I’m a sucker for Japanese chique. Really, no other way to describe Tunewear’s latest creation to come state-side, their Game Handle. The packaging screams “look at me! I’m cool! Buy me!”. At around $20, it’s not that bad of a proposition either.

I actually like the hot-pick packaging. I’ve heard from some folks that they found it a little unsettling.

Who cares?! Didn’t I just say it’s Japanese Chique?? If you haven’t been to Japan, then it’s hard to understand. But if you have, you’ll know what I mean. It’s Omete-sando cool, izakaya at 10pm, udon noodles on the street at 3am and recovering in a classic Japanese steam bath cool.

And that’s just the freakin’ packaging!

The actual unit itself is pretty cool too. Our first impression of it was just how much it reminded us of a PlayStation type controller and not just because of the grips, but the weight and feel of it. Of course, Game Handle, is designed to really make the gaming experience on Apple’s “funnest iPod” or “funnest iPhone” a good one.

It does this really well. But, it’s in driving/flying/control anything moving game that Game Handle really shines.

Our testers consistently commented that their fingers naturally fell into place and they could see more of the on-screen action. They didn’t play any better, but they had more fun playing their favorite driving games. Eventually, executing power-slides and drifts became easier with the Game Handle, but there is definitely some getting used to. Not much though, especially if you game like our testers game.

The learning curve is slight, but it’s primarily because you’re used to holding your iPod Touch/iPhone a certain way, so change it up and there’s some getting used to. Again, not much. It took our guys a total of 5 mins in play tests.

The physical unit itself is grippy and well weighted. Overall, Game Handle, felt very soft and smooth. The guys constantly drew comparisons to DualShock 3. In fact, they rated Game Handle an overall better feel than DualShock 3. It’s got a good balance of heft and light weight feel to it. Once you put in your iPod Touch/iPhone, the balance is perfect. You’ll appreciate it upfront in a few minutes of playing, but you’ll love it over longer gaming sessions. There are two sound baffels to help bounce the sound back to you and it does make things a little better to listen to.

Tunewear has thought of a lot of things here. Of course the balance and grippy feel of the unit, but they’ve included face-plate like adapters for various iPod Touch and iPhone generations.

There are many other similar products out on the market today and we’ve tried a few of them. Tunewear’s design is unique in that they’ve thought of and incorporated features that folks who love their iPhone/iPod Touch will appreciate. I mean love, like those guys who coat their iPhones in bullet-proof armor to protect from scratches. You know the guys…

The Game Handle, from the faceplates down the actual grip and housing itself is designed to softly hold your precious in place. There’s no really loud snapping or clicking sound when you put everything together. Only a slight, subtle, light, soft, tiny tiny, little umph sound. When you remove your precious, it sort of slides out. No scratches or dangerous hard plastic to cause any issues. But, don’t let the soft touches fool you, Game Handle holds your previous firmly and snugly in place. It’s secure enough for you to shake the unit vigorously and Game Handle holds everything in place securely and comfortably.

One draw back though, we really couldn’t find any way to plug in headphones into the unit, so you’ll have to turn up the sound when you’re playing and forget about sneaking in a few time trials at work, unless you turn the volume down. We reached out to Tunewear and they informed us that it’s something they’re looking into for the next version.

Games our testers played: Fastlane Lite and Skies of Glory, and no, The Game Handle didn’t help them overcome their total suckage on the games, but certainly made the experience more fun.

Available now. Check out Tunewear.com for more details.

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