Android TV Gaming Controller Spotted

Android TV wants to be your living room portal for all things media. From watching movies and TV to Android gaming, Google wants you glued to their version of what media consumption should be. At I/O, gaming was a very strong angle for Google during the Android TV portion of the show. Now we might have our first look at the game controller for Android TV.

The pictures were first spotted by a Redditor who dug into the Android TV materials a bit. We get a good look at all the parts, as well as a top-down view of the final build. It's a pretty basic design, but looks eerily similar to a design we're familiar with.

At I/O, NVIDIA figured prominently into the mix. Their K1 chipset was powering all the heavy graphics lifting, showing they've got both fantastic hardware and a good relationship with Google. Though their SHIELD didn't re-invent the gamepad, the Android TV controller on display looks very, very similar in design.

Google could be using similar controller APIs used on the SHIELD for Android TV — which would be smart. The obvious differences are the center buttons, where the Android TV controller has a simpler design (likely because Android TV is a bit less tricky to navigate than SHIELD), and an LED bar. It appears those lights on the LED bar are split into four sections, hinting that up to four players can join, each getting their own Google-y color.

Right now, we don't know when (or if — it could just be for reference design) this will go on sale, but Android TV isn't going to hit us any time soon. Google has released the Android TV remote app, but it's useless right now. The buttons in that app, though — they're the same ones we see here. If nothing else, you know what device was probably used on-stage at I/O when Android TV was shown off to the world.

Via: Reddit