For years they were the staple of the computer gaming community. Publishers would release new versions of popular games and hordes of devotees rushed out to buy them, challenging one another to finish their many levels first.

Now the age of the grand strategy game appears to be ebbing away, as the boss of the largest computer and video game publishers declared many of today's offerings "boring", and called on companies to appeal more to casual game players.

John Riccitiello, the chief executive of Electronic Arts, which publishes The Sims and will also release the official Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix game, said that many of today's games lacked innovation, and that the formula of releasing sequels needed to change or audiences would drift away.

Strategy games, which often cost between £25 and £30, take up to 40 hours to finish, and would only ever be finished by a few players, were singled out for particular criticism.

"We're boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play," Mr Riccitiello said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. "For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat. There's been lots of product that looked like last year's product, that looked a lot like the year before."

Mr Riccitiello praised a handful of games, including Guitar Hero, made by Activision as well as Blizzard Entertainment's online role-playing game, World of Warcraft. He also singled out one which was part-released by his own company, called Rock Band.

But on the whole not enough titles were breaking new ground, he said, and game developers would have to be much more innovative when they produced sequels to popular games.

The games business was "at risk of being a little less interesting than Facebook and iPods and the next cool cellphone," Mr Riccitiello said.

Mr Riccitiello's comments, which came ahead of the E3 games conference in Santa Monica, California, this week, echo the views of many within the industry, but such criticisms are rarely voiced by the executives of companies which make games.

The success of the Nintendo Wii, which according to industry figures is outselling Sony's PS3 by a rate of two to one in the UK, is often attributed to its ability to attract customers who wouldn't traditionally consider themselves gamers.

Ten Best Games (according to Edge magazine, 2007)

1) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)

2) Resident Evil 4 (GameCube, PlayStation 2)

3) Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)

4) Half-Life 2 (PC)

5) Super Mario World (Super Nintendo)

6) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super Nintendo)

7) Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox)

8) Final Fantasy XII (PlayStation 2)

9) Tetris (Various)

10) Super Metroid (Super Nintendo)

Ten Worst Games (according to PC World magazine, 2006)

1. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (Atari, 1982)

2. Super Columbine Massacre RPG (PC, 2005)

3.Custer's Revenge (Atari 2600, 1982)

4. Daikatana (Varous, 2000)

5. Pac-Man (Atari, 1981)

6. Smurf Rescue (Atari 2600, 1982)

7. Shaq Fu (Various, 1994)

8. Make My Video (Sega, 1992)

9. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (Various, 2004)

10. Elf Bowling (Nintendo DS, 2005)