old thread here

 

So what's new?

Did I miss the discussion about Runic getting shut down?

 

Pretty sure those who cared enough opened the article and got as far as: "China-based publisher Perfect World", and then went: "Well that explains everything"...

 

I mean, we're talking about the Chinese EA here. Heh, or even the one company that I might consider worse than EA. Them having a stake in Digital Extremes (Warframe) worries me to no end.

Yeah. I think that was my reaction as well.

Perfect World also run the Chinese DotA 2 servers and they are well known in the eSports community for hosting the DotA 2 Shanghai Major, widely regarded as one of the most disastrously poorly run major eSports events of the last few years.  It was so bad that, ever since then, whenever there are technical problems during a DotA 2 tourney people either joke that we are on Perfect World servers or that we got Shanghai'd. So, yeah, Perfect World don't exactly have a sterling reputation, for a variety of reasons.

"NON-FAKE-NEWS EDITION"

 

Yes, I suppose I noticed a bit of that going on as well.

 

Anyhow, this is pretty exciting!

 

Out of all the digital market-place companies out there, looks like Sony is the only one who could outfox Valve... I'm impressed.

 

Edited November 7, 20178 yr by SonicMage117

 

This was fun to watch. 

The GotY Edition of HITMAN released today, including the bonus campaign, new outfits and weapons, and access to any elusive target people might have missed if they didn't buy episode 1 immediately when it first released (you don't get to redo failed or completed elusive targets, though).  In even better news, IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak let it slip that a new Hitman game is indeed being worked on.

 

 

"One last thing about our next Hitman game; I want to let you know that we’re making great progress and we have exciting new features and some franchise firsts, which we can’t wait to tell you all about. You’ll have to wait a little longer as we don’t plan to start talking about that until some point in 2018." 

 

 

Edited November 8, 20178 yr by Keyrock

Voice Actor strike ended.

 

https://arstechnica.co.uk/gaming/2017/11/video-game-voice-actors-officially-end-strike-after-340-days/

They got a lot of what they wanted. A job well done to them, I think.

Lol, the companies just used scabs while everyone was on strike, and nobody noticed. I wonder why they caved?

Voice Actor strike ended.

 

https://arstechnica.co.uk/gaming/2017/11/video-game-voice-actors-officially-end-strike-after-340-days/

 

Sounds like a fair deal, also far better then the original demands for royalties that some of the big VAs were putting forward.

Lol, the companies just used scabs while everyone was on strike, and nobody noticed. I wonder why they caved?

The thing is, that most of the games, which were affected by the strike are still in development. I bet we'll notice the effect much more in a year or two.

Lol, the companies just used scabs while everyone was on strike, and nobody noticed. I wonder why they caved?

Yeah, there are so many great voice actors out there that have never been used in video games, just as good as Troy Baker or anyone else.

 

I suppose they caved purely for the reason of legacy and reputable status. Some people don't care but there are also some that would be more likely to buy a game if it had someone familiar or well-known doing the voice overs. The gaming community is awfully picky these days... with everything :/

Lol, the companies just used scabs while everyone was on strike, and nobody noticed. I wonder why they caved?

 

 

i noticed

Edited November 9, 20178 yr by Bartimaeus

Lol, the companies just used scabs while everyone was on strike, and nobody noticed. I wonder why they caved?

Probably as people did notice ?

 

Lol, the companies just used scabs while everyone was on strike, and nobody noticed. I wonder why they caved?

Yeah, there are so many great voice actors out there that have never been used in video games, just as good as Troy Baker or anyone else.

 

I suppose they caved purely for the reason of legacy and reputable status. Some people don't care but there are also some that would be more likely to buy a game if it had someone familiar or well-known doing the voice overs. The gaming community is awfully picky these days... with everything :/

Being picky? Bad voiceacting can completely destroy atmosphere. Be it game or movie. That is the reason, I never watch dubbed movies or shows. The voiceacting for Slovak commercial televisions is mostly attrocious.

 

Same with games. You either bother to make quality VO or make none. Bad voiceacting is worse than none at all...

 

Bad voiceacting is for me a reason to refund a game...

I was wondering why they were on strike, because VA is extremely expensive.

Isn't most VA done in like a single or a few sessions? 8 hours of work and u want a cut of the cash when people who have literally slaved over the game for many months or years don't even get a cut. Smh.

 

Also bad VA doesn't bother me really I guess because I grew up in the 80s and 90s.

Edited November 9, 20178 yr by redneckdevil

u want a cut of the cash when people who have literally slaved over the game for many months or years don't even get a cut. Smh.

 

I think most of us would like to see better working conditions for video game developers, too. Not likely to happen until mass unionization happens, and attempting unionization in the tech sector is a career death sentence at this time.

Being picky? Bad voiceacting can completely destroy atmosphere. Be it game or movie. That is the reason, I never watch dubbed movies or shows. The voiceacting for Slovak commercial televisions is mostly attrocious.

 

Same with games. You either bother to make quality VO or make none. Bad voiceacting is worse than none at all...

 

Bad voiceacting is for me a reason to refund a game...

I wasn't talking about when voice acting was bad, I was talking about when people are picky to the point where they don't buy a game because it uses a different voice actor.

 

When Kojinma replaced David Hayter with Kiefer Sutherland in MGSV The Phantom Pain, fans were angry, however when the game finally came out they found that despite being a completely different voice, it didn't give Snake or Big Boss a different tone or change the quality of the game, some people will refute it - strangely.

 

I agree that bad-voice acting can ruin any game but if we're being honest, games didn't get any worse/better voice actors during the strike. So I highly doubt the reason was because gamers said anything about it.

 

Edited for bad English.

Edited November 9, 20178 yr by SonicMage117

I love the jump from voice actors on strike ----> all other voice actors that arent striking are crap. And god knows that one example from one person certainly seals the conversation!

 

Imo, besides us forum nerds, nobody noticed a thing. And fyi, we are the VAST minority of players.

I don't feel we know enough to make any conclusion so far, to either side - but I've noticed that strikes certainly can affect the quality of things in production, like the writers guild and the big actors guild strike a few years back.

Sure, but not all pigs are created equally. Big actor / writers trump voice actors all day long.

Hayter is just such an iconic voice. I liked Sutherland a lot and really never had a huge objection other than Hayter found out when we did. He seemed hurt. In hindsight having an A-lister didn't seem to bring much to the game, it seemed to bring more to Kojima's dev experience. But getting practice with big actors seem worthwhile for him since his next game, Death Stranding, is going to feature numerous A-listers.

 

I think things are different when a character you see has their actor/voice actor replaced. Audio is a huge part in establishing continuity within a series, often it's the part that is most worthwhile preserving. Just look at the new Star Wars and Jurassic Park titles. They use old scores gently and delicately to bridge themes.

Writers guild strike did a lot of damage to TV. And I can see voice actors striking causing problems for games that are operating like a series. Losing several characters pointlessly in the AC series killed that for me, and that wasn't even due to a strike, just Ubisoft trying to save money.

 

But at the same time, I don't see the actors as the draw like I do for TV or movies. They add something, and the consistency they bring in recurrence is great. But aside from Claudia Black being the main reason I bothered with Dragon Age, I don't chase after them.