I had a chance to chat for a bit with the voice of Batman, Kevin Conroy, for a few minutes before he joined Rocksteady in hosting New York Comic-Con's Batman: Arkham City panel. From what he said it seems that being the voice of the Dark Knight isn't the easiest thing in the world, especially in videogames.
"It is such a different experience in recording a game than recording a show," explained Conroy, the voice of the Dark Knight in Batman: The Animated Series and both Rocksteady Batman videogames. "You're alone in a booth for 4 hour blocks, and you have to be true to the character, without any of the other actors bouncing off you. It's so much harder."
"You're working in a vacuum, so you have to be your own reality check, you own motivator. You're doing variations on a line, giving four or five emotional readings, and then you're doing 20 different lines depending on which way the game is being played. It's all disjointed -- you don't know how it's going to be put together."
Conroy explained that for games, a particular line will have to be delivered multiple times, each with a different emotion or inflection attached to it. It was a thrill to hear him demonstrate by saying "Joker, get out of here" in different ways as Batman. Even better was when he expressed his frustration by saying "f*ck you" in Batman's voice.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
11:10 AM on 10.15.2011 | 
1. Being The Bat
2. Pimpin'
Kevin Conroy is THE Batman to me, just like hot Mark Hamill is THE Joker. Nobody else can compare.
Amy Hennig would be weeping. I don't doubt the performance of the actors, but anyone not Goddamn Batman and Mark Hamill might use some context sometime.
I read on a yahoo news story that Arkham City will be the last time Mark Hamill plays the joker. I dunno how true it is but I hope he changes his mind.
That's why I made my comment. I heard that a long time ago when AC was in development. Made me very sad.
With Hamill gone perhaps they can bring on more TAS Alumni (depending on how things end in AC) I know I personally loved the voice actor for the TAS Two-Face.
Well, they did get Kevin Conroy, Tim Daley and the rest of the crew back to do Justice League:DOOM so we got that to look forward to next year.