Pocket Gamer launches dedicated iPod games section

Every iPod fan can remember when they first fell in love with Apple's white wonder.

For me, Cupid's technobolt struck when I was holed up by the rain in a Mediterranean hotel on an ill-judged late October mini-break. While my girlfriend dealt with the inclement weather by sleeping through it, I decided to try out her iPod. Two hours later she found me dancing around the room to Pulp with my eyes closed, an unwitting and ill-coordinated parody of those famous Apple silhouetted commercials showing how an iPod gets you grooving.

Now Apple wants to get us gaming too. Here at Pocket Gamer we think it's got every chance, which is why we've launched this new iPod section. We're kicking off today with reviews of Zuma, Mini Golf, Texas Hold'em and Pac-man, with one more to come each day of the week. We've also written a How To on downloading iPod games, just in case you're uncertain.

One of the revelations that a cynic experiences with the iPod (or any sufficiently spacious digital music player, to be honest) is how the Shuffle feature makes you reconsider old albums or songs you'd never normally be bothered to put on your stereo. You realize just how much music you've loved over the years.

The new iPod games promise something of the same. Whilst many Pocket Gamer readers have been experiencing retro-rushes on their mobile phone, it's probably been years since the majority of everyday iPod owners played Pac-man or Tetris, let alone relative newcomers like Bejewelled. Apple has sold just shy of 60 million iPods over the past four years, and it's likely millions of their owners will be reconnecting at least once with their gaming yesterdays in the weeks to come.

Still, we're not settling for what we've got. The nine launch games make for a very credible start, but we hope to see some uniquely iPod-centric games emerging for the new platform too. Games that use your music collection would be an obvious draw, whether they're Be Your Own DJ type titles, or rhythm action games like Dance Dance Revolution. An iPod version of quirky DS music game Electroplankton would be cool too, and someone should port over the PlayStation 2 quiz game Buzz!.

Apple is taking a wait-and-see approach so far, refusing to confirm that any more games are in the pipeline. Given the secrecy with which it developed the first nine, we're not sure that's any indication of anything! So bookmark our dedicated iPod section now or subscribe to our iPod RSS feed to be sure to get more iPod games news as it emerges.