Unless you've lived under a rock for the past 3 or 4 years, you are probably all too familiar with Apple's Ipod, and the whole culture they seem to have spawned. It seems that everyone and their Dad has an Ipod these days, but did you know that Ipod gaming is one of the biggest new trends to emerge?

As each new generation of Ipod emerges, it seems like there is another trick up its sleeve, or yet another new string to its bow. Not only do they seem to get smaller each time, but they can do more. It used to be that only the Video Ipods could play video, but now they nearly all can, and what's more, more and more people are using them for gaming.

It started out with the more traditionally styled games such as Tetris and other similar puzzle titles, but it seems that every passing week sees more and more games available for download. And why not? Ipods have great battery life, crystal clear screens and best of all; the thumbpad has given developers a truly original control method to play with for once. This has inspired some very clever games already.

The games themselves were initially developed and available solely through Apple and the Itunes platform, but it seems that as more companies recognize the potential, just like with cellphone games, more and more companies are becoming involved, and we are starting to see increasing numbers of titles that we may recognize from other gaming platforms.

As a word of caution, always try and double check how much space a game will require before you download it onto your little pod-there's little point filling it with the latest games if that means you have to erase all the songs you spent so long searching for and downloading!

Also, just like with the songs, initially only Apple could provide you with the game downloads, but sure enough thousands of other places online have soon sprung up, and many of them are a lot cheaper than Itunes, or even for free!

If you love your Ipod and take it everywhere with you, what could be better than having even more stuff on it to entertain you. If you thought it was cool to be able to watch movies on the go, imagine how much you'll enjoy some mobile gaming? Apple are also rumored to be looking into some WiFi compatibility for the next generation of Ipods, so who knows, maybe in a couple of years time we could be sitting on the bus playing Tetris against someone on a different continent?