We’ve come a long way from pong. An estimated 1.2 billion of us are video game players, and the industry is expected to soon surpass $100 billion in annual sales. As games have evolved from the arcade into the living room and beyond, the experiences they offer have diversified into everything from complex and immersive online worlds that feature millions of players to virtual reality adventures controlled by body motion and, potentially, our minds.

Unfortunately, video games have over the years garnered a less than favourable reputation. They’re accused of turning children into anti-social basement dwellers and robbing them of the chance to climb trees and use their imagination. The Grand Theft Auto series, more than any other game, has courted controversy with its glamorisation of gang culture, drugs, extreme violence and prostitution. In academic studies, researchers claim to have found an increase of about 4% in players’ aggression levels after playing violent games.

But as our tech leaps forward, the enormous potential of video games is only now becoming clear. The medium offers an emotional journey as rich as any work of literature, or mental exercise as rewarding as any intellectual puzzle. Thatgamecompany’s critically acclaimed Journey requires players to co-operate with an unnamed second player elsewhere in the world, communicating only through mime and “singing”.