voice acting
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Star Trek Online goes behind the scenes with Denise Crosby
When Star Trek Online launches its first expansion, Legacy of Romulus, players will find themselves facing off against the formidable Empress Sela right from the start. The return of Sela also marks the return of veteran actress Denise Crosby to the game, and the community team behind STO had a chance to speak with Crosby about returning to the franchise and to the same characters she portrayed years ago on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Crosby mentions that while she enjoyed the chance to reprise the role of Tasha Yar (a character she jokingly says simply refuses to die), revisiting Sela is a chance to dive deeper into a character who was not fully realized during her first appearances. Sela's life is the Empire, and she feels that any means necessary to restore the power and prestige of her people is more than justified. Click past the break to see the full video and learn a little bit more about the face of the Romulan Empire in the expansion.
Breakfast Topic: Does voice acting add to or subtract from your immersion?
Are you a fan of voice acting in World of Warcraft? I'm not talking about boss fights. We've all giggled when familiar lines have crossed over to become memes -- "You are not prepared!" -- or bobbed our heads to the boss's beat in one of Mr. Voletron's catchy tunes. No, I'm talking about the moments when Azeroth's residents speak in character amidst the action of the game. How could Lorewalker Cho's pointed poetry in The Thunder King trailer above not set your imagination tingling? I thought it lent great atmosphere and context to the patch trailer -- but leave it there, please, in the trailer. Woe to the character who breaks my immersion by speaking out unexpectedly in game. For me, gaming is like reading; when I'm deep inside either, I don't want to be jarred back to self-awareness by sudden speech, even with the voices of the characters themselves. What do you think about voice acting within the game -- rich addition, or annoying contrivance? Would you like to see more or less spoken dialog in World of Warcraft?
The Tattered Notebook: What I want to see in EverQuest Next
I was going to update you fine folk on my adventures in rolling my 17,000th EverQuest II alt for this week's Tattered Notebook, but SOE decided to drop a Fan Faire Live date on us, which sort of mucked up my nefarious plans. Why do we care about SOE Live? Well, there are multiple reasons, but the most important one is that instead of having to wait until October, we now get to see (and touch!) EverQuest Next in early August!
Del Toro got Valve's permission to use GlaDOS' voice in Pacific Rim
The presence of Ellen McLain's sultry, robotic trills in the Pacific Rim trailer above filled us with much, much joy when we first saw it last December, but we couldn't help but feel like director Guillermo del Toro wasn't being entirely original. Furthermore, we wondered how Valve would feel about such flagrant counterfeiting; we know it doesn't own Ellen McLain's voice or anything, but come on.None of that is actually an issue, as it turns out, since del Toro actually obtained permission from Valve to use GlaDOS' voice in the film, according to the Toronto Sun. "I wanted very much to have her, because I'm a big Portal fan," del Toro said. "But just as a wink. She's not cake-obsessed."McLain's vocal work in the actual film will be run through fewer GlaDOS-inducing voice filters in the final film, del Toro says, but he wanted her voice to be completely recognizable in the trailer. It's also worth noting that there's no actual crossover between Valve's Portal/Half Life universe and Pacific Rim's, even though Pacific Rim is a movie about universes crossing over.
Marvel Heroes admits that yes, it does have a story
It would be a mistake to assume that just because Marvel Heroes is taking the form of a Diablo-style action game it's lacking any substantial lore. In fact, Gazillion chief writer Brian Michael Bendis claims in a new dev diary that the writers have a truly epic tale in place: "This is the kind of story so large that we probably couldn't do it in the comic books without it taking 75 issues." The story kicks off with Doctor Doom as the primary antagonist. Doom has captured a powerful artifact and is in the process of freeing villains from a massive prison. The writing team says that players will learn more about Doom's sinister plan as the game progresses. One of the key tools that the team is using to tell the story is a series of motion comics to give what the devs call an "authentic Marvel experience." These cutscenes are illustrated by the folks at Marvel and voiced by actors who have played the characters in the past. The studio claims that over 9,000 lines of dialogue, including witty banter, will launch with the game. Check out the story of Marvel Heroes after the jump!
