Ridge Racer

What a year 1999 was for PlayStation. Developers had new tools to help them squeeze the last drops of horsepower from the machine, brand recognition was global and gameplay was a priority again after the Great Polygon Rush of '96. Ridge Racer Type 4 rode the crest of that wave, offering some of the best graphics the machine ever produced, along with sublime handling, atmosphere and soundtrack. And, unlike Gran Turismo, it hasn't aged badly in the slightest. In fact, it's still sensational. Let me show you why:

Imagination Technologies reckons smartphones (like iPhone and its ilk) will feature PS3-quality graphics in a mere 3 years' time. Impossible? Well, put it this way. 13 years ago, mobile games looked like this:

Above: Snake on a Nokia handset in 1997

They now look like this:

Above: Brothers in Arms 2 on iPhone in 2010

That's a pretty major leap in just 13 years. In 1997, the best graphics on home console were available

A lot can happen in 10 years. And it has. As part of this week's post-mortem of the last decade in gaming, we now present for you some of the weirdest, depressing, arousing, significant, entertaining and amusing events, happenings and milestones that have occurred in the wonderful world of games during the soon-to-be-expired Noughties.

Sometimes, games are so good we say they're 'good enough to eat'. That's usually not strictly true, of course - DVDs, Blu-Ray discs and the human mouth do not mix. But what if games were turned into candy bars? Now there's an idea.

If our Photoshop attempts are anything to go by, there's a huge market of untapped potential just waiting for some entrepreneur to take a lucrative bite. Just try not to dribble on the keyboard,