Breaking into the Nintendo-dominated portable gaming market isn’t easy for new platforms; then again, Archos’ Gamepad is running nothing new. Packing a 7″ 1280×800 touchscreen display, a 1.5ghz dual-core processor and quad-core graphics, the Gamepad is the first dedicated gaming device with tactile controls (including 2 thumbsticks, a D-pad and lettered buttons) to use Android Ice Cream Sandwich as its operating system. It even goes as far as mapping touch controls to its physical controls in games that don’t natively make use of its buttons, ensuring massive compatibility.

Hitting shelves in late October; until then, check out Archos’ press release – roughly 200$.