It goes without saying that voice acting is a crucial element in video games today. In previous generations, it was overlooked if voice acting wasn't up to par with the rest of what the game has to offer - it commonly took a back seat in importance compared to gameplay and innovation. Today, voice acting is just as important as a solid storyline and immersive gameplay to create an ultimate virtual experience. There have been an abundance of milestones in which products have brought Grammy-worthy acting to the gaming world and suffice it to say, voice actors are often under-appreciated as opposed to live action actors and actresses.
There have been many video games to capture the attention of our ears in which actors and actresses have lent their voice talents to superb levels of realism, immersion and general badass-ery. With that being said, there have been quite a few voice actors to make their mark in many different gaming worlds, series and franchises - most of which are not noticed. I usually make a point to look up the cast in video games in which the acting had made an impression and I've discovered some interesting facts.
Nolan North - famous for his work as Nathan Drake in the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita exclusive Uncharted series - is one of few voice actors who's talents have been lent to an overwhelming handful of different video games. North has lent his talents as:
Desmond Miles - Assassin's Creed series
Dr. Edward Richtofen - Call of Duty: World at War/Black Ops series
Deadpool - Deadpool (upcoming)
Alberto Clemente - Mafia II
Corrupt Cores, Defective Turrets - Portal 2
Vashyron - Resonance of Fate
Additional voices in GoldenEye 007, Quantum of Solace, Metal Gear Solid 4, Saints Row and Saints Row 2.
Kath Soucie is another interesting voice actress. Her name might not ring a bell but some of you might recognise her roles as Phil, Lil, and Betty DeVille in the Nickelodeon cartoon, The Rugrats. Soucie has had her fair share of voice acting in video games as well:
Laura / The Master (female voice) - Fallout
Sally - Kingdom Hearts
Taro - Final Fantasy X-2
Amanda Evert - Tomb Raider Legend, Tomb Raider Underworld
Additional voices in Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins
Third, is a man who's voice is not easily forgotten: Troy Baker. His voice is often confused with that of Nolan North's - in my case anyway - but nevertheless, his acting is top notch. You might remember him as:
Trevor Goodchild - Æon Flux
Two-Face, Robin - Batman: Arkham City
Severin, Kagan - BloodRayne 2
PFC. Joseph Allen - Modern Warfare 2
Vincent Brooks - Catherine
Snow Villiers - Final Fantasy XIII, FF XIII-2
Nightwing - Injustice: Gods Among Us
Kai Leng - Mass Effect 3
Jake Mueller - Resident Evil 6
The Boss/Default Male - Saints Row 3
James Sunderland - Silent Hill 2
Joel - The Last of Us
Lastly and certainly not the least of the lot is a woman after my own heart, who's lent her voice talents to characters featured in what it seems to be - by chance - every other game I play lately: Laura Bailey. Personally, I feel that Laura is able to capture many different tones and personalities in everything she does and many of you would be surprised to learn which characters she's given life to:
Una - Æon Flux
Rayne - BloodRayne, BloodRayne 2
Catherine - Catherine
The Courier (female), Vera Keyes, Christine - Fallout: New Vegas
Serah Ferron - Final Fantasy XIII, FF XIII-2
Alicia Valera - Gears of War 3
Oriana Lawson, Asari Lieutenant Kurin, Dr. Eva Coré - Mass Effect 3
Helena Harper - Resident Evil 6
Sherry Birkin - Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles
Default Female - Saints Row 3
Serana - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard
Cheria Barnes - Tales of Graces ƒ
Honourable mentions:
Keith David - The Arbiter (Halo 2, Halo 3), Julius (Saints Row, SR2), Captain Anderson (Mass Effect series), Sergeant Foley (Modern Warfare 2)
Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity; The Matrix) - Aria T'Loak (Mass Effect series)
Vivica A. Fox - LaSandra Belle Dixon (Hitman: Absolution)
"30XX is one of the best roguelikes out there, combining the tight platforming action of the Mega Man X series with the challenge and randomization that roguelike fans crave. Batterystaple Games has done lots of refinement through updates since 30XX first appeared on Steam Early access a few years ago. The latest such update adds a new character for free, one who combines the best attributes of the two existing characters. Also, the Steam version is on sale, making it a great time to travel to the distant year of 30XX!" says Co-Optimus.
"Hammerwatch II's journey to Xbox has been long and perilous. After first launching on Steam in the fall of 2023, the game finally turned up on PlayStation 5 last December. Since then, Xbox gamers who enjoyed the original Hammerwatch and the sublime Heroes of Hammerwatch have been anxiously awaiting their turn at the long-promised sequel. At last, the wait is nearly over because Hammerwatch II will hit Xbox and PlayStation 4 on April 23," says Co-Optimus.
Joe 'Three Sheets' Neate (Executive Producer): "As I’m sure you can imagine, when it comes to Sea of Thieves my days are full of numbers. Development costs, active servers, days until the next update… Sometimes, though, a truly extraordinary number stands out – a number like 40 million, which I’m incredibly pleased to say is the number of pirates who’ve now set sail in Sea of Thieves!"
Garrr... more people to walk the plank and send to Davey Jones locker.
would have been funny to release this on talk like a pirate day.
40 million have set sail...that's great. How many are sailing now? Monthly active users....when it actually matters. How many people purchased the game is another important number.
You don't get numbers like that from MS mouth pieces, they just like to say stuff like "this game was looked at 129 million time, the biggest amount of people browsing a game of this genre on xbox gamepass ever in the last 3 weeks compared to before gamepass was out (small print only 2 million bothered playing longer than 20 seconds and only 100 people are playing it concurrently)
It's all smoke and mirrors
There are usually around 10,000 concurrent users on Steam not counting Xbox or PS but really it doesn't matter as long as there are enough people on the servers to play which there always were and will be for a long time now with the PS players coming on board. Same goes for how many people bought it and how many are on GP, we aren't the accountants of these console companies so why would we care?
Reporting on MAU stats is very misleading. Other companies publish units sold, MS cannot or will not due to Game Pass. We all know that their prior startegies have not panned out so now they have to actually sell games on other consoles. In any case, SoT is doing impressive preorders on PS5 and will very likely motivate Satya to release more games other than the four indicated games on their competitor's consoles. Take note Phil is radio silent....
40 Mil across Stream, Windows 10, and Xbox. Healthy numbers for sure, but when PC is the biggest platform, I expected more. It’ll be interesting to see how it does on PlayStation. Very well could be double that player count in 6 months with PS too. It’s crazy for developers to skip the most popular platform, not sure why they’d want to, but they must have had their rea$ons.
Very good read lol. I remember hearing Nolan North as a pedestrian in SaintsRow2 and I couldn't stop laughing. I was like no way and I had to look it up on IMDB just to be sure :P
and I didn't even know CarrieAnne Moss did a voice in Mass Effect :o
imo you forgot to mention Mark Hamill. I don't like him much as an actor, but hes an excellent voice actor I find. Did amazing work as the joker and in many other games :)
Mark Hamill has been doing a lot of voice work lately. I remember him, and a lot of other actors in the 90's when they were in the Wing Commander games. Memories.
Today it is interesting to see how many actors/actresses lend their voices to games. In interviews with them they really seem to enjoy the work.