Touch Arcade reviews MOGA’s new iOS 7 Game Controller

This is an important step in Apple’s move to expand their reach into the gaming universe.

The MOGA Ace Power iOS game controller requires an iPhone with a lightning port. It includes a battery pack, so you can charge your iPhone while you play (or at least limit the drain on your iPhone’s battery).

Interesting that all the buttons are analog.

The biggest initial surprise of the MOGA Ace Power is that nearly all of the buttons are analog. Following rumors, and just how controllers typically work, I think we all expected the only analog controls to be the actual dual analog sticks themselves and maybe the outmost triggers. It turns out all of the buttons are analog. All of the triggers, the face buttons, even the D-Pad. In fact, the only non-analog gaming control on the whole thing is the pause button.

Unfortunately, as with all early adopter technologies, this device is ahead of developer testing cycles.

However, with surprise comes disappointment, and the main source of that disappointment is how incredibly obvious to us that all of the developers out there releasing updates to add iOS 7 controller support are doing so without actually testing on a controller. For instance, Dead Trigger 2 [Free] comes with default sensitivity settings that were so high there’s no way any human could play that way. Similarly, LEGO Lord of the Rings [$4.99] has controller support, but you can only move using the D-Pad, not the analog stick. Strange little inconsistencies like that are everywhere, and I’ve yet to find a game that recognizes analog button presses.

I expect this will change as developers get their hands on the controller. I can’t wait to get my hands on one.