We’re super excited to finally be able to share what we’ve been working on: a brand new, next-generation Gamevice, launching in partnership with Razer, called the Kishi!

Our new Kishi controller is fully optimized for the latest games and devices, and supports the full complement of console-style controls, including L3 and R3 thumbstick buttons.

Versions will be available for iPhone and Android.

The iPhone Kishi will fully support all of the latest iPhone models, from the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro series all the way to the iPhone 6. The Android model will support many of the top Android phones via USB-C.

We’re very excited to share more about this new controller over the coming days and weeks. We think the Kishi represents a major breakthrough in the world of mobile gaming, and brings true console-class controls to the phone in a way that has never been seen before!

Yes, it’s that time of year again: GDC, the world’s largest Game Developer Conference, is back in session, and Gamevice is here checking out all the latest gaming developments.

Last year, the big star of GDC was Fortnite. The game was already out for more than a year, but it had just been ported to Mobile a few weeks prior, and the folks at Epic went all-out with a massive promotion. The center of the main hall was dominated by a giant Fortnite booth, with live tournaments, professional streamers, and even a life-sized Loot Llama rodeo bull. A high bar to top, but we shall see what this year has in store for us!

Apple isn’t expected to have a significant presence at GDC – they never do – but Google is predicted to make a big splash this year. They’ve been quietly gearing up their gaming division over the past few years, and there’s a high expectation that we’re about to see the results at this year’s GDC. Fun possibilities there. Even if Google and Apple don’t show up, there will be tons of iOS and Android games on display.

Speaking personally, while last year’s Fortnite display was incredible, my Best In Show award has to go to Oceanhorn 2, tucked away in the corner of Epic’s Unreal Engine developer section. I got to go hands-on with the follow-up to iOS classic Oceanhorn, and it already felt like one of the most amazing mobile games I’d ever seen. I can’t wait to see what it looks like after another year of development.

As always, we’d always be happy to meet with mobile game developers, designers of other cool hardware, and passionate mobile gamers. Just shoot us a direct message on Twitter!

The moment you’ve all been waiting for is finally here: Fortnite was just updated with full controller support!

Fortnite is, by far, the game we get the most questions about. Everybody wants to play Fortnite with their Gamevice, and we’ve been working really hard to make it happen. As of today, in Fortnite 7.3, you can finally play with your Gamevice. Epic has worked closely with us, asking questions and getting feedback, to ensure the experience of playing Fortnite with Gamevice is every bit as great as you’d expect.

It’s hard to overstate just how huge this news is. Fortnite is, perhaps, the biggest game in the world right now. It has a mindshare that has previously been reserved for the likes of Minecraft. Fortnite’s initial release on iOS was a watershed moment in the history of mobile gaming. It doesn’t get any bigger than this, for mobile gaming, and for the world of mobile gaming controllers.

Controller Support Overview

Unlike many mobile game ports, Fortnite for iOS and Android is the exact same thing as Fortnite for computer or Fortnite for console. It isn’t a clunky port handled by a third-party company, or a stripped-down “mobile focused” rebuild that removes a ton of depth and adds timers and ads. No, this is the real-deal, full Fortnite.

Part of Epic’s original purpose in creating Fortnite was to demonstrate one of the many ways their Unreal Engine could be used to develop different kinds of games. Fortnite served almost as an example product, showing how well Unreal Engine could be suited to making a large-scale multiplayer shooter that looks and runs great on a variety of platforms.

Fortnite far eclipsed its original goal, becoming a massive phenomenon among gamers of all ages, on a level not seen since Minecraft. But still, cross-platform portability of the full Fortnite experience is a part of Epic’s DNA. And when they finally ported Fortnite to iOS and Android, they didn’t sacrifice any of the core game. Fortnite for mobile is the exact same game as Fortnite for console, and even allows you to play with your friends on other game system.

The only significant difference between Fortnite for mobile and Fortnite for console is the input method. Up until today, Fortnite mobile required you play with a touchscreen, instead of with one of the many wonderful controllers that you’d get in the console version. This is important – using a controller isn’t merely a preference, it actually has significant implications for how well you can play the game.

