XOPAD, first open source USB game controller

[jacksprat1990]

Despite the boobs, I don't find the girl particularly attractive.

You wouldn't stand a chance anyway.

 

[SpaceJump]

$60 for Kickstarter backers, so I'm assuming $80 retail.

Much too expensive! Isn't this basically a controller?

 

[emigre]

You wouldn't stand a chance anyway.

Are you implying she wouldn't engage in relations with a black man?

 

[Veho]

Much too expensive! Isn't this basically a controller?

Plus a 3000mAh battery that extends the phone's battery life.

 

[cracker]

"Oh my God that's huge and bulky, I don't doubt it would be fun to play with but I wouldn't want to have to lug it around all day."

There goes 30% of the viewing area. I actually was thinking about something similar a while ago and came to the same conclusion that it would be crap because everything would have to be rescaled to a tiny area on the screen. TGFPSP

 

[LightyKD]

It just...it seems like this would appeal to a very specific type of person. It's bulky, it's ugly, and it's not cheap enough to give it an edge over anything currently on the market. Bluetooth isn't for everyone, I get that, but nearly every recent Android device that's worth it's weight has at least Bluetooth 2.0, and the number of controllers available are staggering. And yes, the HID support sounds great, but five seconds of Googling combined with a little effort and you can get nearly any available controller to work with most Android games.
If this is your cup of tea, go for it, but I don't think it's for most of us.

My tablet doesn't have Bluetooth (weird but true) so a item like this would be perfect but like it was said in the video this device doesn't extend to tablet size and I hate those awful boomerang grips! I hope they go through a few more design phases before their final release and for pete's sake, at least ask their kickstarter supporters for some ideas

 

[pasc]

Android only... nope.

The iCP is still my fav choice.

Also wasn't there that flipback able controller for iDevices ?
That looked nice aswell.

 

[bowser]

XOPAD, first open source USB game controller*


*girl not included

 

[RchUncleSkeleton]

I'd love to get my hands on those boobs!

How many controllers do you think that pair will sell?

 

[Veho]

Their campaign shows the importance of having an industrial designer and someone who knows something about marketing on the team. After seeing their Kickstarter page, how many of you realized the thing also has a huge battery pack inside this thing that extends your phone's battery life while you play? That's half of the reason for the USB connector too. The text has vague references to the fact this gamepad "solves the problem of reduced battery life while gaming", but the fact it actually charges the phone is only mentioned once, in passing. Dude, main feature, you need to point it out!

And for the love of God don't use the prototype to market your device D: Do a fancy shiny CGI mockup, keep showing it while reminding people that the huge bulky ugly monstrosity you're using in the video is just a prototype, a proof of concept placeholder you're only using for testing. (And it wouldn't surprise me if they actually thought it looked good... one more reason in favour of getting a designer on board.)

 

[jalaneme]

men and their boobs , stop drooling guys, as for the topic, i would rather just use one of my controller that i have laying around and use that instead of paying extra for something like this, doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Veho]

men and their boobs

Men (generally) don't have boobs (except Bob). It should be "men and other people's boobs"

 

[Jiten]

@Veho, you have a great point. I am one of the creators of the XOPAD and I completely see where you are coming from. The problem is that making the actual product would require plastic injection molding and we simply cannot afford it since the molds are very expensive. That is why the funding foal is so high, to create those metal molds..

As for CGI, our first review from Kickstarter got denied since they have a strict rule against them on their website campaign. They wanted to see what we had and we did not just want to use our prototype for the campaign. The actual prototype was hand made to test for fit and function on a 3d printer. The finished one will have the same look and field as all the other controllers on the market.

Want to see what it will actually look like? Here are what all four colors of the XOPAD will look like.


Jet Black

Black on white

White on Black

Arctic White (All White)

 

[Jiten]

As for what makes XOPAD it so special? The electronics and firmware on the XOPAD are completely open source (You will be able to download all the design files and source code to change whatever you don't like). Since a new version of the Android OS is released all the time, we wanted everyone to be able to improve the firmware as a community and keep it up to date. You could even develop the code to work with Iphone (with jailbreak) if you were good at programming. If we get funded, we would hope that someone versed with iphone would develop the firmware to support it.