The Daily Grind: What MMO trend could you do without?
I'm something of an immersion nut when it comes to MMOs (and gaming in general), but strangely I'm not a fan of voice-acting. I don't know whether it's the fact that I enjoyed games long before voice-acting was even possible or if it's just annoyance at the fact that VO takes precious budget dollars away from actual game functionality. Whatever the reason, I simply don't dig it. What about you, dear readers? What current MMO trend could you do without? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Ace Attorney 5 voice acting limited to 'those iconic key phrases'
The information from a Japanese interview, stating that Ace Attorney 5 would use full voice acting, was a mistranslation, or the message got garbled along the way somehow. Capcom community manager Brett Elston corrected the information in a tweet this week, shouting "Hold it!" before opening the Twitter post window (we imagine)."Not the case," Elston. "Just those iconic key phrases!" The original interview, then, suggests that those clips will be re-recorded for the 3DS's improved audio capabilities.[Thanks, Robert!]
Report: Ace Attorney 5 features full voiceover
According to a Nintendo Dream interview summarized by Siliconera, Ace Attorney 5 will use full voice acting in-game – not just the "Objection!" and "Take that!" we've grown used to. The team decided upon the change to make better use of the 3DS's surround sound capabilities, rather than simply porting over the DS/GBA sound effects.While we're excited about more dynamic dialogue presentation, this news also worries us a bit. All that voiced dialogue is going to make localization even more expensive, and we don't want there to be any barriers keeping Capcom from giving us more Ace Attorney. The company has announced plans to localize it, but we're just ... worried. Always.Update: Based on presentations in livestreams, Court-Records user Wooster speculates that the voice acting will be used mostly in cutscenes, rather than throughout. Wooster also brings up the point that the existing voice clips will all have to be replaced, as the actors were non-professional (creator Shu Takumi in Japanese as Phoenix, and ex-Capcom producer Ben Judd in English). Thanks for pointing us to this post, Robert!
Kevin Sorbo, Sam Sorbo, Martin Olson star in Cloudberry Kingdom
Kevin Sorbo, the actor best known for portraying the heroic man of myth in the mid-90s television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, is taking on a new role: Bob, the hero of Cloudberry Kingdom. Kevin is acting alongside his wife, Sam Sorbo, who played Serena in Hercules and has since appeared in Chicago Hope and Andromeda. Sam is the voice of Cloudberry Kingdom's princess.Martin Olson, also known as the Lord of Evil in Adventure Time and renowned comedy writer, voices King Kobbler in Cloudberry Kingdom.Developer Pwnee Studios snatched up these stars through a series of fortunate networking events, after working with Tigar Hare Studios on the animations in Cloudberry Kingdom. Read all about Cloudberry Kingdom's trip to stardom and the Wii U in a feature hitting Joystiq soon. We promise you won't be disappointed.
A critical look at Guild Wars 2
Well, it's finally official: ArenaNet's golden child, Guild Wars 2, has launched, and I'm sure thousands upon thousands of you are too busy playing it to even read this article. On the other hand, it's an MMO launch, so a good chunk of you are bound to be locked out of the servers, unable to launch the client, or any number of other things, and if that's the case, then boy do I have an article for you. But first, allow me to don my flame retardant suit. In the hopes of lowering the deluge of angry emails I'm about to get, let me preface everything by saying this: Guild Wars 2 is a good game -- a great game, even. In fact, I love it. But every time I've had the audacity to mention anything even remotely critical about the title in in-game chat (my first mistake), I've been immediately pounced upon by rabid fans who seem to think that anyone who feels that the game could be better in some regard is a heretic who should just quit the game. So I'm going to do what any rational gamer with a death wish would: take a critical look at Guild Wars 2.
