2010 is slowly grinding to a close. The year brought us several innovations and changes to the gaming market. On the technology front, the iPad was the most significant new addition. On its own, a Tablet PC is nothing revolutionary; they have been around for over ten years in varying weights and sizes. However, Apple knows consumers. They saw a market that had already adopted touch screen multimedia phones and was ready to adopt a lightweight computer. While iPads have yet to take a significant stand in the gaming market, these lightweight machines will slowly move out of the exclusive hands of first adopters in 2011 and into the hands of mass consumers. Then the iTunes store had better watch out. From the Wii, Nintendo merged Wii Motion Plus into the standard Wii controller; it was a long time coming. Next came the Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360. Well, there was also a PS3 Move that launched, but not many remember when it launched or care that they missed it. The Kinect, however, does have a few eyes on it. This hands free device proclaims, "You are the controller." While most launch titles hover in the realm of the subpar, a successful holiday season will hopefully bring better games and updated firmware. Although this won't help gamers lacking in housing space (the Kinect requires you to stand several feet from the device to work properly), it may prove to be a great boon to Microsoft.

Now, THQ is adding on one more gaming accessory before the end of 2010 - the THQ uDraw GameTablet for the Nintendo Wii. It's not something that will appeal to the mass gaming audience, but it is of keen interest to the casual and "family that games together stays together" market. The uDraw GameTablet works much like the Pen Tablets that graphic designers use to draw digital images directly on their computers. Instead of using a mouse, a pen is used on the GameTablet's surface. In order to interface with the Wii, the Wii-mote plugs into the tablet and sits in a dock. Once you're playing a game that uses the uDraw, the pen will act as your on-screen pointer instead of the Wii-mote. You can also tilt your GameTablet so that games register the Wii-mote's tilt controls. However, if you have to go back to the main Wii menu, you will need to remove your Wii-mote from the dock. Only games made for the uDraw can register the movements of the uDraw Pen. Also, the dock blocks the front of the Wii-mote sensor.

The uDraw GameTablet is designed primarily for children. It comes the uDraw Studio game, which works like a fun version of Adobe Photoshop. Children can color in existing images that come with game or just used the Studio's robust design tools to create their own images. You'll need to pick up an extra SD Card if you don't have one yet. Since you can save new images directly to your Wii, the game will require over a hundred blocks of memory. So if you don't want to keep deleting saved game data from other titles, you'll want to invest in the extra SD Card. That way you can also take your images off your Wii and print them from a standard computer printer. Playing with uDraw Studio reminded me of how much fun it was to get coloring sheets as a kid. What's nice is that the toolkit has a paint bucket (among several other Photoshop tools) so you can actually stay within the lines. Wish I had that tool with my 8-pack of Crayola crayons, countless years ago. There are also several pieces of clip art available.

Kid stuff aside, what really got my attention was playing Pictionary (not included with the GameTablet) for the uDraw. I had forgotten how much I liked the game. My family came over and we had an impromptu Pictionary party that was loads of fun. The game has two modes Pictionary and Pictionary Mania. This game requires group play. There's no secondary mode that allows you to play against the computer, this is all about group entertainment and Wii partying at its finest. It was nice to see older users, who did not necessarily grow up in the gaming generation, easily get acclimated to the controls. I was afraid I was going to have another situation of explaining how the infamous "double click" works. The hardest thing to do was remembering how to play Pictionary. There was no tutorial so we had to do some due diligence to figure out the rules and team setup. But once we did, Pictionary was instantly entertaining as always for gamers of all ages.

Of course, you won't always have a group to play with or feel like coloring. THQ has also released Dood's Big Adventure for children. This is a platforming game that features three different modes: Pen Panic, Fan Frenzy and Bubble Trouble. Depending on the game mode, you will either use the Wii-mote's motion controls by tilting your GameTablet or using the Pen. There's also a cool character creation tool that lets you draw in the face and body of both the hero and villains in the game.

THQ's uDraw GameTablet may not be anything revolutionary when stacked against the iPad or the Kinect, however it does throw in an added level of party play to the Nintendo Wii. For the price of two games, you can get the uDraw Game Tablet with uDraw Studio ($69.99) and uDraw Pictionary ($29.99). Considering the cost comparison, it's actually a pretty good deal for the holiday. Plus, you can use it with friends when your kids are away at the babysitter. Moving forward, we're hoping that THQ can get this title to work with a game like Drawn to Life or push it further by working out a partnership with Warner Bros on the Scribblenauts franchise.