Platform Biased Episode 3 is available

More gaming goodness plus an interview by yours truly about breaking into the video game industry.

http://platformbiased.com/2008/07/03/podcast-003-get-a-job/

Tara Strong at San Diego Comic Con 2008

So it looks like Tara Strong will once again be at the San Diego Comic Con. If you’re a fan and plan to go, make sure you get her autograph.

Even if you don’t know who Tara Strong is, you’ve undoubtedly heard her voice. She was Raven on Teen Titans and Timmy on Fairly OddParents. She’s also on Drawn Together and the Transformers cartoon as well as Ben 10 to name only a few. If you’re a video game person, then you’ll know her as Seth Balmore in Lost Odyssey, Kluke in Blue Dragon, and Rachel in Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

Platform Biased Episode 2 is live

As faithful readers know, I’m the co-host of Platform Biased, a new gaming podcast created by folks on the inside who make the games you love.

We just posted our second episode at http://platformbiased.com. Give it a listen and leave some comments for us!

Platform Biased

No this isn’t a Mac vs PC argument.

As some of you know, I make video games for a living. Some fellow Microsoft game testers and I have put together a podcast about gaming from an insider perspective, called Platform Biased.

Episode 1 is live at http://platformbiased.com/

This first episode is pretty straight forward and I took a back seat to other guys, but if you’re interested in video games and the process, check in every other week for a new episode.

Video games should use Voice Actors, not celebrities

Gamasutra has an interesting interview with Sony dialog manager Greg deBeer, responsible for the God of War video game series. deBeer makes a great case for hiring professional voice actors and not celebrities to do the voice acting for video games. I couldn’t agree more.

Read the whole article here.

Niko Bellic Actor got paid $100,000 for Grand Theft Auto IV

The New York Times has an interesting article about Michael Hollick, the actor who played Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auo IV, a title that has so far sold $500 million worth of copies.

Apparently Mr. Hollick is disappointed that he only made $100,000 from his work in the game, and won’t make any residuals.

Jason Zumwalt, the voice of Cousin Roman, has a far funnier take on the subject in this YouTube video:

I have my opinion on the matter as a voice actor and someone who actively works in the video game industry. But I’d like to hear what you think. Sound off in the comments!

Incredible Hulk video game to feature film actors

I’m not a huge fan of paying celebrity actors to voice video games. I don’t think they bring that much to the table since people don’t play games to listen to the voice actors in the same way they see movies to see the actors. In other words, the actors do not draw video game audiences. This is not to say I don’t want high quality VO in games. Quite the opposite. I just don’t think we need typical Hollywood marquee names.

That said, I’m a firm believer in continuity of voice when a particular intellectual property crosses media. For the upcoming Incredible Hulk game, they got the same actors from the film to voice their parts in the game. I think this is great from the perspective of a gamer who wants their to be contuinity. Too often, the actors hired don’t match the voices well enough and it’s obvious. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer game, anyone?

When you hire the same actors, celebrities or not, there can’t be any complaining that the actors “didn’t sound like the actors in the movie.”

Free Bioshock audio goodies

If you’re a fan of the video game BioShock like I am, then you know the audio design was the best part of the game and one of the best sonic landscapes in ANY game. Xbox Live’s Major Nelson has posted some of the audio from the game. These are not ripped, folks, these are from the original audio masters encoded at a high bit rate. Download away!

Condemned 2: Bloodshot VO sessions

GamingBits.com has a great video about the Voice over recording sessions for Condemned 2: Bloodshot, a highly anticipated sequel for Xbox 360. It’s interesting to watch the actors record with the character counterparts behind them in greenscreen. I think my best part is toward the end where they record the group zombie audio. All very interesting to see pros in action.

Contains some adult language, as this is a Very adult game. Thanks to Joe on the VO-BB for posting it.

Lost Odyssey Voice actor Michael McGaharn speaks

Lost Odyssey is a fantastic RPG for the Xbox 360. I’m just delving into it now. It’s dark and dramatic. But to offset this tone, they’ve added a character named jensen for comic relief. In the US version, this character is voiced by actor Michael McGaharn who does a fantastic job of ad libbing and bringing the character to life without making him sound like a clown or buffoon. His character is one of the most notable in the game and is quickly becoming a fan favorite.

In a rare move, Mr. McGaharn has been very active on a gaming message board talking about the craft of voicing the game as well as answering questions. Be warned, you have to filter through a bunch of fanboy gunk to get to the nuggets. But it’s interesting to learn that this was one of his first really big jobs and he still has a day job!

Read about it here. His tag is mimcg