Dishonored's voice cast full of honored Hollywood talent
Bethesda spent a lot of money on the voice cast for Dishonored – like, Susan Sarandon money. Her first video game role will be "Granny Rags," an "intriguing old blind woman now deranged after years of street life." We're sure an actress of Sarandon's caliber will be able to deliver on that "intriguing" character trait.Other talent revealed today includes Brad Dourif, who's appeared in literally every movie and television show ever produced; Carrie Fisher, who plays the voice of ubiquitous government propaganda; John Slattery (aka Roger Sterling from Mad Men) who plays a smarmy rich guy – actually the specific role is "Admiral Havelock," but we're calling it right now; Chloe Grace Moretz as the kidnapped daughter of the Empress; and Lena Headey as her guardian. Michael Madsen, who you probably don't remember from his performance in the first Yakuza game, appears in Dishonored as an assassin.Of all these names, we're most surprised with Fisher, mostly because she's not the Star Wars star we're used to seeing in games.
Persona 4 Arena videos display sick moves, goofy work environment
This latest quartet of trailers for Persona 4 Arena communicate two very important concepts: One, entering combinations of directional inputs and button presses result in impressive feats of daring do while playing, and two: Being a voice actor looks really, really fun.The behind the scenes video above gives a glimpse into the recording process for P4A's English dub, while the three other videos tucked beyond the veil break down Elizabeth, Labrys and Shadow Labrys' special move sets. Not only did we learn a bit more about the game's characters, but we also added the word "gesitantly" into our ever-growing vocabulary of portmanteau, which was a pleasant surprise. A "plurprise," if you will.
The Soapbox: MMOs waste millions on voice-over
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. A-list voice actors are not new to the video game genre. Over the last 20 years, video games have pulled from the same pool of talent as cartoons and commercials. But it really wasn't until last year with DC Universe Online that we started to see MMOs advertise the voice talent they had in the games. DCUO filmed multiple documentary-style videos to impress us with the level of voice-over work the game had. Although DCUO was the first fully voiced MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic made a point to tell us that it had over 200 different voice actors (300 if you believe IMDB) with over a thousand recording sessions for over 200,000 lines of dialogue. In the end, what's the pay-off? Six months after launch, the majority of players will threaten to leave a SWTOR pick-up group if the other players don't skip over the dialogue. Although a large portion of players did watch all the dialogue shortly after the game launched, all the players I spoke to said that the cutscenes started to grate on them before they'd even reached level 50. And even though DCUO was the first MMO to be fully voiced, SWTOR got away with advertising that it was first mainly because voice-overs were considered so insignificant by the MMO community that almost no one noticed the fib. And dare we even talk about the expense of recording 200,000 lines of dialogue? Is fan excitement over, say, Mark Hamill's Joker worth the cost of bringing him in on the project in the first place?
Why I Play: The Secret World
I can't stop! No, seriously -- I had delusions of sneaking this article out a week earlier than scheduled, but that involved actually tearing myself away from Kingsmouth long enough to log out and write. And you can see how well that turned out! It's hard enough trying to do so now; every time I think about The Secret World, I want to jump right back in and... um, excuse me a moment, I'll be right back... Hey, I just needed to test something in-game for this article, honest! Though if the test was to be able to log in and right back out of TSW, I failed. I checked what I needed to and thought to myself, "Just five more minutes." Before I knew it, too many hours flew by. And this was not an isolated incident, either. As much as I enjoy playing MMORPGs (anyone who has heard me in a game can attest to that!), it has been quite a while since I truly reveled in my time in game and champed at the bit to get back in when I had to leave. It's no secret that I have been waiting for this game for years now, and I have to say I am not disappointed. Funcom's newest release has truly ensnared me. So what is so compelling about The Secret World? Do you have a minute or five?
