This week a patent application by Apple about a controller add-on for its iPod Touch and iPhone came to light.

Is Apple trying to combine its touchscreens with conventional controls à la D-pad plus buttons? This would be a mildly ironic turn of events, especially considering how Apple's VP of global marketing Philip W. Schiller claimed it is exactly the absence of these buttons that make the iPhone a better gaming platform than its competition over at Nintendo and Sony.

The patent application describes how a touchscreen device would be mounted on some form of platform. On this platform then could be all sorts of input/output devices; joysticks, D-pad, buttons, microphones, camera's, rumble and even possible a second screen. I'm curious to see if this toy will ever hit the shelves, and if so, how long it will take before we can lay our hands on it.

In other news: