Following in cozy intestines of the Tauntaun Sleeping Bag, another of ThinkGeek’s April Fools Day fake products has become an order-able reality. The iCADE, which turns your iPad into a desktop-sized retro arcade cabinet complete with joysick and buttons, can now be pre-ordered for $99.99 from ThinkGeek’s website. Pre-Orders will ship by the end of May, most likely sometime around May 20th.
To use the iCADE, you simply slide your iPad (or iPad 2) into the cradle on the iCADE. The iPad and will iCADE pair with one another via Bluetooth and you are ready to play. “To bring the iCADE to life, ThinkGeek has partnered with ION. Atari, the first name in classic arcade games, also signed up to bring a huge suite of classic arcade titles including Asteroids® to market with iCADE support built right in. When released, a friendly API will be made available to developers to add iCADE support to almost any game.”
Until new titles come on the market, iCADE owners must purchase the recently released, Atari’s Greatest Hits from the App Store. Atari’s Greatest Hits, which includes PONG (for free) allows gamers to experience up to 100 classic Atari arcade and 2600 titles via in-app DLC. There are 18 Classic Atari Arcade Games and 92 Atari 2600 games which you can buy in one of two ways: either 25 separate 4-title packs for 99¢ each, or buy all 100 games in one go for a discounted price of $14.99.
With the promise of the new API, the iCADE could be huge draw for classic gaming fans and developers alike, although the $100 price tag could keep away the only casually interested consumer.
