The MOGA Mobile Android Gaming Accessory Launches Today

You're not alone if you have no idea what that is - but it might be awesome.

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There's a new mobile gaming accessory on the market, one exclusively for Android phones, and it might be a doozy. PowerA's MOGA attachment adds dual analog sticks, plus shoulder, face and start and select buttons to Android handsets, connecting via Bluetooth. The SDK is supposed to make it easy to add MOGA support to new and existing games, so we might be seeing this thing pop up a lot in the near future. And there's a special MOGA "Pivot" app for finding new MOGA-supporting titles.

The device is now available nationwide at more than 7,000 stores, including Best Buy, Walmart, Toys 'R Us, Fred Meyer, Gamestop, and Amazon. PowerA is also selling it directly through its site, and hands-on demo stations have reportedly been set up at Toys 'R Us and Best Buy stores.

"MOGA has really captured the imagination of the development community and consumers. We are ecstatic that mobile gamers can finally get their hands on MOGA today," PowerA President Eric Bensussen said today in a press release. "With huge support at retail that is far beyond what we could have possibly imagined, and a strong in-store demo program, gamers will now be able to experience the right way to game on their mobile devices."

According to PowerA, the MOGA already has support from developers that include Gameloft, Ratrod Studios, Atari, Namco Bandai, SEGA, Vector Unit, Remedy Entertainment, and others, and games like The Dark Knight Rises HD, N.O.V.A. 3, Sonic CD, Death Rally, Dungeon Hunter 3, and more currently support the peripheral.

This is hardly the first accessory to add physical controls to mobile devices—see the iCade, for example—but it does seem like a step above the rest. What do you think? Does the mildly obnoxious MOGA launch trailer above convince you? Or will you be heading to a store to give the device a spin?

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