Voice actors in GTA games

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Archived from groups: alt.games.grand-theft-auto (More info?)

I was just reading an interview with someone at Rockstar, and they said,
"Since we don't promote our games based off the voice actors in it, the name
recognition isn't important to us."

Isn't that weird? Imagine, for example, the posters for Vice City if they
had mentioned just some of the big names involved.

Rockstar games presents

A Rockstar North Production

Ray Liotta in


Vice City


Also starring

Burt Reynolds
Dennis Hopper
Tom Sizemore
Gary Busey
Lee Majors

And featuring Jenna Jameson as "Candy Suxx"

I wonder why they don't make more of the voice talent in their marketing? SA
doesn't have as many stars, but it does boast Samuel L Jackson and Ice-T
among its voices. Maybe the actors don't want to be associated with a video
game in case it does bad things to their career? But surely - a GTA game? I
would give my eye teeth to even be a ped voice!

Speaking of which, some friends and I had the somewhat ambitious idea of
producing GTA-Hartlepool, in which we replaced all of the ped voice clips
with us saying the sort of things people in our home town would say. We're
yet to even make a start, but it would be funny. Maybe we could all club
together and record three or four clips each to eventually come up with a
full new set of ped voices for one of the games? Just a thought, but the
"alt.games.grandtheftauto voices mod" would be fun.
 
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Chris Wright wrote:
>
> I was just reading an interview with someone at Rockstar, and they said,
> "Since we don't promote our games based off the voice actors in it, the name
> recognition isn't important to us."
>
> Isn't that weird? Imagine, for example, the posters for Vice City if they
> had mentioned just some of the big names involved.
>
> Rockstar games presents
>
> A Rockstar North Production
>
> Ray Liotta in
>
> Vice City
>
> Also starring
>
> Burt Reynolds
> Dennis Hopper
> Tom Sizemore
> Gary Busey
> Lee Majors
>
> And featuring Jenna Jameson as "Candy Suxx"
>
> I wonder why they don't make more of the voice talent in their marketing? SA
> doesn't have as many stars, but it does boast Samuel L Jackson and Ice-T
> among its voices. Maybe the actors don't want to be associated with a video
> game in case it does bad things to their career? But surely - a GTA game? I
> would give my eye teeth to even be a ped voice!
>
> Speaking of which, some friends and I had the somewhat ambitious idea of
> producing GTA-Hartlepool, in which we replaced all of the ped voice clips
> with us saying the sort of things people in our home town would say. We're
> yet to even make a start, but it would be funny. Maybe we could all club
> together and record three or four clips each to eventually come up with a
> full new set of ped voices for one of the games? Just a thought, but the
> "alt.games.grandtheftauto voices mod" would be fun.

I really like that last idea Chris.

I don't know why they don't brag about the voice characters, I guess
they just know that it won't make much difference to a game which is
guaranteed massive sales anyway. Kind of the kind of people who buy
the game will buy the game even if Donald Duck is on lead. wow, that
WOULD be funny!

--
Paul (And I'm, like, "yeah, whatever!")
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/
 
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Archived from groups: alt.games.grand-theft-auto (More info?)

I guess it's the same reason that Pulp Fiction is a Tarantino film
first, and a John Travolta film second. They want their brand to be the
selling point, so that they don't *need* to get expensive voice actors.
Build a reputation, and the actors will queue up to be part of it.

Phil Hibbs.
 
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"Paul Heslop" <paul.heslop@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:42DE1C9D.3C70AC73@blueyonder.co.uk...

>
> I really like that last idea Chris.
>
> I don't know why they don't brag about the voice characters, I guess
> they just know that it won't make much difference to a game which is
> guaranteed massive sales anyway. Kind of the kind of people who buy
> the game will buy the game even if Donald Duck is on lead. wow, that
> WOULD be funny!
>
> --
> Paul (And I'm, like, "yeah, whatever!")


Did you play "Metal Gear Solid" on the PlayStation? The opening of the game
was produced in such a way that it felt like a film, and it worked really
well. At the time there was lots of talk about how video games would start
to be more and more like films in the way they were created and marketed.

Recently, I read somewhere that the videogame industry is getting close to
overtaking the film industry in terms of profitability. I look forward to
the day when big stars are confident enough about being in games that we see
movie style posters proudly proclaiming something like "Ray Liotta in Vice
City". It might even make games more accessible for people who might now
think of them as being a bit geeky.

