The most inhumanly versatile voice actors in video games
Added: 27.05.2015 12:30 | 63 views | 0 comments
There was a time when video game voice acting could've conceivably doubled as torture. Simply slap a pair of headphones on your primary suspect and proceed to bang out a 'best of the mid-'90s' VO playlist. I'll bet that by the time they reached Grandia, said villain would have been too busy contemplating the innumerable, illogical absurdities of the 'Jill sandwich' to put up too much of a struggle. Word to the wise - if they're muttering something about a wizard, the moon, and sucking on their thumb from the foetal position then you know you've gone too far.
Thankfully, in-game audio has come an awfully long way since then. For example, we now have actual professionals voicing our icons, as opposed to whichever member of the penal system didn't fancy stamping out license plates that day. Today's big list of stuff will attempt to acquaint you with some of the more prolific players in the modern industry. Particular attention has been paid to the most versatile stars therein, as opposed to folks like Keith David who're specifically contracted for their rich, silky speaking voices. Sorry about that Keith, but knowing that the same bloke voices both Batman and Sonic is just way teresting.
Who? Robin Atkin Downes is a film, television, theatre and video game voice actor, mo-cap performer and music producer. He also has experience in directing. Think of him as the Swiss army knife of this list. A Swiss army knife with great hair.
Who else? Downes portrays Metal Gear Solid's Kaz Miller, Just Cause's Rico Rodriguez, Uncharted 2's Tenzin, Ratchet and Clank's Captain Slag, Team Fortress 2's Medic and Gear of War's Locust Kantus - among others.
Who? Jennifer Hale is the veritable 'first lady' of video game voice acting, though she's also appeared in several live action productions. Last year Hale engaged in a spirited 8-week hot-air balloon race, vying against Tara Strong for the opportunity to call 'dibs' on all of 2015's best roles. Of course, none of that actually happened, but it should've done.
Who else? Hale is the woman behind Bioshock Infinite's Rosalind Lutece, MGS2's Emma Emmerich, Metroid Prime's Samus Aran, Halo 4's Sarah Palmer and Mass Effect's female rendering of Shepard. She also provided the voicework for both versions of Metal Gear Solid's Naomi Hunter (both the early British and later American incarnations).
Who? Mike Patton is the uber eclectic frontman of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, and about a dozen other bands. He began voice acting in 2007, and is typically tasked with providing gruesome monster noises. .
Who else? Patton has provided the pipes behind Portal 2's Anger Core, Left 4 Dead's Infected (including the Smoker Hunter variants) as well as The Darkness' titular nasties. Oh, and he's also responsible for Bionic Commando 09's gritty, cheeseball hero.
Who? Tara Strong is a well known voice over artist and television actress. Her distinctive surname was bestowed upon her by the old gods after witnessing Tara's completion of the 12 labours of Hercules. Of the 12, Tara counts the Lernaean Hydra as being the single most challenging foe.
Who else? Strong has voiced Batman: Arkham's Harley Quinn, Mortal Kombat's Ferra, Metal Gear's Paz, Jak Daxter's Keira and Final Fantasy X's Rikku. Plus a boatload more.
Who? Armin Shimerman is a film and television actor best known for playing Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Principal Snyder and Star Trek: Deep Space 9's Quark. Fun fact: Shimerman came up with the design for Quark's face while bashing a catcher's mitt with a baseball bat? No, not really, but he might as well have done.
Who else? Shimerman has appeared as Mass Effect's Salarian Councillor, Ratchet and Clank's Dr. Nefarious and Bioshock's Andrew Ryan.
Who? Grey DeLisle is a singer, voice actress and occasional stand-up comic. She also goes by the pseudonym of 'Grey Griffin', which probably comes in really handy during live action role-playing.
Who else? DeLisle has voiced Jeanne from the Bayonetta series, Catwoman in Batman: Arkham, Sly Cooper's Carmelita Fox and Amanda from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
Who? Nolan North is a professional actor and voice over artist/bona fide gaming institution. Little known fact: both he and Troy Baker are immortal Highlanders simultaneously attempting to corner the voice over market, because of course 'there can only be one'.
