Rayman 3 to have Hollywood voice actors

[Mr_Furious]

I think the game'll turn out fine. Atleast we don't got Halie Joel Osmand (sp?) or whatever. Atleast, not yet. Who's doing the sound of Rayman? It's odd they haven't announce the VO actor for the main character but they did for sub-characters. Go figure.

[sggg]

Originally posted by Riptwo
I'd rather have celebrity voices than the horrible voice actors found in most games. John Leguizamo beats the game studio's janitor any day, in my books.

I'd rather have the janitor. Seriously. I am not joking... Terrible voice acting is better than celebrity voice acting, at least for me... and that Leguizamo guy.. *shudder*

Hrm.... Rayman 3 is in development at Ubi-Soft Montréal - right (Rayman 2 was)? I should go down there and derail this! I'll be outside picketing by myself in the snow... hehe.... Ah... well it is a French-first game so I'd like to think they'll have a French option. If not Raymanese, French is the next best thing.

[Sqoon]

How can anyone possibly hate Billy West? Futurama would be nothing without him.

[Mr_Furious]

Long story short:

Billy West did some VO for the game Clayfighter 63 and a turd, a game I worked on. I got to attend the VO session and Billy was quite honest about the whole Nick firing John K story. He mentioned that John K, while having real talent, also had a real drug/alcohol problem that was greatly affecting his work. Essentially, Nick gave him tons of chances but ultimately had to fire him for incompetence. I found Billy to be a very nice guy and I don't blame him for staying w/ Nickelodeon. It's not like John K was signing his paychecks. Business is business, ya know.

[negitoro]

I'm going to give Ubisoft the benefit of the doubt here. Their past year's track record has been rock solid and that includes their voice over work.

Splinter Cell in particular had some great voice work. While I'm not sure whether I'll get used to Rayman having a voice... it's worth a shot.

It just validates gaming as further being intergrated and accepted as a mainstream media form.

[Punky Skunk]

I can't see what there is to complain about here. It's not like the Kingdom Hearts line-up, which had me... something bad.

[sggg]

Originally posted by Sqoon
How can anyone possibly hate Billy West? Futurama would be nothing without him.

I honestly didn't have any idea who he was when I first posted the topic so I don't care.

I am mainly upset about Globox.

Edt: And the fact that voices are being used at all.

[negitoro]

Originally posted by sggg
I'd rather have the janitor. Seriously. I am not joking... Terrible voice acting is better than celebrity voice acting, at least for me... and that Leguizamo guy.. *shudder*

Hrm.... Rayman 3 is in development at Ubi-Soft Montréal - right (Rayman 2 was)? I should go down there and derail this! I'll be outside picketing by myself in the snow... hehe.... Ah... well it is a French-first game so I'd like to think they'll have a French option. If not Raymanese, French is the next best thing.

I really don't understand your disdain for celebrity voice work. Granted, American voice work for games (and animation) will never reach the obsessive quality of the Japanese, but after so many years of being damned to voice work ranging from piss-poor to mediocre, it's finally happening that some people with some semblance of acting skills are taking up the mic to provide us some decent voice work.

Frankly, if you want Rayman to stick with Rayman-speak, why would you prefer a random, untrained person to be behind the voice rather than a proven, professional actor to deliver the lines with emotion and timing. I understand your dislike for this guy, but I feel perhaps, based on his roles in the past, he can pull off a whimsical, whacky voice required to give life (and meaning) to Rayman-speak.

It gives the marketing people, another angle to work. The overall production values are increased a notch. The overall mainstream view of such a product is immediately validated by attaching a major name to the project. All in all, IF the celebrity voice is standard, the game gets kicked up a notch.

Or do you seriously prefer the elderly minority lady who cleans their dustbins ?

[cigsthecat]

"How can anyone possibly hate Billy West? Futurama would be nothing without him."

I don't know, but trust me, it's possible.

"Billy West did some VO for the game Clayfighter 63 and a turd, a game I worked on. I got to attend the VO session and Billy was quite honest about the whole Nick firing John K story. He mentioned that John K, while having real talent, also had a real drug/alcohol problem that was greatly affecting his work. Essentially, Nick gave him tons of chances but ultimately had to fire him for incompetence. I found Billy to be a very nice guy and I don't blame him for staying w/ Nickelodeon. It's not like John K was signing his paychecks. Business is business, ya know."

That is a bunch of bullshit. He was fired because Nickelodeon didn't like any of the jokes, and began to get nervous. (despite the fact that everyone else loved the show) Naturally network executives assumed taking a show away from it's creator and removing all the talent would have little impact on the quality of the cartoons. When Ren and Stimpy returns without the great Billy West we'll see what real Cartoonists can do.


Oh- and I do apologize for turning this Rayman thread into an opportunity for me to rant about Billy West, but it's been a while.

[icepop]

Bleh. I hate that people give so much credit to people *just because they're celebrities*. Since when is fame necessarily equated with talent?

This just seems like some cheap marketing trick to sell a few more copies to me.

But who knows? It could be good. Just seems a shame to ruin a good thing.