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'Uncharted' set photos offer our first look at Tom Holland as Nathan Drake
The latest shred of evidence comes courtesy of Tom Holland’s Instagram (as well as the official Uncharted Twitter account), where he shared a picture of him in full Nathan Drake costume. Holland has quite the young face in general, but he by and large looks the part — and the whole vibe of the shot screams “Uncharted” in a pretty satisfying way. Providing even more evidence that the Uncharted film is a real thing, Nolan North posted some photos from a set visit today on Twitter.
Tales From The Borderlands nets a nerdy voice cast
Tales From The Borderlands, the upcoming adventure game spin-off from the Borderlands series, will feature the voice talents of Nerdist's Chris Hardwick, developer Telltale Games revealed today. Hardwick's character, named Vaughn, is described as the best friend of Rhys, one of the game's primary protagonists. The promo art revealing Vaugh shows him with a scared expression, but what's there to be scared about? Pandora is just a planet overrun with insane robots, psychopathic bandits, telepathic mercenaries and giant monsters, after all. Other names attached to Tales From The Borderlands include Patrick Warburton (Family Guy) and Mr. Video Game Voice himself, Nolan North - or does that title go to Troy Baker now? Tales From The Borderlands is expected to make its debut sometime this summer. [Image: Telltale Games]
gdgt's best deals for October 9th: HP Envy TouchSmart 15-inch laptop, AudioSource SB121 ultra-slim soundbar
Ready to save some cash on your tech buys? Then you've come to the right place. Our friends at sister site gdgt track price drops on thousands of products every day, and twice a week they feature some of the best deals they've found right here. But act fast! Many of these are limited-time offers, and won't last long. Today's top deals are the HP Envy Touch 15-inch laptop, a workhorse for your business and play needs, and an AudioSource soundbar that lets you hear what you've been missing from your movies and games. Hoping to keep track of price dips on the products you desire? Join gdgt and add the gadgets you're shopping for to your "Want" list -- every time there's a price cut, you'll get an email alert!
Deadpool review: Crazy for thinking
Deadpool depicts the exploits and gleeful eviscerations of a giggling psychopath, gifted with guns, swords, and style. We've had plenty of that, thank you, but this one's novelty is a self-aware protagonist, starring in a game that's absurd, flippantly violent and incoherently narrated by its own admission. Here we have proof that it's possible for a game to throw itself on the mercy of the court, provided Mercy is the name of a totally sweet sword. Deadpool is an impulsive egomaniac drawn from Marvel's weirder pages, and he's oh so happy to exist in a world designed expressly around him. Jolted to immortal life by a delirious performance from Nolan North, Deadpool is a pithy vector for the player – rather, the nightmarish caricature of a player as envisioned by a cynical game designer. His attention spans the pinch of two fingers, he makes extravagant demands with no care to their consequences, he slobbers over Unreal women and he'd rather die than listen to a syllable of exposition from the poor, plot-mandated X-Men. Their anguish must be akin to the people who worked on a cutscene you skipped in your monstrous impatience, unaware that it took four agonizing months of wrangling manatees in motion-capture suits. There's no dearth of idiocy in Deadpool, but it's more palatable when paired with honesty – something that often feels amiss every time a new bad-ass action game struts out with the immaculately rendered Tear of Real Emotions This Time rolling off its cheek.%Gallery-192212%
IMDB: Kevin Butler, Cole McGrath, Drake, Snake voice actors in Playstation All-Stars cast
The IMDB page for PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale reveals some more all-stars appearing in the game as some form or another. Listed in the voice cast are Nolan North as Uncharted's Nathan Drake, David Hayter as Snake, Eric Ladin as Infamous's Cole McGrath, and ... Jerry Lambert as fictional executive Kevin Butler.It's tempting to imagine Kevin Butler's in-game stint as the VP of Special Attacks, but these characters aren't necessarily playable. The game is full of cameos, like Captain Quark in the background of a Ratchet & Clank level. We're asking Sony to clarify this information. Kevin Butler would tell us, if he existed.Update: For its part, Sony said it didn't set up the IMDB page. And since IMDB listings can be edited by users, it's entirely possible it was fabricated by a dreamy-eyed fan hoping to will this into existence.