Who else? North voices everyone from DOTA 2's squealing Gyrocopter pilot to the CoD franchise's zombie-mad Richtofen. Other characters include Uncharted's Nathan Drake, Injustice's General Zod, Batman's Oswald Cobblepot and Portal 2's Space, Adventure and Fact Cores.
Who? Ellen McLain is an opera singer and voice actress who regularly contributes to Valve Corp. video games. Her husband is similarly involved with the company, having provided the voice of the Sniper in Team Fortress 2. And no, they didn't meet up while screaming robotic threats into a microphone. Shame.
Who else? McLain's work includes stints as DOTA 2's Broodmother, Left 4 Dead's Witch monster, Half-Life 2's Overwatch speaker and - most famously of all - Portal's array of talkative turrets and the evil A.I. GLaDOS.
Who? James Arnold Taylor is a professional cartoon and video game voice actor. Long-term exposure to the man's unique brand of laughter has been known to cause ferocious irritation in viewers.
Who else? Taylor's most notable roles include Ratchet from the Ratchet and Clank series, the Clone Wars' Obi-Wan Kenobi (both in video games and TV) as well as Final Fantasy X's boisterous lead character Tidus. He also does a rather good Jack Sparrow impression.
Who? Lani Minella is a professional voice actress specialising in video games. I wonder how many people accidentally call her Liza Minnelli on a daily basis?
Who else? Lani voices the female infected in The Last of Us, Sheeva from Mortal Kombat 9, Ivy in SoulCalibur, the Koopa kids from the Mario franchise, and the female fighters in the Worms series.
Who? Troy Baker is a musician, mo-cap actor and award-winning voice over artist specialising in video games. He spends much of his time coated in brightly coloured ping-pong balls trying not to laugh.
Who else? Baker's work includes appearances as Batman: Arkham's Two-Face, Metal Gear Solid V's Ocelot, The Last of Us' Joel, Far Cry 4's Pagin Min and Arkham Origins' Joker.
Who? Jen Taylor is a professional voicework and theatre actress, contracted to the Halo franchise for the next 187,000 instalments, or the complete heat death of the universe - whichever comes first.
Who else? Taylor's impressive C.V. boasts several big name gigs, including those of Princess Peach and Halo's Cortana. Other notable performances include No One Lives Forever's Cate Archer, Left 4 Dead's Zoey and DOTA 2's Medusa.
Who? Fred Tatasciore is a prolific voice actor appearing in film, television and video games. He once voiced one of Jar Jar Binks' annoying Gungan buddies, and probably felt really terrible about it afterwards. We forgive you Fred, you couldn't have known.
Who else? Tatasciore has voiced Baird from Gears of War, Zeratul (Starcraft 2), Bane (Arkham City), Mario (Assassin's Creed 2), both the Tank and Boomer monsters from Left 4 Dead, and Mass Effect's Saren Arterius.
Who? Terrence Carson is an acclaimed stage actor, tv performer and vocalist. Fun fact: Carson was also betrayed by almighty Zeus. He was pretty chilled about it though.
Who else? Carson has portrayed God of War's vengeful Spartan Kratos, the Saints Row series' Big Tony and Star Wars' own Mace Windu.
Who? Quinton Flynn is a video game voice actor and writer. Fun fact: the name Quinton Flynn would also suit a restaurant critic and/or a wealthy teenaged adventurer.
Who else? Flynn voices Sonic's Silver the Hedgehog, Metal Gear's Raiden, Henry from the No More Heroes games, and Crash Bandicoot's Dr. N. Gin.
Who? Mark Hamill is a professional acto… - y'know what, forget it, the man's Luke Skywalker, LUKE SKYWALKER damn it! Oh and he was in all those Wing Commander games too…
Who else? Hamill has provided the voice behind CoD 2's old-timey narrator, X2's Wolverine and of course Arkham's main-series iteration of the Joker.
