The Mog Blog

PowerA continues their line up by showing the MOGA, a Bluetooth controller that will work with Android Phones and Tablets.

But I know what you’re thinking. The iPad and iPhones have their own controllers too, but they only work for specific apps. Surely, without some witchcraft involved, the MOGA can’t possibility be in a better position… right?

Well, it looks like they were prepared for this.

On top of just being able to attach a phone directly to the controller, they have released two things to make it possible for the controller to interact with the Android OS.

The first method is by an SDK that developers can grab, quickly implement in their games, and have it all built just for the controller in question. The MOGA Pivot App, which is free, allows you to download games that have been enhanced by the MOGA SDK integration.

The second method is by programming touch commands onto the controller itself. The way that this works is that by using the configuration app, you can take a screenshot, tap a part of the screen and have a button mapped for that particular screen tap. It does sound a little ghetto in practice, but it works out very well when I saw the demo in action.

The most important thing is being able to add tactile buttons to mobile and tablet gaming. This is a big step in the right direction. Not only does it give us gamers a way to play on mobile platforms, but developers are given easy-to-access tools to implement this functionality.

The MOGA also comes with a PRO version, which… gasp, looks like an Xbox 360 controller. I hope to hear great things about this product as we go forward in the future.