"It's been awesome," he says. "I have always been into video games and there have only been a few skating games through history so I ate them up. I was really happy to finally help develop one because I knew there was more potential in it.

"I never thought it would go to number four though. I just thought it would be something that skaters appreciated and then it would be over," he says.

Despite his celebrity status, he comes across as unassuming and down to earth. And he tries to keep in touch with his fans, answering the 3,000 e-mails he gets a month.

Hawk denies that the success of the Pro Skater games is just down to having a celebrity tie-in.

"The video gaming community is very fickle so they are not going to just buy it because some name is attached to it," he says. "It might work one time, but the fact is we keep making it much better and always challenging. It is not just about the names involved but that does give it authenticity."