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The "Number guessing game" required you to think of a number between 1 and 100, whereupon the computer would attempt to guess that number. Each time it tendered a guess, you had to respond by advising whether that number was too high or too low and, within a stunningly few tries, it would tell you with absolute authority, the number you'd chosen.

Those of us with even the most basic understanding of the math behind this trivial game should not have been surprised that the computer was so accurate or fast -- but we still marvelled that a box of wires and electronic components hooked up to a TV screen could appear so smart.

The next game I recall was the iconic "Adventure" game.

Running on a Radio Shack TRS80, this game kept legions of people spellbound as it created a virtual world in which you had to find and use various items, while also navigating a number of hazards and other obstacles.

This game is to modern first-person shoot-em-ups what a good book is to a movie.

There were no graphics at all, everything was described using words and the player had to form their own mental image of where they were and what was going on.

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I spent many, many hours glued to the screen of my TRS80 while trying to figure out how to solve this game; it was great.

The next generation of computer games were a giant leap forward because they appeared on computers that had graphics -- and colour graphics at that.

Suddenly there was no longer any need to conjure up your own mental images of the virtual world in which you were playing because games such as Asteroid, Missile Command, Breakout, and others simply painted your screen with masses of vibrant colour and movement.

But these games also brought a dramatic difference in the way they were played.

No longer were computer games based on thinking and problem-solving. Instead, they were all about eye-hand coordination and reflexes.

It wasn't until some time later that we saw games appearing which combined the problem-solving and wild-action genres into a single package.

But with sophistication comes complexity and I have to admit that most of today's games leave me somewhat cold.

Like many people who aren't avid young gamers, I simply don't have time to learn a thousand and one keyboard commands just in order to play a game. The simple shoot-em-ups and no-learning-required games seem to have vanished from our screens to be replaced with ones where it takes many hours just to learn the basic commands.

I was chuffed to bits therefore when I read this morning that Atari are going to resurrect some of their classic titles.

Woohoo -- now I will be able to take 10 minutes out of a busy day and bust a few nukes, smash up a few floating rocks in space or even enjoy a little virtual tennis -- all without the need to memorise a squillion keystrokes.

I can't wait to see what a 1980s game looks like with 21st-century graphics engines driving them.

And who says that nostalgia isn't what it used to be?

What do you think of today's games? Are they better than some of the old classics or are they simply filled with eye-candy and glitz rather than good gameplay?

What's your nomination for the best computer game of all time?

Have your say in The Aardvark Forums.

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