Rod Cousens - Part One

So - what we want to do with Formula 1, a) it's not on a single format, b) we're not prepared to compromise, because we've gone out this year on just the Wii and PlayStation Portable because we didn't feel we could do justice to the capabilities of next-gen formats in that time frame.

The quality of the Wii game is going to be great, and equally, the quality of the subsequent releases on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC next year will also be great. So it's multi-format, and it's an experience - there will be a lot more in the game itself, the experience of racing, the whole pit scene... and the sexiness that goes with Formula 1 - it's rock 'n' roll in may ways. It is literally 'live the life'.

You look at the drivers, Hamilton, Button - they're great for the UK - but you look at up-and-coming drivers like Vettel and Alonso... these guys are rock stars in their own countries, so the game itself is going to be everything you'd expect from us in terms of a racing experience, but in terms of Formula 1 the event, it's also going to put that out there too

And we'll continue to expand that through each rendition, which is why we don't believe we're going to have jaded consumers which then turn off of the category.

I don't buy off on that argument. Yes, the economy is a constraint and videogames are not recession-proof, contrary to popular belief - but it's all about stimulating the consumer. I've been in this business for a long time, but one of the most exciting things about our industry - and I pray to God that we never move off this - but from day one since we walked in the door we've always tried to be experimental, to be innovative, to take things into new areas and to make it interesting.

That, as a software-creator - a developer, publisher, or whatever - that has to be part of our charter. If we don't do that, the consumer has a lot of choice now - we're in time-based entertainment and there's pressure on that time - if we stagnate, or it falls, we as an industry will simply drive them elsewhere.

The issue is, you get back to a bigger debate which is that we're all fighting for a piece of shelf space here, and it's very easy - and I understand it from a retailer's point of view - to go down a safer route because they'll take another FIFA, another Tiger Woods, another Call of Duty.

But after a while that wears a bit thin, and I believe there's an element of that shelf space that has to be put over to new IP - there has to be an element within the software publisher's remit to create awareness - but there's also an element that within the ownership of the content creator is the ability to go direct to consumer via online.

That's both to promote the catalogue of products - otherwise where do you get that? If sales approaches top twenty... which is what the music industry has done in the past, the movie industry, the book industry and is able to do again through people like Amazon - how do you exploit your catalogue?

Shelf space is the equivalent to air play for music, so you work it by establishing direct-to-consumer links, and then through those links start to create new IP and give them what they want.

If you ask me on a future vision I think what you then do is involve the consumer with user-generated content, you start to create a whole new universe... and then it really does get exciting.