At the BAFTAs though, things are different. Sure, you have your Eastenders actors and T4 presenters, but all seem to have a great grasp of the industry and could chat with ease about consoles past.
Heading this charge was charismatic TV presenter and film critic Jonathan Ross, who had attended the show with his son Harvey and wife Jane Goldman. I managed to catch a few moments with Jonathan before the event, as he was walking up the red carpet, and just afterwards when all the awards were handed out.
Check out his gaming knowledge - you’ll be surprised to know what his favourite game is.
Jonathan Ross: I think the greatest game in the universe would either be Ghouls n’ Ghosts - the 16-bit version on the Mega Drive - or Tatsujin on the Mega Drive years ago. That was an upwards-scrolling shoot’em up which has never been beaten. [Pause] Also, King of Fighters II on the Neo Geo! Yes!
SPOnG: Who do you think is going to win tonight?
Jonathan Ross: Do you know what? I don’t know who’s going to be in that category, to be honest with you. I imagine it’d be Call of Duty, Batman, Mass Effect 3. Is one of the Uncharted games in there?
SPOnG: It isn’t!
Jonathan Ross: See, I’ve been playing the new Uncharted game on the PlayStation Vita. And it’s a really good machine. I wonder whether or not handheld consoles are facing certain doom, because of these little fellas [takes out smartphone]. But the processor is incredible, the graphics are great, I love the... backward-fiddling thing [Rear Touch Pad]. Whatever they call that. I don’t think they trademarked it as the ‘Backward-Fiddling Thing’ though.
SPOnG: You obviously know your games.
Jonathan Ross: Reasonably, but my son Harvey plays all the time. My wife is also a big Rift and World of Warcraft player.
Jonathan Ross: I think they should go back to 8-bit, I’ll be honest with you. I get lost! I get lost in these horrible 3D worlds, where you’re running around. I can’t do that. When I’m playing with Harvey on Call of Duty or something [turns to Harvey] What’s the one with the--
Harvey: You couldn’t get into the lift in Dead Island! You were just running against the wall.
Jonathan Ross: Yeah, I’m still stuck on the roof in that zombie one. There’s that - what’s that one, Left 4 Dead? Yeah. I’m stuck on the roof! I can’t get off! I don’t know how you get off the roof in that game. So--
Harvey: You open the door.
Jonathan Ross: But I couldn’t open the door! There’s no button for the door opening when I played it.
Harvey: The X button!
Jonathan Ross: Ah, see, but you were playing it on Easy [grins]! Anyway, I like simple games, but these guys, they like the full-on experience. They’ll be the first ones wearing the tech helmets when they come out and lose themselves in a kind of William Gibson-style virtual world.
Harvey: Probably Half-Life 2 or Portal.
Jonathan Ross: You like a bit of FIFA as well, when the boys are round?
Harvey: Yeah, but that’s like a lad’s game. It’s not really like, I wouldn’t call it... [laughs]
Jonathan Ross: If you couldn’t tell from looking at me, I’m a big Zumba Fitness fan [laughs]! But Jane likes - you mainly like Rift at the moment, right?
Jane: Yeah, I do like my Rift.
Jonathan Ross: Can I tell your shameful secret?
Jane: What?
Jonathan Ross: Ah yeah.
Jane: No. No!
Jonathan Ross: Jane plays some sort of weird horse-raising game on the iPad. I would get an email of a horse wearing a hat and a message saying, ‘hey, I just sent you this great picture!’ And it’s a really ugly freak of a horse, wearing a pilgrim’s hat! But she gets more gold by sending me, frankly, obscene and unwelcome pictures of a horse.
Jane: I also like Tiny Tower.
Jonathan Ross: You have the biggest Tiny Tower in the world, don’t you? How many floors is it?
Jane: It’s something like, 150?
Soon after this random tangent, Jonathan and his family were ushered upstairs to enjoy their dinner in the stunning Hilton dining hall. I watched the drama unfold from a wee TV screen whilst holed up in a press room, but the announcements and speeches were no less emotional, surprising and confusing.
Throughout the night, it was evident that Portal 2 was the big winner of the evening, taking away three awards including the Game of the Year accolade that Jonathan had presented on stage. As the press congratulated the winners as they ambled down the Winner’s Run, I had another quick chat with Jonathan to see how he felt about the winner.
Jonathan Ross: I think it was the one I wanted to win tonight, yeah. But, to be fair I haven’t played all the games in that list. I’ve not played Skyrim. Everyone says Skyrim’s incredible, and I’m surprised it didn’t win anything tonight. It’s odd, but it’s a great game and... here’s the weird thing. All those games that were nominated tonight were all the best games that are out at the moment.
Nintendo didn’t win anything, but their games were all incredible this year as well. Lots of games didn’t win. Batman won a lot, Portal won a lot, and those are the games that people responded to the most, but they deserve to win. They’re great games.
SPOnG: Are you a massive fan of Portal yourself?
Jonathan Ross: I haven’t played Portal 2, I’ve got to admit. I’ve played Portal 1, and a little bit of Team Fortress with Harvey. I’d get on that next, but I can’t right now. I’ve got to finish Mass Effect 2, so I can go onto Mass Effect 3.
SPOnG: What’s your all-time favourite console and character?
Jonathan Ross: Oh, I can’t say. I love all the old consoles.
Jonathan Ross: Well, I love Dreamcast, but I also love the Gamecube. I also love the Wii. I love my Neo Geo. I’ve got a Turbografx from America, and a SuperGrafx from Japan. I’ve got the Turbografx Portable, which is probably the best handheld ever, and it also works as a TV thing. The Game Gear was great. My Game Boy gets a lot of love, and I really like the new PlayStation Vita. I don’t really have a favourite. The Bandai Wonderswan was quite good... I’ve got them all!
SPOnG: Thank you very much for your time tonight.
Jonathan Ross: My pleasure. Thank you!
Take a look at the BAFTA game winners here.