Women in particular (bit of a sweeping statement coming here) seem to think
that games are just for boys who won't grow up. When me and my mate Greg
start talking about Vice City, our other halves roll their eyes and say,
"Oh, here we go again, boys with their toys," or something like that.

Imagine, though, if there was the videogaming equivalent of a "chick flick"?
It would probably be hard to sell now, but if games are presented to us in a
similar way to films, there's no reason why our wives and girlfriends
shouldn't be rushing out to buy "Dirty Dancing - the videogame" at some
point in the future.

Rockstar are at the forefront of this sort of thing as far as I can see. I
myself don't buy many games, and I don't sit for hours playing first-person
shooters online like some gamers do. But something special like a GTA game -
that is enough to make me part with my thirty quid. I have the same attitude
to films. I don't go to the pictures regularly and just watch whatever's on.
I only go if something I *really* want to watch is playing.

The amount of hype surrounding a new film release (take the Star Wars films
for example) wipes the floor with the advertising for a new game, even a big
seller like GTA. You see hours and hours of "making of" documentaries,
interviews with the cast and director, even whole shows devoted just to
watching stars turn up at the premiere. Even GTA seems to get by on a few TV
adverts here and there, and adverts in gaming magazines. The rest of the
hype takes place here on the Internet, and let's face it, if you go looking
for information about a game online, you're probably going to buy it anyway.

This comparison also might help the controversy problems that GTA games
have. The newspapers don't scream and shout about corruption of our minds
every time a horror film is released on DVD, but the risk of a child
watching it at home is exactly the same as that of a child playing San
Andreas. If games could be placed more into the mainstream of entertainment,
perhaps games with a more adult theme would be seen in the same way as films
are. It's been a long time since anyone ranted about the dangers of "video
nasties" like they did in the 1980s, and that's because the culture has
adapted to the existence of violent films, and accepted that if you buy an
18-certificate DVD, it's probably not a good idea to let your kids watch it.

Sorry for the long post, hopefully it gave you something to do for a bit
instead of working, which is what it did for me.

Cheers

Chris
 
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"Chris Wright" <nospam@chris.com> wrote in message
news:42de1856$1@nntp.onyx.net...
> I was just reading an interview with someone at Rockstar, and they said,
> "Since we don't promote our games based off the voice actors in it, the
name
> recognition isn't important to us."
>
> Isn't that weird? Imagine, for example, the posters for Vice City if they
> had mentioned just some of the big names involved.

Not really - it would be easy to dismiss the quality of the gameplay on the
basis of using big names to hide other shortcomings.

It does beg the question: Why use big names if they are a) not going to be
publicised, b) more expensive (probably), c) less talented than voice-only
actors?
 
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Archived from groups: alt.games.grand-theft-auto (More info?)

TV's Chris Wright wrote:
> I wonder why they don't make more of the voice talent in their marketing?
> SA
> doesn't have as many stars, but it does boast Samuel L Jackson and Ice-T
> among its voices. Maybe the actors don't want to be associated with a
> video
> game in case it does bad things to their career? But surely - a GTA game?
> I
> would give my eye teeth to even be a ped voice!

There are several other fairly well-known actors in the game. David Cross
(Zero) has been in many movies, and is a very funny stand-up comic. Charlie
Murphy (Jizzy) has been catapulted to fame thanks to "Chappelle's Show."
Other notables are The Game, Peter Fonda, Chuck D, George Clinton, Axl Rose,
and Andy Dick.

--

Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning.
A non-functioning mind is clinically dead. Believe in nothing.
- Maynard James Keenan

aa #2133
ap #19
 
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Archived from groups: alt.games.grand-theft-auto (More info?)

TV's Paul Heslop wrote:
>> Speaking of which, some friends and I had the somewhat ambitious idea of
>> producing GTA-Hartlepool, in which we replaced all of the ped voice clips
>> with us saying the sort of things people in our home town would say.
>> We're
>> yet to even make a start, but it would be funny. Maybe we could all club
>> together and record three or four clips each to eventually come up with a
>> full new set of ped voices for one of the games? Just a thought, but the
>> "alt.games.grandtheftauto voices mod" would be fun.
>
> I really like that last idea Chris.
>
> I don't know why they don't brag about the voice characters, I guess
> they just know that it won't make much difference to a game which is
> guaranteed massive sales anyway. Kind of the kind of people who buy
> the game will buy the game even if Donald Duck is on lead. wow, that
> WOULD be funny!

Somebody oughta make a mod where you can play as Donald.

