The massive onslaught of touchscreen devices has been a good thing. Mostly. We can now keep better in touch than ever before. We can tweet with ease, text with ease, do just about anything we used to use actual computers for with ease. The exception? Gaming. No matter how hard they try, and they try mighty hard, a touchscreen absolutely cannot take the place of a tactile control device. Want proof? Try to play a game with virtual joystick controls on your iPad. It will take every ounce of patience and goodness in your heart to not smash the thing against the wall and then curl up in a fetal position for several hours. Life can be hard.
But don’t worry vidiots! Help is on the way. A couple of tech-savvy designers have tackled this problem that has long plagued humanity(since 2007.) Their solution? The elegantly designed Ringbow. This wearable controller adds the tactile feel of something you can actually touch to a screen you only virtually touch. You spin the ring, which is an actual ring you put on your finger, and the spins correspond to touchscreen movements on whatever device it is connected to via Bluetooth. It works like a dream and brings some new life to that sad, digital pile of iPhone games your therapist told you to never touch again by rule of court order.
The Ringbow isn’t out yet and the creators have taken to Kickstarter to make sure it gets finished according to their vision. For only a $35 donation you can be one of the first kids on your block to play Angry Birds the way it was meant to be played, while wearing a futuristic looking controlling device complete with green glowing ring. Check below for a video on the Ringbow and some more images.
