Kotaku: Voice Acting

The Voice Actors of Batman: Arkham City, Unmasked

Kirk Hamilton — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:00:00 EDT

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Good gravy does Batman: Arkham City have some fine voice-acting. Almost every character in the game, from the biggest crime bosses to the littlest thugs, is played by an actor who delivers his or her lines with gusto and energy. It goes such a long way towards making Arkham City feel vital and believable, and towards making Arkham City the terrific experience that it is. More »

There are Voice Actors for Dogs. And Horses.

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:20:00 EDT

Hard-working professionals (who usually stand on two feet) are paid to sound like dogs and, now horses in the video game series The Sims 3 Pets. Today, we present footage of some of their work. More »

BioShock Infinite's Actors Berated Each Other to the Point of Tears to Get the Scene

Owen Good — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:00:00 EDT

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At PAX 2011 today, Irrational Games and the two lead actors in BioShock: Infinite gave us another good look at what goes into the voice acting of parts in a virtual medium that has such a complicated story. More »

This UK Actor Is a Friend of Nathan Drake

Mike Fahey — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:40:00 EDT

Fans of British television might recognize TJ Ramini as DC Zain Nadir from the long running police procedural The Bill. Americans may know him from season eight of 24, or his stunning portrayal of Crane Thug #1 in Batman Begins. Soon we'll all know him as Salim from Uncharted 3. More »

Commander Shepard has Finally Played a Mass Effect

Stephen Totilo — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 21:00:00 EDT

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Jennifer Hale, celebrated voice actor for the female version of Mass Effect lead Commander Shepard doesn't play video games. Writer Tom Bissell, who profiled Hale in this week's New Yorker magazine does and cajoled her to play Mass Effect 2 with him, just for a bit. More »

Val Kilmer and His Amazing Friends Take On Spidey and the X-Men

Mike Fahey — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:40:00 EDT

With the San Diego Comic-Con right around the corner, Activision pulls back the curtain on the top-tier talent lending their voices to Spider-Man: Edge of Time and X-Men Destiny. It's good to see Val Kilmer is still alive, isn't it? More »

Why Video Games with Silent Heroes Had the Best Soundtracks

Kirk Hamilton — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:00:00 EDT

Over the years, I've asked many gamers about their favorite game soundtracks, and more often than not they respond by listing titles from the 80's or 90's. The Legend of Zelda, The Secret of Monkey Island 2, Chrono Trigger, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night; or maybe Mega Man 2, Final Fantasy VI, Sonic The Hedgehog, or Earthbound. More »

The Faces Behind Gaming's Blockbuster Voices

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EDT

Today is unofficial voice-acting day here at Kotaku. We've considered how important voice actors are to video games. We'll be listening to how their work would have impacted the classics. More »

Why Excellent Video Game Voice Actors Can't—or Shouldn't—Be Stars

Drew Cohen — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EDT

I recently asked writer Tom Bissell whether voice actors might ever become celebrities in the video game world. I wondered whether they would ever be featured as headliners who could single-handedly amplify sales and excite major curiosity. More »

Why Won't These Legend of Zelda Characters Talk To Us?

Mike Fahey — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:20:00 EDT

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Today's Speak Up on Kotaku actually involves speaking up, as commenter Tengen Toppa Duck Face laments over the lack of voice acting in the latest Zelda game. More »

Even A LEGO Star Wars Game Needs Voice Actors

Mike Fahey — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:20:00 EST

Just because none of the characters in LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars actually talk doesn't mean they don't employ high caliber voice talent. They just grunt a lot. More »

Marty McFly's Actor Infuses His Voice With 'Artificial Nervousness'

Owen Good — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 16:00:00 EST

Here's the demo reel for A.J. LoCascio, whose dead-ringer Marty McFly voice highlights the Back to the Future game now out for PC. LoCascio gets into character by remembering how he'd ask a girl out in high school. More »

Meet The New Marty McFly, Sounds Like The Old Marty McFly

Owen Good — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 13:00:00 EDT

And that's a good thing. GameTrailers has put up a couple behind-the-scenes vids of Telltale Games' upcoming Back to the Future game, and the guy they got to voice Marty McFly does a virtuoso Michael J. Fox. More »

Fallout: New Vegas' Voice Actors Speak

Mike Fahey — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:30:00 EDT

No matter how many times I see the names together, seeing Matthew Perry alongside Ron Perlman, Wayne Newton, William Sadler, and Kris Kristofferson still feels weird. More »

The Stars Shine Bright In Fable III

Mike Fahey — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:40:00 EDT

Simon Pegg, Ben Kingsley, John Cleese, and Michael Fassbender headline an all-star cast of men and women with British accents in this voice acting installment of the Lionhead video diaries. More »

Gimli And Samwise Talk Lord Of The Rings: Aragorn's Quest

Mike Fahey — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:20:00 EDT

"My name is John-Rhys Davies and I play the role of Gimli in this splendid game, Aragorn's Quest." I don't know about you guys, but I'm sold. More »

Heroes Star Stares Down The Locust Horde In Gears 3

Mike Fahey — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:30:00 EDT

Greg Grunberg, formerly Matt Parkman from the TV show Heroes, screams defiantly in the face of a Locust warrior while doing some voice recording for Gears of War 3, as seen on his Twitter feed. More »

Losing His Voice In Red Dead Redemption

Owen Good — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:30:00 EDT

Voice actor Colin Nissan got the role as Marshall Leigh Johnson in Red Dead Redemption. Or so he thought. More »

