So your friend stepped on your PSP, you lent your GBA to your niece, and your ex-girlfriend ran off with your DS. How are you going to play games on the go??

Don’t fret, you can still game with your iPod, at least long enough until you can trade your ex’s stereo for a new DS. There are four games that come with the regular iPod: Brick, Parachute, Solitaire, and Music Quiz. If those games don’t float your boat, there are some other games you can install too.

Brick

Brick is basically the classic Breakout game of yore. Use your litte platform to bounce the ball into the bricks; everytime the ball hits a brick, the brick disappears until they’re all gone.

Interestingly the iPod click wheel is the closest dedicated controller I’ve seen to the original pong-type paddles. It makes playing the game much easier. I only wish the platform would move a little faster, and be a bit more responsive.

And personally, I like the name Breakout better than Brick. Brick should be the name for the game you play while reading magazines.

Parachute

Parachute is also based off of the classic game. Shoot the planes and parachuters before they land and gang rape you. This is a pretty fun game, though I found it pretty frustrating; your score goes down quickly if you waste too much ammo.

Solitaire

For those of you who don’t have enough to do at work and can’t think of a more imaginative game to play, there’s Solitare. Need I say more?

Music Quiz

This is probably the best, and certainly the more original game that comes with the iPod. The screen shows the names of five songs on your iPod, and begins playing part of one of them. Guess the correct song quickly to get the highest score.

Text Games

You can install text games on your iPod, there are a few commercial companies that have come out with games such as XO Play. Also, the program iStory Creator allows users to create their own text-based iPod games.

Linux games

And if you really want to go nuts, you can download and install Linux on your iPod and have a larger selection of games. These games include—you guessed it—Doom. It’s just a given that someone would port that one over.

So there are plenty of games for the iPod you can check out now. Especially for those of you who don’t have a DS or PSP, there’s plenty of handheld gaming to be had with your iPod.