That sound you hear is Nintendo's legal team tutting in unison

EDIT: Since this story went live we have been contacted by the person who created the video, who has made it clear that they installed the emulators and ROMs themselves onto the demonstration device when it was shown at a recent trade show, and not Archos:

Archos demonstrate their devices at their booth at a trade show, I travel around the world at all trade shows since 2004 to video-blog awesome devices like this one...I go there and I test the device, I transfer files onto it (emulators, roms) to do my video. I am a blogger.

So there you have it - Archos aren't hawking their wares with Nintendo games, although in our defense, no mention is made on the original video that the files have been installed by the blogger himself, which has led to several other sites (not just us) assuming that this video is an officially-sanctioned demonstration.

ORIGINAL STORY: When it comes to smartphone and tablet gaming, one of the biggest issues traditional players have is the lack of physical buttons.

Sure, games like Angry Birds — which are designed to play to the strengths of the touchscreen — work like a dream on your phone, but other titles are less successful, forcing players to use 'virtual controls' which are overlaid onto the display, obscuring the action and reducing accuracy due to the lack of tactile feedback.

A few solutions have arisen over the years to deal with this problem. Sony tried to give phones proper gaming controls with the Xperia Play, but that particular experiment seems to have failed. Other options include bolt-on game pads which connect to your phone via a Bluetooth connection, such as the iControlPad.

Now manufacturer Archos has entered the fray with the GamePad (no relation to the Wii U GamePad, naturally) which is essentially an Android-based tablet with gaming controls stuck on its sides.

Interestingly, Archos recently demonstrated the $149 Gamepad using an N64 emulator — something which is legally dubious to say the least. It's not the first time this kind of thing has happened — Nokia attempted to sell its N900 phone by advertising a SNES emulator back in 2009 — but we find it very interesting that these manufacturers are resorting to traditional console games when it comes to selling their products...products which are apparently going to spell the end for 'dedicated' gaming devices like the 3DS and Vita.

The video is below, with the N64 segment arriving around the 3:15 mark.

Does the Archos GamePad interest you, or will you be sticking to the Wii U GamePad for your entertainment needs? Let us know in the comments section.

[source youtube.com]