For information on the "20 Days of..." contest, please see https://n4g.com/user/blogpo...
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Congratulations to coolbeans, our fourteenth day winner!
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On the fifteenth day, the question we have for you is "Who is the best video game voice actor?"
Let's be honest, there are a ton of great voice actors nowadays. This is a hard question. Hard because it's oftentimes tied to more than just their performance, but having the write script or even supporting cast to allow their voice to shine rather than be held back in order to not stand out too much.
But, there's an actor who has had a steady stream of great roles mixed in with some stuff that's showing of a commendable range but not necessarily award winning. And that for me is Jennifer Hale.
She was one of the most utilized voices in the move towards full voice acting in RPGs from Baldur's Gate series, Knights of the Old Republic, and onto her most often recognized role as FemShep. I've enjoyed her since Baldur's Gate and it's rare that her performance doesn't fit into the role in which she is given.
Admittedly, there's more of a call for her deeper and more commanding style of voice acting, but I think this is because it's the equivalent of a Morgan Freeman or Sam Jackson voice, in that you begin to identify the voice with certain roles. But, she's shown her strength and range in smaller titles or, specifically, in Japanes games.
There is of course her masterpiece role of Numbuh 86. Don't ask how I know she did the voice of that character. Let's just say nephews can create emotional scars.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
rigged! (j/k congrats coolbeans)
Nolan North, IMO.
Honourable mention: Troy Baker
Christopher Judge portrayed Kratos really well with his bluntness and awkwardness. Baldur also had a great voice actor and the rest of the cast for the game was solid too.
Ashley Birch in Horizon Zero Dawn. With a lot of voice actors you can almost hear them muttering to themselves, “Look at me, I’m acting!” But Ashley’s performance as Aloy was seamlessly authentic and believable. I never got the feeling she was overthinking her lines, instead delivering them the way you’d actually expect someone in her situation to react. She sounded like somebody you knew, and that humanized the character for me in a way no other game has managed.
Hate to go with the obvious choice, but Troy Baker. He's done such quality work, so consistently over the years. His involvement with video games has really brought up the quality of voice acting in the industry in general IMO. People make jokes about how he's in every game, but frankly, I'd be okay if he was. Other great actors of recent years are of course Laura Bailey, Nolan North, and Christopher Judge (along with the rest of the cast of God of War, all did a phenomenal job).
Easy one: Troy Baker. Has a nice voice, has range in terms of different stuff he can do convincingly, and most importantly, is a good actor who conveys emotion/feeling, without overacting.
I play MGS5 in Japanese, but his voice for Ocelot in the English dub fits the character well, and his Joker in Arkham Origins is great.