According to some sources, video games—or at least their precursors—have been around since 1958. The first one was invented by a physicist and played on an oscilloscope. The next one appeared in 1961 and was played with ASCII characters on a digital mainframe computer. Eventually, games like Pong and Asteroids made the scene and were bought and enjoyed by many. No doubt developers envisioned more realistic games even then, but it’s difficult to say whether anyone knew that video game voices would be such a staple of the industry. Now, it’s hard to find a game that doesn’t employ video game voices.
Many video game voices are narrators, especially in the realm of fantasy role playing game. That’s because these games are marketed to people who enjoy reading fantasy novels, who have probably read and seen “The Lord of the Rings” countless times. These are fans who enjoy a good adventure story, and so the companies use video game voices to make game-play as much like reading a book or seeing a movie as possible. In fact, a game developer can use video game voices in countless ways to make the experience simply more realistic for its players.
Video game voices add a hint of reality to the game by adding a hint of reality to the characters. A character who talks is more memorable because he has more personality—with the possible exception of Soul Calibur’s Voldo, who is memorable enough without ever uttering a single syllable. But that particular game also employs video game voices to narrate and to have all the other characters taunt each other upon winning a round. It’s great fun, and that is largely because of the video game voices—what the characters have to say.
Another benefit of using video game voice overs is that they cause the characters to follow the players around, even when they aren’t playing. Those video game voices often stay in a player’s head like a catchy tune, making them think of the game. If they have just played the game for the first time, the video game voices work like a commercial in the mind of the player. How’s that for inexpensive, targeted advertising?
However, you can’t just use any kind of voices. They have to be memorable—maybe forceful, maybe flirtatious. These video game voices have to be something that the player will remember, and they have to say things that the player will remember, something that will excite the player. To tell you the truth, Soul Calibur’s Voldo didn’t actually get left out completely – he doesn’t talk crap but you can hear him breathe as he takes breaks from kicking butt. If that doesn’t stay in your head, nothing will.
