Giving Voice to Video Games (Published 2004)

"I'M watching you, Mary," I whispered mysteriously into the telephone. "I'm watching you right now in the shower." I paused for effect, waiting to hear some reaction.

Finally, a voice on the other end of the line broke the silence. "Do it again, but more breath this time."

It wasn't Mary on the other end of the line, but Lazlow Jones, a co-writer and audio producer for the PlayStation 2 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released last week. Mr. Jones, an old friend, had recruited me as a voice for the game, one of hundreds of extras who helped create the drive-through soundscape for a fictional California city -- both on the streets and over 11 radio stations, including one all-talk channel, which players can tune to while driving around.

My role, as a psychotic talk-show caller, seemed straightforward. But struggling through a dozen takes to perfect that one line one day in early August impressed upon me the high expectations levied on today's video game voice actors.

The demands are greater in part because the expectations are so much higher. Audio used to be an afterthought. Now it shares center stage alongside the other elements of video games, a $23 billion-a-year industry.

Bringing on amateurs to read a few lines for a game, something once common in video games, is a quaint, nostalgic act in today's industry. Once, even in the Grand Theft Auto series, game makers relied on amateurs for filling voice roles. "We found our voices in nearby pubs," said David Jones, who created the first Grand Theft Auto, in 1997 in Scotland while working for DMA Design Ltd. "They were local, they were cheap, and it gave an underground feel to the game."