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Some voice actors are already famous in other parts of the entertainment industry. Should these actors do more for the games where they provide their voices by mentioning that they are in the game outside of the gaming community?
Recently, I watched a trailer of Mass Effect 2. One that had the voice actors talk a little bit about the characters they are playing. Here are some of the names: Martin Sheen, Seth Green, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Michael Dorn, Keith Davis, Tricia Helfer, Michael Hogan, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Shohreh Aghdashloo.
This list alone was reason enough for me to get excited for Mass Effect 2. Granted, I already planned on getting it in the first place, but the list of the voice talents made me want it even more. Hearing the names of these people automatically made me think: “This game will be legendary.”
What I am trying to say here is that even though the names mentioned, hardly anyone ever hears about it. Of course, the hardcore gamers would know about the actors but the casual players may never realize it until they reach the credits. Even then, they may not realize it. After all, a majority of the people don’t bother reading the credits.
I think that companies need to get the names out there. One way to do this, have the voice talents themselves mention that they are providing the voices in the game. I’m sure that just a sentence from the actors themselves can generate tons of sales.
I know it worked for me when I heard from a friend that Billy Dee Williams will be in Command and Conquer 3. I never played the series before but I went ahead and got the game for the sole reason of seeing Lando. I have heard others mention the same reason but for different actors in the game.
The same thing happened with Halo ODST. When I heard that three cast members from my favorite television series, Firefly, were going to be in the game, I rushed to get it even though I had not planned on getting the game in the first place.
If companies include something in the contracts that required the actors mention that they are in the video game outside of gaming magazines, would sales increase significantly? Would you want to play the game you may not have heard of if you found out that one of your favorite actors in the film or TV industry was going to in it? I know I definitely would.
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