Sony: Skip Celeb Voice Acting

Let professional voice actors do the dialog in games, and skip the marquee celebs - that's the advice of Sony dialog manager Greg deBeer. Why? In an interview with Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield, deBeer said he feels "hearing an identifiable celebrity voice takes you away from the game."

Instead of being immersed in this environment with these characters who are supposed to be a part of whatever world you're playing, you say, "Oh, I recognize that voice," and it brings you back into the real world. It's a very disruptive experience for me personally.

I don't necessarily disagree, but in the swap-over between games and English-dubbed anime, often fans end up hearing familiar voices from one game to another, anyway. These days I always hear at least one voice in a game that I recognize, or think I recognize, and actually have to pause the game to go and look it up and see whether I was right. I guess it depends on the game - many times, character models take influence from major actors (think Tenpenny), and in that case the celebrity actor is a good fit, right?

However, deBeers said that's not the only reason:

Extended Audio Interview with Niko Bellic's Voice Actor

This interview sounds like it's taken from the Big O & Dukes radio show on WJFK-FM in Washington. It's a long and in depth talk with Michael Hollick, the voice actor for Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV.

There's a little too much hero-worship from the hosts, but hey, Hollick is not a controversial guest, I suppose. He gives a really good look at the development of the game, and how the actors match their lines to the motion capture, which sounds almost impossibly hard to manage and remain in character. Newfound respect for this kind of work.

Other highlights: He auditioned originally for motion-capture; the game he was told he was auditioning for was called "Frozen." And he had days where he came in to work to find a script that was "50 pages of just screaming. In these you're jumping off of something, in these you're shooting someone, in these you're being burned alive."

GTA 4 Niko Voice Actor Interview [GameTrailers user Grave, thanks reader Raivis R.]

Niko Bellic's Voice Voices Pay Concerns

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.

Kids Won't Listen? Sic BOB on 'Em

Iron Man Voice Acting With Downy Downey Jr.

I got a chance to sneak over to Ubisoft's San Francisco office during the Game Developers Conference and sit down with Michael de Plater, creative director Tom Clancy's EndWar, to talk about the upcoming voice-command strategy game. Better still, I also got a chance to actually play it—and what I saw impressed me.

De Plater said that part of the impetus for the game was the fact that, as real-time strategies have evolved, the genre has left a lot of people behind. People like my dad, even people, in some cases, like me. People, basically, who aren't interested in dealing with a Zerg rush five minutes into the game and instead want to play something a bit closer to, say, a detailed and realistic game of chess.

"One of the things we hear a lot of us is 'I used to love real time strategies, but it's gotten too complex'," he said. "So we decided to make a tactical game, slow the pace down. We call this game strategy at the speed of thought."

Condemned 2 Voice-Over Sessions

SOE And Vivox Go Way Beyond In-Game Voice Chat

While many PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC owners are excited about the forthcoming update of Capcom's classic Bionic Commando, many Wii owners are sitting around pouting about how great it would be to control a robotic swinging arm with their Wiimote. Well don't just sit there moping - let Capcom know you want it, and who knows? In an interview with Videogamer.com, Capcom's Ben Judd suggest that a surge of fan interest could get the job done.

When asked if a Wii version could ever come to the Wii, Judd said: "It will largely depend on what the fans want for the future of Bionic Commando."If the interest is there, of course we want as many people as possible to appreciate this great franchise."

Nintendo Wii May Get Voice Chat, But No VC Online Capability

While the Wii isn't known for its particularly awesome online scene (*cough* friend codes *cough*), Nintendo is interested in improving the product. NOA President Reggie Fils-Aime said this morning during a conference call that while they have no interest in adding online multiplayer to Virtual Console titles, voice chat could be coming to the Wii all the same.

We do not anticipate making online gameplay for Virtual Console games. In terms of voice chat... certainly our system has the capability for online voice chat, what it comes down to is finalizing the peripheral... I would not be surprised to see that capability come to this system.

Bionic Commando Nathan Spencer will be voiced by former lead singer of Faith no More, Mike Patton, Capcom says in their official press release for the game.

The release goes on to detail the storyline for the once classic title.

On an interesting side note, I've been hearing about this remake for nearly two years. Apparently Capcom's been bouncing it around between developers for quite awhile now, though it looks like they've finally settled on a group. Now they just need to lose the hot dog arm and I'll be happy.

Turok Voice Cast Revealed

David Hayter Confirms He Will Voice Snake in SSBB

Kotakuite and avid YouTube comment reader Hunter, found this little juicy tidbit within the comments on Solid Snake voice actor David Hayter's YouTube page. A few months back, Hayter put together a rather funny video to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Metal Gear Solid and posted it on YouTube. Hayter seems to do a good job of answering back to his fans and buried beneath the "OMG are you really David Hayter?!?!" and "Will you sign my covers if I send them to you" comments, ArchdukeChocula01 posed this question:

Hello David Hayter! I have to say that you are one of the greatest voice actors ever, and you do a great job as snake. I was wondering, are you going to voice Snake in Super smash bros. brawl?

To which Hayter eagerly replied:

Archduke Chocula,

I am indeed voicing Snake in "Smash Bros." I've recorded it already, and I believe that fans of both games are going to be extremely happy. It's very cool. That's all I can say.

DH

And before you ask, yes, I have confirmed that this YouTube page belongs to Mr. Hayter as it is linked from the video section of his official website. And if you haven't yet seen the MGS tribute video, you can check it out here.

Wii Boogie Details

Tom Clancy's EndWorld Impressions

EndWar to be Voice Command RTS

Rumor Smash: Phantom Hourglass Will Not Include Voice Chat

MGS4 Voice Cast Announced