IGN: Assassin's Creed II Blog: Voice Recording Sessions

IGN writes: "So today I'm going to switch gears slightly and talk not about writing, but about one of things that what happens once the script is finished – voice recording. This is a challenge under normal circumstances – voice recording isn't easy - but the period (and geographical) nature of the Assassin's Creed games makes it even more complex. Obviously immersion is important to us. We work with historians. We research city layouts. We recreate buildings. We ensure the plot is tied to actual events. You encounter (and sometimes assassinate!) people who really lived during the game's time period. So when characters open their mouths – they need to sound like they belong. It wouldn't make sense in the context of our game… Even if we could wash our hands of the whole thing and say "The Animus does it" we've found that isn't what the players want. Accented English finds a happy medium by creating an atmosphere that feels genuine without forcing the player to read subtitles. HOWEVER – as an aside – the game can be configured so that everyone speaks Italian with English subtitles. I encourage everyone to at least try it. Our Italian localization team did an INCREDIBLE job and I want to give a personal thanks to Leonardo Gajo who went above and beyond in helping us achieve our goals.'