Who? Matthew Mercer is an anime and video game voice actor. His name is also an anagram for 'Mew Meth Carter', which in the context of the Pokémon franchise would certainly explain a lot…
Who else? Mercer provides the pipes behind Street Fighter 4's Fei Long, Arkham Origins' Anarky, Resi 6's Leon, and Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell's Blackbeard.
Who? Roger Craig Smith is a professional voice actor specialising in anime, video game and cartoon-based voicework. Since winning the role of Batman in Arkham Origins, Smith has received numerous lewd phone calls from a man referring to himself only as 'Conroy Kevin'. Police are baffled. And of course, none of that actually happened.
Who else? Smith lends his considerable talents to a wide array of gaming icons, including Ezio Auditore (Assassin's Creed 2), Chris Redfield (Resident Evil 5), Batman/Bruce Wayne (Batman: Arkham Origins) and err… Sonic the Hedgehog. That's quite the range.
Who? Steve Blum is a professional voice actor specialising in anime, cartoons and video games. Fun fact about Steve: he was only one botched birth certificate away from being called 'Steve Bum'.
Who else? Blum has voiced Sub-Zero and Reptile in Mortal Kombat X, Wolverine from the X-Men franchise, Killer Croc in the Batman: Arkham series, Vincent Valentine in Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, Final Fantasy Type-0's Cid, and Grayson Hunt from Bulletstorm. Also, about .
Tags: Torn, Steve, Hack, Dead, Evil, Resident Evil, Resident, Valve, Mario, World, Mask, Star, Trek, Saints, Saints Row, Street, Thief, Play, Gear, Sniper, Heroes, Lucy, Bioshock, Batman, Silver, Cave, With, Commander, North, Creed, Jump, Metal, Metal Gear, Solid, Live, American, Fate, Fantasy, Space, Test, Last, There, Far Cry, Captain, Grab, Hunter, Ball, Rick, Blue, Mega, Gears, Mini, The Last, Angry, Wolf, Fortress, Fighter, Street Fighter, Flys, Uncharted, Most, Reef, Gear Solid, Final, James, Chris, Princess, Zero, Team Fortress, Final Fantasy, Huge, Killed, Media, Adventure, Baird, Sonic, Starcraft, Pokémon, Jack, Little, David, Clone, Other, Tale, Arkham, Mortal, Class, Kombat, Mortal Kombat, Crabs, LeafFrom:
www.gamesradar.com
| A Sad History of Cancelled Games
Added: 01.05.2015 16:00 | 86 views | 0 comments
Shelved and gone.
In the big industry of video games, projects get cancelled for a variety of reasons. Sometimes we get to hear about it from official announcements, and sometimes we even catch wind of it from a myriad of rumors. But be it from not meeting the standards of publishers or just getting lost in development hell, some games are often given the boot before they can even reach the hands of anxious gamers. So here's a list of games that have been recently cancelled in the last few years and some history on what they were.
Star Wars 1313
Star Wars 1313 was an action-adventure game set to be a gritty take on the Star Wars universe. By the tail end of its development, it was going to follow the exploits of a young Boba Fett exploring an underground area of Coruscant known as level 1313. But when Disney purchased Lucasfilm, it made the decision to change the Star Wars franchise’s position from internal development to a licensing model for Star Wars video games. As a result, on April 3, 2013, massive lay offs were made to LucasArts and all projects were canceled, including Star Wars 1313.
Silent Hills
Silent Hills was going to be the next installment in the Silent Hill series. Hideo Kojima was set to direct the project in collaboration with film director Guillermo Del Toro. The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus was also attached to the project to portray the game’s main character. When news of Kojima’s plans to leave Konami after finishing MGS V began to circulate, his involvement in Silent Hills was left unclear. Konami finally confirmed the game was cancelled on April 27, 2015 after a variety of reports from those involved with the project had stated that the game was no longer in development. Despite the cancellation, Konami stated the Silent Hill franchise will continue.
Titan
Titan was a new MMO game by World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment. Development of the title was speculated upon as early as 2007 when Blizzard posted job listings for a next-gen MMO. It was confirmed to be in development in 2008, but Blizzard eventually canceled it in 2014. Reasons cited behind the cancellation include a lack of passion for the project and the trending success of their smaller-scale titles.