The Controller Difference

For gamers who are used to playing console games with a controller, playing Fortnite with a touch screen can be difficult. And not just Fortnite, but all shooters. It always comes down to the same problem: the need to do three things at once.

When playing a shooting game, you need to do a minimum of three things at once: move, aim, and shoot. These three things require three different inputs: an aiming mechanism, movement control, and a button to click to fire your gun. With touchscreen gaming, controls are limited to your two thumbs, for a maximum of two inputs – you must move with your left thumb and aim with your right thumb, then lift one of your thumbs off the screen to tap a shoot button, all while your opponent is moving out of the way and dodging your attack. Games work around this by adding auto fire or tilt aiming, but they’re poor substitutes for real controls.

This problem doesn’t exist with a real controller. You use the left stick to move, the right stick to aim, and the trigger to shoot. No compromises needed, and no difficultly keeping your aim tracked on your target. And remember, three inputs was the bare minimum required to play shooting games well; games like Fortnite really work better with many more inputs, for things like crouching, sprinting, switching weapons, building structures. All made incredibly difficult on a touchscreen, but all a button-press away with a controller like Gamevice attached.

This moves-per-finger limitation is the reason why high-level play of Fortnite is simply not possible with just a touch screen. But everything changes with a Gamevice attached. With a Gamevice attached to your iPhone or iPad, you can – with one exception – do everything you’d be able to do on any of Fortnite’s console versions. The only exception is on iOS, and it concerns two buttons that have historically not been a part of Apple’s MFi controller specification: the two thumb stick buttons, L3 and R3.

L3 and R3

An important consideration to be made when using MFi controllers with Fortnite is the L3 and R3 button functionality. All of the major game consoles and Android controllers have two additional inputs that haven’t been a part of the MFi controller specification until quite recently: L3 and R3. By pressing in on the Left and Right analog sticks, you activate these two additional buttons.

Some games take advantage of L3 and R3, and Fortnite is no exception. When using our Android controller, these buttons work exactly as they do on consoles. But since we do not yet make an iOS controller that has these buttons, Epic added a few great workarounds to Fortnite, resulting in an iOS Gamevice experience that is every bit as good as Android — or, for that matter, console.

For L3, which is usually how you sprint, the workaround is easy: Fortnite defaults to automatically sprinting with a controller connected, without even needing to press a sprint button at all. This completely removes the need for the L3 input.

For R3, which is usually how you crouch and how you repair damaged structures, the developers simply moved that functionality to a directional button, while simultaneously reshuffling some of the other d-pad button functions.

That solves the L3 and R3 problem, but the news gets even better: if you don’t like Fortnite’s control layout, you have complete freedom to remap any action to any button! You have the total freedom to design any control scheme you’d like, and map any input of the Gamevice to any action. It is very rare to get this level of control customization on mobile or on console – Epic really went above and beyond here.

Matchmaking

One important aspect of Fortnite’s controller support is how it pertains to matchmaking. The way Epic has structured their competitive online play, gamers who play Fortnite with a mobile controller like Gamevice are automatically matched against gamers with consoles.

Epic does this to keep things fair. Gamevice provides a huge advantage against players who are stuck using the touch screen, so Epic automatically matches those players against other gamers with controllers. PC gamers using a mouse and keyboard are placed in yet another group, keeping the inputs completely fair. Of course, you can still choose to play with your friends, regardless of the input method they’re using – this is merely for auto-matchmaking.

The Future of Fortnite

Fortnite is the biggest game in the world today, and its story is still being told. The developers at Epic are adding new features all the time.

Controller support is just the latest addition to a long line of game-changing features for Fortnite. But when it comes to Fortnite, the sky is the limit. We’ve already seen Fortnite take off in the world of gaming tournaments. Now that the mobile version supports controllers, I fully expect to see Fortnite become a serious player in the world of mobile gaming tournament play.

Gamevice is the best way to play Fortnite on mobile, and we will keep working hard to keep it that way! And no matter where Fortnite goes in the future, we’ll do our part to make sure Gamevice continues to provide the great experience you expect.

