Idris Elba, who stars in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, sees a future where films and games converge.
I’d prefer them to converge from Baldur’s Gate 3 direction. Cast more or less established voice actors and give them the hype and marketing space usually found among movie/tv stars. “films and games converge” yea, when we treat a 200hour computer game the way we treat a long tv series and acknowledge the actors’ contribution on the same level.
I absolutely agree. Every single voice actor from the main party of BG3 was stellar (including the narrator), while J.K. Simmons seemed to be bored while recording his lines and Jason Isaacs was good but nothing extraordinary.
Popular actors in cyberpunk 2077 are the worst part of it IMO, I’d much rather have those characters sport a face I haven’t seen a thousand times.
I’m not really a fan of real A-list actors’ faces in games. Inspired by real faces? Sure. I know the term “immersion” is mocked a lot, but few things force me back to reality than seeing Hollywood megastar multimillionaires in my fantasy world.
I’m curious if you feel the same way watching movies? It’s not as if Idris Elba’s live-action movie roles depict “reality”. What is it about the presence of a real actor which breaks your immersion in games but not movies, or do you just feel similarly about both?
It’s not unusual to have big stars in movies. There are movies full of nothing but A-listers. It’s been the norm since before any of us were born. However, I find there are some big actors where their presence overshadows their character (if that makes sense). I do tend to enjoy movies with smaller actors that I haven’t seen quite as many times already.
When it comes to live action I do greatly prefer it when a great performance is from an individual I don’t recognize from previous works. So I don’t see oh it’s blank from X. I only have the reference of seeing only the character, which sells the immersion so much more.
And voice acting when it comes to animation and games has been an area like that where if a woman is voicing a boy, but the voice acting is good I only see the boy. Or someone voices a lovecraftian monster I only see that monster. Or someone who is a different race voices a different race it doesn’t matter because I only see the character and how well the voice suits the sculpted character like Kratos.
The best voice acting performances to me have been ones where I don’t recognize the voice actor. I only see the character, and due to voice acting providing the opportunity where how you look or what your original voice is doesn’t matter. It gives actors the chance to really disappear into a role, but then just showing up as themselves it feels like a lost opportunity.
Like one I think of is Kiefer Sutherland voicing Snake was something I like much more than Norman Reedus in Death Stranding. In MGSV I only saw the character of Snake not Kiefer Sutherland. In Death Stranding I just kept thinking oh hey it’s Daryl from Walking Dead, and I had to actively keep trying to disassociate the actor from the character.
Yeah, what I’ve always liked about voice acting is that how the person looks or even what their original voice is like doesn’t matter. It’s purely about the voice which makes it much easier for the voice to take center stage, and it allows people to voice other genders, races, species, objects, etc.
This real life person being present as themselves is not a trend I’ve liked. Good voice acting to me has been one where I am emotionally moved by the performance but don’t automatically recognize the voice due to how well and unique the performance is. Plus, I don’t like more regular voice actors being pushed aside by a listers.
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sign of the times
We’ve had actors in videogames for as long as there’s been the ability to play samples at a high enough quality. Hell, the 90s FMJ era was full of them. Some good, some not so good.
Bruh this is nothing new. We had the legend Patrick Stewart and the captain of gondor in Oblivion.
Yeah, but that was just the voice. This (and Keanu silverhand) are trying to be the actors straight up playing characters in the game.
As long as they are good voice actors too, sure. Otherwise, we have a Mortal Kombat situation on our hands.
LOL, you mean like Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077?
coughKeith Davidcough
Big, well known actors in video games have been a thing for a long time now? I remember games from the 90’s that had actors like James Earl Jones, Tim Curry, Bill Paxton, Randy Quaid, and so many more growing up.
What’s interesting is, it doesn’t seem like it’s expanded or shrunk. Most games don’t hire big actors, but a handful of huge budget, AAA things do. There’s also big range in how good these actors are in the game… JK Simmons, for example, was awesome as Cave Johnson in Portal; but his performance in Baldur’s Gate 3 is, by far, the worst in the entire game IMO.
Idk if I like this. Wouldn’t having big famous Hollywood actors and actresses screw over the industry for a lot of people? Which sucks because just because they’re actors, it doesn’t mean they can voice act - Megan Fox did a character in the new Mortal Kombat and she gave the most wooden performance in recent memory; Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077 was kind of odd at times, but it was still okay.
I just don’t want these big names invading a space that’s already hard to compete in, and then taking all the jobs because of star power and not their actual talent.
I think Keanu Reeves is great in Cyberpunk 2077
Eh, actors and actresses have been in games foe decades just like they have done voices in animated films for decades. Both cases tend to only attract big names to a few games and this reads like the usual ebb and flow of interest from a limited number of people and gaming companies.
Mark Hamill in Wing Commander III, released in 1994.
With Malcolm McDowell and John Rhys-Davies.
This was already a thing back in the ‘90s. Several games had actors in them, it was a sign of the times because it hadn’t been done before. After the exuberance wore off we got more professional voice actors to do parts. Guess it’s back in style again.
Tim curry did his best work in red-alert 2
If anything could be said about that is that’s most probably an event that happened in time.
Stop trying to be movies already for fucks sake, you where supposed to be better, hell the multitudes if days one can interact should make them so but nooooo All we got is this shit from the big guys
