You, like us, may feel that the PlayStation 2, the PSOne and the Cold War, are rather quaint. You might feel that they refer to more innocent times when planting bugs in the US embassy in Moscow, and/or playing Actua Soccer 3 were the heights of entertainment.

Well don't. Because we reckon that if you do, then you - along with Harold Nicholson and his son Nathan - are probably still spying for the Russians! Harold's been locked up in a US Federal Prison in Oregon (oh, the humanity!) since 1997. His crime? He passed details of this then CIA colleagues onto the Reds for money.

Not only that, but even on the inside the man is dangerous. So dangerous that he's even managed to train his 24 year-old, former Army paratrooper, son into continuing the family business. So, where's the gaming aspect?

The New York Times explains: "Prosecutors said Nathan Nicholson, a former Army paratrooper, had returned from his (2006) visits with the Russians with at least $35,000 in cash, some of it in a PlayStation video game case. The money was intended in part to settle a 'pension' that Harold Nicholson said was owed him from his days as a C.I.A. spy for the Russians before his arrest in 1996, the prosecutors said."

Now, we have to assume that the PlayStation in question was a PSP. We are assuming this because:

(a) The Russian paymasters would have looked at the PS3 case and said, "No one's got enough roubles to fill that! And, if you can afford one, you don't need our money tovarich."

(b) Who the hell takes a PS2 on holiday to visit their Russian paymasters?

(c) A PSOne, well... there wasn't any room inside the PSOne.

Unlike many other enemies of the United States in recent years, both the Nicholsons were able to plead not guilty in open court last week. We hope the judge, being an American citizen, is not an Xbox fanboy otherwise the Nicholsons have no chance.