Of course, there has been more video game-based anime than most of us can be bothered to count. We didn't get much of it over here, unless you include Battle of the Planets, and that wasn't even based on a game, stupid.

For the most part, the cartoons served up to British kids in the 80s and 90s were always either quirky, re-dubbed European fare (Dogtanian et al), cheap and cheerful American toy ads like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, or low-fi British efforts, such as Rhubarb & Custard.

Indeed, the few game-based cartoons we received were firmly in that middle category. It's worth noting that for every Pokemon or Super Mario Bros. Super Show, there were ten terrible, terrible, terrible video game-based cartoons. And - ohhhh! - here are ten of them right now! 

There's a certain degree of shame to being a geek, isn't there? Or, at least, there's an expectation by others that we should feel ashamed.

Though geek is borderline mainstream these days, there are those who remain mired in the idea that it is somehow socially unacceptable, something to be derided. Liking "geeky" things gives others the opportunity to sneer and look down their noses, and feel briefly superior. You know: like racists do. 

And all that would be fine, if all obsessions were considered equally shameful; liking football, collecting art, being a connoisseur of wine, being into music that tastemakers have deemed "cool"... Once you start picking away at the notion that some interests are "cooler" or less shameful than others, the more absurd and tragic it becomes for those who can't just like something simply because they like it. 

You don't see organised armies of cosplayers fighting en masse in the streets, or being wasted and vomiting in the gutter, or throwing coins at refugee children.

Without meaning to, the stuff I enjoy the most has never been part of that socially acceptable mainstream. My favourite band, Marillion, are probably the most universally derided of all time. I liked Doctor Who during the years where it wasn't okay to like Doctor Who. My favourite place on earth is Disney World. I used to do role-playing. I've got a Back to the Future licence plate on the wall in my downstairs toilet, and an old Astro Wars electronic game on top of my fridge.

Pokemon sort of crept up on me. Not in the sense of it being an urban alleyway creeper with a probe, but in the sense that its significance for me was tangential. 

I played those first couple of Pokemon games, back when we all thought it was actually called Pocket Monsters. In 1999 it was known as this heavily-hyped game from Japan, which was well on its way to becoming a phenomenon.

It had already been out over there for almost three years by the time it hit the UK - and we'd all heard the funny horror stories about an episode of the Pokemon animated TV series which had caused viewers to suffer epileptic fits.

I reviewed the first Pokemon on Digitiser, enjoying it as just another Japanese RPG, not realising that it might become something more, not quite getting the hype. It gripped me initially, for a week or two, but then my interest started to drift away. Because I'm always right about almost everything, I thought the rest of the world would do the same.

With hindsight, I accept I might have been wrong on that occasion.

Pokemon Go has taken the world by storm. In a little over a week, Nintendo's augmented reality game has brought about world peace, and encouraged entitled Millennials to leave the house for the first time in their adult lives, and stop bleating on social media about their clinical vapours for five minutes.

The lure, of course, is Pokemon - finding them, catching them. But what of Pikachu, the so-called Yellow Henry, the Fulvid Storm Baron? He is nowhere to be found - unless you know where to look...

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, who died in Vienna of liver cancer, in 1897 at the age of 63. Sad.

What is not documented, however, is how many game developers have been visited by his ghost. We contacted a bunch of them to get some answers.

Early in Digitiser's life, as we were establishing our house style, we sent a bunch of irreverent Q&As to various game developers and celebrities. Among the handful who bothered to fill them out were Jim Bob from Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, and Terry "El Tel" Pratchett.

Terry was, I'm sure, a kind and courteous man, and clearly much loved, but his one-word answers and snippy response to our "questionnaire" suggested that he only replied in order to tell us how doing so was beneath him.

I've never quite let that go. Maybe we caught him on a bad day or something, but his tone had reminded me of the time I'd sent a poem (yes, yes, alright - let's all laugh at the poetry sap) to the editor of a poetry anthology. He'd sent back a handwritten letter of unfiltered abuse, accusing me of being a liar for "so clearly pretending to be a 14 year-old boy in order to get published".

I was 14 at the time, so excuuuse me for being a junior Ted Hughes.

Alas, we had nothing back from Tucker Jenkins or Gary Glitter, but we did get a reply from Al Lowe, the creator of the Leisure Suit Larry games...

Nintendo's smartphone gamble looks as if it might already be paying off.

Its second app for tell-o-phones, Pokemon Go, was released last week in the USA, Australia and New Zealand, and already has the makings of a phenomenon. Such was the response to the game that Nintendo's shares have soared, the company's servers are collapsing under the weight, and the clamour is so immense that Nintendo has had to postpone the game's UK launch until it is better equipped to meet demand.

Although, it's still fairly easy to get it in the UK, if you know a man...

The game uses augmented reality to encourage players to explore their real-world surroundings, visiting local landmarks to capture Pokemon by flinging Pokeballs at their stupid faces. Captured Pokemon can then be rolled up, stuffed inside a picnic egg, and lobbed at a tramp (made to fight rival Pokemon at "Pokegyms"). 

But that's not all you can do with Pokemon Go! Here be some more (things).

If there is something strange in your neighbourhood... who are you gonna call? Well, it depends upon the nature of the problem. If it's a drug addict, shuffling around with his trousers down, urinating in the street, then it's probably best to call the police.

However, if the nature of the emergency is ghost-based, then perhaps you should consider calling the Ghostbusters. Could you ever become a Ghostbuster yourself? There is but one qualification: not being afraid of no ghost. Please take this non-interactive test to see if you have what it takes.

Please, sir, who are you going to call when you want a good Ghostbusters game? Here is the answer to that question: you are going to call these games.

If you say anything that might be vaguely construed as mocking Christians, one of the things they'll hit you with is "Bet you wouldn't say that about a Muslim".

Yeah, well, before you whip that one out, get a load of this: I'm embarrassed to admit that I used to go to church for years, so I feel pretty qualified to state - from an insider's perspective - the following: Christianity is weird and creepy, and I don't understand how anybody in their right mind could take it literally.

I'm not a Muslim or Jewish, so I can't say with any certainty whether Islam or Judaism is weird and creepy too. Though, let's face it, they probably are. But anyway.

I'm sure there are lots of really nice Christians - I've met some - but why do so many of them have to be so full-on about it? It's off-putting. And the worst thing is when they try to stuff their faith inside something which appears otherwise normal, like rock music, or video games. Prepare to cringe.

Very soon, the schools will break up for the summer, and we'll have six long weeks ahead of us to fill.

"What are we doing today?". 

"Stop asking me that."

"What are we doing tomorrow?"

<SLAP>

Some of us will be fortunate enough to be going on a summer holiday. For the rest of us, who are stuck at home, there is a solution: summer-y video games! Here's a brief summer-y (HAHAHAHA-HAHHAHAH) of the expectation they present us with, versus the less inspiring reality.

Who is Notch? Despite creating Minecraft, perhaps the greatest video game phenomenon of all time, he remains one of the greatest enigmas in gaming history.

But where did he come from, this Notch? Why is he called Notch? What gave him the inspiration for his game? Digitiser2000 reveals all - in this ultimate guide to... The Life of Notch.