Kotaku: actors

The Men, And Women, Of Video Game Voice Work

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:00:00 MST

There's a neat feature up on Gameplayer at the moment. It's pulling back the veil on the voice actors behind 70 of gaming's greatest characters (though they cheat on some, and others aren't so great).

The cheaters are using guys like John "Bender" Di Maggio, who have done voice work for tons of characters, and by listing characters like "Over the Hedge - Dwayne the Exterminator/Rat #2". Which aren't so great.

But the rest? Interesting stuff! Esepcially the bit about Nolan North, aka Nathan Drake, aka the most mis-cast Prince of Persia imaginable. Did you know he even made it into Halo 3? Well, he did!

70 Great Game Characters Unmasked [Gameplayer]

Red Alert 3 Talent Remix Dance Party!

Mike Fahey — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:00:00 MDT

The most glorious thing you will ever see in your life is George Takai of Star Trek fame saying "All your base are belong to us" in this talent remix trailer for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, and then it gets even better, cowboy style. This is the best game trailer I have ever seen in my entire life. You watch, I go wipe away tears.

Niko Bellic's Voice Voices Pay Concerns

Mike Fahey — Wed, 21 May 2008 08:20:00 MDT

While gamers might not immediately recognize the name or face of Michael Hollick, his voice might ring a bell. Hollick is the actor who gave voice to Niko Bellic, the main character in Grand Theft Auto IV, which has made over half a billion dollars since its release last month. What kind of pay does a man starring in such a blockbuster property bring home these days? According to Mr. Hollick, only around $100,000 over the course of 15 months, and residuals? Forget about it.

“Obviously I’m incredibly thankful to Rockstar for the opportunity to be in this game when I was just a nobody, an unknown quantity,” Mr. Hollick, 35, said last week...“But it’s tough, when you see Grand Theft Auto IV out there as the biggest thing going right now, when they’re making hundreds of millions of dollars, and we don’t see any of it.

Unlike other forms of entertainment, the Screen Actor's Guild doesn't have policy in place for video games, so actors don't get royalties on each game sold, even if the game becomes one of the best selling titles of all time.

Games companies aren't exactly itching to hop on the royalties bandwagon either. While it would be easy enough to institute, they fear that soon designers, graphics artists, programmers...basically everyone involved in the production of a video game would be wanting similar agreements. Dogs and cats, living together, total anarchy.

The issue more than likely won't see a resolution anytime soon, but the more games like GTA IV that get released, the hotter the topic becomes, until eventually they start selling kitschy retro t-shirts with cartoon logos on them.

A Video Game Star and His Less-Than-Stellar Pay [The New York Times - Thanks Campion!]