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Recently, I watched a trailer of Mass Effect 2. One that had the voice actors talk a little bit about the characters they are playing. Here are some of the names: Martin Sheen, Seth Green, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Michael Dorn, Keith Davis, Tricia Helfer, Michael Hogan, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Shohreh Aghdashloo.
This list alone was reason enough for me to get excited for Mass Effect 2. Granted, I already planned on getting it in the first place, but the list of the voice talents made me want it even more. Hearing the names of these people automatically made me think: “This game will be legendary.”
What I am trying to say here is that even though the names mentioned, hardly anyone ever hears about it. Of course, the hardcore gamers would know about the actors but the casual players may never realize it until they reach the credits. Even then, they may not realize it. After all, a majority of the people don’t bother reading the credits.
I think that companies need to get the names out there. One way to do this, have the voice talents themselves mention that they are providing the voices in the game. I’m sure that just a sentence from the actors themselves can generate tons of sales.
I know it worked for me when I heard from a friend that Billy Dee Williams will be in Command and Conquer 3. I never played the series before but I went ahead and got the game for the sole reason of seeing Lando. I have heard others mention the same reason but for different actors in the game.
The same thing happened with Halo ODST. When I heard that three cast members from my favorite television series, Firefly, were going to be in the game, I rushed to get it even though I had not planned on getting the game in the first place.
If companies include something in the contracts that required the actors mention that they are in the video game outside of gaming magazines, would sales increase significantly? Would you want to play the game you may not have heard of if you found out that one of your favorite actors in the film or TV industry was going to in it? I know I definitely would.
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I'm not sure what we need is that feature animation thing of: "Look what famous voice actor we hired! Let's talk to them instead of the artists and animators who actually brought the character to life!". Game developers are anonymous enough without Hollywood names hogging the spotlight.
Honestly most movie stars have such generic voices I wouldn't even notice unless the marketing campaign hadn't beaten me over the head with it... OR they're so distinctive (say, Sean Connery playing a dragon) that it becomes impossible to detach the voice from the actor.
Neither helps to create a believable character that you can relate to. If a famous name goes unnoticed and the performance is enjoyed on its own merits, that's a win (except it probably cost millions of dollars).
My point is, if you are already spending so much money paying these actors to do voice acting, why not have them do more to help generate sales. After all, the industry is still a business and business need to make money. Sure this won't be popular in terms of quality but money needs to be made.
Even with the big names, we can use them to get developer names out there. Have the actors mention some of the developers by name or something. I am sure that this will not only help increase sales, but also give some well deserved recognition towards the developers.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/15561/AGDC_Podcast_Creating_A_New_Age_Of_Voic
eover_In_Games.php
I read on article (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/25985/Interview_Kajiya_Productions_on_Transla
ting_Final_Fantasy.php) about Final Fantasy XII's voice acting and my mind was blown.
I'm a huge stickler for great voice acting. I'm one of those anime snobs who watches everything with English subs because I have an innate distaste for English VA... But I thought FFXII was absolutely fantastic. And only six names I had recognized, which isn't the vast majority of characters. (Some of them even played more minor roles than major. Not that Ba'Gamnan (Steven Blum) or Reddas (Phil LaMarr) weren't important to the story, but their presence in the game is relatively minor compared to Ashe, Larsa or Vayne.)
If voice acting in games is important to you, I think you should read that article. Hearing from vets how things go, and specifically went for Final Fantasy 12, was awesome. It doesn't hurt that I'm a giant Final Fantasy 12 fanboy, either. That game was incredible, fantastic and considering that I really loved the voice acting for it, knowing a bit more from behind the scenes was very interesting to me.
I think voice actors and developers need to work together to help the industry grow. After all, all the work that was put into the game and breathing life into the characters is never easy.
To be honest, any time I hear Steven Blum, I get all warm and fuzzy inside because he was Spike Spiegel. Or Wendy Lee because she was Faye Valentime. Or Kari Wahlgren because she was Fuu.
Especially for the voice acting industry, they tend to get around a lot. There are a lot of entertainment industries that need voice acting, so it isn't uncommon for them to be the voice actor for anime, cartoons, games, etc.
I do know one thing, I cannot get enough David Hayter. Anything the man does beyond voicing Snake I will support because my admiration for him grew from hearing his three-packs-a-day gravely voice coupled with the great game play I enjoyed in the Metal Gear Solid series. If it wasn't for Metal Gear Solid, I probably wouldn't have watched Guyver 2. =p
You may be onto something there. Though I watched an interview with some voice actors and they said they did kind of enjoy the anonymity presented through being heard and not seen. Though they still get pinged by fans every now and then when they talk aloud out in public, but compared to a Hollywood actor, they do get to enjoy normalcy from being a voice actor.
The pendulum could swing both ways, I suppose. I'm sure some would go for being a face as well as a voice.
As far as I know, it may have just been a snippet of Adventures in Voice Acting. When I first heard of it, only a few actors had done their interview for the DVD... But that was released I actually didn't get it. I should fix that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz5pQOw9Ze0
Wonder if the whole movie is up in segments...
@ Andre:
I do use imdb.com but the thing is, how many people do you think actually spends time to follow everything the actors do on that site? Sure there are some who do but more often then not, many people tend to read magazines (like People) to get an idea of what the actors are doing.
As for the game industry not needing voice actors, that's up for debate. However, at the rate the industry is going, voice acting seems to becoming more and more the norm and almost a requirement for games.
I agree that the voice talent can have a bigger role in promoting the game, but that is up to the marketing department. I also think that composers could be better utilized in selling a game. The greater variety of voices out there talking about your game the better.
I disagree, however, that "names" sell more copies. I doubt there will be more copies of Mass Effect 2 sold because Martin Sheen is in it. Quality voice acting makes the game better, regardless of who is doing the voice, and quality is ultimately what will sell a game.