Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along comes another use for your expensive iPhone: A game controller!
Wired’s Gadget Lab is reporting on a nifty new game available in the App Store this week called PadRacer. Although the game has the iPad-centric name, you’ll need both an iPad and an iPhone (or iPod touch) to actually play it, along with $4.99 for the universal app.
“Bringing classic 1980s overheard racing technology to the iPad!” the App Store description from publisher Software Moderna HK Ltd. screams. “You will laugh, you will cry, you will race your friends until you can’t stand up. Lovely old school two point physics, miracle networks, thin-wheel racing and fun.”
And hey, PadRacer promises to be fun for dysfunctional families, too: “If your family is falling apart, your problems are over. Expect hours of racing with family members you don’t even like that much.” (We didn’t make that up!)
PadRacer works in a unique way. There is only one app -- when installed on an iPad, you’ll get the game table itself. When installed on an iPhone or iPod touch with a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection, you’ll essentially turn those devices into an expensive controller to play the game -- steer the cars on the iPad’s display by tilting your iPhone left or right.
There is no way to play the game from only the iPad, which may be a deal breaker for some gamers. As Wired notes, even with the minimum hardware (“one $500 iPad and two $200 iPod touches”), you’ll rack up $900 just to play a $4.99 two-player game. But, if you already have the hardware sitting around anyway, it’s a bargain and from the embedded YouTube video below, looks like a lot of fun.
