So in order to buy the games we need lures. And when we play them we still rely on the same stimuli that fuel the advertising. Whether it's Joanne Guest with her legs wrapped scarf-like around her neck or Michael Owen staring glassy-eyed out of a POS (point of sale) cut-out.

They work these stimuli in the same way as the infamous one-more-play factor. The "challenge, overcome challenge, face new challenge" aspect of platformers is possibly the most famous of these addictive formulae. But so are slot machines, heroin and soap operas.

In short playing videogames is a knee-jerk reaction, a re-re-re-reflex (© Duran Duran).

Videogames are not cool
The Industry that spawns them is peopled with geeks and freaks. I have nothing against game programmers, but they're not cool are they? Now 'cool' is not the kind of peer pressure, social straightjacket that we should be encouraging. We mean 'cool' as in having the capacity to enter a regular conversation, grasp of reality, or desire to enter society as a helpful and upright member. In this case then, we must bow to cool and spurn geekhood. Spurn it!

An example of 'cool'
When SCEI president Teruhisa Tokunaka was asked what he saw as a rival to PlayStation 2 at the conference last March he replied: "I think the real competition is whatever takes the time and attention of the individual. For example, my son is a PlayStation fan who spends many hours playing. Recently, he has found a very pretty girlfriend and he is spending much more time, energy and money on her. I consider that as competition!" The attendant, girlfriend-lite journos found this attitude great and cool and not at all deeply, deeply unsettling.