400,000 downloads for Arabic game Birdy Nam Nam

Lebanese games developer tops iTunes app stores across the Middle East.

The successful launch strikes a blow for localised iPhone content since he game was developed by a local three man team with a vision of making a game especially for gamers in the Arabic region.

So for example, the characters are are each dressed as per the country they represent.

One of the developer team, Lebnan Nader, said: "The intention was to develop something funny and for our own fun. We didn't have expectations on how to launch or make money out of it. We simply wanted to create something that the Arabic population will remember us for.

"We decided to have the levels of that game or the happenings of that game in the "Arabic" countries. Hence, we developed the levels of the game that each happen in a different Arabic country."

At first, the game was launched at a high price to gather feedback from dedicated gamers, and then changes were made before the full launch on August 22nd, with a lite version for free and two full versions at 99c and $1.99.