If you’re an iOS user, you can download Fortnite right now from The App Store.

If you’re on Android, check out Epic’s website for more information on how to get Fortnite on your device.

• Download Fortnite for iOS

Although iOS and Android have an excellent (and growing!) library of top-quality games, many games still haven’t made the jump to mobile. A lot of great games are exclusive to one console or another, or are only available on PC. Many others are presented in a stripped-down form on mobile, providing a different experience than hardcore gamers are used to.

Luckily, it is possible to have the best of both worlds. Thanks to streaming, you can play the latest and greatest PC and console games on your mobile device. And thanks to Gamevice, you can play them with the console-class controls you’d expect.

Streaming used to be a second-class way to play, with obvious compromises in graphics quality and gameplay responsiveness. This is no longer the case. Modern streaming apps – properly configured – can be nearly indistinguishable from playing on native console or PC hardware. But now you get the added benefit of being able to play these games in the palm of your hand.

In this article, we’ll cover multiple solutions for playing pretty much any Xbox, PlayStation, or PC game on any modern iOS device, and some Android devices. All of these solutions are fully compatible with Gamevice.

PlayStation Streaming with R-Play

If you want to stream PlayStation 4 games to your iOS device, there’s only one choice you should consider: R-Play. R-Play provides a great streaming experience for the PS4, in a way that is perfectly optimized for iOS.

Everything you’d expect to see in a top-quality app is present here. Full optimization and support for the latest iPhone and iPad devices, complete MFi controller support for the Gamevice, an in-depth tutorial, 60fps and 1080p support, and advanced configuration settings make for an app that’s easy for new users, and advanced for pros.

R-Play does have a number of caveats. It is a paid-up-front app, currently priced at a not-inexpensive $11.99 up-front cost. Configuration takes a bit of work, especially if you want to enable play over cellular connections, but everything is covered in the app’s tutorial.

Although R-Play works great now, there’s no guarantee of this remaining true. It is a completely unofficial, third-party workaround of Sony’s proprietary streaming protocol. This protocol was designed for the Vita, and only ever officially supported with that device. The Vita has been long discontinued, leaving the future of Vita streaming uncertain. Sony could clamp down on apps like R-Play, either by restricting their use or issuing a takedown notice to the developers or to Apple. Sony could even remove Remote Play from the PS4 entirely in a future firmware update, as they no longer sell the Vita.

Get R-Play if you want a PS4 streaming experience that works great today. It’s quality, polish, and feature set make it well worth the cost. Just don’t be surprised if someday in the future, you find yourself needing to look for another solution.

Xbox Streaming with OneCast

Game streaming with the Xbox One is a relatively new concept, with Microsoft’s console only recently gaining support for this technology. Microsoft designed this feature to facilitate streaming your Xbox games to your PC, but the crafty developers at OneCast were able to reverse-engineer the protocol and build their own client: OneCast.

OneCast provides a lightweight, high-quality way to stream Xbox games to your iPhone or iPad. Simply install OneCast and follow the straightforward on-screen tutorial, and you’ll be playing Xbox games on your iPhone or iPad in no time. Streaming quality is perfectly solid, with relatively low latency, making for a perfectly playable experience on all but the most intense games.

Just like R-Play, OneCast provides a full allotment of power-user features. Full MFi controller support, 1080p streaming, an in-depth configuration tutorial, and advanced settings make for a powerful, complete package.

OneCast has the same basic caveats as R-Play, at the same $11.99 price point. This is an unofficial implementation of the platform owner’s – in this case Microsoft’s – streaming protocol. Microsoft could eventually decide to prevent apps like OneCast from piggy-backing off of the Xbox’s native streaming protocol. That would leave us without many options.

Xbox fans might have even bigger news to look forward to on the horizon: Microsoft has announced their intent to launch an official Xbox game streaming service in the near future, and will be specifically targeting mobile as a platform of choice. Assuming there aren’t any unforeseen business conflicts, this could eventually make OneCast redundant. We can hope!

