Art imitating life - football video games

Computer games have evolved an awful lot since the days of Pong, Space Invaders and Donkey Kong. We now have video games with budgets and marketing like a Hollywood blockbuster, with casts to match. You can play games against schoolboys from Japan (and get soundly beaten), a group of mates from work, or against the computer itself.

But football games took a while to get going. Playing a game with blocks representing players, a ball that looked like the boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and noises that wouldn't sound out of place in a Kraftwerk album, and that was just the crowd cheering.

But there was an inherent charm, of the exact spot on the pitch from where you could score every time. Maybe it was the slightly dodgy names for games that didn't pay for the real things, such as Palm (Pele), Bemkap (Bergkamp) or Filler (Robbie Fowler).

We now have the 'experiences' of FIFA, Football Manager and Pro Evo. Players who look more realistic than before, they mimic real players, and can be adapted to have the latest boots, kits and haircuts (Rooney's new carpet will be an interesting sight). There are then the videos of people playing games that surface on YouTube, and of people mimicking incidents, last week's Torres sitter being an example.

But can the games get any more realistic? Chelsea and Man City have obviously used the old money cheats on Championship Manager to buy top players, while Lionel Messi already plays as though he is being controlled by a dextrous 12 year old powered by sugar and caffeine. Managers sign players they've never heard of based on statistics. The home fans at Stamford Bridge do appear to have a mute button.

Maybe the answer is to go retro. You can play 1980s Championship Manager on iPhone (signing a 15 year old Van Basten for Coventry makes good sense surely?). Download an old version of Sensible Soccer for PC and play with the famous Arsenal back four, or England in Euro 96.

Or save your money and go and watch your local team. Because there's no balti pie option on FIFA 12. Yet...

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