Video: YouTube, Official Site
Despite some corners of the media still considering gaming to be a pastime suitable only for basement-bound geeks, video games now have blockbuster openings and a wide, almost boundless fan base. Indeed, the gaming industry is now the biggest entertainment business in the world, surpassing even Hollywood with its global revenue. It’s no surprise that some of the industry’s biggest games enjoy a cast list that would make Hollywood producers envious.
As movie star Eliza Dushku (who features in the action game Wet) put it: “Videogames have [...] become acceptable and cool for grown-ups, not for people who are just in their teens.”
What follows is a list of some of the greatest examples of the blending of gaming and the world of celebrity. Sadly, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand didn’t make the list.
10. Michael Biehn – Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
Video: YouTube, Official Site
In 1999, Michael Biehn, star of Terminator and Aliens, assumed the role of GDI Field Commander Michael McNeil for Tiberian Sun’s full motion video (FMV) sections. The game featured the usual Command & Conquer RTS base-building style and saw the player fighting for the future of mankind in the first direct sequel to the original Command & Conquer.
While this was Biehn’s only official role in a video game, an image of him was famously used for the cover of Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear in 1987 to illustrate Solid Snake, and several of his iconic movie lines have cropped up in other video games. Among these is his line from Aliens in which he comments upon his possession of a non-standard issue Ithaca 37 shotgun: “I like to keep this handy for close encounters” – spoken by a character in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
9. Samuel L. Jackson – Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Video: YouTube, Official Site
As crooked Officer Frank Tenpenny, Samuel L. Jackson relishes in his role as one of the most enduring villains in the sprawling Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Image: Pinguino K
Following his return to San Andreas county, Carl Johnson finds a less than warm welcome waiting for him when Tenpenny and his partner Officer Pulaski (voiced by Chris Penn) frame him for homicide before blackmailing him into performing a variety of nefarious missions for them.
Tenpenny consistently pops up as the game progresses to threaten and taunt Johnson, until the final showdown sees the two pitted against each other.
8. Patrick Stewart – The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Video: YouTube, Official Site
Even though Patrick Stewart’s part as Emperor Uriel Septim VII didn’t exactly last long, he managed to kick the award-winning Oblivion off with a certain aristocratic class, and his actions echoed through the main plotline. Who better to voice the Emperor than Stewart – an accomplished actor best known for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Professor Xavier in the X-Men series of movies?
Image: Urbantog
The story begins when the Emperor and a handful of his bodyguards appear at the player’s prison cell. They are attempting to escape from deadly assassins and, by fortunate coincidence, plan to use a covert route through the catacombs – the secret entrance to which is located in the player’s cell. Following the royal party, the player becomes embroiled in a series of attacks by the assassins until, shortly after entrusting the player with a precious amulet, an assassin kills the Emperor.
7. Jenny McCarthy – Red Alert 3
Video: YouTube, Official Site
As America’s “toughest, meanest covert commando,” Special Agent Tanya Adams is a force to be reckoned with on the Red Alert 3 battlefield. The Command & Conquer series has become famous for its FMV cutscenes – and this most recent Red Alert installment is no exception.
Despite Jenny McCarthy’s obvious talents, she does have a fair amount of competition from her female colleagues in 2008’s Red Alert 3. Gemma Atkinson, Kelly Hu and Gina Carano all appear during the cutscenes and help to explain the story and help the player in their campaign. To satisfy the purists, an honorable mention must go to Kari Wuhrer’s portrayal of Tanya Adams back in Red Alert 2 (not to mention Lynne Litteer in the original).
6. Ron Perlman – Fallout
Image: Gdcgraphics
Another considerable cast provides the voice talent for Obsidian’s 2010 Fallout: New Vegas. Among them, Ron Perlman stands out for his long-running contribution to the epic Fallout series of video games.
Image: Obsidian Entertainment
Perlman has worked on many games, including Halo 3, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and Turok, and narrated all five Fallout releases to date, introducing each entry with the line: “War. War never changes.”
