AFTERPAD

Yes, of course they could be simplified and we may not 'need' all those buttons, but they've been there since I don't know when and Sony, MS, Nintendo and Valve (well, sort of) are all sticking to the tried and true formula which in turn makes it easy for developers to get their games out to all systems without having to worry about different controller layouts.

Now when the portable devices are starting to become powerful enough to run really advanced games, it's a golden opportunity for developers to get their multi-platform titles out to yet another format. But that possibility gets hampered by decisions like this. Sure, the could probably work around these input limitations, but they wouldn't have to, if Apple just for once had chosen to stick to a 'standard' instead of always having to go their own way.

It would also be a golden opportunity for Apple to get a foot in yet another market. But they don't seem especially interested in that part, since gaming get about five minutes in the spotlight at their events, and those minutes is spent showcasing the graphical capabilities of the devices and rarely anything else.

Anyway....On the subject of non-MFi controllers. I've been thinking about getting a Gamephone Controller Pro from Big Ben (http://goo.gl/m4xdBO), because of it's multi-platform capabilities. But your comment about non-MFi controllers not being usable on iOS made me wonder if there's any use in getting one of those? Remember that I rarely ever play any iOS game, and when I do it's almost always one which can easily be controlled with the touch-screen. The controller, as mentioned previously, is going to be used for streamed PC-games, so as long as it works with that, then it's ok. If it happens to be compatible with iOS-games, then that's just a plus.