shot down the enemy missiles. This was a much more accurate way of playing this game. Therefore I have to say that it is a bit odd to use joysticks as they are as accurate as hitting a nail with a birthday cake. But I guess I´ll manage.
The iCade version I have is built by a manufacturer called Ion, and the build quality is pretty darn good. It was easy to put together and does a great overall job for me while I wait for my chance to leave my GF, child and work behind to fokus on my Project Peach.
As an end note. I think that it is very strange that Atari is the only company that supports the iCade. What about the rest: Taito, Capcom, Williams, SEGA, Namco and so on... Pray, pray pray!!!
