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[Bragr]

Celebs are better at acting than your general video game mocop guy. We need more.

 

[Gambit2483]

 

[AmuroChan]

Your average developer doesn't design games with the assumption that any famous actor would be cast in the game. It's usually later in the process after the game has been greenlit where some marketing guy would come in and say, "hey you know what, we can get celeb ABC to play character X." If a game has bad gameplay or terrible level design, it's not because they cast Keanu Reeves to play one of the characters.

 

[Aenima]

Celebs are better at acting than your general video game mocop guy. We need more.

Kinda, they make better voice actors and facial mocap, but body mocap ppl are the equivalent of stunt doubles they use in movies.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

There's some grounds to what he's saying: there's little value in saying Phantom Liberty is CDPR's most expensive expansion yet if a good chunk of that money is ending up in the pockets of celebrities selling their likeness and not necessarily spending it on gameplay which is what matters most.

There are no grounds for what he's saying.

Using big-name acting talent doesn't take anything away from the game. It doesn't negatively impact story/narrative or gameplay.

And a game's budget has no meaningful correlation with it having good gameplay. So given that spending more on developing gameplay systems won't automatically = better gameplay, why the hell as gamers should we care what publishers choose to spend their marketing budget on?

 

[Zuzu]

Use whoever is best for a role imo. A game's narrative and characters can be significantly enhanced with good acting talent so I don't have a problem with studios employing famous actors if they think it will make the story and characters better.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

But Keanu Reves was awesome in cyberpunk.

Jean Reno is awesome in Onimusha 3

 

[Danjin44]

Using big-name acting talent doesn't take anything away from the game. It doesn't negatively impact story/narrative or gameplay.

For me who likes original character designs it absolutely does hurts my experience.

It like having character like Tifa or 2B get replaced by celebrities, why would I want something like that? In my games I like original character design way more than celebrities and most iconic characters all come from original designs.

 

[RCU005]

I would rather say: Stop using celebrities in video games marketing. It's always embarrassing and cringe-worthy.

 

[Black_Stride]

For me who likes original character designs it absolutely does hurts my experience.

It like having character like Tifa or 2B get replaced by celebrities, why would I want something like that? In my games I like original character design way more than celebrities and most iconic characters all come from original designs.

The Resident Evil Remakes and Devil May Cry have used celebrities......like basically every major character is a celebrity did that detract from your enjoyment of the games?
Seems you enjoy the RE:Makes?

 

[supernova8]

Loved Spacey in the COD game. Probably only because I happened to have binged House of Cards just before it came out, but still he's just so good at being the asshole villain character. I guess the other reason is because (I think?) this is his only video game appearance. The novelty would wear off if you saw/heard him in every fucking game (cough Troy Baker).

 

[The_hunter]

I had to look up who this was as it's been so long, Jessica Chobot.

 

[Danjin44]

The Resident Evil Remakes and Devil May Cry have used celebrities......like basically every major character is a celebrity did that detract from your enjoyment of the games?
Seems you enjoy the RE:Makes?

I'm enjoying RE:Remakes because the gameplay is fun but the scan faces do absolutely bother me and I wish they didn't us it. Especially when you are controlling the characters they have completely dead face even when talking and catching their breath, they have no expression on their face.

THANK GOD FFXVI is not doing that.

 

[Robb]

It like having character like Tifa or 2B get replaced by celebrities, why would I want something like that?

Not to mention if the actor dies or refuse to renew the rights to their likeliness you suddenly can't use that character anymore, which is also annoying for long going series.

It could even result in some games not being made just because the actors refuse to reprise their roles.

And the bigger/more popular a series get, the more money the actors are going to want to be in it.

 

[Black_Stride]

I'm enjoying RE:Remakes because the gameplay is fun but the scan faces do absolutely bother me and I wish they didn't us it. Especially when you are controlling the characters they have completely dead face even when talking and catching their breath, they have no expression on their face.

THANK GOD FFXVI is not doing that.

The dead faces would still be dead if they were bespoke models.
Once a face scan is done its converted to a model exactly the same as if it was bespoke, the animation team wouldnt even know its a face scan and just assume the character artist made it.
So what you are criticizing here is Capcoms animation team, not the face scan of a celebrity.

