this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023
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Idris Elba, who stars in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, sees a future where films and games converge.

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[–] Mantis_Toboggan@lemmy.world 87 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Kristen Bell was in Assassin's Creed II and that was 14 years ago... Fuck I feel old.

But still, it's been slowly happening for quite a while

[–] state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Sean Bean was in Oblivion, that's even older.

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Patrick fuckin Stewart was in it as well but he dies in the tutorial.

[–] d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz 10 points 1 year ago

Batman Begins (2005) had an all-star voice cast from the movies:

  • Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman
  • Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth
  • Liam Neeson as Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul
  • Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes
  • Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow
  • Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone
  • Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
  • Tim Booth as Victor Zsasz
  • Mark Boone Junior as Detective Arnold Flass
  • Ken Watanabe as Ra's al Ghul (decoy)
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[–] scops@reddthat.com 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

There it is. This was a big deal at the time because it wasn't just voice acting but a character built around his likeness too. The game was meh

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[–] habanhero@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Matthew Perry was Benny from FO: New Vegas

[–] beefcat@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Ron Perlman provided opening and closing narration for all the numbered Fallout games.

And Fallout 1 was very much a “budget” title for Interplay, so it’s not like the studio was just splashing money around because they could.

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[–] Davel23@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This kind of thing has been going on for at least 30 years. One of the earliest examples is Night Trap starring Dana Plato. You may not know who that is, but anyone who grew up watching Diff'rent Strokes certainly does. If you want a more mainstream example, look at Ripper from 1996 which features Christopher Walken, Paul Giamatti, Karen Allen, Burgess Meredith, David Patrick Kelly, Ossie Davis, and John Rhys-Davies.

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[–] Jaysyn@kbin.social 59 points 1 year ago (2 children)

LOL, you mean like Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077?

[–] mihnt@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean Keith David has been a huge voice actor for a long time.

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[–] mathematicalMagpie@lemm.ee 54 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

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.

[–] ilickfrogs@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I have to agree. I always preferred an A class voice actor for a character that isn't of celebrity likeness. Honestly hope this doesn't become the norm.

Edit: I'd also like to add that Idris Elba is a phenomenal actor and I'm excited to play the expansion.

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[–] stardust@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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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[–] gila@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

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?

[–] stardust@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] mathematicalMagpie@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

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.

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[–] BaronVonBort@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That union vote came at just the right time then, huh.

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[–] holiday@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Started a fresh playthrough on the 21st and man the time they put in shows. Really wish companies like CDPR would go the Larian route of funding big projects like this instead of going public. Shareholders ruined CP2077 launch. It should have been delayed a year or two from its original launch. Instead it was rushed and then after launch they had to fix the rushed product before making/finishing the game they wanted to make. If CP2077 released as it is now or even slightly less polished, it would be considered a top 5 game of all time.

Lessons are there to be learned by other studios. Hopefully they are paying attention. Gamers will wait for a great game.

All that being said, I'm excited to hand over $30 now that I've seen the game perform. Stoked to see Elba.

[–] Mandy@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago (8 children)

I like how people still try to blame investors to this day

Despite numerous accounts and evidence clearly saying cdpr fucking lied to them too

Dont give them even a single microinch

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[–] brightpants 8 points 1 year ago

I mean, it would be nice of course, but lets not forget Larian almost went bankrupt in the process. I mean this as in Larian is the exception. And they made a gigantic gamble which could've been their ruin had it not turned out so good.

[–] Paradox@lemdro.id 27 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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.

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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

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.

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[–] leave_it_blank@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm playing Toonstruck at the moment. Christopher Lloyd was one of the early pioneers acting in computer games, and he gives everything! The game is so much fun!

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Tim Curry in Red Alert ~~2~~ 3 will always be the classic though

[–] quams69@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Liam Neeson was in Fallout 3

[–] Pirky@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Patrick Stewart was in Oblivion. And Sean Bean, too.

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[–] jantin@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] Poggervania@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

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.

[–] nyahlathotep@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think Keanu Reeves is great in Cyberpunk 2077

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[–] Landericus@lemmy.sdf.org 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mark Hamill in Wing Commander III, released in 1994.

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[–] zecg@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] qooqie@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Seeing as the games industry makes more than movies I wouldn’t be surprised if more actors don’t exclusively go towards acting in games. It pays well I think and typically the work schedule is better I believe(someone confirm or deny this?). I’d love to see more actors on the games side and not as PR stunts.

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[–] sevastapol@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I personally wouldn't put much stock in his opinion since he seems to know very little about video games.

[–] Sylvartas@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

He knows a fair bit about acting for big budget movies and acting for (AAA) videogames though.

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ehhh. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Case in point: everyone loves Patrick Stewart. He played a small yet memorable role in Oblivion. No issues. Everyone loves Keanu Reeves, but as soon as CDPR wheeled him out to hype up CP2077 in 2019, I rolled my eyes because it was an obvious attempt to capitalize on the meme-able goodwill that Keanu had from all of the posts about him riding the subway and his wife dying and how he's a genuinely nice person.

Idris Elba on the other hand, he's a great actor, but he has the marketability of a tuna sandwich.

Put famous actors in games when it makes sense to do so. Otherwise it comes off as hacky and you run the risk of severely dating your game in 10 years. Idris Elba is just in too many things these days to take him seriously.

[–] Noite_Etion@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

It's no different than putting famous people in movie voice acting roles. If they can voice act well it works (Eartha Kitt as Yzma) but often it's just a sad attempt at generating hype (Chris Pratt as Mario).

Speaking of aging, does anyone remember Kevin Spacey in Call of Duty? That aged well right gang!

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