Perhaps one of the most historic landmarks in the video game industry was the advent of voice acting. You?d have to cast your mind back to the early ?80s for the first instance of voice synthesis — think Space Spartans or Gauntlet — when arcade titles often touted a specific catchphrase or a chilling line to ramp up the immersion factor.
Fast forward to the ?90s and Metal Gear Solid stands as an early example of a title that featured voice acting, yes, but also real, tangible performances ? performances backed up by an intriguing script of espionage and nuclear proliferation that brought those pixels to life like never before. In those intervening years, technology has evolved exponentially to the extent that, by the launch of Uncharted 4: A Thief?s End, the line between gaming and film is all but indiscernible. With such photo-realistic graphics on display, that places the onus on voice actors to not only recite lines in a convincing, emphatic manner, but to perform as though they were the in-game hero/heroine themselves through the power of motion capture. It?s a remarkable feat when done correctly, and one performer that has been at the forefront of video game acting for a generation is Nolan North.
The King of Theater in Spandex
You may know him primarily for Nathan Drake, the swashbuckling treasure hunter that?s headlined Naughty Dog?s Uncharted series, but North?s career spans far beyond the confines of Sony?s crown jewel.
Welcome to This Day in PlayStati...