ITV, seeing a good thing, launched the appallingly named Bad Influence, and this was slotted into the 4.40-5.05pm slot. Presented by Andy Crane and Violet Berlin, the programme's only interesting feature was the moronic way it reviewed the games. A group of girls and a group of boys would play the game and each would mark it out of five. Then an average mark was taken from the boys and from the girls. It didn't work because, firstly, it was clear the children had only played the games very briefly and secondly, what the hell do kids that age know anyway? I suppose it worked pretty well in those days though, since it was mostly children playing games, but such a system wouldn't work in this day and age.

But let's forget about Bad Influence as it was awful and patronising. Thankfully it didn't last long, but GamesMaster kept the flag flying for an impressive seven series run before it apparently committed hara-kiri. Perhaps it was the increasing amount of smutty jokes, or maybe it was Dominik overusing the phrase 'quite literally' to the point of maddening anger. We can only speculate, but it did leave behind a definite void.

Well, now attitudes have changed and gaming has grown up. Whether you hold with this theory or not (I certainly don't), it's the attitude of the media in general, and the media to some extent shapes the opinion of the general public. So, ever eager to give the people what they want, up pops some gaming coverage once again. Cybernet has been around for a while, I'm told, although how anyone knows this is unclear. It's scheduled at ridiculous times - 3.45am on a Sunday? Er, hello? - and so its viewing figures must be tiny, which is a shame as it's not too bad. It reminds me of the laughable Movies, Games and Videos, with just a voice-over presenting the show. It at least shows a fair amount of footage and certainly includes a mite of critical content, unlike Movies, Games and Videos, which is notorious for just rehashing the press releases that accompany the trailers. I certainly wouldn't put much faith in their reviews, but then who can we trust for reviews on TV these days?