Why no Damon in Bourne game?

High Moon Studios has explained why Matt Damon won't be appearing in the new Bourne game - arguing it'll be just as much fun to play without him.

Damon may play the title role in the movies, but you won't see his likeness or hear his voice in The Bourne Conspiracy. "His interest in videogames is marginal," said High Moon's Meelad Sadat.

"We were in the thick of development and he made an announcement that he no longer wanted to do Bourne movies. His exact quote was, 'I've ridden that horse as long as I can ride it.'

"About an hour later at High Moon Studios we decided that celebrity was not important to this game."

It's important to a fair few other Sierra games, mind. The Ghostbusters tie-in will feature the four main cast members plus Janine and Walter Peck, while Gary Oldman and Christina Ricci are doing voiceovers for the new Spyro.

But as far as High Moon's concerned, it's better to focus on making the game good instead of spending time schmoozing stars. "We're trying to build a franchise and whether we can do that depends on the success of the first game," Sadat stated.

"The last thing we need is for every game to go celebrity hunting because George Clooney is the new Bourne or Ben Affleck is the next Bourne. The experience is that we want the player to become Bourne.

"We used the stunt double in the movies to do all the motion capture, we used the fight co-ordinator to make the player feel like he's Bourne on the screen," continued Sadat. "We work with Ludlum Entertainment to make it very Bourne-like, let's not slap the other stuff on there that would probably hinder development and eventually affect the success of the game."

The Bourne Conspiracy is out on PS3 and Xbox 360 in June. For videos, screenshots and a preview, visit the gamepage.