 

[Danjin44]

The dead faces would still be dead if they were bespoke models.
Once a face scan is done its converted to a model exactly the same as if it was bespoke, the animation team wouldnt even know its a face scan and just assume the character artist made it.
So what you are criticizing here is Capcoms animation team, not the face scan of a celebrity.

Problem is scan faces are scan of real faces so those animation problems end up looking MUCH worse, as faces becomes much realistic the imperfection becomes much more obvious and uncanny valley.

 

[reksveks]

One thing that I realised that Grubb/Jan and maybe people here may have missed (haven't go through the threads) is that sometimes it's a marketing/publisher cost and not a development one. It's why 12 minutes got Defoe, Daisy Ridley and McAvovy

 

[Kikorin]

I think using actors that delivers good performances for motion capture is a good thing, but waste millions on famous actors to make an appearance in a game is something unnecessary.

 

[The Cockatrice]

 

[Black_Stride]

Problem is scan faces are scan of real faces so those animation problems end up looking MUCH worse, as faces becomes much realistic the imperfection becomes much more obvious and uncanny valley.

You say that as if the scan faces are copy paste and artists dont actually work over them.
The RE Engine actors arent 1:1 with their real world counterparts, might as well be the same as the old photo technique of the old games, its just that now they have a basemesh to start with.
They effectively redo everything over that basemesh.


If you didnt tell me they were models I wouldnt even know.
Imma bet if people didnt tell you they were face scans you wouldnt know either.
Tell me and be honest with yourself, you know RE2R, RE3R was scanned faces before people told you?
And dont say its because of the animations, because thats absolute bullshit.
A scanned face and a bespoke face in this generation will have the same end polycount and detail, the character artist who does Naughty Dog faces can make faces you couldnt even tell "werent" scanned, so miss me with that shit.

 

[winjer]

There are no grounds for what he's saying.

Using big-name acting talent doesn't take anything away from the game. It doesn't negatively impact story/narrative or gameplay.

And a game's budget has no meaningful correlation with it having good gameplay. So given that spending more on developing gameplay systems won't automatically = better gameplay, why the hell as gamers should we care what publishers choose to spend their marketing budget on?

Yes, it does. Using the budget that is used on celebrities on more important things, will always benefit a game.
Just look at how many games are released in a broken state.
Having a bigger budget allocated for QA and programmers could significantly reduce these issues.
Look at how many times developers have to crunch for months or years. Having a bigger team, means we can divide work among more people and have less crunch.
And having less money wasted on celebrities, means the studio can pay better wages for everyone developing the game.

 

[Danjin44]

Tell me and be honest with yourself, you know RE2R, RE3R was scanned faces before people told you?

There is big difference between scan face and stylize face, go look at FFVIIR that pretty obvious it not scan face, then you look at Claire in RE2R.

It pretty damn obvious.

 

[Toots]

One thing that I realised that Grubb/Jan and maybe people here may have missed (haven't go through the threads) is that sometimes it's a marketing/publisher cost and not a development one. It's why 12 minutes got Defoe, Daisy Ridley and McAvovy

This Defoe ?

Anyway as others said before, it is more of a marketing cost than a development cost, but then why is the marketing budget like twice the development budget on big games ? I know it is because marketing makes people buy stuff but really i wish i can one day see a AAA game with all the budget in dev and like 1% in marketing just so people know it exist. Valve kind of does that i guess and the few games they release are always of stellar quality, but i wish a console editor did that.

 

[Black_Stride]

There is big difference between scan face and stylize face, go look at FFVIIR that pretty obvious it not scan face, then you look at Claire in RE2R.

It pretty damn obvious.

You are not a serious person.
So im out.

 

[GymWolf]

Did people really liked the shitty va from keanu in cyberpunk?

If anything it made me hate his stupid character even more.

 

[GymWolf]

There is big difference between scan face and stylize face, go look at FFVIIR that pretty obvious it not scan face, then you look at Claire in RE2R.

It pretty damn obvious.

What about ada tho

(Tbf she is the only non-strange face in the game between the main characters)

 

[Danjin44]

You are not a serious person.
So im out.

What about ada tho

(Tbf she is the only non-strange face in the game between the main characters)

Yeah, among them she is the only one that doesn't look all strange but still for my taste I will always prefer stylize face over scan face.

 

[GymWolf]

Yeah, among them she is the only one that doesn't look all strange but still for my taste I will always prefer stylize face over scan face.

