Ray Maguire - Part Two

It still represents a reasonably cost-effective way of getting data to the consumer. My gut feeling though is that people are looking for more snack-type content, and the downloads side of it will increasingly become a bigger part of its future.

It's also something that development can get into at a much, much lower entry cost, and I think we can see this everywhere, whether it be iPhone applications, whether it be mobile phones - there is an appetite for smaller, snack-type games.

The beauty of the PSP is that the chipset is powerful enough for people to create good quality content, with a good quality screen and great sound. Just because it's smaller in length time-wise doesn't mean that the quality has to suffer.

So - great quality, snacking content, delivered online... absolutely great for the handheld market.

Yes, indeed, and that's why we have open standards supported by the PSP as well, so whether it's MP3s or M-PEG 4s, it's the perfect playback device. But if you want something with some reasonably powerful data-crunching, then use the PSP's chipset.

I feel that if you take film and TV, and you look at what surrounds them in terms of the awards, you see the glamour. It gets media coverage - the consumers, the media, the public look at that and see an environment they want to be associated with. They'd love to go to those awards - it's entertainment, and it's special.

We, on the other hand, have many internal awards but they're not facing the consumer. In a time when it's tough out there, what we really need is the consumers to look at the games industry and see that it's all about art, creativity, innovation and great entertainment. We need to be proud of what we do, and we need to be proud of it in front of consumers.

What better way of doing that than to look at the people who create the games, and award those that create the best with BAFTA masks. Imagine what it would be like to hold a BAFTA mask, if you were part of that team to get that award - that's the kind of spirit we need to capture.

We do very little that faces consumers - this is the best way of doing it. And also, I think we have every right to eat at the same table as film and TV with pride. Many years ago I would have felt embarrassed, that we weren't actually worthy of it, but now we certainly are.

Commercially we're as successful, technology-wise we have some ground-breaking technology, and the crossover is immense in terms of post production. So therefore I think we have every right to be part of it, and every right to be proud of the creativity we have. To reward it is exactly where the industry needs to be.

I think historically there's been a lot of doubt as to why BAFTA were even in this. Why do BAFTA want that, and by the way it doesn't even say 'Games' in the title?

The reality is that BAFTA understands that gaming is now a major part of entertainment, but maybe there was some confusion as to what that actually meant, maybe some people thought it was about revenue? But they didn't know, and actually people still don't know, that BAFTA is a charity. It's not about revenue, it's purely about educating the public on excellence and innovation in the moving image.

So I think we still need to get some more process into BAFTA from people within the creative side of our business, and that's why I'm asking for more members as well, to help shape this.

For those people that have been through the judging process over the past few years they'll notice there's been a big change - those people who are actually judges will appreciate the kind of levels that people went into in going through the games and understanding the nuances of them. The discussions on them have been deep and in some cases very heated - which is great, because it means people are talking about the games and the areas they were judging with some depth. I think if that's the case, when that award goes to someone, you know it was a well-deserved award.

But people do need to support BAFTA more - I'd like to see people come to us with ideas on things to do, because it's not all about one night of awards, it's about 365 days of educating the public about what we do.

So maybe it's in line with the Paddington Academy, teaching kids what it's like to get into TV, or games, or film - there's loads of stuff people could do in going down to the academy and doing masterclasses.