[Intrepid Homoludens]

From what I remember reading all the previews and watching clips, the main selling points were the cel shaded look, David Duchonvy's voicework, and the whole conspiracy angled story inspired by the JFK assassination.

[100ja a.k.a. mr_mitja]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

From what I remember reading all the previews and watching clips, the main selling points were the cel shaded look, David Duchonvy's voicework, and the whole conspiracy angled story inspired by the JFK assassination.

Well, that's true, but every FPS has a "story", and people bought that it would be very important in terms of gameplay! That's high expectations if you ask me. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice game, but really nothing more than an average shooter. Cell shading is the thing that saved the game.

[Jackal]

I don't think story was the issue. I just believe the new look created excitement for the game, which somewhere along the line became distorted into thinking the whole thing was going to be something really fresh and innovative. Then - surprise surprise, it came out as a decent shooter with cel shading, and people felt cheated.

I think it's funny that anyone thought Duchovny was a good idea. He sounds half asleep at the best of times.

[100ja a.k.a. mr_mitja]

Originally Posted by Jackal

I think it's funny that anyone thought Duchovny was a good idea. He sounds half asleep at the best of times.

If you ask me, I think he always sounds like that. He just isn't a good actor, and they probably hired him just so they could say: "Hey, we have Duchovny voicing the main character!"

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Many t.v./screen actors don't translate well to video games, unfortunately. So a lot of times hiring one is merely a marketing tool, people are more likely to buy a game when the actor-du-jour's voice and/or likeness is used. But we're not talking about the hardcore gamers here, we're talking about most other people who don't really know.

This explains why adventure games like Moment of Silence and Nibiru are pimped as featuring the German voice actors of Julia Roberts and Matt Damon, respectively. I'm no moron, I'm not gonna buy some game just 'cause of that.

[100ja a.k.a. mr_mitja]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Many t.v./screen actors don't translate well to video games, unfortunately. So a lot of times hiring one is merely a marketing tool, people are more likely to buy a game when the actor-du-jour's voice and/or likeness is used. But we're not talking about the hardcore gamers here, we're talking about most other people who don't really know.

This explains why adventure games like Moment of Silence and Nibiru are pimped as featuring the German voice actors of Julia Roberts and Matt Damon, respectively. I'm no moron, I'm not gonna buy some game just 'cause of that.

But what if Patrick Stewart or Jim Caviezel did the voices?

[Manhunter71]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Many t.v./screen actors don't translate well to video games, unfortunately. So a lot of times hiring one is merely a marketing tool, people are more likely to buy a game when the actor-du-jour's voice and/or likeness is used. But we're not talking about the hardcore gamers here, we're talking about most other people who don't really know.

This explains why adventure games like Moment of Silence and Nibiru are pimped as featuring the German voice actors of Julia Roberts and Matt Damon, respectively. I'm no moron, I'm not gonna buy some game just 'cause of that.

I'm no moron either; I do tend to take in to account the fact that famous actors/musicians are involved in a game when I buy it, but so far my choices have always been pretty positive - I did buy The Black Dahlia because it advertised Dennis Hopper and Teri Garr - I was hoping that Dennis Hopper would play a large part in the game but I was very much mistaken; he was in it for about 10 mins?
Although this revelation was slightly dsappointing, and I did keep expecting him to pop up as a recurring character, it wasn't that bad because this was a really good game.

I also bought The Feeble Files because I knew Feeble was played by the excellent Robert Llewellyn (Kryten from Red Dwarf), and with this game there was nothing disappointing about it at all

Apart from The Nomad Soul, I can't think of any other games I have bought solely on the basis of "celebrity apearances"

[Manhunter71]

Originally Posted by 100ja a.k.a. mr_mitja

But what if Patrick Stewart or Jim Caviezel did the voices?

If Patrick Stewart did a voice-over in a game then I think I would buy it unconditionally - I really don't think he would commit himself to something that would turn out to be below par

[Intrepid Homoludens]

This is a strong trend, and one that I think will become standard practice in games production, not only with popular actors' voices but also their likenesses. Most likely they'll get special training to better their skills in voicework for games. However, I also think that actors who specialize in voicework for games only will still be used because they're excellent in it. As games become more and more ubiquitous with the mainstream, I'm all for it. My only worry is that they'll depend way too much on pimping the games based on celebrity association alone, and the quality of the games will suffer.