Pirate101 to harness 'the Pixar effect' for a multi-generational audience
What do you do when hard-core gamers start having families? If you are KingsIsle Entertainment, the makers of Wizard101, you don't worry about gamers leaving the market; instead, you harness "the Pixar effect" and make a game that will bring all generations together to interact and play in the same world. That game is the upcoming Pirate101. What is the Pixar effect? KingsIsle VP of Marketing Fred Howard points to the success of the Pixar movies like Toy Story and explains, "They were successful because not only do they cater to what would be a younger core audience but very much to an adult and more mature audience." Pirate101 will incorporate elements that will appeal to the different generations, including a good story, professional voice acting, and turn-based combat to equalize the playing field. And be on the lookout for various references and puns when Pirate101 launches later this year.
What WoW's story could learn from Diablo III (and vice versa)
I like the Diablo storyline. It's complex without being incomprehensible, and unlike WoW, it doesn't have a gigantic and sometimes daunting pile of backstory to wade through. You can pretty much jump into Diablo III without having played any of the prior games and still have a pretty good idea of what's going on. The world, Sanctuary, has a fairly simple premise, but the repercussions of its creation have far-reaching effects that are more often than not a gigantic pain in the butt for those living on Sanctuary. I liked Diablo III. I liked the gameplay -- who doesn't like carving their way through hordes of demon corpses? I liked the controls, which were relatively simplistic, and I liked the talent trees, which were fun without being confusing. It's hard to compare WoW and Diablo, because the two games are so very different in concept. One's an MMO, the other is a click-fest of looting and gore. But they both have one thing in common: story. And oddly enough, it seems as though there are a few things these two games could learn from each other on that front. Please note: There are spoilers for Diablo III in this post. If you haven't finished playing through to the end and you wish to avoid spoilers, turn away!
Watch Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy record for Arkham City, destroy the fabric of reality
This voice acting-oriented episode of Inside Rocksteady Studios is the first time we personally have ever seen either the Joker or Batman's voices come out of real human bodies, and suffice to say that oh man is it weird.It's almost like Batman and the Joker are providing voiceovers for Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, instead of the other way around. Seeing the Joker's spooky laugh come out of a hunched-over Mark Hamill is an image that'll stick with us for a while, and his cheshire cat grin didn't help much either. The video also features Stana Katic (Talia in Arkham City and Detective Becket on Castle), but seeing her perform isn't so much of a head trip, considering that it's basically just Detective Becket with an undercover accent.
Voice actor brokers unlikely alliance between Wesker and Legion
Here's something we didn't expect to see today, or ever: Mass Effect's Geth Legion and Resident Evil's Albert Wesker engaging in a bit of friendly trash talk.The two characters make fun of Charlie Sheen and discuss forming an alliance, in a video that serves as a goodbye of sorts from voice actor D.C. Douglas (who plays both) to the two characters. We're guessing the "goodbye" to Wesker is premature, something the pair even jokes about a little, but it's fun anyway.
Michael Hogan and Claudia Black head TERA's voice-acting cast
Last week we told you about En Masse's casting of Colonel Tigh, er, Michael Hogan for voice-acting work in its new TERA MMO. Now the company brings word that Claudia Black will be joining Hogan in the recording studio to bring aspects of TERA's fantasy story to life. Hogan will lend his talents to the Valkyon Federation's formidable Commander Samael, while Black (best known for her role as Aeryn Sun in Farscape, as well as voice-acting stints in Dragon Age and the Uncharted series) brings her considerable charms to the role of Commander Freya of Allemantheia. If you want to see Hogan in action behind the mic, check out the clip after the break. Finally, En Masse says to keep your eyes and ears peeled for more TERA voice-acting reveals later this month.
Quantum Conundrum gets an extra Q
Square Enix is moving away from the paltry world of dimension-based reveals, announcing actor John De Lancie as one of Quantum Conundrum's main actors. De Lancie is, of course, known for his part as "Q" in the James Bond series, aiding Bond in his interstellar travels of exploration and diplomacy. Or he was a popular Star Trek character -- one of the two.Anyway, De Lancie is playing the part of Professor Fitz Quadrangle, advising the main character on gameplay and ushering story points forward (he is, after all, stuck in an alternate dimension, anxiously awaiting your help). De Lancie details his role and offers a taste of his voice work in the latest teaser, seen above.