Battery Charging was one of the most important features to us, that's why we put a 3000 mAh battery inside it. It has a built in pot on the sense pin of the USB port to allow developers to enable charging, even in OTG mode for difference devices. All the latest phone out there now support AOA 2.0, which allow charging natively and now also Audio over USB! The audio support in Jellybean is still a little new so there are some glitches but as the protocol improved so would XOPAD . Getting rid of Bluetooth, meant saving power, enabling charging, have stereo audio without delay, and native HID support.
That was the idea behind XOPAD.

As for size, we made it almost exactly the same size as the PSVita. I know it looks big, but we though if we kept it around that size, it would still be portable.

Thank you guys for all the awesome feedback

 

[KingVamp]

Men (generally) don't have boobs (except Bob). It should be "people and other people's boobs"

Men aren't the only ones that go for boobs.

 

[Veho]

Hi Jiten! Welcome to GBAtemp, and thank you for joining the conversation.

The CGI model looks better, yes, but it still looks a bit large. I'm assuming the battery is in the central part, and the grips are mostly empty? I wonder if the wing grips are really necessary. It could still be comfortable to hold without the protruding wing grips (think a more PSP/PS Vita contour), and it would look more elegant.

Battery Charging was one of the most important features to us, that's why we put a 3000 mAh battery inside it. It has a built in pot on the sense pin of the USB port to allow developers to enable charging, even in OTG mode for difference devices. All the latest phone out there now support AOA 2.0, which allow charging natively and now also Audio over USB! The audio support in Jellybean is still a little new so there are some glitches but as the protocol improved so would XOPAD . Getting rid of Bluetooth, meant saving power, enabling charging, have stereo audio without delay, and native HID support.
That was the idea behind XOPAD.

I feel you should stress it more in your Kickstarter presentation. I've found only one mention in the text of it actually charging the phone, the only place the built-in battery is mentioned explicitly is in the FAQ, and it's just not clear that the XOPAD has a built-in battery and actually extends the phone's battery life. You may want to edit the text to emphasize that point, as it's pretty crucial. It's the selling point, so sell it!

I wish you the best of luck with your project

 

[Jiten]

Hi Jiten! Welcome to GBAtemp, and thank you for joining the conversation.

The CGI model looks better, yes, but it still looks a bit large. I'm assuming the battery is in the central part, and the grips are mostly empty? I wonder if the wing grips are really necessary. It could still be comfortable to hold without the protruding wing grips (think a more PSP/PS Vita contour), and it would look more elegant.



I feel you should stress it more in your Kickstarter presentation. I've found only one mention in the text of it actually charging the phone, the only place the built-in battery is mentioned explicitly is in the FAQ, and it's just not clear that the XOPAD has a built-in battery and actually extends the phone's battery life. You may want to edit the text to emphasize that point, as it's pretty crucial. It's the selling point, so sell it!

I wish you the best of luck with your project

You are right! Will edit it today. Thank you Veho

As for the design, we spend over a 100 hours with clay and many many prototypes as you can see on our facebook page. We wanted it to feel awesome in your hands and its what we came up with.

The battery and battery management sit in the center, and the wings hold an Atmel Host processor, buttons, speakers, amp, and a joystick. It also has room for the USB cable which can be pulled out to support phones with USB connectors on the side. We really put a lot of though into the XOPAD and its been under development for quite some time now. I hope I answered all your question

 

[Veho]

As for the design, we spend over a 100 hours with clay and many many prototypes as you can see on our facebook page. We wanted it to feel awesome in your hands and its what we came up with.

I understand that, and I believe the XOPAD's shape is very comfortable, but with portable devices you have to make compromises for the sake of, well, portability. While the "wing"-type grip design makes the controller more comfortable to hold, it also adds bulk and volume. Look at portable gaming consoles, they all have streamlined edges instead of the protruding "wing" grips, despite the fact the wing grips would have been more ergonomic. You should consider that.

 

[Sicklyboy]

If you guys are going to go with the wing grips, I'd think about looking into a way to actually make the device fully closable for portability reasons. From what I gathered, the center piece is kinda always there. I would almost say make the grips a little thicker and have a way for the center piece to slide half way into each one of them.

 

[Jiten]

That is a great idea Sicklyboy, I am gonna run that by Gabriel and see what he thinks. He designed the plastics and expansion mechanism. Don't want to deviate from the prototype to much but if its possible we will do it!

Thanks for supporting us!