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Game studios will commonly employ obscure actors or industry-known voice-talent to do their work. This isn't always the case, though, as a lot of high budget games feature well known Hollywood actors. Some notable examples of this are Kiefer Sutherland and Alec Baldwin, who have both starred in recent block-buster games.
Regardless of the person doing the job, good voice acting is vital to the game experience. The quality of voice acting can have the power to make or break a character. Imagine, for instance, if God of War's main protagonist Kratos was voiced by someone with a thin, high pitched voice. Much of the toughness and grit that Kratos projects through his speech would be lost.
Sometimes voice acting is terrible. It might be because the wrong person was cast to do the voice for a specific character, or because the actor didn't show any emotion whatsoever, making a potentially dramatic scene seem boring and uninspired. Sometimes poor voice acting can be attributed to the chance that a hired actor can't be present in the recording studio, and as a result has to speak his or her lines over the phone from his or her home. It isn't shocking when dialogue in a game in which the actor had to recite lines described to him or her over the phone by producers lacks the right feel. In other instances, banter between two or more characters in a scene may turn out badly just because the actors weren't in the same room together, or had recorded their lines at different times.
Overall, poor acting can really diminish the quality of the player's experience in an otherwise great game. It can also be the nail in the coffin for a game that already has problems in other aspects.
On the other hand, when everything works out and the right actor is voicing the right character, while truly injecting feeling into the dialogue, the player can easily feel like a part of the game's world. Whether it's Kratos roaring as he tears some demon a new one, a funny, well-delivered joke in Monkey Island, or the dramatically eerie lines from Andrew Ryan in BioShock, great voice acting can add a whole lot to a title's story and atmosphere.
Notable Western Voice Artists (Listed in alphabetical order)
Dominic Armato
John Aylward
Dee Bradley Baker
Troy Baker
Gregory Baldwin
Steven Barr
Claudia Black
Susan Blakeslee
Corey Burton
Terrence Carson
Dan Castellaneta
Robert Culp
Keith David
John DiMaggio
Steve Downes
Paul Eiding
Miguel Ferrer
Michelle Forbes
Louis Gossett Jr. Seth Green
Robert Guillaume
Jennifer Hale
Zach Hanks
David Hayter
Lance Henriksen
Michael Hollick
Michael Ironside
Kenny James
David Kaye
Brandon Keener
Phil Lamarr
Charles Martinet
Ellen McLain
Deanna Mustard
Khary Payton
Ron Perlman
Harry S. Robins
Mercedes Rose
Michael Shapiro
Harry Shearer
Armin Shimerman
Andre Sogiliuzzo
Liz Sroka
Fred Tatasciore
James Arnold Taylor
Jen Taylor
Tony Todd
Patric Zimmerman
Notable Japanese Voice Artists (Listed in alphabetical order)
Kinryuu Akimoto
Yuri Amano
Susumu Chiba
Issei Futamata
Shingo Hiramatsu
Takako Honda
Yui Horie
Souichirou Hoshi
Shouzo Iizuka
Miki Ito
Tomoko Kawakami
Ayako Kawasumi
Kazuko Kojima
Takehiro Komaya
Kazue Komiya
Fumio Matsuoka
Hikaru Midorikawa
Omi Minami
Syoutarou Morikubo
Jouji Nakata
Daisuke Namikawa
Ikuo Nishikawa
Mamiko Noto
Sayaka Ohara
Akio Ohtsuka
Ryoutarou Okiayu
Miyuki Sawashiro
Tomokazu Seki
Hayami Show
Masashi Sugawara
Fumihiko Tachiki
Kazumi Totaka
Norio Wakamoto
Voice Acting is the creative process (some would say art) of providing voices for characters in games, television shows, films, radio programs, and other forms of media.
