Hey Apple, Make The iPad Arcade Possible Already

The iPad, the future of computing, touchscreen this, touchscreen that, yadda yadda, blahblahblah. BLAH. What about connecting it to a joystick to get an instant mini-arcade machine? That’s what Hideyoshi Moriya did, using Arduino circuitry and cardboard. Imagine the possibilities:

That was an April Fools’ Day joke by Think Geek, but Moriya’s hack is very real. I would like to get his idea and make a cabinet like the one above. Actually, that’s not what I want. What I want is someone to do it for me. Make a deal with arcade game manufacturers and release such a cabinet with an official MAME emulator – with Galaga, Burgertime and Donkey Kong ROMs, please.

Apple’s iOS already supports peripherals – and jailbroken iPads can use Bluetooth controllers – so it’s perfectly doable. It only needs the OK from Apple, and the iPad will become the most complete game machine to go. [TUAW]