George Ttoouli - Computer Games vs. Poets

Following on from a recent exchange with Andrew Bailey I quickly realised it would in fact be a good thing to compare poets to computer games.

Here is the list so far, which can be considered open-ended and highly questionable:

Pac-Man - Wendy Cope
(Gobbles radio space like little white pills and every so often goes on a rampage through the ghosts of poetic history)

Mario Bros - Seamus Heaney
(Instantly recognisable, endlessly serialised)

R-Type - JH Prynne
(My own description of this game would be damn nigh impossible, with too many opportunities for instant failure, but I was pretty crap at this, much more in favour of Xenon II)

Galaga - John Clare
("a highly under-appreciated classic" - AB)

Ikaruga - The Cambridge School
("massively difficult, and probably wouldn't reward the input it demands to someone who'd picked that up immediately without having a history of serious exposure to this genre")

Defender - Beowulf

Dragon's Lair - ...
("flashy and impressive on first exposure, but ultimately reveals itself to be a hollow waste of your attention. Pick your own poet for that one, I'm not risking the sheer venom that may result." - AB)

Golden Axe - Simon Armitage
(repetitive but fun, easy to get through, with some nice moments and a good finale)

Here are some random games without names:

Rambo: First Blood
Asteroids
Space Invaders
Populous
Spectipede (anyone other than me that remembers this one is instantly soulbrother/sister material)
Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters
Planescape: Torment
Wipeout (the original, based on TRON, not the stupid handheld space-racer)
Wolfenstein 3D
Monkey Island
Rampage
Altered Beast
Zork
OutRun
Space Harrier
Afterburner
Q*Bert
CrystalCastles
Gauntlet
Jet Pac
Jet Set Willy
Bubble Bobble
Elite
Final Fantasy
Bomber Jack
Shadow of the Beast
Eye of the Beholder
Civilisation
Max Payne
Grim Fandango
Ping Pong (should this automatically go to Sappho?)

Suggestions, reasons & complaints on postcards, or failing that, in comments.