Rainbow 6 Patriots
Announced in 2011, Rainbow 6 Patriots was a first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal. It put players in control of a counter-terrorism unit known as Team Rainbow as they went up against a populist militia group known as the True Patriots. Ubisoft canceled the game on June 9, 2014 due to the desire to produce a more next-gen game experience for the Rainbow 6 series.
Prey 2
Prey 2 was a first-person shooter developed by Human Head Studios. As the sequel to 2006's Prey, it would have put players in control of a bounty hunter on the alien world of Exodus who is trying to recover his lost memories. But on October 30, 2014, publisher Bethesda confirmed that Prey 2 was cancelled due to the game not being up to its standards.
Shadow Realms
Shadow Realms was a 4v1 online action-RPG being developed by BioWare’s Austin studio. It was first announced during Gamescom 2014. Set on modern day Earth and a parallel world known as Embra, it would have had players taking on the roles of magic wielding heroes caught in a war to save humanity against the evil Shadow Legions. Unfortunately, Shadow Realms got the boot due to BioWare Austin focusing their development efforts on other BioWare family projects, such as Dragon Age: Inquisition and the next Mass Effect.
Star Wars: Battlefront 3
Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was a third- and first-person shooter that was being developed by Free Radical Design. Despite never being officially announced, this version of Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was in development from mid-2006 to early 2008. But right when it was about 99% finished, the game was cancelled due to financial reasons.
Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun
Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun was an action-adventure game that was to be the sixth entry in Crystal Dynamics’ long-running Legacy of Kain series. It was being developed by Climax Studios under the supervision of Crystal Dynamics. Development for the game began secretly in 2009-2010 after Square Enix Europe chose Climax Studios to take on the job of creating a next-gen Legacy of Kain game. However, Square Enix Europe canceled the title in 2012 before it was able to reach full production.
Fez 2
Fez 2 was to be the sequel to 2012’s Fez, an indie 2D puzzle platformer that revolves around players solving puzzles while rotating between four sides of the game’s 3D world. The game was canceled a month after its announcement following a Twitter argument between lead designer Phil Fish and a video game journalist.
Dawngate
Dawngate was a free-to-play MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) developed by Waystone Games and published by Electronic Arts. Aiming to differentiate itself from other MOBAs like League of Legends and Dota 2, Dawngate tried to implement an evolving story into its gameplay. Despite being in beta for quite some time, Waystone Games announced that the game was cancelled due to its beta not shaping up to the standards they hoped it would.
World of Darkness
World of Darkness was a vampire-themed MMO that was being developed by EVE Online developer CCP Games. Based in the supernatural world of the tabletop RPG series World of Darkness, the game was going to make heavy use of player politics and social interaction in its gameplay. However, CCP Games canceled the project on April 14, 2014 after being in development for nearly eight years.
Fallout Online
Fallout Online was an MMO that was being developed by Interplay Entertainment, the Fallout series' original creators. Officially confirmed to be in development in 2009, the MMO would eventually be canceled in 2012 after a long legal battle between Interplay and new series publisher Bethesda that resulted in an out-of-court settlement. Bethesda then got the rights back to develop a Fallout MMO.
Bioshock for the PS Vita
BioShock for the PS Vita was a game announced by former Irrational Games co-founder Ken Levine during Sony's E3 2011 press conference. It was going to be a completely new original entry in the series rather than a port of previous BioShock games. But in July 2014, it was confirmed that deals between Sony and BioShock publisher Take Two failed to materialize. And with closure of Irrational Games in 2014, whatever plans Levine had for the portable title are effectively buried.
NBA Live 13
NBA Live 13 was to be a reboot to EA’s long-running basketball game franchise that at the time hadn’t seen a release since 2010. However, due to lack of satisfaction over the game’s builds in the lead-up to launch, EA decided to cancel the game a mere six days before its planned release date.