Overview
Voice acting appears in many different formats including movies, TV series, games, radio, and commercials.Picking the Right Actors
Terrence 'T.C.' Carson as Kratos
Game studios will commonly employ obscure actors or industry-known voice-talent to do their work. This isn't always the case, though, as a lot of high budget games feature well known Hollywood actors. Some notable examples of this are Kiefer Sutherland and Alec Baldwin, who have both starred in recent block-buster games.
Regardless of the person doing the job, good voice acting is vital to the game experience. The quality of voice acting can have the power to make or break a character. Imagine, for instance, if God of War's main protagonist Kratos was voiced by someone with a thin, high pitched voice. Much of the toughness and grit that Kratos projects through his speech would be lost.
Dominic Armato - the voice of Guybrush Threepwood
Good and Bad Acting
Sometimes voice acting is terrible. It might be because the wrong person was cast to do the voice for a specific character, or because the actor didn't show any emotion whatsoever, making a potentially dramatic scene seem boring and uninspired. Sometimes poor voice acting can be attributed to the chance that a hired actor can't be present in the recording studio, and as a result has to speak his or her lines over the phone from his or her home. It isn't shocking when dialogue in a game in which the actor had to recite lines described to him or her over the phone by producers lacks the right feel. In other instances, banter between two or more characters in a scene may turn out badly just because the actors weren't in the same room together, or had recorded their lines at different times.
Overall, poor acting can really diminish the quality of the player's experience in an otherwise great game. It can also be the nail in the coffin for a game that already has problems in other aspects.
On the other hand, when everything works out and the right actor is voicing the right character, while truly injecting feeling into the dialogue, the player can easily feel like a part of the game's world. Whether it's Kratos roaring as he tears some demon a new one, a funny, well-delivered joke in Monkey Island, or the dramatically eerie lines from Andrew Ryan in BioShock, great voice acting can add a whole lot to a title's story and atmosphere.
Notable Western Voice Artists (Listed in alphabetical order)
Dominic ArmatoJohn Aylward
Dee Bradley Baker
Troy Baker
Gregory Baldwin
Steven Barr
Claudia Black
Susan Blakeslee
Corey Burton
Terrence Carson
Dan Castellaneta
Robert Culp
Keith David
John DiMaggio
Steve Downes
Paul Eiding
Miguel Ferrer
Michelle Forbes
Louis Gossett Jr. Seth Green
Robert Guillaume
Jennifer Hale
Zach Hanks
David Hayter
Lance Henriksen
Michael Hollick
Michael Ironside
Kenny James
David Kaye
Brandon Keener
Phil Lamarr
Charles Martinet
Ellen McLain
Deanna Mustard
Khary Payton
Ron Perlman
Harry S. Robins
Mercedes Rose
Michael Shapiro
Harry Shearer
Armin Shimerman
Andre Sogiliuzzo
Liz Sroka
Fred Tatasciore
James Arnold Taylor
Jen Taylor
Tony Todd
Patric Zimmerman
Notable Japanese Voice Artists (Listed in alphabetical order)
Kinryuu AkimotoYuri Amano
Susumu Chiba
Issei Futamata
Shingo Hiramatsu
Takako Honda
Yui Horie
Souichirou Hoshi
Shouzo Iizuka
Miki Ito
Tomoko Kawakami
Ayako Kawasumi
Kazuko Kojima
Takehiro Komaya
Kazue Komiya
Fumio Matsuoka
Hikaru Midorikawa
Omi Minami
Syoutarou Morikubo
Jouji Nakata
Daisuke Namikawa
Ikuo Nishikawa
Mamiko Noto
Sayaka Ohara
Akio Ohtsuka
Ryoutarou Okiayu
Miyuki Sawashiro
Tomokazu Seki
Hayami Show
Masashi Sugawara
Fumihiko Tachiki
Kazumi Totaka
Norio Wakamoto
Voice Acting games
Edit
| Concept Name: | Voice Acting |
| Appears in: | 608 games |
| First appearance: | |
| Aliases |
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