Being Nathan Drake

In recent years, a flood of celebrity talent well-established outside the bounds of gaming has been tempted to cash in on its massive popularity. Fable III alone featured the voices of Stephen Fry, John Cleese, Simon Pegg and Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley.

But a trend that could be seen as a threat to the careers of gaming thespians doesn't worry North. "For me, it's interesting that movie stars aren't really interested in doing it, but actors are. There is a freedom and a beauty in doing this, that is associated with a decent pay cheque as well, that is just like going back to your roots of black box theatre.

"It's not like, let's give Vin Diesel a million dollars for Riddick and he'll do a session. It's changed."

Does he feel he gets enough respect as a games performer from the rest of the acting world? "You're always going to have naysayers," he acknowledges. "But I've gone to jobs now, on-camera jobs, and I've had one of the production crew come up and they're like, 'Can you sign my Uncharted?' And others see it and they're like, 'You're Nathan Drake?!'

"I know people who used to do video games and said you'll eventually move on to animation. Now they're trying to get back to this. The short answer is: who cares? If they have a problem with it, good. Stay away from our playground."

One thing Hollywood can't keep its greedy claws out of is a successful games franchise. And the results have been, almost without exception, astonishingly awful. Nevertheless, with Three Kings writer David O. Russell at the helm of the big screen adaptation of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, there's cautious optimism for the end result.

"I know lots of people will be sceptical," admits Hennig. "Anybody who wants to make an adaptation of Uncharted is in a very difficult position, because our schtick is we're playing in the movie sandbox, knowingly, winkingly saying, 'Hey, we're playing on all the tropes - we're in on the joke together.' If a movie did that, it's eating its own tail.

"Honestly, I would much rather have the guy who made Three Kings making the adaptation of Uncharted than someone else. He's incredibly talented so people should throw him a little trust I think."

For North, it poses a different problem: the gulf in Hollywood between what constitutes 'fame' in movies and games.

"I would love to play myself, but if I were the producer of a movie, would I want to put all my financing behind a proven box office star or someone unknown? It's a very big financial risk that people take," he concedes.

Besides, apart from the occasional bewildered voice-spot when out shopping, Nolan is a star who gets to lead a relatively normal life. "The anonymity is preferred," he insists.

There's talk that North will be offered a walk-on part in the movie, but US star Mark Wahlberg is linked to the lead role. The less said about his involvement in 2008's Max Payne film the better.

North adds: "As long as we keep making the games and it doesn't infringe on my job here I think it's fantastic that David O. Russell, and whoever he chooses for his cast, go out and make their movie and their version of this."

For gamers, at least, the prospect of another shoddy, inauthentic Hollywood adaptation is likely to prove little more than a minor distraction ahead of the massively-anticipated release this November of their Drake's third adventure.

"Uncharted 2 was not the pinnacle and it's up to the public to see if 3 is," says North. "If 4 is Drake in space and he's fighting alien shark people, it's over. But until then, we avoid the shark people and the moon and I think we're OK.

"One of the biggest reasons this game is so successful is [Hennig's] writing. I've done film, TV, other games, and nothing I've ever done is better written. And it's hard to do this," he adds, moments before waddling back on set in his rubber suit to capture a new scene.

"Naughty Dog really are going more in-depth than on any game I've ever done. And I've done a couple..."