Thursday, June 09, 2005
News flash, the gaming community can breath easier knowing that the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)have come to an agreement and will not vote to strike. I know I can sleep easy now knowing that my video gaming experience will not be hampered do to poorly paid voice actors. People do not give voice actors enough credit. They must spend long, grueling hours working non stop trying to get threw all their one-liner, grunts, and groans. It has to be hard to have just the right tone and mind set to convince me that they are being attacked by hundreds of flesh ripping zombies. All the while knowing that all the credit they get is there name listed on the end credit. The same credits they have to share along with all the programmers, testers, graphic artists, and developers that get to live like rock stars with their luxurious office, an 8-5 work schedule, and catered hour long lunches. It is only logical that the actors that play such a vital role in the success of a game should get a part of each and every game that sells. I for one am terribly disappointed, that they only settled for a 36 percent increase for the three and a half years of the contract.
If you look at the blockbuster games from the past you can see and example of the fine voice acting that single handedly made the game a block buster. Where would classic games like Pac-Man and Dig-Dug be without voice actors? How about the hugely successful Mario Brothers game that helped launch the NES? Let’s not forget the ground breaking Star Fox for the SNES, who can argue that it was not the top notch voice acting that made that game so much fun to play? The only reason that the Descent series went as far as it did was because of voice actors. Let’s face it; Half-Life would have gone no where without someone giving the scientists a feeling of impending doom. Dino Crisis, oh, that acting just moved me to tears.
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If you look at the blockbuster games from the past you can see and example of the fine voice acting that single handedly made the game a block buster. Where would classic games like Pac-Man and Dig-Dug be without voice actors? How about the hugely successful Mario Brothers game that helped launch the NES? Let’s not forget the ground breaking Star Fox for the SNES, who can argue that it was not the top notch voice acting that made that game so much fun to play? The only reason that the Descent series went as far as it did was because of voice actors. Let’s face it; Half-Life would have gone no where without someone giving the scientists a feeling of impending doom. Dino Crisis, oh, that acting just moved me to tears.
