Freekade Brings the iPad Arcade Cabinet Closer to Reality

The iPad arcade cabinet has remained on our wish list ever since ThinkGeek teased us with the iCade, which was but a cruel April Fool’s joke. Hope sprang last month, when video of a do-it-yourself iPad arcade cabinet, housed in cardboard, surfaced, albeit without instructions. Now, there’s another video of the iPad cab in action, and it’s looking closer than ever to a finished product.

The YouTube video above shows an iPad cabinet in prototype form. There still aren’t any details on how the thing works, but I’m sticking with my earlier guess that there’s a Bluetooth keyboard housed inside, with the joystick and buttons mapped to specific keys using something like an iPac. The game on display is Mr. Do, which is not available through the App Store, so I imagine there’s some jailbreaking required. But hopefully we’ll hear more soon from Freekade, a maker of mini arcade cabinets that claims to be behind the project. I haven’t been compelled to jailbreak my iPad yet, but this could push me over the edge. [via Engadget]