HORI Officially Unveils the Horipad Wireless MFi Controller
Full-size PlayStation style controller coming to Japan November 28th
Hori has finally, officially taken the wraps off their upcoming Horipad Wireless MFi controller for iOS – it launches in Japan on November 28th, apparently at a price of Â¥7,980 (about $75).
US launch information should be available in a few days – hopefully this one won’t be exclusive to Japan for too long!
To recap from previous articles, the Horipad was revealed during the launch of the Japanese version of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for iOS. Since then, it’s quickly been one of the most hotly anticipated of the upcoming controllers, especially among fans of the PlayStation controller layout.
Throughout the course of E3, TouchArcade managed to get a hands-on with the Horipad, and they were impressed with the build quality. That isn’t particularly surprising, as Hori is generally regarded as a quality brand, at least in terms of their fighting game joysticks and accessories.
Hori has opted to include a stand with the Horipad, allowing players to mount their iPhones and iPads on a table or desk while playing. While perfectly suitable for iPad users, this is perhaps less useful for iPhone owners. Many controllers from other manufactures incorporate some form of clip on the controller itself, allowing the iPhone to be held in place during play, rather than requiring the player to stay close to a stationary table or surface.
The layout of the Horipad borrows heavily from the PlayStation Dual Shock design, with two analog sticks parallel to one another beneath a d-pad and face buttons on the home row. Notably, the actual design of the analog sticks is much closer to those of the Xbox 360 than of the Dual Shock, with the sticks featuring a concave center instead of a rubberized convex one. Also notable is the rear of the device, which eschews the modern practice of using triggers for the lower shoulder controls, instead opting for the PlayStation 2 style design of using buttons for the R2 and L2 controls.
The Horipad differentiates itself from the other MFi controllers by opting for a true full-size layout, without switching to the staggered analog stick layout of the Mad Catz and MOGA controllers.
The only potential issue is the crippling Bluetooth disconnects experienced by the MOGA and SteelSeries controllers – we don’t yet know if the Horipad suffers from something like this, and if it does, it could be a deal-killer. The good news is, if the Horipad does manage to avoid this problem, it could wind up being the controller of choice for side-scroller and FPS gamers.