I think they are a bit stylized in re4 aswell, they don't exactly look super similar to the actors.

 

[Black_Stride]

Yeah, among them she is the only one that doesn't look all strange but still for my taste I will always prefer stylize face over scan face.

Ill just leave this here:


The best character rendering in gaming to date.
Scanned face.
Post more Tifa and tell me even animated she can match Callisto Protocol.

 

[Danjin44]

I think they are a bit stylized in re4 aswell, they don't exactly look super similar to the actors.

Capcom at least dose MUCH better job touching up the face instead of straight up putting celebrities face in the game like CP 2077 and Death Stranding…. I fucking HATE that.

The best character rendering in gaming to date.
Scanned face.
Post more Tifa and tell me even animated she can match Callisto Protocol.

Scan face will have more realistic expression than stylize face, I mean they are base one real person, the reason I post Tifa's picture because I personally like design of stylize face over scan face. All games will have imperfection that's just nature of video games but my point is the more realistic the face is the more obvious those imperfection becomes.

 

[Killer8]

The only thing the examples in the thread have shown me is that celebrities in games are a good thing, actually.

 

[GymWolf]

Capcom at least dose MUCH better job touching up the face instead of straight up putting celebrities face in the game like CP 2077 and Death Stranding…. I fucking HATE that.

I think the difference is that the actors in ds and cb are on another universe of celebrity compared to the "actors" that capcom use, this is why they scan their faces to perfection, they are a major selling point for many people, nobody gives a fuck about who capcom hires as real life model.

 

[Danjin44]

I think the difference is that the actors in ds and cb are on another universe of celebrity compared to the "actors" that capcom use, this is why they scan their faces to perfection, they are a major selling point for many people, nobody gives a fuck about who capcom hires as real life model.

That's my big problem, when you put famous actress on the game I'm no longer see the characters themselves, I just see the celebrity who plays them. And people gonna say the movies do the same thing but games are different than movies, I interact with its world and controlling the character and having celebrity as character in video game it just takes me out of the experience.

People can say I'm dumb thinking like that but I can't stop how feel, it just my taste.

 

[GymWolf]

That's my big problem, when you put famous actress on the game I'm no longer see the characters themselves, I just see the celebrity who plays them. And people gonna say the movies do the same thing but games are different than movies, I interact with its world and controlling the character and having celebrity as character in video game it just takes me out of the experience.

People can say I'm dumb thinking like that but I can't stop how feel, it just my taste.

Not a fan of famous actors in videogames aswell, except extremely rare cases.

I think that yakuza team does the best, they hire japanese actors tthat are obscure to the mainstream people so you can imagine the character but acting and voice are gonna be of an higher level.

Takeshi kitano in y6 was one of the few cases where i appreciated a really famous actor.

 

[Danjin44]

Not a fan of famous actors in videogames aswell, except extremely rare cases.

I think that yakuza team does the best, they hire japanese actors tthat are obscure to the mainstream people so you can imagine the character but acting and voice are gonna be of an higher level.

Takeshi kitano in y6 was one of the few cases where i appreciated a really famous actor.

I think some of main characters like Kazuma and Majima are not scan face but most of them are. With Yakuza I'm not familiar with most of Japanese actors, maybe iota reason why I'm not bothered by much.

 

[GymWolf]

I think some of main characters like Kazuma and Majima are not scan face but most of them are. With Yakuza I'm not familiar with most of Japanese actors, maybe iota reason why I'm not bothered by much.

They use japanese actors for the secondary characters and villains, pretty sure that majima, kiryu etc. are men-made.

 

[Danjin44]

They use japanese actors for the secondary characters and villains, pretty sure that majima, kiryu etc. are men-made.

Yeah, both Majima and Kiryu clearly have much stylize face compare to secondary characters. This is what I said above when I posted picture of Tifa, you can easily tell between scan face and stylize face.

 

[Skull-Knight]

That's my big problem, when you put famous actress on the game I'm no longer see the characters themselves, I just see the celebrity who plays them. And people gonna say the movies do the same thing but games are different than movies, I interact with its world and controlling the character and having celebrity as character in video game it just takes me out of the experience.

People can say I'm dumb thinking like that but I can't stop how feel, it just my taste.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

For me who likes original character designs it absolutely does hurts my experience.

