Jan 7, 2011 14:38 GMT  ·  By

The folks at designboom are present at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas with an iPad accessory that will blow competition out of the water. The iCade, as it’s called, is an arcade cabinet with joystick and buttons for iPad gamers.

The iCade boasts authentic, full-sized controls for a genuine experience that will undoubtedly throw nostalgic arcade fans into a flashback of the glory days of gaming, the makers claim.

What they forget to say is that the iCade looks AWESOME!

The device is based on the concept posted at ThinkGeek.com.

“iCADE brings arcade gaming to life by integrating your iPad into an authentic, arcade-style cabinet complete with joystick and buttons!” says designboom.

“Impress your friends, family and co-workers with iCADE's great-looking retro design, and then challenge them for high-scores on the most entertaining iPad accessory imaginable!” the company adds.

The accessory has been specifically designed to work as a cradle, ensuring safe loading and unloading of the iPad, while also providing a solid, secure fit during the most intense game-play sessions, says designboom.

The company claims the cradle offers an ideal screen-viewing angle.

Apparently, iCADE connects to the iPad wirelessly.

“Once iPad is in place, simply launch any supported iCADE-compatible app and it’s game on!” the makers explain.

“The arcade action starts with the retro-gaming classic Asteroids and continues with many other Atari arcade titles,” designboom confirms, enumerating some of the compatible games.

According to the maker of this ingenious piece of gaming equipment, other developers can easily update their existing iOS games to make them compatible with the system.

“In addition to the extensive Atari library, new and existing apps can be easily updated to work with iCADE,” designboom says.

The company believes that its unique arcade cabinet game-controller for iPad will provide “hours of action and nostalgic fun for years to come.”

“Enter the iCADE and go back to the future!” it concludes. The product is listed as “coming soon.” Visit designboom here for more information.

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