Do you ever wonder, chums, what game fans like ourselves might be able to learn from the world of science? If not, stop reading now.

Ever felt like giving up all the time?

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There’s a theory in science, chums, that the universe has been continually growing in size since the Big Bang, but that eventually the power of that first ever explosion will be exhausted and the universe will start to shrink back in on itself until everything in existence is compressed into one tiny point of unimaginable density.

Of course, we don’t know for sure that we didn’t reach that peak a long time ago. For all we know, the universe as we know it is contracting at a perilous rate even as we speak.

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The reason I bring this up is that, if we think for a moment of the world of videogames as a microcosm of the universe in general, I have a horrible feeling that we may already have embarked upon the Big Shrink.

And why do I think that? Isn’t it obvious? Because since the advent of the Playstation 2, the videogames industry has, for the first time in history, started moving backwards.

Let’s look at the facts, eh?

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Practically everything about the PS2 marks a backwards step for videogames. Let’s start with the games world’s usual benchmark of progress – graphics.

A year and a half after the PS2’s world debut, the supposed super-console can’t boast a single game with graphics to match its predecessor, the Dreamcast. The DC’s best-looking games (namely Soul Calibur and Shenmue) both easily outstrip PS2 flagship Gran Turismo 3, which has little other than some occasionally beautiful lighting to mark it out from the crowd.

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It’s also true that despite all the promises about the Emotion Engine bringing us entirely new kinds of gameplay, the PS2 has also failed so far to even match the range of experiences offered by previous machines, far less outstrip it.

Thanks to the demands made by the PS2 audience for more of the same hackneyed old Formula-One-and-FIFA drivel (all of the machine’s top sellers have been sequels in already-tired series), there’s nothing on the shelves for even the slightly adventurous gamer.

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And when it comes to technical issues, the PS2’s backwards slide becomes more like a full-on sprint retreat. In every area you care to mention, Sony’s machine undoes all the progress done by previous consoles.

Four joypad ports, eliminating the need for expensive and clumsy multitaps, as with the Dreamcast and Gamecube? Nope.

Built-in modem for net access, email and online gaming, as seen on the DC two years ago? Nope. (18 months later, it’s still not even an optional extra.)

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Innovative memory card with a useful independent display screen, previously on the DC and PS1 (in Japan only), or genius Gamecube-style integration of a handheld console for the same purpose? Not on the PS2, chums.

Hardware and development initiatives to produce proper PAL conversions/60Hz display options so that European gamers don’t get short-changed with ugly, slow versions of once-great games? A great step forward by the Dreamcast, a fat flop backwards from the PS2. I’ll stop now before we all get too depressed.

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Oh, except one other thing. After a few years of getting used to new consoles coming in at affordable prices, Sony booted us all back to square one again by doubling the price of the PS2 to accommodate an inferior-quality DVD player, even though anyone who actually wanted a DVD player can buy a good multi-region one for less than £100.