Blog FeedName and Shame?
With all the recent hullabaloo over sex and violence in gaming, it’s easy to forget that gaming is on it’s way to being the entertainment industry. It’s revenues outstip cinema, and whether or not Jack Thompson likes it, with each year the ‘gaming generation’ gets nearer to being the parents, and then the politicians. Anything that may happen this decade that unfairly treats gaming has fourty years maximum until we, the game generation, are the politicians, but that’s a topic for another day. My point is, gaming is here to stay, even though it’s still considered the black sheep of the family.
Which probably explains what I really want to talk about: The complete lack of promotion regarding Hollywood voice talent.
Recently, finishing up Killer 7 (review over at DreadCentral.com) I was surprised to see Dwight Schultz heading up the cast list in the end credits. Dwight may not be a big name by any stretch, but surely he’s enough of a name that listing him on the packaging for the game wouldn’t hurt any, and could well help.
His voice work in the game was, like pretty much the rest of the voicework, high standard. He’s first billed. He plays Harman Smith, the leader of the Killer 7 and is about the only ‘name’ in the cast.
This is no isolated freak occurance either. Browsing through the casts of the last three GTA games is jaw dropping.
Joe Pantoliano, Michael Madsen, Kyle MacLachlan, Ray Liotta, Dennis Hopper, Burt Reynolds, Gary Busey, Deborah Harry, Samuel L. Jackson…
I mean, that’s a list of well known and respected character actors (or in the case of Debbie Harry a well known musician with a proven acting ability). Why aren’t those names on the box? Why aren’t those names on the adverts? Heck, why aren’t those names in the opening credits of the games?
It isn’t just controvesy. Take Halo 2, which famously made more money in a day than Spider-Man 2 did opening weekend. Robert Davi, Julie Benz, Keith David, Miguel Ferrer, David Cross, Michelle Rodriguez, Orlando Bloom…
All these people are willing to work on videogames, and yet you don’t hear them talking about it (Michell Rodriguez aside). The GTA and Halo series knock the stuffing out of most movie franchises released in the same timeframe when it comes to money made, and these actors are keeping quiet.
Doesn’t there seem to be something unusual about that? Why is it mostly games based on movies that use real actors for leverage in the market place?
Escape from Butchers Bay was not the typical game movie, which is why I don’t mind using it as an example of how it should be done. Ignoring for a moment the actors reprising their roles from the series, you have Ron Perlman, Exibit, Michael Rooker and (again) Dwight Schultz. These are the types of actors that fill out a AAA Hollywood summer blockbuster, and they’re rightly credited up front and name checked left right and center.
It was treated with the respect a cinematic sequel would have been, and strangely enough went on to be succesful and lauded, something Chronicles of Riddick can’t attest to (even if that is a crying shame, the film was great). If a cinematic sequel to Chronicles happens, Escape from Butcher Bay will have played no small part in that, and if the only sequel we get is a video game one, there’s no reason to doubt the writing and acting pedigree behind the game.
Vin Diesel gained no small amount of respect for Chronicles of Riddick amongst the gaming community. Surely that’s something other actors would love to tap into.
Today, Midway announced the Michael Clarke Duncan and Rachel Griffiths are doing voice work in The Suffering: The Ties that Bind, but I can’t help feel that it’s not going to be promoted much beyond this one press release, and that the actors, while willing to take the pay cheque, won’t say a thing about working on the games.
They can’t pretend not to have known about the controversy of games like GTA 3. The GTA series has long been the bad boy of the industry in terms of tone, and had been dragged through the press before even the second game was released.
So, my question really is are they ashamed? Is it the actors who don’t want to be seen as working on games? Is it seen as slumming it in their industry, or are they concerned about being criticised for their involvement on titles such as GTA3?
Either way, for thoes people who predominantly do voice acting, like Tara (Sheegor in Psychonauts, Kaede Smith in Killer 7, Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls as well as countless other animationa and gaming work) Strong and Jen (Cortana, Princess Peach, and Cate Archer from the NOLF series) Taylor, it must be unusual to rub shoulders with the Hollywood greats, but then to have them turn a blind eye to it subsequently.
If it comes from the game studios, then I don’t fully understand why they’d play down the involvement of talented actors.