PC Streaming with Moonlight

After extensive testing, it is my opinion that Moonlight provides the highest-quality streaming solution available today. It has the most pleasant graphics quality, lowest latency, and best control options. It also works excellently on iOS and Android, although with a few differences between platforms.

Moonlight’s graphics quality is unparalleled. The in-app settings provide advanced configuration options. You can control the max bandwidth Moonlight is capable of using, allowing you to prioritize graphics quality or stability. Frame rate can be set to 30, 60, and even 120 frames per second on recent iPads, making for a fluidity and responsiveness that might actually be better than your existing TV or display. Resolution can be set to 720p, 1080p and even 4K on Android.

Moonlight has the lowest latency of any streaming apps I’ve tried, bar-none. Every single game I tested ran maybe a frame or two behind my native PC output, no more. If you don’t already have a gaming-focused TV or PC display, Moonlight might actually have lower latency than the latency your current display provides. I tested everything from Crash Bandicoot to Cuphead, and never once felt I was mistiming my actions due to lag.

Moonlight’s big downside: the hardware requirements. Although Moonlight itself is free, it requires you bring your own gaming PC. This gaming PC must have a (relatively-recent Nvidia GPU)[]. And because PC games tend to be less optimized than their console counterparts, you’ll need to have a relatively powerful, relatively expensive gaming PC in order to get results that rival what you’d get streaming console games.

Configuration can also be a mess, although I can’t entirely blame Moonlight’s open-source development team for this one. The difficulty lies in the fact that Moonlight is based on Nvidia’s game stream protocol, and requires you to configure an Nvidia account, manage settings through Nvidia’s PC app, and sometimes manually add games to Nvidia’s game library.

Still, if you do have the right PC, and don’t mind putting in the work configuring things, you can’t argue with results. Moonlight is simply unequalled. It is the only streaming solution in this list that I could recommend unreservedly, for any type of gamer and any genre of game. And it is the app that I use, personally, for my own streaming needs.

PC Streaming with Steam Link (Android Only)

Steam Link is one of the most interesting streaming apps on this list, for a number of reasons. It is the only officially-supported streaming client from a major vender – Steam – on this list. With the exception of this list’s final entry, which is special, the others all involve unofficial workarounds, and are thus unsupported by the platforms they target. In contrast, Steam Link is every bit an official Steam product.

Steam Link integrates directly with the Steam app on your PC or Mac, automatically launches Steam’s controller-friendly Big Picture Mode, and provides automatic button mapping for MFi and Made for Google controllers, even in games which don’t normally support controllers.

Steam Link only has two major downsides. One, it simply isn’t as good as Moonlight. If your PC has the hardware required to run Moonlight, you simply have no reason to run Steam Link: Moonlight looks better, runs faster, and still gives you access to all the features of Steam Big Picture Mode.

The other downside: Steam Link is only available for Android. The reasons for this are beyond the scope of this article, but suffice it to say, Apple and Steam didn’t see eye to eye on the value of providing easy access to PC games. As such, Steam Link is not approved for sale on iOS, and as a result, is strictly an Android-only experience at this time.

PC Streaming with Shadow

Our final method of streaming PC games, Shadow, has one huge advantage over the other entries in this list: it doesn’t require a PC or console. If you have an iPhone, iPad, or Android device, you can use Shadow.

Shadow provides you with a high-end gaming PC that lives in their data center in the cloud. For a monthly fee, you rent access to this gaming PC, and can stream your games from Shadow’s servers directly to your device.

This provides a number of advantages over the rest of the entries on this list. For starters, there’s the obvious portability advantage: with only a Shadow account, you can play PC games anywhere you have internet access, without needing to own or maintain a PC or console. Cost is another potential advantage: Shadow’s $19.99 monthly fee, while not cheap, is potentially easier to stomach than the hundreds-to-thousands upfront cost of buying a gaming PC.

