Poll: Celebrity voice actors, Yay or Nay?

[King of Asgaard]

I'm in favour of it, because I've yet to hear one that was so phoned in that it ruined a character.

I mean, Kingdom Hearts in particular really sold certain characters with their voices, and not only the original actors for Disney characters. Billy Zane as Ansem, Christopher Lee as DiZ, Leonard Nimoy as Xehanort; these three are memorable not only for their roles in the games, but also because of the strength of their voices. Xehanort, in particular, I feel is stronger because of the voice, because Leonard Nimoy put on the feeble old man/mentor routine at the start and when he was bullshitting the main trio, and a tone of voice that implied that messing with him is a bad move later on when talking to his lackey and in the finale.

Other games have used celebrities well too, such as John Cleese's role in Jade Empire, which may be one of the funniest side quests I've ever played. Or if you prefer, Michael Dorn as Gatatog Uvenk in Mass Effect 2, which is a casting decision made in the stars.

 

[Synthetica]

Nah.
I mean: I don't care whether a voice actor is a celeb or not. So I voted Nay, but I mean "meh"

 

[COMaestro]

I wish you had an option for "other" or "unsure" as I feel pulled both ways. So I'm just not voting.

As most people have stated, if the celebrity actor can pull of the vocal work and put themselves into the character, then great! Hop on board! If not and they just end up being a name drop in the advertising, then no, I'd rather a competent voice actor who will work for a fraction of the cost be used instead and the saved budget go into making a better game.

it depends on how well the performance is done say what you will of the game but Felicia Day in Dragon Age 2 did a fantastic job. Jack Black in Brutal Legend, Patrick Stewart was probably the only good thing in Catlevania Lords of Shadow. So really celebrities can sometime s do a good job and at other times they replace David Hayter and you know that regardless of how good the performance is, it's just not going to be the same

Patrick Stewart as Zobek was hardly the only good thing about Castlevania Lords of Shadow. The whole game was awesome, and Robert Carlyle nailed the role of Gabriel.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

As long as they are fitting, and don't take whole freaking cast then I'm fine. My main problem is that hiring celebrities to do voices takes spotlight away from some genuinely good and talented voice actors. I mean, we all know Troy Baker and Jennifer Hale, but there are dozens of other talented VAs. I'd love Liam O'Brien or Karen Strassman to be as popular as Troy is.

 

[shrekfan246]

Patrick Stewart as Zobek was hardly the only good thing about Castlevania Lords of Shadow. The whole game was awesome, and Robert Carlyle nailed the role of Gabriel.

You probably shouldn't bother getting into an argument about Lords of Shadow. Old-school Castlevania fans will never budge an inch on their impressions of it.

OT: I don't know if I'd say it's an improvement or detriment either way in itself. I don't imagine actors typically take their normal working wage when they're contracted for VO work, especially in certain cases like Tim Schafer, who can get the likes of Elijah Wood at a bargain.

I have had many instances of going "NO WAY" when hearing a notable voice that I knew somewhere else, though. Patrick Stewart when I was watching a friend play Lords of Shadow, Armin Shimmerman as Andrew Ryan in Bioshock, and one that particularly made me laugh was Jason Marsden as Noel Whatshisface in the Final Fantasy XIII games, because he was Max Goof in A Goofy Movie. Also, Nathan Fillion in Jade Empire. Instant Game of All Time right there.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

It depends really. Some celebrities have done some pretty impressive voice acting like Patrick Stewart in Oblivion or Claudia Black and Kate Mulgrew in Dragon Age: Origins. However if they just phone it in then no, it doesn't really add anything and can actually be detrimental.

 

[DirgeNovak]

If they actually give a shit, yes. Martin Sheen and Seth Green in Mass Effect, Liam Neeson in Fallout 3, Patrick Stewart in Oblivion or Samuel L. Jackson in GTA: San Andreas were great. But if they're going to phone it in like Sean Bean in Oblivion, you're better off hiring Troy Baker for the fiftieth time.

 

[Shocksplicer]

Interesting that Troy Baker seems to have become the new Nolan North for some people.
OT: Some Actors can VA. Some can't. I think stunt-casting in general is dangerous, but if a person can VA and also happens to be known for love-action then that's fine. Case in point, Patrick Stewart and Robert Carlyle in Lords of Shadow were great, David Duchovny in ANY voice role he ever took is awful.

 

[Requia]

In general I'd like to see the celebrity driven entertainment thing die a quick yet painful death, but marketing taking precedent over product isn't specific to video games.