It like having character like Tifa or 2B get replaced by celebrities, why would I want something like that? In my games I like original character design way more than celebrities and most iconic characters all come from original designs.

Yes, I agree with you... but this has never happened... ever in the history of gaming; outside of something like SF: The Movie: The Game... which was the whole point.

So to me you're arguing against a boogeyman that has no realistic prospect of coming to fruition.

In reality, most games that use Hollywood acting talent use them for characters from the outset. There's no popular game character being replaced with celebs.... that's just silly.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Yes, it does. Using the budget that is used on celebrities on more important things, will always benefit a game.
Just look at how many games are released in a broken state.
Having a bigger budget allocated for QA and programmers could significantly reduce these issues.
Look at how many times developers have to crunch for months or years. Having a bigger team, means we can divide work among more people and have less crunch.
And having less money wasted on celebrities, means the studio can pay better wages for everyone developing the game.

You don't really understand how game budgeting works.

The money spent on celebrity acting talent comes out of the marketing budget in many cases. No game publisher or developer anywhere is constricting QA and testing time so that they can splurge more on celebrity voice acting.

There are enough games without celeb VAs that launch unfinished with tonnes of issues to show you that the problem is not the selection of voice actors.

Your focus on a budget is a focus on a red herring.

Project management is a bigger issue.

 

[SteelCurtain 59]

I don't mind celebrity characters as long as they put actual effort into their performance and not like peter dinklage in Destiny caliber performance. I think on average celebrity actors are more capable of delivering great voice acting than the average video game voice actor. Voice acting one of the most underrated aspects of video games imo, a great voice actor can completely change how good a story is, and how attached/immersed you can get.

 

[begotten]

Yeah someone definitely needs to tell this to egomaniac Kojima.

I remember reading somewhere he would have had to rewrite DS2 or some shit if he didn't get Elle Fanning? Like fucking hell idiot just focus on making a good game don't work around Hollywood people you want to dickride.

Him getting Kiefer Sutherland for MGSV was so stupid too. Just a forced casting for the sake of it that was indicative to how the rest of the game ended up being.

 

[Danjin44]

Yes, I agree with you... but this has never happened... ever in the history of gaming; outside of something like SF: The Movie: The Game... which was the whole point.

So to me you're arguing against a boogeyman that has no realistic prospect of coming to fruition.

In reality, most games that use Hollywood acting talent use them for characters from the outset. There's no popular game character being replaced with celebs.... that's just silly.

No I'm not saying Tifa and 2B gonna get replace by celebrities, I'm saying if we start getting celebrities as characters instead original design then we gonna stop getting interesting and iconic designs like Tifa and 2B.

This is why I like original design like Bayonetta, Tifa, 2B and other original designs over famous celebrity as characters.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Kinda don't care if games use celebrities. Death stranding and Norman Reedus gave the gaming world a better feeling and identity.

 

[Flutta]

At least with Celebs they know how to act, compared to someone from the streets. Don't know but i don't mind having celebs in games, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I mean you could say that about anything. Why don't you stop being a sensitive lil bitch about it? Maybe that would solve your problems…

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

No I'm not saying Tifa and 2B gonna get replace by celebrities, I'm saying if we start getting celebrities as characters instead original design then we gonna stop getting interesting and iconic designs like Tifa and 2B.

This is why I like original design like Bayonetta, Tifa, 2B and other original designs over famous celebrity as characters.

My argument is that the incidence of original characters in games is not reducing across the industry. That's not a problem we need to consider.

 

[Roni]

I don't think Keanu being in the game caused that shift though. With or without him CDPR probably still wouldn't have been able to make the game they set out to make.

If the money spent on him could keep development going for another month or two it would make a difference.

 

[MiguelItUp]

I don't really agree on the "destroying creativity" part in regards to using actors, OP. But budget? Yeah, most definitely. I'd much rather that budget be used on anything that could make the game better.

 

[Puscifer]

Amen.

Use the budget for literally everything else.

Most of these people receive pittance compared to and actual movie role. I think the only celebrity that's going to get a commanding pay role is Tom Cruise in Starfield IF all those weird post from Bethesda are true

 

[GymWolf]

Most of these people receive pittance compared to and actual movie role. I think the only celebrity that's going to get a commanding pay role is Tom Cruise in Starfield IF all those weird post from Bethesda are true

They take way more money than normal VA actors most probably.