Shadow’s cloud-streamed nature does have a number of disadvantages from the rest of the entries on this list, however. First, latency is higher than you can get from the rest of these apps. This is understandable: the other apps function on your local WiFi, whereas Shadow travels all the way from an internet server to your WiFi, and only then to your device. Second, Shadow is the only one of these apps and services with a recurring monthly fee – and not a small fee, at that. Personally, $34.99 is a bit out of impulse-buy territory for me. Third, Shadow is only available in a limited number of regions right now. This is due to latency issues – the team behind Shadow needs to make sure they have enough PC servers close enough to where you’re likely to play, so they’ve only launched in a limited number of markets.

Although Shadow is fully available on some platforms, the iOS client is still in beta. This means that in order to access it, you must first subscribe to the Shadow service, then wait to be added to a TestFlight group, where you’ll be able to download the app. It is unclear if this is a temporary solution, or a way of avoiding the fate that befell Steam Link. Personally, I’m not optimistic about this one ever making it to the App Store. But on the plus side, you can always cancel your Shadow account – there’s no upfront cost.

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about how well Gamevice works with the newly-released iPhone models. Good news: all of our recent iPhone Gamevice models are fully compatible with the iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max!

The body shape of the iPhone X and iPhone XS design is not significantly longer than the iPhone 8, or thicker than the iPhone 8 Plus. As a result, Gamevice was already designed to work within the dimensions of these iPhone models. And the iPhone XS Max is actually smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus, so it fits quite comfortably with the Gamevice’s Plus-mode layout.

Once you’ve connected your iPhone X, iPhone XS, or iPhone XS Max to your Gamevice, everything works as well as you’d hope. The Gamevice covers about a two millimeters of the corners of the iPhone’s edge-to-edge display – certainly not enough to obscure anything important in any game I’ve ever seen, and in fact won’t show up at all for any game not specifically optimized for full-screen. In addition, Gamevice fully supports the new iPhone’s FaceID and home gestures, so you can continue using your iPhone as you’d expect with Gamevice attached. It also leaves the iPhone’s speakers unobscured, so your games will sound absolutely amazing on the iPhone’s stereo speakers.

One caveat: Our first-generation Gamevice is not compatible with the iPhone XS Max, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, or iPhone 8 Plus. This is due to these iPhones’ camera bumps, which came after our first-generation product was released. This incompatible Gamevice has the model number GV156, and can be identified by the lack of rubber grips on the analog sticks and the Micro USB input. The newer Gamevice – model number GV157 – uses Lightning to charge and has rubberized analog grips. If your Gamevice has rubber analog sticks and a Lightning input, it will work with the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

In total, our current-generation iPhone Gamevice is compatible with the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max. This Gamevice is available today from Apple, Amazon, and direct from us at Gamevice.com, and comes in a variety of special collector’s editions focused on select games.

If you’ve been holding out on grabbing a Gamevice out of concerns that it won’t work properly with the iPhone X, iPhone XS, or iPhone XS Max, don’t worry about it – it is is a first-class gaming experience. Personally, I use the Gamevice with my iPhone XS Max whenever I want to game, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

• Buy the iPhone Gamevice

The latest game in the Monster Hunter Franchise, Monster Hunter World, launched a few days ago, for Xbox and PS4. The reviews have been stellar, which is great news for the millions of fans of the series.

Thankfully, mobile gamers aren’t completely left out of the loop. Even though the latest Monster Hunter isn’t on iOS or Android yet, the excellent Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is available on iOS right now, and has full Gamevice support!

If you were previously unfamiliar with Monster Hunter, you’re in for something special here. Monster Hunter is an insanely popular game, and one of the most beloved games of its generation. It was such a massive hit in Japan, it was partly responsible for saving the PSP from an early grave, ultimately selling over 6 million units.

The iOS release of Freedom Unit is not a stripped-down mobile edition. This is the real, full-fledged PSP Monster Hunter, improved and upgraded for the far-more-powerful iPhone and iPad hardware. It has been updated with vastly improved graphics, significant resolution boosts, enhanced performance, and full Gamevice support.

So yes, while our console brethren enjoy the new Monster Hunter today, now is a great chance for you to treat yourself to a classic Monster Hunter experience on iOS. This isn’t just an important release in the history of mobile gaming – it’s still a damn great game.

