Dushku: games now "almost acceptable"

WET voice actress Eliza DUSHKU reckons videogames now so cool people no longer need to lie about liking them.

"Videogames have almost become acceptable and cool for grown ups - not for people who are just in their teens," the Buffy actress told the BBC.

"I know so many people - friends, actors, directors - who are older and used to maybe play in private, but who can now say it loud and proud."

DUSHKU lends her voice to Rubi Malone, the heroine of upcoming action game WET. And she has previously voiced characters in Saints Row 2 and Yakuza.

But Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke, who plays Rogue Trooper protagonist Dick Marcinko, reckons videogames have a long way to go before actors will regard them as highly as films.

"I don't really think people yet are comparing the two, insofar as somebody's performance in a videogame as opposed to a feature film," he said.

"The fact is when I go out and see another actor we're not going to talk about videogames."

Rourke's comments echo what Joe Kucan - more commonly known as Kane from the Command & Conquer series - told us in early 2008: "I think there's still snobbery; I think there's still a massive misunderstanding about what the work actually is."

One actress not being a snob, however, is Maggie Q, whose role in Need For Speed Undercover was envied by her friends and colleagues.

"Everyone I've mentioned it to, honestly - actors, directors, producers, people I've worked with... I've just gotten back from a movie last week, and all the guys I worked with were like, 'Where you going?' And I told them I was doing this game and they were like, 'Coooool!'" said Q last August.