01.14.2011 at 1:57 pm // Comments »

TECH | iCade ain’t foolin’ around !

Gadget outlet ThinkGeek has established a weird kind of yearly tradition- Pranking its customers!

On April 1st, aka April-Fools-Day, the nerdwear and gadget store has come up with a spoof product, kinda like the iCade, a tabletop arcade cabinet for iPads.

Turns out that the fool is on them-  every year, the spoof has been so good that customer demand led to ThinkGeek actually making and selling the spoofed item. Past hits include the Tauntaun sleeping bag, the Personal Soundtrack T-Shirt and the wonderful 8-Bit Tie. And as tradition would have it the iCade is a real product.

Ion Audio is handling the manufacturing and Atari is supplying a large roster of classic arcade games. The iCade Arcade Cabinet, a kind of retro dock with old-style arcade joysticks and mashable buttons plays host to your iPad.

To use the iCade, gently slide the iPad into the cradle. The iCADE uses Bluetooth to connect to the iPad so there’s nothing else you need to do except blast Asteroids, maneuver Ms. Pac-Man, stop Space Invaders, and so on.

Thankfully, ION plans to release a “friendly API” so developers can add iCade support to their apps.

To accessorize the gaming fool in you, check out these custom Pac-Man & Ms. Pac-Man pins.

 Tagged Gadgets & Tech, NYC Approved, Asteroids, Atari, Duces Pins, iCade, ION, iPad, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac Man, Space Invaders, ThinkGeek