Countless parties have tried turning smartphone into a full-fledged gaming machines already, mostly via the addition of complimentary hardware, like an additional control interface. And most have not caught on fire, due to various obvious reasons. So why does Charles Huang have a chance at success while others have failed miserably?
Well for starters, he is one of the primary architects of the Guitar Hero franchise. And not too long ago, the idea of millions of gamers getting fake, plastic musical instruments to accentuate their PlayStations and Xboxes would have sound insane, but the man made it happen. And he's looking to do the same with his brand new company, Green Throttle Games.
Yes, he's creating another controller for smartphones. But that's only part of the package; it's a combination of hardware that connects said devices to HDTVs, plus an app that connects wireless controllers to the set-up, via Bluetooth.
The core idea, of playing portable games on your living room television, is hardly new. The original PSP had cables that connected the portable to large displays. And before that, we had the Super Game Boy, which simply allowed Game Boy games to be playable on a Super Nintendo with a special cartridge.
But the idea never really caught on; the fact that an equivalent to the aforementioned PSP cable doesn't exist for the Vita should tell you how Sony feels about the matter. But this is different. Because many gamers are still less than thrilled with the touchscreen experience offered by iOS and Android.
In many ways, Green Throttle sounds a lot like Ouya, the wildly successful crowd sourced console that runs Android. Except there's not even a need for brand new hardware in Green Throttle's case, suffice if you had a phone that was compatible.
Green Throttle is just getting started; its SDK was just released today and those who simply want to play the final product can sign up for updates.
