Video Game Voice Over: Turning Up the Volume
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Remember Tetris? Did you know it’s been around 40 years since the game was initially released? This gaming classic and its addictive gameplay, although now buried under the sands of time, remains widely recognized by old school, seasoned gamers. Video games rom the older eras, such as Tetris, Pac-man, Donkey Kong, or Space Invaders were simple, but challenging to play – they worked out your brain with puzzle-solving elements and were fast-paced enough to keep on your toes.
Although you might like to turn back the clock and revert back to your younger self to relive the first-time gaming experience with these gamer classics, there’s still a lot to look forward to in gaming today. Since then, game developers have made audacious efforts to come up with bolder concepts and incorporate more captivating storylines, hyper-realistic graphics, and ultimately – outstanding video game voice acting. What’s not to love about that? These efforts have evidently paid off too. In fact, Statista has determined that the global gaming market value is set to exceed $372 billion this year. And this number will continue to rise.
Now let’s turn our attention to voice over, before our time spans run out. In this article, we take a look at a few brilliant video game voice overs and what made them so hugely successful, featuring examples you’ll absolutely love. Turn up the volume and let’s go!
When a game’s voice acting gets insanely good – Far Cry 3 is by far the definition of insanity!
So who is Vaas’ voice actor in Far Cry 3?
When a video game’s voice over betrays the plot – The House of the Dead 2
When a game deserves an Oscar for voice acting – Sarah’s Death in The Last of Us
The perfect harmonization between the voice acting and plot development as the emotional charge peaks makes The Last of Us one of the best games of all time. Hear Sarah’s performance for yourself.
And if you’d like to find out how other of the game’s translations fair compared to the original, read The Last of Us Localization Review – the Good & the Bad for a full, through-and-through review.
So is there a secret formula for high quality voice acting? With so many games out there, it’s about time game developers raised the standard if they want their games to become blockbusters.
Creating memorability with video game voice over – how can the gaming industry improve?
The 2022 edition of GamesBeat Summit in Los Angeles emphasized the need for voice actors who engage with the game while it’s still under development.
Jennifer Hale, voice actress and summit panelist, compared game voice acting to film and television production, where actors are involved in every stage of the development, in contrast to what happens in the gaming industry.
“It was such a technically driven media for so long, but now the role of story and character is so important… It all comes back to collaboration and cooperation, not competition,” said Hale.
How voice over localization fits into the picture