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Alex Zane Talks Old School Games And A Virtual Reality Future On The BAFTA Red Carpet

Published Sat, 17 Mar 2012 04:28:29 -0500

Those of you who followed my – frankly quite poor – attempts at live-tweeting the BAFTA Video Game Awards last night will already have heard about some of the interviews that will be surfacing over the next week. During the evening I caught up with the triumphant Joshua Weir, head of development for Portal 2, who was left with the burden of carrying three BAFTA awards home all by himself (trust me, those things are heavy). We'll also be publishing a few words from Aaron Staton, star of Mad Men, who was in London representing the eight-times nominated LA Noire.

Whilst huddled in the foyer of the London Hilton on Park Lane, I stopped red carpet veteran Alex Zane for a few questions about the night's proceedings. Zane was presenting the award for Best Debut Game (which went to the memorably-titled Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet), and as an avid gamer himself was able to give a bit of insight into the event's nominees.

Bleeding Cool: Which games are you rooting for tonight?

Alex Zane: I'm rooting for LA Noire.

BC: Any other games? Are you a big gamer?

AZ: I am, I'm a very big gamer. Any other favourites … Batman: Arkham City, I thought that was fantastic. Really, those are the two games that dominated my last twelve months.

BC: What are your thoughts on the latest innovations in gaming, like 3D and motion sensor controls?

AZ: I am more of a solitary gamer. I grew up playing games on my own in my bedroom, and now I play games on my own in … just a room entirely based on playing video games, really, which is kind of good. Like a cave of fun. I play on my own, I don't even use XBox Live or anything because it scares me. I find it much more fun to go into your own little world, away from reality.

BC: Do you have any personal favourite games?

AZ: Well, my favourite game of all time is actually Speedball 2, on the Commodore 64. That was just the greatest sports game, probably one of the greatest games ever. The Bitmap Brothers I followed like they were a cult. But probably the two greatest games of all time, it's a relatively boring answer, were Goldeneye on the N64 and Mario Kart on the SNES.

BC: Do you think we'll get virtual reality gaming in our lifetime?

AZ: Do you know what, I bloody hope so! Wouldn't that be amazing? If you could completely immerse yourself in a game and yet remain safe. You see, that's my fear. I saw that Bruce Willis movie Surrogate recently, where people put their minds inside different bodies and then go out and think they're entirely safe … but it turns out they're not. Or like that movie Gamer.

BC: Would you be interested in doing voice acting or motion capture for games yourself?

AZ: Oh yeah, of course! If someone said, "Listen, we need someone to play a TV presenter in one of our games. You die early on, but it's a good part!" … I'd be like, "Yeah, alright."

BC: Excellent, we'll put the word out that you're available.

AZ: If you could do that, that would be lovely.

It's not as far-fetched as it might seem. Journalist and presenter Danny Wallace was offered a role in Assassin's Creed II whilst at the 2008 BAFTA Video Game Awards, and IGN presenter Jessica Chobot can be seen/heard in the most recent instalment of the Mass Effect franchise, where she plays news reporter Diana Allers.

You heard it here first, game developers: Alex Zane is available and could be the voice of your next short-lived TV presenter character.

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