5. Sir Ben Kingsley – Fable 3
Image: David Shankbone
The Fable series has often been praised for its high production values, quirky drama and troubled morality. In Peter Molyneux’s third Fable game, an all-star British cast accompanies (and opposes) the games protagonist upon his or her quest to overthrow the evil King of Albion and install themselves as the new ruler.
Video: YouTube, Official Site
Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley features as Sabine, the king of the mountain dwellers. He commented upon just how far video game acting has come while speaking to CVG: “It’s very energizing and good for us actors to realise that [acting] is so diverse now. [Games] are as big a jump now as I suppose when cinema was invented, when people went from the stage to the cinema thinking: it’s not really acting, is it? Now, it’s video games — and it is acting. It’s very demanding.”
4. Tim Curry – Red Alert 3
Video: YouTube, Official Site
Out of Red Alert 3’s starry cast, Tim Curry seems to revel most in the hamminess of his role, and he certainly shines as the portly Russian Premier Anatoly Cherdenko.
Set in a world where World War Two never happened due to some time-travel shenanigans involving Albert Einstein and Adolf Hitler, this third installment sees a new threat appear from the Far East in the form of the Empire of the Rising Sun, headed by Star Trek veteran George Takei. While the original Red Alert was somewhat realistic, with many units similar to real-life counterparts, Red Alert 3 eschews realism entirely and “plays up the silliness” of the game’s unit designs “whenever possible.”
3. Lance Henriksen – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Video: YouTube, Official Site
Heading up the elite military organization Task Force 141, Lieutenant General Shepherd guides ‘Soap’ McTavish, Ghost, Captain Price and the rest of his men through Modern Warfare 2′s various high-octane first-person encounters – until the epic showdown that makes up the finale (we won’t give away any details in case you haven’t played it).
Image: Saskia Batugowski
The gravel-voiced Lance Henriksen fits perfectly as the ruthless commander of TF 141 in Infinity Ward’s blockbuster Modern Warfare sequel. A prolific actor, the Aliens star has also lent his ever recognizable voice to the Mass Effect and Aliens Versus Predator games.
2. Ray Liotta – Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Video: YouTube, Official Site
Following on from Grand Theft Auto 3, Vice City broke new ground in introducing a celebrity cast to videogaming and boasted Ray Liotta’s voice in its lead role. Released on the Playstation 2 in 2002, Liotta was an ideal choice to act out Tommy Vercetti’s lines as he made his way up Vice City’s criminal ladder. Aside from Liotta, there was no lack of voice talent in Vice City, with Danny Trejo, Dennis Hopper, Lee Majors, Danny Dyer, Gary Busey, Fairuza Balk and of course Jenna Jameson all adding their various talents to help to capture the 1980s Miami scene so perfectly. Vice City led the way for big budget games to ensnare big budget casts to match.
1. Mark Hamill – Batman: Arkham Asylum
Video: YouTube, Official Site
As one of entertainment’s most iconic and flamboyant villains, The Joker has been played by many accomplished actors. Jack Nicholson’s incarnation in the 1989 movie Batman seemed to define the character, while more recently the late Heath Ledger drew worldwide acclaim for his creative interpretation in what would become his penultimate role.
If you want to look for a megastar playing a megavillain, though, you might be more surprised to see Mark Hamill (none other than Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker) in the role in what was one of the most successful games of 2009. It’s not the first time Hamill has voiced The Caped Crusader’s psychotic archnemesis either, having played the role on and off for almost 20 years in animated series and films.
Image: Kelly
Arkham Asylum received critical praise and became a jaw-dropping success thanks in part to its stellar cast and stunning videos.
Arkham Asylum wasn’t Hamill’s first foray into video games, either. Empowered by the new CD-ROM format, the legendary Wing Commander series was full to the brim with glorious FMV, in which Hamill was cast in a recurring role as the series protagonist, Colonel Christopher Blair.
On a final note, despite the success of Arkham Asylum, and his ties to the character, Hamill has said that its sequel, Arkham City, will be the final time he’ll ever voice the chalky-faced psychopath.
.jpg){kind=link}