PlayStation2 and X-Box are all very well. But for die-hard video-game connoiseurs the Golden Age ended on 1 February, when Sega announced that the Dreamcast was to cease production after just three years. Stung by Sony's success since 1995 with PlayStation, the veteran video-game firm had put all its energies into a final charge on the hearts and minds of kids and adultescents with an affordable, technologically advanced new console.

The main target is the so-called youth market. But Mr Jones points out that this has expanded over recent years, at least partly due to the arrival of "adultescents" (people past the usual cut-off point of 30 with a youthful outlook).

Communicating to pre-family adults should be the easiest thing in the world for marketers. After all, most of them fit into the 20 to 34-year-old age profile, even if some do have children. But the adultescent marketplace presents problems for three reasons.