Mobile Magazine first reported on the Wikipad at the beginning of this year. At the time, it was supposed to arrive by spring of 2012. Months later, amid several delays, news hit that the streaming service Gaikai was teaming up with Wikipad to create a great streaming experience.

Again, no news of a launch date. It’s September now, so where is the Wikipad? It seems that Gamestop will start carrying the tablet on October 31^st for the price of $499. This is a far cry more expensive than the sub-$250 price point that it was originally rumored to carry.

The final design shows off a 10.1-inch slate that is 8.6mm thin, weighs a little over a pound and comes equipped with the detachable game controls with every package. What kind of specs does the $499 tablet boast?

The Wikipad is powered by a 1.4GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM, microSD and either 16 or 32GB of internal storage. The device is powered by Android 4.0. The big draw though is about the games. Beyond just typical Android games, Gamestop pledges to include exclusive full-length game titles- though what titles they are talking about remains unseen.

What about Gaikai streaming? Gaikai recently was bought out by Sony, so does that mean we won’t see any streaming service standard with the Wikipad? Actually, the Sony streaming service will eventually arrive on the Wikipad when its ready. The Wikipad is a Playstation Certified device as well.

Gaming and hardware for the Wikipad seem to be set to impress, but $499 is still a hard sell. Sure, you get a 10-incher, but there are many other smaller screen options. This includes Sony’s Vita, the 3DS and even the nearly announced Archos Gamepad- which will retail for under $250.

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As great a platform as iOS may be for all kinds of casual games, the touchscreen interface just doesn’t give the same kind of experience that a real joystick can provide. The JOYSTICK-IT iPad Arcade JoyStick from ThinkGeeek that came out at CES is now shipping.

The idea is obvious enough. You stick these retro-looking thumbsticks onto your tablet and you can play games like Pac-Man to your heart’s content. It’s a solid aluminum joystick, so the idea is that it’s lightweight but robust. Naturally, there are no batteries involved.

It doesn’t provide the tactile feedback for the virtual buttons, but at least you have the joystick part of the equation going on. A single stick sells for $25, or you can get the double-pack for $40. And they just started shipping. It’s not quite as crazy as the iCade for iPad, but it’s also a lot cheaper and much more portable. Stay tuned for a review soon.

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