Mega Man Legends 3
Mega Man Legends 3 was to be the next entry in the cult classic Mega Man spin-off series. It would have had players controlling two new characters named Aero and Barrett who would have joined alongside returning series characters to save Mega Man Volnutt from Elysium. Initial development of Mega Man Legends 3 was originally helmed by series creator Keiji Inafune. However, when he left the Capcom in 2010, development continued without him. Unfortunately, on July 18, 2011, Capcom canceled the game citing that it did not meet the required criteria to go into full production.
Tags: Studios, Online, Dead, Capcom, Vita, Games, World, Mask, Star, Trek, Ubisoft, Wake, Arts, Electronic, When, Bioshock, Walking, Walking Dead, The Walking, BioShock, Shoot, Europe, Jump, Kojima, Hideo, Hideo Kojima, Live, Disney, Bolt, Shadow, Test, Help, Down, League, Blizzard, High, Mega, Fire, Mega Man, April, Star Wars, Announces, Norman, Legends, Square, Irrational, Enix, Dragon, Human, MORE, Square Enix, Crystal, Karl, Earth, Irrational Games, Levine, Ken Levine, Warcraft, BioWare, LucasArts, Tale, Bethesda, Titan, Twitter, Soul, Despite, Legacy, Darkness, KonamiFrom:
www.gamespot.com
| A Sad History of Cancelled Games
Added: 01.05.2015 16:00 | 32 views | 0 comments
Shelved and gone.
In the big industry of video games, projects get cancelled for a variety of reasons. Sometimes we get to hear about it from official announcements, and sometimes we even catch wind of it from a myriad of rumors. But be it from not meeting the standards of publishers or just getting lost in development hell, some games are often given the boot before they can even reach the hands of anxious gamers. So here's a list of games that have been recently cancelled in the last few years and some history on what they were.
Star Wars 1313
Star Wars 1313 was an action-adventure game set to be a gritty take on the Star Wars universe. By the tail end of its development, it was going to follow the exploits of a young Boba Fett exploring an underground area of Coruscant known as level 1313. But when Disney purchased Lucasfilm, it made the decision to change the Star Wars franchise’s position from internal development to a licensing model for Star Wars video games. As a result, on April 3, 2013, massive lay offs were made to LucasArts and all projects were canceled, including Star Wars 1313.
Silent Hills
Silent Hills was going to be the next installment in the Silent Hill series. Hideo Kojima was set to direct the project in collaboration with film director Guillermo Del Toro. The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus was also attached to the project to portray the game’s main character. When news of Kojima’s plans to leave Konami after finishing MGS V began to circulate, his involvement in Silent Hills was left unclear. Konami finally confirmed the game was cancelled on April 27, 2015 after a variety of reports from those involved with the project had stated that the game was no longer in development. Despite the cancellation, Konami stated the Silent Hill franchise will continue.
Titan
Titan was a new MMO game by World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment. Development of the title was speculated upon as early as 2007 when Blizzard posted job listings for a next-gen MMO. It was confirmed to be in development in 2008, but Blizzard eventually canceled it in 2014. Reasons cited behind the cancellation include a lack of passion for the project and the trending success of their smaller-scale titles.
Rainbow 6 Patriots
Announced in 2011, Rainbow 6 Patriots was a first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal. It put players in control of a counter-terrorism unit known as Team Rainbow as they went up against a populist militia group known as the True Patriots. Ubisoft canceled the game on June 9, 2014 due to the desire to produce a more next-gen game experience for the Rainbow 6 series.
Prey 2
Prey 2 was a first-person shooter developed by Human Head Studios. As the sequel to 2006's Prey, it would have put players in control of a bounty hunter on the alien world of Exodus who is trying to recover his lost memories. But on October 30, 2014, publisher Bethesda confirmed that Prey 2 was cancelled due to the game not being up to its standards.
Shadow Realms
Shadow Realms was a 4v1 online action-RPG being developed by BioWare’s Austin studio. It was first announced during Gamescom 2014. Set on modern day Earth and a parallel world known as Embra, it would have had players taking on the roles of magic wielding heroes caught in a war to save humanity against the evil Shadow Legions. Unfortunately, Shadow Realms got the boot due to BioWare Austin focusing their development efforts on other BioWare family projects, such as Dragon Age: Inquisition and the next Mass Effect.