Nolan North unboxes the Uncharted 3 Collector's Edition
The Uncharted 3 Collector's Edition is quite nice to look at. Naughty Dog gives you the opportunity to look very closely at it, while also looking closely at ubiquitous voice actor Nolan North. In the above video, North offers a detailed rundown of everything in the box, while showing off the unexpectedly impressive packaging. It ... it has drawers. Velvet-lined drawers. It's just one step away from the ultimate collector's edition, which will come with a huge bookshelf to help you store these enormous game boxes you keep buying.
Batman: Arkham City's Penguin voiced by Nolan North (seriously)
Clearly flexing his vocal chops, voice actor Nolan North is the man behind Batman: Arkham City's most aquatic villain: The Penguin. Rocksteady marketing game manager Dax Ginn revealed as much in an interview with CVG, breaking down the various villains you'll be pummeling as Bats come October. As seen in the trailer above, North's voice acting clearly stretches beyond his most well-known role as pretty-boy adventurer Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series. It could be argued that he's already proven that, given his voice acting contributions to, like, every game ever, but we're pretty impressed with the whole Penguin gig.
Impressions: Spec Ops: The Line
click to enlarge Having seen the game debuted during the 2009 VGA broadcast, we sat down for a live demo of 2K's Spec Ops: The Line last week at the company's Northern California headquarters. Behind the controls was Cory Davis, lead designer at Yager (developer of -- you guessed it -- Yager), who led us through a roughly 15 minute slice of the game designed to convey the uniqueness of the setting and some pleasantly surprising play mechanics that tie into its backstory. Set about 18 months after a massive sandstorm has ravaged Dubai, the game sees players entering this "no man's land" as part of an elite team sent to locate the origin of a transmission from an earlier mission that had been presumed dead, swallowed up by the sand. The demo began mid-firefight, with the player character (voiced by a decidedly all-business Nolan North) and two AI squad mates seeking cover behind remnants of an office, as unknown gunmen fired at them from a half-collapsed building nearby. What happened next was, well ... unexpected and very cool. %Gallery-82339%
Nolan North believes voice acting royalties 'unfair' to expect in gaming
By now, you should be familiar with one of gaming's most prolific actors, Nolan North, made famous by his role as Uncharted's Nathan Drake. In an interview with GamePro, the actor talks about his meteoric rise in gaming. "There's no pressure when going in for an audition now, since I've worked on such big games," North told the site. With the actor seemingly guaranteed work, it's no surprise that Giant Bomb dedicated an entire award to him: The Northies, for the Best Performance by Nolan North. "I'm humbled by all this. I feel blessed." Of course, not all voice actors have been as lucky as Nolan North to get work with such regularity. Salaries for actors have always been a point of contention, especially with regards to royalties. In 2008, Grand Theft Auto IV's Michael Hollick slammed the industry for not providing better compensation for titles that go on to sell millions of units. North seems to disagree with that sentiment. "In all fairness, hundreds of people are working 12 hour days for several years to make a game, so it's unfair for me to expect residuals, given the amount of work I contribute." Perhaps it's that attitude that continues to provide North a steady lineup of gigs, including the upcoming Alpha Protocol and Dark Void. With Uncharted 3 and a new Assassin's Creed in the works, it's clear that Nolan can expect a few more paychecks in the immediate future.
VGA 2009: Nolan North talks about Nolan North
This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from Nolan North. You're quickly becoming one of the recognizable stars of video game voiceover acting. How did that happen? You know ... I don't really know how that happened. I was lucky to land a lot of good roles in good games that became really popular ... Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, Prince of Persia, and they became really popular so fast and my name just happened to be attached to them. And you know, with the success of Uncharted -- the first one and then the second ... I don't know. It's just a phenomenon that I'm just lucky to be a part of. Claudia Black told us that the motion capture sessions were the real key to making the relationship between Nathan and Chloe seem real. What do you think? Absolutely. A lot of times we're just in a booth behind a microphone, unshaven and just ready to go ... and alone, more than anything. I mean, working with all of these actors, it's like doing theater somewhere. As a matter of fact, it's like what we used to call Black Box Theater back in college. There really wasn't much of a set ... we were just out there doing our thing, but the interaction was there and I think that's what translated so well to a video game.
