One of the cooler iPhone apps to launch last year was SGN’s iFun, which let you use your iPhone or iPod touch to control games on your computer screen. But iFun only works with SGN’s own games like iGolf. A new startup, iMo, launching today at TechCrunch50, expands the ability to all PC games.
Most PC games are still played using the mouse+keyboard combination. A lot of hardcore gamers like this experience, but more casual users prefer controllers like you find on consoles. The most popular of those out there right now is the Nintendo Wii, undoubtedly thanks to its motion-based control system. With iMo, you can bring a similar experience to all PC games thanks to the iPhone and iPod touch’s accelerometer.
Another nice thing about using the iPhone or iPod touch as your controller is that it’s much more portable than traditional PC controller hardware. If you want to play a game on your laptop on the go, for example, but don’t want to lug around a joystick, you could simply use iMo, which is on a device you’re probably already carrying around.
The system also features onscreen controls for the iPhone and iPod touch too as every PC game won’t benefit from using things like the accelerometer, obviously. This all works via both bluetooth and WiFi connections between your device and your computer.
The plan is to offer iMo in the App Store for $0.99, the first version should be available new in the App Store. And long-term, the company hopes to make it available on other mobile platforms as well including Android. And ultimately, they’d love to include support for gaming consoles as well, like the aforementioned Wii, the PS3, and the Xbox 360.
Despite a glitch at the conference that prevented iMo from doing their presentation initially, iMo easily had the most crowd-pleasing presentation of the day. Co-founder Himanshu Baweja rocked the crowd, showing off the demo set to music like “Eye Of The Tiger,” “Danger Zone,” and “In Da Club.”
Expert Panel Q&A (paraphrased)
The experts: Marissa Mayer, Roelof Botha, Marc Andreesen, Paul Graham, and Tony Hsieh.
RB: Controlling a lot of things with the iPhone is turning into big business.
TH: I imagine the whole club becoming
MA: Grand Theft TechCrunch
Q: PC games not console games, right?
HB: Yes, right now PC games only, but we’re looking at consoles.
Q: Where are you from?
HB: We are from India.
Q: How does it work?
HB: It’s an iPhone application that you run and it sends the data over WiFi to your PC. There is software that people install on their PC to accept the signals.
MM: Gutsy presentation, went off really well. Exciting to push the limits of these devices.
Video:
Other Coverage
TC50: iMo turns the iPhone into a joystick for your PC games VentureBeat.
iMo Is Great For Games, IMO#tc50 techgeist.
iMo’s iPhone App Turns your iPhone into a Joystick for PC Video Games iPhoneHacks.
iMo – the TC50 finalist from India StartupDunia.
Okay… this was amazing. Worth the wait!
iMo makes entertainment easier. The feature of transforming the iPhone/iPod Touch into a PC game controller is awesome. This is a really smarter, portable approach to play PC video games. iPhone/iPod Touch gains more functionalities.
This was the best idea on TC50 in my opinion.
Well done frosty! nice to see you there !
That kid was awesome.
I assume the PC requires an 802.11 chip/card to receive the Wi-Fi commands?
Robert,
The way it works is that the iPhone and the PC are on the same network, then they can communicate. The iPhone polls and finds its server app located on the PC. Whether your PC is connected through WiFi or ethernet does not matter. Remember iPhone is just a computer, of course it can communicate with another computer, hence control it. I bet on the PC they open a TCP port for that.
The whole thing is easy to do and similar thing has been done many times. But for people who are not familiar with the technical part, when they see it, they wow.
iMo is nothing new. People already use iPhone as a remote control. Check this out –
http://blog.box...-the-app-store/
iMo obviously sends more controls to PC, like accelerometer data. But what PC games are using the accelerometer?
I also wonder what is the interface between games and iMo software on PC. You cannot convince all the game developers to change their code for iMo. Then how can third party games being played? You can only play the games that have been hacked by iMo?
scurock,
iMo doesn’t require the game developers to modify their code. Games see it as a joystick control methinks.
OK. If that is the case, how about games that do not use joystick? Does it claim controlling “any PC game”?
Goto YouTube, search “iphone remote control” and you will see hundreds videos doing similar things.
I wonder why this was shown on the tc50 stage where people expect new technologies, while this simple old technique has been done many times before.
Clearly, even a flashy demo without essence can attract many eyeballs.
Good going Frosty. Keep up the good work and best of luck with iMo.
Very interesting concept!
Was any of that music licensed properly in order to be legitimately used in the presentation?
Congrats dude! amazing demo ..
well thats great .. we could use it for games as well … I have been using my erricsson phone as a remote control for my laptop while watching movies and working on projects .. hope I can njoy this s well….
Cheers,
Daina Thomas
Terrific demo despite the issues the first time around. Woke everyone up.
Reminded me of Musicshake’s demo in 07 and Bojam in 08.
Not sure if this is groundbreaking technology here. There are existing apps that make a controlpad out of your iPhone including:
WifiPad
Nam’s Remote
Mobile Gamepad
Zooz Control
the guys presentation was a bit intimidating…lol but then again great brains are often intimidating… its amazing how more and more people from countries like india are coming up and showing their smartness..its just amazing…good job dude
Of course, iMo is not the first one. I tried one of these controllers.
The touch screen on the iPhone is flat and smooth. You need look at it to touch buttons.
Can one of your eyes look at the PC screen while another eye look at the phone?
A good training tool for slanted eyes!
Congrats, Himanshu! Keep the flag flying high!
a cool iPhone, a cool technology!
Interesting! An app form an Indian firm!? I know for a fact that ipods and iphones are not that popular in India compared to the rest of Asia…! The presentation was a blast!
This was a good presentation? Crikey. I mean, the app is a good idea, but hardly anything new (although his mention of a poker app with iphone displaying the cards sounded pretty sweet, but that sounds a bit like a distant dream to me), and the presentation itself is a good idea in theory, but kinda embarrassing in action. Is everyone joking? Was this as embarrassing for everyone else? Or a TC’s expectations of startup demos just far lower than my own?
I’ve made an addon for Tomokewh utilizing PPjoy Virtual Joystick
http://www.toca...amp;showfile=46
Well, JumiGamer does exactly this, already available on the appstore, includes touchpad and keyboard in addition to a game-controller…
http://itunes.a...066667&mt=8
have fun guys