I was thinking, it would be cool if there were a video game that was a cross
between GTA and Simcity. It would be fun to build freeways that end at the
face of a cliff or over water and watch the cars slam into the cliff and
each other, and drop off into the ocean. You could create that perfect spot
for sniping. It would be great.

--

Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning.
A non-functioning mind is clinically dead. Believe in nothing.
- Maynard James Keenan

aa #2133
ap #19
 
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On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 10:25:11 +0100, "Chris Wright" <nospam@chris.com>
wrote:


>Speaking of which, some friends and I had the somewhat ambitious idea of
>producing GTA-Hartlepool,

Blue Order?

--
The Zero ST
 
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Archived from groups: alt.games.grand-theft-auto (More info?)

> I was thinking, it would be cool if there were a video game that was a cross
> between GTA and Simcity. It would be fun to build freeways that end at the
> face of a cliff or over water and watch the cars slam into the cliff and
> each other, and drop off into the ocean. You could create that perfect spot
> for sniping. It would be great.
>
Great idea, especially for an online game! You could either be a
builder, or a citizen (demolisher?). Or law officer. Figure out a goal
to be achieved by either character (okay, that's actually the most
important aspect about it ;-), and you're good as gold.

Bram
--
http://www.stack.nl/~brama/gtastats.html
 
T

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Archived from groups: alt.games.grand-theft-auto (More info?)

TV's Bram wrote:
>> I was thinking, it would be cool if there were a video game that was a
>> cross
>> between GTA and Simcity. It would be fun to build freeways that end at
>> the
>> face of a cliff or over water and watch the cars slam into the cliff and
>> each other, and drop off into the ocean. You could create that perfect
>> spot
>> for sniping. It would be great.
>>
> Great idea, especially for an online game! You could either be a
> builder, or a citizen (demolisher?). Or law officer. Figure out a goal
> to be achieved by either character (okay, that's actually the most
> important aspect about it ;-), and you're good as gold.

I'd like it if you could play any character. At first, play an engineer and
design the city, then play a cop, then a thug, then the mayor...the
possibilities are endless.

--

Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning.
A non-functioning mind is clinically dead. Believe in nothing.
- Maynard James Keenan

aa #2133
ap #19
 
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In article <3uadnRXyzo4OLkPfRVn-vw@centurytel.net>,
"towelie" <bugoNOSPAM@hotmail.com> wrote:

> TV's Chris Wright wrote:
> > I wonder why they don't make more of the voice talent in their marketing?
> > SA
> > doesn't have as many stars, but it does boast Samuel L Jackson and Ice-T
> > among its voices. Maybe the actors don't want to be associated with a
> > video
> > game in case it does bad things to their career? But surely - a GTA game?
> > I
> > would give my eye teeth to even be a ped voice!
>
> There are several other fairly well-known actors in the game. David Cross
> (Zero) has been in many movies, and is a very funny stand-up comic. Charlie
> Murphy (Jizzy) has been catapulted to fame thanks to "Chappelle's Show."
> Other notables are The Game, Peter Fonda, Chuck D, George Clinton, Axl Rose,
> and Andy Dick.

What voices did Axl Rose and Andy Dick do? I haven't been able to pick
them out of the mix just yet...
 
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"Craig Coope" <coope1999@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:vgdtd1d95sjcl0itmqsnpcrtvppbc8ueto@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 10:25:11 +0100, "Chris Wright" <nospam@chris.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>>Speaking of which, some friends and I had the somewhat ambitious idea of
>>producing GTA-Hartlepool,
>
> Blue Order?
>
> --
The day we lost the playoff final was a sad one. 30% of the town's
population went to Cardiff, I watched it in the pub in town. We were oh so
close! Watch out for us next season!
 
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Archived from groups: alt.games.grand-theft-auto (More info?)

Carl Waring wrote:
>
> Chris Wright wrote:
> > Speaking of which, some friends and I had the somewhat ambitious idea
> > of producing GTA-Hartlepool, in which we replaced all of the ped
> I hope the originator of this pic won't mind me re-sharing it, but I liked
> it when someone first posted it.
>
> http://img320.imageshack.us/img320/4977/gtagrimsby4io.jpg
> (Don't know why, it got slightly renamed)
>
> --
> Carl Waring
> http://getdigiguide.com/?p=1&r=1495

:O) The terrace and the flat cap are classics!
--
Paul (And I'm, like, "yeah, whatever!")
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/
 
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