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A Nintendo community for the fans, by the fans!
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How do you feel about digitizing Hollywood stars into video games? [roundtable] |
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I am, of course, referring to the upcoming PS3 game Beyond: Two Souls from Quantic Dream (Heavy Rain, Indigo Prophecy) which stars Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe. And by stars I do not mean voice acting, I mean literally stars; they have been motion captured and digitized into the game itself, and the advertising for the game has been completely based around their starring roles.  This isn't the first time the video game industry has put famous people into games, but most of the past examples I can think of offhand were either using actual (generally poorly compressed) video, such as several Sega CD games did, or having the person in question play themselves, such as the old Michael Jackson game or that terrible 50 Cent game. This seems to me to be the first time that actresses and actors are being used "seriously" as actresses and actors in a high profile video game in the same way that they are in movies, not just from the acting side but from the advertising side. While talking about this with a Facebook friend I realized that it kind of turns me off a bit, and though it is tough to really put a finger on why, here are a few of my reasons: 1. Uncanny Valley gets taken to a whole new level for me when it is using real people that I have seen before. 2. I'm kind of not a fan of the Hollywoodization of video games to begin with, and this feels like it could be (if successful) a big step towards more Hollywoodization in general. 3. It kind of kills the immersion for me (ironic, since it's supposedly being done to be more immersive) because I can't not think "that's Ellen Page in digital form", etc. I have this issue with film casting famous people in multiple roles as well to some degree, which is why I love going into movies that don't have anyone I recognize in them, but I guess I'm more used to it there? 4. It just feels sort of unnecessary and contrary to what I like in video games, which is the unique worlds and characters. I'd rather see Nathan Drake than see Nathan Fillion stars as Nathan Drake. This is especially an issue to me if this trend catches on and the same actors and actresses end up playing multiple roles in multiple games. 5. Honestly? It just feels a bit cheesy to me. Still, that's just me, and I totally acknowledge how subjective a lot of this stuff is, and how, if it did become a trend I would adjust to some of it over time, and maybe a lot of these concerns would diminish. What do you think?
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Posted: 10/05/13, 21:04:02 |
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Posted: 10/06/13, 05:24:26 |
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Posted: 10/06/13, 06:55:54 |
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I'm fairly outspoken about not liking this drift toward "games that think they're movies," and I mostly see this as a corollary of that.
But, even deeper, I'd say I think mo-cap and face-cap are pretty cool technologies. No problem there. My real issue is more lack of interest in seeing Hollywood stars raise the budgets of games. And, actually, see their presence do to video game voice acting what they already did to animated movie voice acting.
Wait, let me get out my rocking chair... That's better. Cue Stephen Foster soundtrack...
You see, when I was a kid, Hollywood actors didn't star in animated movies. Instead, we had groups of talented people called "professional voice actors" and they devoted their lives to developing high-quality, recognizable voices for different animated characters. And they were great! But gradually a series of animated movies came along with celebrity voice actors that made enough money to buy the Moon (Aladdin, Lion King, Toy Story, Shrek). Companies making animated films took notice. Hey, why hire talented nobodies when you could hire well-known celebrities that you can then use to market the film? Come see David Schwimmer in... MADAGASCAR!
Celebrities like it because they're lazy and they can make a paycheck for a couple days of work. The marketers like it because it makes their job easier. Some audience members like it because they want every opportunity possible to worship Hollywood stars. But me? Give me trained voice actors every time. (And I see actors like Alan Young and Mark Hamill who've been successful in voice acting as film stars who eventually made a career change to voice acting.)
Basically, I feel the same way about games. I don't want to hear or see Ellen Page in a video game. She's not that great of an actor in real life, to be honest. She's okay, but I don't see how her presence adds much other than some unnecessary "Hey, I recognize her" factor. I'd rather leave that job to someone who's actually good at it.
Not to mention the justice of more work for jobbing voice actors and less for pampered movie stars. |
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Posted: 10/06/13, 16:54:43 |
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Posted: 10/06/13, 23:08:59 |
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Posted: 10/07/13, 16:22:10 |
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Posted: 10/07/13, 17:04:21 |
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Posted: 10/07/13, 17:06:38 |
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Posted: 10/07/13, 17:28:27 |
- Edited by |
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on: 10/07/13, 17:30:46 |
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Posted: 10/07/13, 19:32:19 |
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Posted: 10/08/13, 05:15:25 |
- Edited by |
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on: 10/08/13, 05:16:17 |
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Posted: 10/09/13, 02:15:46 |
- Edited by |
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on: 10/09/13, 02:29:56 |
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Posted: 10/12/13, 03:02:29 |
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Posted: 10/16/13, 01:57:41 |
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Posted: 10/23/13, 06:15:42 |
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Posted: 10/23/13, 12:22:48 |
- Edited by |
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on: 10/23/13, 12:27:21 |
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Posted: 10/23/13, 17:34:31 |
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on: 10/23/13, 17:34:50 |
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Posted: 10/23/13, 19:33:44 |
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Posted: 10/23/13, 20:51:56 |
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Posted: 10/23/13, 21:19:42 |
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Posted: 10/23/13, 22:13:57 |
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