Compiled by CIARA O'BRIEN

Tony Hawk: Ride, €104

A game based on skateboarding is nothing too out of the ordinary. However, the controller for Tony Hawk: Ride sets it apart from the rest. Based on the ever-growing trend for motion sensitive games, Ride comes with a skateboard controller that reads your every move and translates that into movement in the character on screen. Sensors on the side of the board read your moves – to start the player moving on the screen, you need to swing your foot past the sensors, as if really pushing off. Quickly raising the nose of the board will make you jump, where you can “grab” the board and perform tricks. Once you get the hang of it, you can perform 360 kickflips and benihana with the best of them. And since it is a Tony Hawk game, you could even aim for the ever-elusive 900.

www.thride.com

ION Tape Express, €55

If you’re over the age of 30, chances are you have a lot of old tapes sitting that rarely get played. Favourite albums from when you were a teenager, old chart shows nabbed from the radio... irreplaceable stuff. Now you can convert them to digital with the Ion Tape Express. The tape archiver uses USB to transfer your old music from outdated cassettes to MP3 files, so you can put them on your MP3 player or iPod, burn them to CD or store them on your PC.

The included software coaxes you through the process of converting the files, so it’s (almost) idiotproof. The device has a headphone jack, so you use it to listen to the tapes while you’re on the go, powered by batteries, before making the move to digital files. Wave goodbye to chewed tape forever.

www.firebox.com

Flip Mino HD, €159

The Flip Mino already has somewhat of a following. The new HD version , however, raises the bar for competitors. A pocket-sized video camera that films in high definition, the Flip has the added advantage of a built-in USB connector. So no more frantic searching for the USB cable when you need to transfer movies off the device; just flip out the USB connection from the top of the camera and plug it straight in to your PC.

The MinoHD records footage in 1280 x 720 resolution, which will give you a pretty decent picture. The camera also contains all the software you need to view and edit your videos, so you can install it on whatever PC is nearest. It even allows you to upload videos directly to YouTube so you can share your masterpieces with the world. The battery is rechargeable from USB, and the 4GB memory will give you about 60 minutes of footage.

www.theflip.com