• Download Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for iOS

Cornfox & Bros shared a progress update on their sequel to their RPG classic, Oceanhorn.

From the Cornfox & Bros blog,

It has been too long since we gave you guys an update on the development of Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm. Well, all five of us have been focusing on the game, and when you’re really concentrated on your work, the time flies!

…

So, what have we been up to? We have been building an adventure! More gameplay, more story, more levels, more worlds. A city. Capital is one of the central locations of Oceanhorn 2’s story and it offers tons of open-ended exploration for curious adventurers. In the heart of the city is the gigantic machine Grand Core.

Oceanhorn hit the App Store 4 years ago, but it still ranks among the best mobile games available. In the years since its launch, it has received countless updates, and been ported to every platform under the sun. Just recently, the iOS version was updated to support the iPhone X’s new screen size.

The Original Oceanhorn played like a love letter to the classic Zelda games. This sequel seems to be keeping closer to the style of more modern, 3D RPGs. As long as it brings the same level of quality and polish to its new presentation, we could be looking at something truly special.

If you’ve somehow managed to avoid picking up the original Oceanhorn before now, you really owe it to yourself to give it a try. I can’t think of a better game to spend my time with while I wait for Oceanhorn 2’s eventual release.

• Download Oceanhorn for iOS
• Download Oceanhorn for Android

Out of nowhere, Apple just added support for preordering upcoming apps and games to the App Store.

The first wave of games have already been made available for preorder, and they’re some big ones. Life is Strange, Bridge Constructor Portal, Inside, and Thumper: Pocket Edition (no words yet about whether or not these will support controllers, but we’re optimistic!)

From Apple:

Customers can pre-order your app from your product page, search results, and the Today, Games, or Apps tabs if your app is featured.

On launch day, your app automatically downloads to the device on which the customer requested the pre-order, and to their other devices that have automatic downloads enabled. Customers will also receive a notification letting them know the app is available.

Customers who pre-order a paid app won’t be charged until the day the app is released for download. If the price of your app changes during pre-order, they will be charged the price that is lower: the price they accepted at pre-order or the price on the day of release.

Customers can cancel their pre-orders in their App Store settings on iOS and macOS, and in their iTunes settings on desktop for iOS, macOS, and tvOS apps.

Pre-orders can be made on devices running iOS 11.2, tvOS 11.2, and macOS 10.13.2 or later. Product pages during pre-order are accessible for customers on earlier operating systems through direct links. However, the buy button is disabled and customers are prompted to update to the latest OS version to pre-order apps.

Read More

At first blush, preordering digital apps and games would seem to make no sense. In the physical realm, preorders are used by retailers as a way to gauge demand, to help the retailer know how many of a product to order for launch day. This reason doesn’t apply to digital goods, obviously. But there are other reasons to allow preorders.

Developers frequently upload apps to the App Store early, but don’t make those apps available for download. This is done for numerous reasons, such as making sure the information in the store is accurate and allowing promo copies to be gifted to media. If nothing more, preordering provides a more codified way of implementing these features.

Developers of premium apps and games frequently have special launch day pricing, to rewards fans. Developers will often promote a game on social media, and then rush to tell fans to buy the game early if they want to be rewarded with discount pricing. Preordering provides a way to give special discounts on apps to people who are already committed to buying, without hurting profit from first-day sales.

For users, the benefits are less obvious, but not entirely absent. If you’re already 100% committed to buying an app, the preorder might give you a discount. It’ll also provide a convenient notification when the app is finally available to download, so you don’t have to remind yourself about release dates. Lastly, if developers change their mind about pricing and launch the app for cheaper than you preordered, you only end up paying the cheapest price – you’ll never be hurt by preordering.

Honestly, this doesn’t seem like a huge change for users or for developers, but it also doesn’t seem to have any downsides. If it helps make premium games more viable on the App Store, there’s nothing to complain about. If it mitigates some of the risks involved in the App Store, and convinces bigger studios to consider porting more games to mobile, everyone wins. If it turns out to be a rarely-used and unpopular feature, well, we’re not any worse off than we would be without it.