Whats more, Sony arranged for us to have a little chat with the man himself.
And every now and then, we remembered to talk aboutNo Mans Skyas part of it.
Take heed at the part at the bottom of this interview, too.
Bill Bailey for Mayor of Den Of Geek, anyone?…
Is this your cunning way of bringingBlack Booksback?
Its like hes swallowed some sort of cosmic gadget!
Well, would that it was!
Thats not the case.
Its down to whether Dylan is keen.
Fans have campaigned for you to be inThe Hobbit, to be inStar Trek… Im slightly nervous about these things now, as I think they may have a negative effect.
And the online petition gets signatures, and I dont know what happens.
If it goes to the director, who goes, oh no, its the petition guy again!
Why cant he go through the proper channels?
He just keeps coming in with a big pile of signatures.
These people want him to be in it!
Go for a Bond villain.
Actually, Id be up for that.
I think thatd be great.
Would you like me to start a petition?
Maybe not a petition!
Maybe Id go for a natural history angle: a lizard expert?
We really think that the Bond villain should be stroking a bearded dragon or something!
Theyve missed a trick.
I didnt really think the last villain was very good.
He was good with gadgets that poke in your ear, but that was it.
He was like a slightly odd dentist.
Maybe that was the plan.
Thats the Batman villain that never was: The Dentist.
Hed strike fear into everyone!
Not sinceMarathon Manhas there been a decent dentist in the movies.
Little Shop Of Horrors?
Yeah, I suppose.
ButMarathon Manis the one.
Maybe it should be something like a chiropodist.
A really evil foot specialist.
[Laughs]
For Bond or Batman?
Someone whos really good at doing your toes, and sorting out your cracked heel.
Were you always a computer-y person?
Were you a Spectrum or a Commodore 64 person?
I did have the Commodore, certainly.
It was great fun, because it was just me.
Its been fascinating to see how games have developed.
I think gaming has influenced popular culture in a huge way.
Its worked its way into novels, and blockbuster movies.
One of my favourite films of recent times wasEdge Of Tomorrow, which is basically a game.
Live, die, repeat: thats the essence of all thoseCall Of Duty, first person shooter games.
Its why its so pleasing as a film.
Films and gaming are blurring together, and it makes for brilliant popcorn entertainment.
There was also a subtle subtext to it.
Maybe not even conscious: Tom Cruise doesnt play an action hero in it.
Hes an action-shy media monkey.
Hes there to sell the war with shiny teeth and a nice smile.
And you almost think thats what film stars are.
They sell the idea of action heroes to us.
The sort of aspirational characters.
But actually its artifice.
Just because hes been through it hundreds of times.
It summed up to me that this is exactly the gaming experience, but in a film context.
You know theres talk of Edge Of Tomorrow 2?
Im thinking of another petition here.
[Laughs]
I think youre the villain.
And gets them to do their bidding!
[Laughs]
We can work on that.
I should ask aboutNo Mans Sky, though.
Its a game with 18 million squillion planets, or something like that.
Even though many of us will only see a smaller number of them!
How do you feel when you see something like this?
You as someone endlessly fascinated with the world, and whos tried to communicate that through your work?
I was fascinated by it.
I saw the trailers for it, and I thought this is genuinely a genre-bending game.
There have been procedurally-generated games before, and games that randomly generate.
But nothing on this scale or ambition.
Theres something utterly mind-boggling, what youre experiencing.
Flying over planets, and planets just appear.
Because its generated, none of this exists!
Its not like the artwork that you see in a game likeFallout: thatsthere, that existssomewherein your console.
But this is entirely virtual and its never been seen before.
They would never know what they were going to see.
The world had never been stepped on before, creatures had never been seen before.
And theres a wistfulness about it.
The loneliness of space, yet the beauty of it.
Its not designed in that ultra-realistic, gritty sci-fi way.
Its got a vintage, retro feel to it.
I thought it was extraordinary.
This is right up my street!
Only a game can do this.
And I think this opens a door on many other possibilities.
But this opens up a door to ultimate possibility, infinite possibility.
Its almost infinite: there are a billion billion planets.
I cant think of much bigger than that.
But that can apply to other things as well.
In a practical way, simulation of all manner of scenarios.
It frees up the idea of following pre-ordained paths, which so many games have.
A great, really cute idea.
But they are still pre-ordained.No Mans Skyis completely off the scale.
Is that still the case?
Still very much a possibility!
Im still fascinated by it, and were still…. relatively recently we had another meeting about it.
We went into partnership with a different production company.
Thats taken over a little bit.
Its one of those ideas that gets put on the bench, and will get its turn.
I will donate 5 now to the crowdfunding appeal to make it.
[Laughs] [A lot]
Im from the Midlands 5 is a little of money!
Also, weve never asked you your favourite Jason Statham movie before?
The originalThe TransporterI think, was so brutally effective.
You and Sir Kenneth Branagh chose that.
There you go, good company.
I havent seenSpyyet, so cant comment on that!
That looks brilliant as well.
What next for you now?
Finishing the tour, and your new sitcom?
DVD, Netflix, Amazon, one of those kind of things.
And then Im writing a book Im on deadline on British birds.
You did a TV show for Sky about that?
Its a personal account of encounters in British birds.
To encourage people to know all the birds around them.
Most people just look out the window, and say is that a pigeon?
Ive illustrated it myself too.
Ive discovered this knack I never knew I had!
I look forward to that.Its always a pleasure, Bill Bailey.
If wed ever have a Mayor of Den Of Geek, its you.
I will wear a big, blingy chain of office.
I would love that.
Be careful what you say.
Someone reading this may well make this chain.
Youd be perfect for the job, though.
Youd treat it with the perfect pithy disdain the office deserves!
[Laughs]
Alright!
Thats it then, Bill Bailey.
Youre the Mayor Of Den Of Geek.
I want an open top bus parade around the office.
Again, be careful what you wish for!
Bill Bailey, thank you very much!
Heres the promotional video forNo Mans Sky…