Nolan North imagines Hugh Jackman starring in Uncharted film
Who's going to play Nathan Drake in the upcoming Uncharted movie? Well, don't expect Nolan North to reprise the role for the silver screen. In spite of his stellar performance in the games, North knows he's not big enough to headline a big budget film like Uncharted. "I've done film and television and I understand the reality of the business," North said on the OPM UK podcast. The frontrunner for the role for Nathan appears to be X-Men star Hugh Jackman. "Jackman is who I'd like to see. I think the producers would like to see Jackman too, because he has that tough guy exterior," North explains. But, Jackman can bring more than just muscles to the character. "There's also a lot going on behind his eyes. A lot of emotion and sensitivity on that brusque exterior, and he has great comic timing." Oh, and he can sing and dance, too. Just in case we needed a musical featuring Nate and the gang. [Via PushSquare]
Uncharted's Amy Hennig 'thrilled' by Nolan North's newfound success
Chances are, you recognize Nolan North as Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series. However, ever since the debut of the first game in the franchise, North has gone on to play a number of leading men, including the titular Prince of Persia and Jason from Shadow Complex. Uncharted creative director Amy Hennig admits that she's "thrilled to see people recognizing Nolan's talent and to see him getting all of the work that he can get and all of the recognition he can get." However, she tells Bitmob that she's "a little possessive" of North because "we were the ones with Uncharted who tapped into that talent in a way that I don't think anyone had recognized and done yet."North will undoubtedly continue to find success as the charming "everyday" man (who happens to be gifted with extraordinary acrobatic prowess). Hennig admits that "Nolan's going to get typecast because that is his persona. He's a funny guy and has that easy-going, roguish charm." Yeah, charming -- until he throws you off a cliff.
BlizzCon 2009: BSG's Tricia Helfer to voice StarCraft 2's Kerrigan
During a StarCraft 2 lore panel taking place at BlizzCon this weekend, Blizzard vice president of creative development Chris Metzen revealed the voice replacement for Sarah Kerrigan. Battlestar Galactica star Tricia Helfer will replace Glynnis Talken as voice over actress in the upcoming sequel(s). It seems as though the BSG star is getting her fair share of video game voice over work these days, as she'll also be voicing a character named Dare in Halo 3: ODST. We're thinking if she gets to talking with gaming's every man Nolan North and they work out a monopoly, we'll have a serious issue on our hands.
Uncharted Comic-Con panel video features voice talent, creators, Walken
If you're an Uncharted superfan (and really, you should be) who didn't get to make the pilgrimage to San Diego Comic-Con this year, you should really check out the highlight reel from Naughty Dog's panel at the event. There's a rogue's gallery of recognizable voices and faces sounding off about their experiences with the franchise, as well as a few discussions about the making of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.If you don't feel like watching the entirety of the lengthy video, we at least recommend that you jump to 13:15 to see Nolan North's spot-on Christopher Walken impression. See that? That's why he's been in every video game released over the past five years.
Nolan North discusses being the voice of Nathan Drake
Nolan North may be a posterboy for video game voice acting but, as you'll hear in his interview with the PS Blog's Jeff Rubenstein after the break, working on the Uncharted games is his favorite job so far. He describes what makes voicing these games so different from others -- but that's not all he discusses. There's almost eleven minutes of pure Nolan North interview to watch here, including a visit from a few of his Uncharted 2 voicing buddies. As for the burning question of who would be best to play Nathan in an Uncharted movie, we're surprised no-one mentioned the obvious answer. Nathan Fillion, duh.
Nathan Drake voice actor for Prince of Persia 'entirely intentional'
Did you notice the Prince in Ubisoft's new Prince of Persia game sounds exactly like Nathan Drake from Uncharted? In a Q&A on the PlayStation.blog, Ben Mattes said the selection of Nolan North was "entirely intentional." North's portrayal of a Indiana Jones-esque character in Uncharted landed him the role of the Prince. "When we were designing the character of The Prince and trying to identify his personality, the two characters we returned to most often were Han Solo and Indiana Jones. Both, of course, played by Harrison Ford. Nolan North showed in his characterization of Nathan Drake an uncanny resemblance to Indiana Jones both in terms of tone and delivery. We thought it particularly appropriate given the heavy influence of these characters in the writing of The Prince that the voice actor we use be one who manages to capture the essence of the influencing characters deeply."With North returning in Uncharted 2 in the not-too-distant future, it seems like he has a pretty good voice acting career ahead of him. Prince of Persia will be available in stores this week.
