Haptic Feedback And Stereo Gaming…On An iPod

iPods are notorious for being great gaming devices. That’s mostly thanks to the yearly updates to the hardware and a long list of free and inexpensive games, which makes Apple laugh maniacally in a corner because they accidentally beat Sony and Nintendo in the portable gaming space. But the iPod ain’t perfect, and playing in stereo is one fault.

Haptic feedback, however, isn’t a problem I ever considered.

I always turn off vibration on the Xbox 360, and never upgraded my SIXAXIS controllers to the Dualshock 3. I don’t like rumble. It throws off my aim. That’s why the Mophie Pulse is a weird little doohickey. It shakes, jiggles, and wiggles like it’s got shingles. That’s not all, it also provides stereo sound and gives the iPod Touch an enclosement to keep safe in.

It does all this by plugging into both the 3.5mm jack and the 20-pin iPod connector, and registers when the screen is touched. When that happens, the Pulse whirs and buzzes, and makes your hands feel stirred. It’s not a strong vibration by any means, a fraction of what a home console controller provides. But it sounds good. The Pulse comes with it’s own battery and does not charge the iPod whatsoever. The final build will also have an option for just stereo sound, which sounds perfect for me.

Now to see if Apple has any plans to make such accessories pertinent by allowing developers to input vibration-setting commands, like when you’re shot in-game. Heh, fat chance. No price is set for the Pulse, and no release date has been confirmed.