Warner Bros.’ ‘Gotham Knights’ video game blasts open doors for diversity in voice acting
A new video game based on the DC Comics Batman series will put voice actors behind the fictional heroes, but they won’t be playing villains.
“There is definitely a place for voice acting in the world of games, and Gotham Knights is a game that puts voice actors in an interesting position,” developer Insomniac Games creative director Ryan Payton told The Huffington Post.
“We’re not trying to put the voices of villains in the game; we’re just trying to put in the voices of characters that we’re all familiar with.”
Payton says voice actors will be able to play characters in the game, but just because they have a particular role it doesn’t mean they will necessarily have to look like the character.
“We’re going to have a small group of voice actors from the team that are doing the game on hand in case we want to use their voices, but in the main it’s pretty much straight from the source material,” Payton said. “Voice actors are able to be a very creative type. Some of them have very distinct voices. It’s just a matter of taking their voices and trying to find the emotion and intent with which they’re putting it in.”
In the game, voice actors will be able to take the traditional roles of Batman, Robin, Commissioner Gordon or Catwoman.
The game, which will launch later this year for the PS3 and Xbox 360, is based on the popular television series Gotham and the recent film Batman: The Dark Knight, and is being developed by Insomniac Games.
“We wanted to expand the world of Batman beyond the camp of the TV series and into a bigger, more epic universe, so Gotham Knights is a game about the rise and fall of Bruce Wayne,” Payton said.
“What we didn’t want to do is make another Batman game. You’d run into the same problems. You already have the DC movies, then you have all these different games based on that. We want to give you an opportunity to have a game that isn’t necessarily based on one of DC’s most popular characters.”
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