Video games are becoming a big expansion point for mobile OSes, with Google rumored to be launching a set-top box and Apple just an update away from having an App-Store-enabled Apple TV. Samsung is getting in on the Android gaming action with the launch of a controller: the generically named "Samsung Smartphone GamePad."

The top of the compact controller lifts up and acts as a clamp for a smartphone. Since Samsung is making it, you can bet it supports big phones—officially, screens from "4-inches to 6.3-inches." The GamePad uses Bluetooth 3.0 and NFC, and compatibility is described as working with devices running Android 4.1 and up, but "the most convenient features [are] optimized for Samsung Galaxy devices running Android 4.3."





















The GamePad offers something close to an Xbox-style layout: four face buttons, two analog sticks (slider pads), an eight-way D-Pad, and two shoulder buttons. Vestigial start and select buttons are all the way at the bottom of the controller next to an on/off switch, and the middle of the controller has a big button labeled "Play." On Samsung devices, the "Play" button will launch "Mobile Console," Samsung's game launcher and app store. Samsung doesn't offer any battery life estimates, but the controller has a 160 mAh battery.

While Samsung doesn't have any set-top box plans that we know about, the press release does encourage users to "connect Galaxy devices to their TV through an HDMI cable or AllShare Screen Mirroring for video game console experience from their living room."

The GamePad is currently available in "select European markets" and will come to additional countries in "the coming weeks."