A Wii-like experience for AED 585?

iGame is available in the UAE for about AED 585 at major electronics stores

Well...not quite. The iGame Family is described as the "world's first TV Games Dock" that allows you to play motion-sensitive games as well as stream music, movies, podcasts and photos on TV using either your iPod or iPhone.

 iGame from UK-based Elonox comes with 10 free games including Firecracker, Sudoku, Tennis, Bowling, Trampoline, Table Tennis, Tanks and Darts (for ages 3+). They aren't going to keep hardcore gamers addicted but, like its name says, the iGame is really one for the family.

I had a six year old and 50+ year old try out the games, which were easy to pick up with helpful (irritating after you've seen the same message more than five times!) visual aids that demonstrated how to use the full motion-controlled wireless remote. 

Adults will probably end up feeling bored in about half an hour of playing since the games aren't exactly challenging, but the company says that additional games can be downloaded through their website with more titles expected later this year.

Comparisons to the Nintendo Wii are inevitable and if you're looking for quality gaming, the iGame isn't for you. 

Hardware-wise, I like the rounded dock that's small enough to sit on your bedside table, while the remote is also impressive - light, easy to handle but with an annoying in-built vibrating feature that makes sure your hands get a free massage with every focused movement.

Despite all my talk of its gaming prowess or lack thereof, I think it's important to look at the iGame as a whole. It was never meant to be a standalone game console, and the fact that it has media centre is a whole other chunky side of it. The quality and connectivity was seamless when I reviewed the product, and really made me want to download more videos on my iPod just so that I could watch it on my large flat TV screen. I think the best way to describe the iGame would be that it extends all the goodness of the iPod/íPhone so that it can do much more.

The best bit? It has a bargain price of AED 585 at the usual electronics stores like Jumbo, Jacky's, i2, CompuMe in the UAE.  It's a great choice if you've got younger kids and don't want to splurge on that AED 1,000+ Wii console for a motion-gaming experience...and the media extras means that everyone wins in the end!

Twitter for BlackBerry

 Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones is impressive and practical, but not without drawbacks

I've been using the beta version of Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones for a few days now and it's impressive. Not in an OTT kind of way but its convenient and practical. I don't tweet a lot but using the app on the Berry has made me a lot more active than I would have been without it.

 The app is at a ‘closed beta' stage at present which means that you need to be invited to try it out, but ITP.net is giving away 10 codes to the Twitter enthusiasts if you'd like to get in there first - more about that below. But you can also head to the www.blackberry.com/twitter and sign up to receive a notification when Twitter for BlackBerry gets to the open public beta stage.

Now I know there are other third-party Twitter apps for BlackBerry smartphones already available but this one is straight from the source, which is already a plus, with Twitter being integrated into the BlackBerry platform. Once it's downloaded and you enter your login creds, it takes barely a minute to set up. You're then greeted with the blue and white homepage which includes navigation icons right at the top for ‘home', @mentions, user profile, direct messages, find people, topic search and trending topics as well.

The first thing I tried was the search, where I threw in random ‘Garden' and ‘Wall' queries with success - public tweets on that topic were displayed...but I didn't care about gardens or walls and I moved on to more interesting things with the satisfaction that it worked.

Push functions great (as expected) and you can choose how often to update, but you will invariably end up having to scroll down down down because of the screen size that just about fits two small tweets.

You're also notified with that all-familiar life-changing red light whenever any of your followers tweet something new. This default setting can get really annoying if you have a lot of people on your list but it's easy to just get into Settings and change that. It's also a good idea while you're in there to specify that you'd like to keep your direct messages separate from regular tweets!

A definite plus of the new app is the Send/Share BlackBerry menu and camera integration. This means that if you're browsing a page or taking a photo that you'd like to post, you can choose to share it on Twitter with the click of your little trackball. The app automatically shortens URLs for you and enters it in a new tweet. Another interesting feature is the ‘View Conversation' option that organises the public conversation between two Twitter users so you haven't missed out on the flow.

So could it be the BEST Twitter app for BlackBerry smartphones EVER!? I think it's really good but probably not quite ready for that title yet. Since it's still in beta, there's time to make improvements so I'll be keen to see the final release and would definitely use it over other contenders.

But enough about me and my opinion - what's yours? ITP.net has ten closed beta codes for the app to give away and all you need to do is answer the easy question below by replying to the post. Correct answers will be entered into a draw and I'll post the winners and get in touch with the lucky ten (selected randomly - bits of paper and deft fingers style) on March 15th. To keep things fair, usual rules like non-transfer of prize and ITP family apply but I'm also limiting this only to Twitter users based in the Middle East.