Of all the catch phrases muttered by Nathan Drake in Uncharted 2, the best one comes from the unlikeliest of sources - voice actor Nolan North's son Cooper.
During an Uncharted 2: Among Thieves panel yesterday at Comic-Con, Nolan and the other voice actors present - Emily Rose, Robin Atkin Downes, and the new girl, Claudia Black - talked a great deal about ad-libbing. During the Q&A session after the panel, one member of the audience asked North what his favorite ad-libbed line was, which had the voice actor turning to creative director Amy Henning with the question, "Is it okay to discuss KGW?"
Of course you can't say something like that in front of a room of fans without elaborating, so with a nod from Henning, North explained.
He had been playing Wii Sports Tennis with his then 8-year-old son, Cooper, and failing miserably. Cooper, upon winning the match, proudly exclaimed, "Awww, kitty got wet."
His father was shocked, not because it sounds a little bit dirty, but because it was one of the most awesome things he had ever heard. He immediately questioned his son as to the origins of the phrase.
"He told me he had just made it up. Kitties don't like getting wet. He thought he was in trouble, but I gave him a big hug. The next time I was in recording dialog for punches I was like "Bam! Kitty got wet!"
It's a heartwarming story, unless you think about it too much. I mean, how did Cooper know kitties hated water? Has he been abusing cats? Should we be grateful that the line wasn't "Aww, kitty caught on fire," or "Aww, kitty's in the toaster oven?" Does Nolan North even own a toaster oven?
The story was told (and later retold to me by North, who I ran into outside of the Hard Rock Hotel later in the evening) with the caveat that it might not make it into the game. We cannot have that. I propose that if Naughty Dog doesn't include "Kitty got wet!" in Uncharted 2, we feel just a little bit of remorse when buying it. Just a smidgen, really.
Special thanks to Nolan for repeating his son's name 50 times outside of the Hard Rock to make sure I remembered it, before disappearing and leaving me alone with Claudia Black, who after chatting with me on and off for 10-15 minutes proclaimed, "I'm not sure about you," and disappeared herself.