The 5 gaming genres that are perfect for the Apple Watch

The Apple Watch is out soon, which means it won't be long until we're all checking emails, counting calories, and sending our heartbeats to creeped out friends - all from the comfort of our wrists.

But should we really care about playing video games on this thing?

I reckon the answer is "yes" - but maybe not the type of games you're thinking of.

Sure, we'll definitely see an early influx of traditional games that work on the watch. Simple games in the same vein as Flappy Bird will appear, and stripped back versions of puzzlers like Trivia Crack and Rules! are already promised.

But in general, the Apple Watch just isn't well suited for the traditional gaming experience.

The screen - just 1.5 inches across on the smallest version - is tiny, and eclipsed by your pinky whenever you touch it. And you have to think about the discomfort of having one arm held up and twisted around for any length of time.

Plus, the battery won't withstand long play sessions, and developers say that the device is pretty limited in terms of power and app footprint. You end up with games that are small, simple, and ultimately pretty throwaway.

So you might have a couple simple games on your watch for the same reason you have Candy Crush and Super Hexagon installed on your iPhone: to wile away a couple minutes during commercial breaks and bus journeys and bathroom sessions

But if you really want to imagine interesting Apple Watch games, you've got to think about how it differs from the other gaming devices in your life, and not just as a tiny iPhone with a wrist band.

The first category. The watch not only has access to accelerometers and GPS (via your iPhone), but it can even measure your heartbeat which allows for more accurate tracking of your health.

That will be a big boon for games like Zombies, Run! - a game that mixes real-world movement with a zombie apocalypse radio drama that's piped through your earphones. It will be more accurate, and will let you quickly glance at your vital stats while running just by eyeing up your wrist

No more dropping your iPhone in a muddy puddle mid workout.

The Watch is also suitable for location-based games, including Google's ambitious GPS-powered MMO Ingress which is getting a watch app soon. You'll get a notification if you wander near an important location and can take simple actions on the watch face itself

Or you could have games like Nintendo's stalking app streetpass that gives you bonuses for bumping into fellow 3DS owners.

Whatever the case, it means you get all the fun of gamifying travel, but without having to bury your nose in an iPhone every few minutes to take action. It keeps your eyes up and on the places and people you're with.

That same principle can extend to physical games and meat-space multiplayer experiences. Get the screens out of the way, and have a weird and playful encounter with another human being.

Maybe two people with Apple Watches could play something along the lines of Game Oven's mad dancing simulator Bounden

Or how about Die Gute Fabrik's bonkers Johann Sebastian Joust, which has multiple players trying to wobble each other's PlayStation Move, while keeping their own perfectly still.

The Watch's heart rate monitor is something that no other gaming device has.

Using this sensor, the Watch could send your current BPM to a horror game on your iPad so the game could orchestrate scares that are tuned to your current level of tension. It would diabolical, of course, and I know that I'd never play it, but it could be something very different.

And then there are games that only need a little bit of time from you, here and there. And it would make more sense to quickly perform actions on your watch than by pulling out your phone.

That could be Tamagotchi style games - like the apple watch version of monster babysitting game Hatch. Or time management games like Clash of Clans and Kim Kardashian.

You could cash in bonuses from a successful Pocket Trains journey just by prodding at your wrist.

Basically, it would be shortsighted to ignore the Apple Watch as a gaming device because the thought of playing Angry Birds on a postage stamp sized screen fills you with existential dread.

As long as developers think about the unique aspects of the watch, and consider the benefits of a gaming platform that keeps you in the real world instead of nestled in a virtual one, we could get some very interesting new experiences

Now it's your turn. What sort of games do you think would actually work on an Apple Watch?