Star Wars: Battlefront 3
Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was a third- and first-person shooter that was being developed by Free Radical Design. Despite never being officially announced, this version of Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was in development from mid-2006 to early 2008. But right when it was about 99% finished, the game was cancelled due to financial reasons.
Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun
Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun was an action-adventure game that was to be the sixth entry in Crystal Dynamics’ long-running Legacy of Kain series. It was being developed by Climax Studios under the supervision of Crystal Dynamics. Development for the game began secretly in 2009-2010 after Square Enix Europe chose Climax Studios to take on the job of creating a next-gen Legacy of Kain game. However, Square Enix Europe canceled the title in 2012 before it was able to reach full production.
Fez 2
Fez 2 was to be the sequel to 2012’s Fez, an indie 2D puzzle platformer that revolves around players solving puzzles while rotating between four sides of the game’s 3D world. The game was canceled a month after its announcement following a Twitter argument between lead designer Phil Fish and a video game journalist.
Dawngate
Dawngate was a free-to-play MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) developed by Waystone Games and published by Electronic Arts. Aiming to differentiate itself from other MOBAs like League of Legends and Dota 2, Dawngate tried to implement an evolving story into its gameplay. Despite being in beta for quite some time, Waystone Games announced that the game was cancelled due to its beta not shaping up to the standards they hoped it would.
World of Darkness
World of Darkness was a vampire-themed MMO that was being developed by EVE Online developer CCP Games. Based in the supernatural world of the tabletop RPG series World of Darkness, the game was going to make heavy use of player politics and social interaction in its gameplay. However, CCP Games canceled the project on April 14, 2014 after being in development for nearly eight years.
Fallout Online
Fallout Online was an MMO that was being developed by Interplay Entertainment, the Fallout series' original creators. Officially confirmed to be in development in 2009, the MMO would eventually be canceled in 2012 after a long legal battle between Interplay and new series publisher Bethesda that resulted in an out-of-court settlement. Bethesda then got the rights back to develop a Fallout MMO.
Bioshock for the PS Vita
BioShock for the PS Vita was a game announced by former Irrational Games co-founder Ken Levine during Sony's E3 2011 press conference. It was going to be a completely new original entry in the series rather than a port of previous BioShock games. But in July 2014, it was confirmed that deals between Sony and BioShock publisher Take Two failed to materialize. And with closure of Irrational Games in 2014, whatever plans Levine had for the portable title are effectively buried.
NBA Live 13
NBA Live 13 was to be a reboot to EA’s long-running basketball game franchise that at the time hadn’t seen a release since 2010. However, due to lack of satisfaction over the game’s builds in the lead-up to launch, EA decided to cancel the game a mere six days before its planned release date.
Mega Man Legends 3
Mega Man Legends 3 was to be the next entry in the cult classic Mega Man spin-off series. It would have had players controlling two new characters named Aero and Barrett who would have joined alongside returning series characters to save Mega Man Volnutt from Elysium. Initial development of Mega Man Legends 3 was originally helmed by series creator Keiji Inafune. However, when he left the Capcom in 2010, development continued without him. Unfortunately, on July 18, 2011, Capcom canceled the game citing that it did not meet the required criteria to go into full production.
Tags: Studios, Online, Dead, Capcom, Vita, Games, World, Mask, Star, Trek, Ubisoft, Wake, Arts, Electronic, When, Bioshock, Walking, Walking Dead, The Walking, BioShock, Shoot, Europe, Jump, Kojima, Hideo, Hideo Kojima, Live, Disney, Bolt, Shadow, Test, Help, Down, League, Blizzard, High, Mega, Fire, Mega Man, April, Star Wars, Announces, Norman, Legends, Square, Irrational, Enix, Dragon, Human, MORE, Square Enix, Crystal, Karl, Earth, Irrational Games, Levine, Ken Levine, Warcraft, BioWare, LucasArts, Tale, Bethesda, Titan, Twitter, Soul, Despite, Legacy, Darkness, KonamiFrom:
www.gamespot.com
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