The topic of dubbing and voice actors attracts a lot of very passionate people, and with that, a lot of overeagerness. Our page for quote-unquote voice actors are not exempt. I observe three recurring problems:
- If someone who has another role in production but was asked to record a few grunts for a given game, then very often the page for them will present that as if their main job and relevance to the franchise, One example of this is the Chris Sutherland page: he's a game programmer by trade and he was the lead programmer for the first two DKCs- you'd think that'd be what the page focus, but because he also recorded a few short clips, that's the thing the page throws first and even the infobox list his main job as a voice actor. Some online brain people might accuse me of gatekeeping, but I think it's weird and slightly misleading to present game developers who were asked to record Banjo-Kazooie-style mumbles (something Nintendo and Rare LOVED to do to save money) as if it's their main occupation and what they make their living on.
-Information is often unsourced and based on guesswork. This is something unavoidable on some level because Nintendo is one of those funny company that still list voice actors without listing specific roles but this is often not conveyed to the reader.
-Information is listed in a very misleading way - if someone only recorded for a specific game but then one or two clips is reused in a fture installment then that game is also listed, often without specifying the nature of how their voice was used. Even worse, sometimes an actor records stock audio and that stock audio gets used in a Mario game, it gets listed as if they directly recorded for that game.
The Peter Cullen page is a great example of these problems: the only time he specifically recorded audio for any Mario project is the Saturday Supercade cartoon some 40 years ago, but because he supposedly did stock audio that's been used in Mario games, he's listed in a bunch of games as if he worked on them. There's not even a source for him doing that King Kong roar, nor is one used to demonstrate the sound featured in SM64 and so on is in fact the same clip. And even if it's true, I feel the opening's statement that " aking him one of three people to have voiced both Mario and Bowser " is quite the reach.
Basically, I think a cleanup might be needed as well as some standards be set to outline how VA-related information should be listed in a professional and accurate way. What do you think?
- If someone who has another role in production but was asked to record a few grunts for a given game, then very often the page for them will present that as if their main job and relevance to the franchise, One example of this is the Chris Sutherland page: he's a game programmer by trade and he was the lead programmer for the first two DKCs- you'd think that'd be what the page focus, but because he also recorded a few short clips, that's the thing the page throws first and even the infobox list his main job as a voice actor. Some online brain people might accuse me of gatekeeping, but I think it's weird and slightly misleading to present game developers who were asked to record Banjo-Kazooie-style mumbles (something Nintendo and Rare LOVED to do to save money) as if it's their main occupation and what they make their living on.
-Information is often unsourced and based on guesswork. This is something unavoidable on some level because Nintendo is one of those funny company that still list voice actors without listing specific roles but this is often not conveyed to the reader.
-Information is listed in a very misleading way - if someone only recorded for a specific game but then one or two clips is reused in a fture installment then that game is also listed, often without specifying the nature of how their voice was used. Even worse, sometimes an actor records stock audio and that stock audio gets used in a Mario game, it gets listed as if they directly recorded for that game.
The Peter Cullen page is a great example of these problems: the only time he specifically recorded audio for any Mario project is the Saturday Supercade cartoon some 40 years ago, but because he supposedly did stock audio that's been used in Mario games, he's listed in a bunch of games as if he worked on them. There's not even a source for him doing that King Kong roar, nor is one used to demonstrate the sound featured in SM64 and so on is in fact the same clip. And even if it's true, I feel the opening's statement that " aking him one of three people to have voiced both Mario and Bowser " is quite the reach.
Basically, I think a cleanup might be needed as well as some standards be set to outline how VA-related information should be listed in a professional and accurate way. What do you think?