[Risingson]

Originally Posted by Manhunter71

If Patrick Stewart did a voice-over in a game then I think I would buy it unconditionally

Then you didn't play the CD-Rom version of "Lands of Lore", I suppose.

[Manhunter71]

Originally Posted by Risingson

Then you didn't play the CD-Rom version of "Lands of Lore", I suppose.

No

[Martin Gantefoehr]

This explains why adventure games like Moment of Silence and Nibiru are pimped as featuring the German voice actors of Julia Roberts and Matt Damon, respectively. I'm no moron, I'm not gonna buy some game just 'cause of that.

Well, maybe this view is a little too one-dimensional.

Germany has a strong and experienced dubbing industry. These people don't get hired because they are or pretend to be Julia Roberts. They get hired because the are the most professional and experienced dubbing actors this industry has to offer. People like their acting and recognize their voices.

The "big name" publicity is of course a very desireable effect, but most certainly German dubbing "celebrities" aren't in need of special training for dubbing. They are dubbing specialists.

I mean, look - this is Daniela Hoffmann, Julia Roberts' German voice.

Do you think we hired her for her Julia Roberts looks?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Martin

Well, maybe this view is a little too one-dimensional.

Germany has a strong and experienced dubbing industry. These people don't get hired because they are or pretend to be Julia Roberts. They get hired because the are the most professional and experienced dubbing actors this industry has to offer. People like their acting and recognize their voices.

The "big name" publicity is of course a very desireable effect, but most certainly German dubbing "celebrities" aren't in need of special training for dubbing. They are dubbing specialists.

Well, good for you! But you're acting as if I don't agree with your sentiments.

What I was saying was that I'm not buying a game - any game - just because of its association with any famous actor. I'm no moron, a game does NOT necessarily automatically increase in quality across the board once you hire any famous celebrity to star in it.

I mean, look - this is Daniela Hoffmann, Julia Roberts' German voice.

Do you think we hired her for her Julia Roberts looks?

And where did you get the idea that I think House of Tales hired the German actor for Miss Roberts, just because I thought she looked like her? Where? That's rather insulting of you to insinuate that about me.

[Jackal]

He's just poking fun at her rather un-JuliaRobertsish looks, not implying you'd suggested that.

The point about pimping the voice actors, though, is that it IS a significant feature for a game. That's their specialty, and they undoubtedly will do an excellent job. The same can't be said for regular actors, who aren't used to doing strictly voice work.

[Martin Gantefoehr]

What I was saying was that I'm not buying a game - any game - just because of its association with any famous actor. I'm no moron, a game does NOT necessarily automatically increase in quality across the board once you hire any famous celebrity to star in it.

Hiring the best professional dubbing voice talent available for a story driven game isn't a way of treating people like morons, it is a way of trying to create the best possible product in all aspects.

Denouncing these efforts to be an evil marketing scheme set up only to rip off moronic customers, doesn't even remotely do the skills of these German voice actors justice, and is a rather unfriendly statement about the business ethics of the companies involved.

[SoccerDude28]

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

No, you got me all wrong, I wasn't commenting on the gameplay. How could I? I never played the thing
No, it just seems to me it wouldn't look nearly as striking if they used realistic and not cel shading.

But that's the whole point of the game? The premise of the game from day one was that they wanted to create a comic-like first person shooter. If it didn't look the way it did, it would not be XIII.

As far as actor voice overs, I really hope that we won't have famous voice actors voicing every game. Cameron Diaz got gazillion million dollars on her voice in Shrek 2, for 10 hours of recording. It definitely made the movie better, but a movie with its millions of dollars in sales can afford that. Imagine that budget going into a game? And another gazillion million dollars going to next-gen graphics. Where is the gameplay then????

There are actually some games that have some great voice acting, but do not have famous actors. Just listen to freedom force or Any old lucas arts games or Psychonauts. On the other hand, there are some actor voice overs in games that stink. Toby Mcguire in Spiderman 2 sounded like he was drugged.

[100ja a.k.a. mr_mitja]

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

Toby Mcguire in Spiderman 2 sounded like he was drugged.

But...but.. he IS Spiderman!