Why didn't I read "Toys as Culture" by Brian Sutton-Smith before?
He has a fine chapter on videogame as a toy - even though its a bit old. In here we find a videogame psychology:

1) Concentration
2) Visual scanning
3) Auditory discriminations
4) Motor responses
5) Perceptual patterns of learning

At least it gives a clue to the learning potential of older computer games. Still, he certainly explains the game from a ludologic perspective.