In an exclusive interview with Reuters LIFE!, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson admitted that he is cuckoo for computer gaming.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – Action star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson isn’t going to hide it — he’s a gaming geek.

Johnson, who stands 6-foot-five tall and weighs about 250 lbs (114 kgs), was one of the most popular wrestlers in the U.S. World Wrestling Entertainment circuit before he started making movies.

His latest movie, “Gridiron Gang”, in which he plays a football coach in a juvenile prison, topped the U.S. box office over the weekend.

Johnson, 34, is also the lead character in a new video game, “Spyhunter: Nowhere to Run” in which he plays government super-spy Alex Decker. The game was released this month.

Johnson talks to Reuters about his love of gaming.

Q: WHEN DID YOU START GAMING?

A: “I was eight-years-old when I first got my Atari and from there it branched off into the television, then into Coleco Vision from there, to Nintendo and to Sega.

“Atari was the coolest thing but before that I used to live in arcades. Every kid would hang out in arcades. There was this game called Dragon’s Lair which was just amazing and I remember being 11 or 12 and being obsessed with that game. It just opened you up especially if you were a kid like me with this vivid imagination. I got reality and fantasy blurred often when I was a kid.”

Q: DO YOU STILL PLAY MUCH?

A: “Hmmm. If I could buy something that I just can’t buy it would be time. There is so much to do and so many responsibilities. I always makes sure that I have my Xbox set up wherever I go. I have one in my living room, in my office, one in my trailer. So whenever it hits me, I can play the game Madden ’06 or ’07. If I could play every day I would but I just don’t have the time. I know it is a little excessive to have one in every room just in case it hits me.

Q: WHAT IS YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE GAME?

A: “The top game I have ever played would have to be Madden ’93. I mastered that game. We used to have tournaments all night long back at college at the University of Miami, when we should have been studying. I just remember us all being so involved in that game. All the Madden series, I am a big fan of them.”

Q: DOES THE LEVEL OF VIOLENCE IN GAMES WORRY YOU?

A: “I think some games become violent just for the sake of being violent. Of course in Spyhunter you shoot guys and they die. You break their necks and they die. But (there are) some games when you just have heads blowing off (which) can be fun at times when you see it but it can be too much.”

Q: DO YOU LET YOUR FIVE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER ON VIDEO GAMES?

A: “She’s already on the computer at home, She’s gaming Dora, the Dora Explorer games. It’s amazing. She can’t read but she can turn the computer on and play. You have to see what she is playing. That is the responsibility for parents. She gets 30 minutes a day but it is all education games that she does.”

Q: YOU NO LONGER WRESTLE BUT YOU STILL STAY FIT?

A: “I train every day. For me it becomes my sanctuary. I am able to get away from all the craziness, all the activity and all the people that surround me every day. I get away by myself, with my Ipod, headphones, for an hour to an hour-and-a-half. That is when you do most of your thinking too.”