ICade IPad Accessory: From April Fools to Real, Live Product?

We were out of town yesterday and missed the mandatory onslaught of April Fools gag products and news. Thank God. One product that we missed was actually far cooler than most of the actual news that went down yesterday. And it’s definitely a helluva lot cooler than the incessant feed of iPad related “stories” that have taken over tech headlines today. Unfortunately, it’s just a gag, but according to some Internet buzz, it could be a gag-turned-product, and we’re pulling for it.

We’re talking about the iCade, a docking cabinet that turns the iPad into a mini-arcade game complete with joystick and push buttons. What a great idea.

According to ThinkGeek, who came up with this stroke of genius: “To use the iCade, gently slide the iPad into the docking cradle. The docking cradle uses a standard 30 pin connector to link the iPad to the professional-grade arcade controls. Once the iPad is in place, launch the iCade App (available free in the App Store April 3rd) and it’s game on!”

When you hit the Buy Now button (which many future iPad owners undoubtedly did), ThinkGeek ruins it all with the ol’ “Gotcha” line. Bummer.

According to an Ars Technica article, Think Geek’s merchandising manager Ty Liotta left the door open for a real product, stating: “People would really like to buy it, and we have had many people e-mailing and requesting it be created. Our customers know we have turned April Fools items into real products before, so they know there is the potential there.”

The article also states that Apple has filed a patent for a similar gaming device that would allow for a variety of inputs including joysticks, buttons, D-pad and others.

Read the full, detailed article for more info. Hopefully, there’s some foreshadowing there.