Walking through the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center at CES 2011 earlier this year, we managed to spot something that would turn your gaming experience on the iPad even more immersive – the iCade arcade cabinet from Ion Audio. While there was no definite release date back then, here we are with a glimpse of it under the FCC’s microscope, which means it is being prepared for a commercial release sooner rather than later. For a Benjamin, you can turn your iPad into an arcade cabinet – all you need to do is slip Apple’s best selling tablet to date to the front of the console, achieve a Bluetooth connection between each other and you’re good to go. Hardware specifications include an arcade-style joystick for those nostalgic moments (no quarters to waste this time around), half a dozen numbered buttons and two “enter” buttons that are colored in blue. Games can be downloaded for free over at Apple’s App Store for the iCade, and the Atari Greatest Hits app is ready to rock and roll with the iCade right from the get go. Just make sure you have at least a couple of AA batteries around handy, since that is what it runs on anyways – we would recommend rechargeables like eneloops.
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