Mark Hamill And Kevin Conroy Give Voice To DC Universe Online

Mike Fahey — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:40:00 EDT

The struggle between madness and sanity continues in DC Universe Online, with Mark Hamill voicing the Joker and Kevin Conroy reprising his role as Batman, headlining an all-star cast that includes Adam Baldwin and Gina Torres of Firefly fame. More »

Game Characters and their Voice Actors

Owen Good — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:30:00 EDT

As a longtime public radio listener, I often imagined Corey Flintoff as someone resembling Wilem Dafoe. Turns out he looks a lot more avuncular. Famous game characters likewise bear little resemblance to their voice actors. More »

"I Told You, Ho, Do Not Expect Much Wisdom From Him"

Stephen Totilo — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:00:00 EDT

Some video game voice-acting isn't very good. Thank goodness there's a website that records the worst of it. More »

The Voice Of Crackdown Had A Cold

Stephen Totilo — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:30:00 EDT

Good news, Crackdown fans: The signature voice of the 2007 Xbox 360 game is back for this summer's sequel. Better news: He's not sick this time. More »

Cheadle And Jackson Lend Credibility, Value To Iron Man 2 Game

Mike Fahey — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST

Sound-alikes be damned! Renowned actors Don Cheadle and Samuel L. Jackson bring a little class to Sega's Iron Man 2: The Videogame, signing on to lend their voices to their in-game counterparts. More »

L.A. Noire's Lead Actor Says He Skips the Cutscenes

Owen Good — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:30:00 EST

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The voice actor for the lead character in L.A. Noire is "Mad Men's" Aaron Staton, while Staton says he enjoys games, particularly Grand Theft Auto IV, he usually skips over the cutscenes. More »

Heroes Invades Halo Reach

Mike Fahey — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:20:00 EST

Heroes star Greg Grunberg attempts to swallow his mic during a voice recording session for Halo Reach, as seen on Greg's Twitter - thanks Noah! More »

How Would Commander Shepard Himself Play an RPG?

Owen Good — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:00:00 EST

Evil, the first time through, says Mark Meer, the voice of (the male) Commander Shepard in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. But then he gets his act together. More »

Playing the Crowd in MLB 2K10

Owen Good — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:00:00 EST

MLB 2K10 is trying to be more creative and less repetitive with what you hear coming from the stands this year. For that they need voices for more than 10,000 sound clips. Here's what two had to say. More »

Mass Effect 2 Is Full Of Stars

Mike Fahey — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:20:00 EST

BioWare has revealed the voice cast for Mass Effect 2, with a cast of new and returning voice actors that covers just about every corner of science fiction fandom. More »

Paid Less to Die More: The Actors' Union's Beef with Video Games

Owen Good — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:40:00 EST

The Screen Actors' Guild's rejection of a contract with game makers can be seen as a tempest in a teapot - 80 percent of voice work is non-union. But the LA Times goes further to see what's really at stake. More »

This Is Activision's New James Bond

Mike Fahey — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:20:00 EST

There's a new James Bond game coming out next year, but current movie Bond Daniel Craig won't be participating. Instead, we get this guy. More »

SAG Sacks Voice Acting Contract

Owen Good — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:20:00 EDT

A contract proposal hammered out between the Screen Actors Guild and video game publishers was shot down after a union vote. A key sticking point seemed to be "atmospheric" work, in which one actor voices multiple minor characters. More »

Union Contracts Now Include "Vocally Stressful," "Atmospheric" Work

Owen Good — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EDT

Two major unions supplying voice actors for video games have both won pay raises under provisional new contracts, which also spell out terms for "vocally stressful" work and "atmospheric" roles in which one person voices multiple minor characters. More »

Tricia Helfer Is StarCraft II's Kerrigan

Mike Fahey — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:20:00 EDT

Original voice actress Glynnis Talken Campbell is still out as the voice of StarCraft II's Kerrigan, but Blizzard found a worthy replacement in the form of Cylon Number Six, Tricia Helfer. More »

Nintendo Breaks Its Silence About Silence

Stephen Totilo — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:40:25 EDT

Nintendo's lead characters are rare among modern gaming heroes in that they seldom talk out loud. But rarer still is a Nintendo game that does include recorded speech. Punch-Out Wii did, and its creators explained why. More »

Kevin Conroy Doesn't Remember Batman: Rise Of Sin Tzu

Mike Fahey — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:20:00 EDT

I'm not sure if the fact that the voice of Batman, Kevin Conroy, not remembering doing the voice work for Batman: The Rise of Sin Tzu is a good thing or a bad thing. More »

The Uncharted 2 Catch Phrase You May Never Hear

Mike Fahey — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EDT

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. More »

How Dumbed Down Acting Is Creating Dumbed Down Games

Brian Crecente — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EDT

There's an interesting story over at The Brainy Gamer that discusses the techniques of voice acting and how it rarely applies to voice acting in games, mostly because of time and money constraints. More »

Kerrigan Loses Her Voice In StarCraft II

Mike Fahey — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:20:00 EST

Despite appearing in the Kerrigan reveal trailer shown at BlizzCon 2008, Glynnis Talken Campbell, the original voice of StarCraft's Queen of Blades, will not be voicing the character in StarCraft II. More »

Voice acting in video games

AJ Glasser — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:30:00 EST

Voice acting in video games makes for popular feature fodder – check out these two articles on vocal talent behind video games if you don’t believe me. More »

Rockstar Says "Hell No!" To New Niko Dialog In Lost And Damned

Mike Fahey — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:40:00 EST

The folks at Rockstar don't seem to keen on the return of Niki Bellic's voice actor Michael Hollick, answering "Hell no!" to MTV Multiplayer's query about new lines for everyone's favorite Slavic bastard. More »