Why can't I beat my 12-year-old at computer games?

An expert recently advised parents to play computer games along with their children - but have they any hope of winning? According to William Shakespeare: "Cowards die many times before their deaths." If he had been alive today, he could have added that the middle-aged computer gamer dies with even greater regularity. Every day, as I try to recapture the skills of my youth, I suffer the ignominy of being repeatedly blasted out of virtual existence, probably by a primary school pupil. Then, as I grudgingly hand over the console controller to my 12-year-old son, I watch as he makes it all look so easy.