It was the best of times, it was the worst of times (yeah, I know, but stay with it). There were 12 different software formats (no, I won't list them) on sale in stores seven years ago this week, which was confusing for the customer but bloody murder for the retailers who had to allocate shelf space to them. The king, in terms of market share, was the Sega Mega Drive, which had 25 per cent.

The Mega Drive had done much to make the wonderful world of gaming accessible to the casual gamer of the day. Its simple, cartridge-based plug-and-play operation made it perfect for those who wanted to play games, without the tears associated with disk or tape-based machines.

Sega's flagship franchise was Sonic. He was everywhere throughout 1991 and 1992, and it was largely through him that the mainstream media picked up on gaming. The red-topped tabloids' gaming columns spread to full pages, then four-page pullouts. About this time a television producer named Jane Hewland wondered where her son was, and upon discovering what he and his friends were doing in their bedrooms, vowed to give them a television series devoted to bloody games if only they would come down and eat at the table like normal human beings. Now! Please!

That series was Gamesmaster, of course. Despite only being on C4, it picked up very respectable viewing figures; so respectable that seven years ago this week Sky One began screening their own games programme, Games World. Ambitious wasn't the word. Again produced by Hewland, Games World went out every day, Monday to Friday, in the 6.00 - 6.30pm slot and each day had its own theme. Overall then, the best of times

Further proof of the mainstreaming of gaming came in the High Street, where the sleepy old multiples were rapidly waking up to the fact that there was cash to be had from this Space Invaders craze. They'd largely avoided interactive entertainment in the past, having quickly realised that tape-loading systems caused nothing but hassle and refunds. These new cartridge systems were dead easy to sell, though - no experience necessary. And once you got the kids in the shop, with attractively laid-out racks of Mega Drive games, they'd buy other items too.