 

[Wrath 228]

I find myself liking performances from actors/celebs who voice act frequently, but one-offs are almost always lackluster. Keith David, Michael Hogan and Mark Hamill are examples of the former, and Kiefer Sutherland is getting up there now that he's done a few games. As much as I love Patrick Stewart and Liam Neeson though, they are examples of lackluster performances that, being so brief and having such iconic and familiar voices, took me out of a world that is otherwise highly immersive. You either need the range (Hamill) or the presence (Keith David, Sutherland, etc.) to pull off being recognized but still engaging. Neeson and Stewart, again, are both great, but they just can't pull off working with just their voices like others can.

It's not all their fault though, Neeson's performance could have been better utilized by having him appear a bit more an integrating him into the story more often, so that way I start identifying him by his character rather than the actor. That's frequently the fault of the developers, though, not the actor.

So yeah, sometimes yay, sometimes nay.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

made me laugh was Jason Marsden as Noel Whatshisface in the Final Fantasy XIII games, because he was Max Goof in A Goofy Movie.

one that blew my mind about him was, he voiced fucking boone of all people in new vegas

(hoping you played new vegas, but his typical voice acting does NOT sound like boone at all, I was very impressed)


OT: I don't mind it at all if they do a good job, if they are just thrown in there to try to bring the game some hype/fame then yeah that's shitty, but there have been plenty of games (such as mass effect series) where great actors played great roles in voice acting.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Interesting that Troy Baker seems to have become the new Nolan North for some people

shit have you seen his imdb as of late? He has explodedddddd in VA, which is great because I enjoy his voicework, but he is definitely giving nolan north a run for his money in "how many games can you be in?!?"

 

[Kargathia]

I care about the game's voice acting being done well. If an actor's (voice) acting happened to have made them famous... good on them, but hardly relevant.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I'll take a proper voice actor over a celebrity actor any day. I assume you are referring to actors and big names who are brought in to do voices. Voice actors have a hard enough time making a living, I'd rather they were the ones hired. That said, many of them are much better than normal actors which aren't able to deliver the range needed to convey emotion when you are reading your lines into a microphone in a booth.

 

[Evonisia]

I support it, but only if the developers feel like said actor fits the role. It's weird seeing celebrities voice acting just for the sake of making a budget even more expensive (dramatic soundtracks probably add to this as well).

 

[Lord Doomhammer]

I remember playing some Gears of War game a few years ago, probably #3, that had some rapper in it. His character was even more shit than those around him. He was not important to the story line or the universe. He was shit, a 6foot something pile of shit. And I know if he hadn't contacted Epic and asked to be in the game, then that character would not exist and there would have probably been a much more interesting part of the game. But he pushed his way in where he HAD NO FUCKING RIGHT TO BE, and they crowbar-ed him in like the giant turd he is. I absolutely hate when 'celebrities' who gamers don't like/care about/want to see get forced into games where they stick out like a sore fucking thumb.

Also I'm adding all the fucking AD based Capecha things to a list of products to NEVER FUCKING BUY. FUCK YOU ESCAPIST.

 

[Shocksplicer]

Interesting that Troy Baker seems to have become the new Nolan North for some people

shit have you seen his imdb as of late? He has explodedddddd in VA, which is great because I enjoy his voicework, but he is definitely giving nolan north a run for his money in "how many games can you be in?!?"

But part of why everyone here knows Nolan North is that, talented as he is, he has a very distinctive voice which allows people to recognise him from game to game, whereas I imagine many people wouldn't recognise that Booker, Joel, Kanji and New Joker are the same person.

 

[Alarien]

I need an option for "does it matter?"

For "celebrity voice actors" there are a few I actually like.

Martin Sheen
Lance Henriksen
Claudia Black
Tricia Helfer
Seth Green
Michael Hogan
Adam Baldwin
Carrie-Anne Moss
Keith David
Mark Hamill
Kate Mulgrew
Michael Ironside <good... is he really relevant as an actor now? maybe he's a non-celebrity>
Tim Curry <he's fucking Tim Curry>

You'll notice these are mostly from Mass Effect games. Probably because Bioware (and EA now, /sigh) have some pull. Also, fuck LA Noire. Awful "game" with awful "characters."

On the other hand, we have some AMAZING non-celebrities.

Simon Templeman <best... voice... ever>
Tony Jay <other... best... voice...ever... RIP>
Mark Meer
Jennifer Hale <great... does she count as a celebrity or non?, not sure>
Michael Bell
Steve Blum
Courtney Draper
Roger Craig Smith <good, but not my favorite>
Jen Taylor
Michael Beattie
Steven Barr
Ellen McClain

And this is a very incomplete list, mostly off the top of my head.

I see no reason that we shouldn't get the best of both worlds. So long as someone can act without their face being on screen, I'm generally happy.

Oh and I can't really give Nolan North credit. Generic white guy playing snarky generic white guy trying to sound a lot like a bemused Harrison Ford? Sure. He's video gaming's Spike Spencer. Lovely for him.