1. A motion controlled handheld device comprising: a display having a viewable surface and operable to generate an image; a gesture database maintaining a plurality of predefined gestures, each gesture defined by a motion of the device with respect to a first position of the device; an application having a plurality of predefined commands; a motion detection module operable to detect motion of the handheld device within three dimensions and to identify components of the motion in relation to the viewable surface; a user interface operable to receive user input associating selected ones of the gestures with corresponding ones of the commands; a gesture mapping database comprising a command map for the application, the command map comprising mappings of the selected gestures to the corresponding commands as indicated by the user input; and a control module operable to load the application, to track movement of the handheld device using the motion detection module, to compare the tracked movement against the gestures to determine a matching one of the gestures, to identify, using the command map, the command mapped to the matching gesture, and to perform the identified command using the application.