Its sad then, that the most talked about recent role taken on by a famous actor was David Duchovny’s turn as the lead in Area 51. His hideously bad, painful, turn. His ‘I just turned up and read off this piece of paper because I didn’t have any other work’ turn. After he did the same thing in XIII I have to place the blame at the feet of Midway.
Hopefully with The Suffering: Ties that Bind, they’re going to make sure that their A-list talent puts in good performances, and then make sure that they hang around to spend a bit of time talking to the gaming press.
As gaming becomes more and more popular, and accepted, we’ll hopefully see more games like Escape From Butcher Bay, leverage Hollywood talent to make a popular and succesful game, instead of either shamelessly casting someone identifiable with the type of material in the game, as in Area 51, or using all this Hollywood talent without bothering to give proper credit.
27th July | Reply
Personnally, I don’t think the games industry needs this. When a big movie is announced they tell you the director and lead actors. When a game is announced they tell you the development team, lead developer and perhaps publisher. Putting focus on the voice actors is like listing the lighting crew from a movie. Not only that but don’t you think these voice actors think enough about themselves already? They are trying to get royalties from every game sold.
Don’t get me wrong, sometimes voice acting can really make a game. However, it rarely breaks it. The original Resident Evil had terrrrible voice acting however it was still a solid title. The focus should be on the talent that truly makes the game what it is. The development team.
27th July | Reply
Im glad that games dont advertise who the voice actor/actress is. In this way it shows that a game should be judged on its merits, as in how good the actual game is. As Holliday said, the voice acting rarely breaks a game. It just adds to it.
27th July | Reply
Hmm, not sure you can necessarily directly compare a movie to a game when it comes to acting. Within a film the plot (should) be the #1 component and as such the actors presence within the film is typically key. In contrast, in a game, I really don’t think that voice acting represents that large a component of the game (a few cut scenes or messages in-game, but with the exception of RPGs, there typically isn’t that much talking since the game itself should be key). There are, of course, exceptions to this and, particularly in the case of Metal Gear Solid 2, some of these illustrate why voice acting shouldn’t get that much focus. I know that actors get a top-billing when it comes to animated feature films, but I can’t really compare them to games since, again, their role is more important in a film.
Overall, I can’t help feeling that I don’t care whether or not a game includes Hollywood voice talent. I was a bit excited when Privateer 2 had the likes of John Hurt, Christopher Walken and Clive Owen, but the “acted” video scenes no longer seem to be present in games so when its just someone’s voice, I have a hard time even noting that I might recognise it. In this respect I tend to side with Holliday on this one. Employing famous actors is not necessary, does not really add that much to a game, and overall represents a waste of money that could better be spent on other areas of the development. I am, for example, unlikely to ever buy a game because Alan Rickman (typically my favourite actor, although a little unsuited for games) contributed his voice to it since I’m more interested to know what sort of game it is and, critically, is it any fun to play.
In terms of shame, I expect that the actors rather view games in much the same way as commercial voice-overs. Everyone does it to make a bit of cash but no one would say that it represents “real” acting. In this respect I’m in agreement.
28th July | Reply
With a game I really tend to find things are best when we stick to professional voice actors, or people who that’s where they’ve had a lot of experience. Sure movie stars are nice, but other than Vin Diesel’s really awesome performance in Chronicles of Riddick, most of the time they’re mailing it in and giving a substandard job because it’s just a smallish paycheck. Whereas a paycheck by a middling level actor like Michael Ironsides or Ray Liotta or something like the voice cast of KOTOR tends to be pretty awesome because everyone is doing a workman’s job because none of them are going to get jobs on their name recgonition.
28th July | Reply
It’s all a matter of social perception. It’s still better to take a girl to a movie than to invite her to a couple rounds of MK.
1st August | Reply
Would knowing who the voice talent is affect your purchase of the game? I’m not buying Final Fantasy X because the girl who plays Bubbles plays Rikku. I’m buying Final Fantasy X because it is the latest in one of my favorite Japanese RPG series, and if it went by another name, probably because it was developed by Squaresoft.
I just don’t think that the voice acting talent is such an important part of a game to be the reason to buy, or not to buy a game.