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SAG, AFTRA and the games industry agree on new contracts photo

Remember when all the writers went on strike? It sucked. Television seasons were cut short and my television stopped being fun when I wasn't playing videogames. What if that happened to videogames, but instead of writers it was the voice actors? We'd have no more voice acting in our games or at least very low quality voice acting. Every game would either sound like Zelda or the original dialog track of Resident Evil. That is not a world I want to live in, friends. What in God's name would Kojima do (WWKD)?

Thankfully a massive strike on videogame voice acting will not be happening any time soon as the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have reached a tentative agreement on new contracts with the videogame industry. You can all breathe that sigh of relief you had built up over the last paragraph, since I'm sure most of you had no idea contract talks were even going on. Well, they were and some stuff that doesn't affect you has changed. For instance SAG and AFTRA are now in parity, meaning the two unions' members will be getting paid the same standard amount. Also they'll be getting paid more. Also, actors must now be warned of vocally stressful work beforehand or the developer will be fined $100. This be cereal business, people.

Don't sit too easy though! The end of voice acting could still be near as these contracts only run until March 30 of 2011. The s--t could hit the fan then, let me tell you. 


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23 comments | showing # 1 to 23

Magnalon's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 11:02
Magnalon
Had to do a double take: it looked like Hayden Panettiere.
stalydan's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 11:23
stalydan
I'm sorry, I just need to get this off my chest and on to Kristen's. HOT!
Tdiddy9182's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 11:26
Tdiddy9182
I appreciate your decision to run a picture of Kristen Bell here and also a picture that makes it look like she has cleavage too! Now we wait for Naia's faux lesbian comments about Kristen Bell...
Everyday Legend's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 11:31
Everyday Legend
@ Magnalon
Another actor on Heroes. Nice.

Also, is it just me or is Hayden Panettiere getting excruciatingly hotter with age?
stalydan's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 11:35
stalydan
@Everyday Legend, yes. yes she is
H4RDC0RP5's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 11:43
H4RDC0RP5
That header image made me all soft and gooey inside. Opposite effect on the external, however.
HiddenAHB's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 11:48
HiddenAHB
Let's hope this increases the quality and give games good voice actors, not the ones that nobody wanted for that crappy comercial.

@Everyday Legend

Agreed
KrazyKraut's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 11:51
KrazyKraut
@everday legend
m8...woman are like wine: the older the better
naia-the-gamer's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 11:57
naia-the-gamer
Jeez TDiddy what do you take me for?
Gazp's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 11:58
Gazp
@KrazyKraut
Lets not take that statement to far shall we?
Magnalon's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 12:07
Magnalon
@Krazy
My phrase with NFL offensive linemen is "linemen are like wine: they get better with age".
Xzyliac's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 12:12
Xzyliac
@KrazyKraut
If that were true the local nursing home would...AWW GOD! OH THE IMAGES! SHHIT! SHHHIT!!! OH HOLY MOTHER OF A FATHERFUCKER!

Yeah. Let's not generalize.
The-Excel's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 12:12
The-Excel
What's SAF?
Everyday Legend's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 12:16
Everyday Legend
@ The-Excel
A lady-fap. :oD
ace of knaves's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 12:25
ace of knaves
Good morning Kristen, my dear, with some sort of words super-imposed near you and some others below you.
CelicaCrazed's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 12:29
CelicaCrazed
I'd game industry her AFTRA...but hopefully not contract SAF.
Ubersuntzu's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 14:27
Ubersuntzu
Attracted to the Kristen Bell header image, like a moth to the flame.

Wait a minute, this was all a trick to get me to read a boring article about voice actor contracts. Even the stuff about the end of voice acting was trickery. I've been duped! >:(
matrixdude171's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 15:45
matrixdude171
Oh, there was something else to this besides Kristen Bell?
Everyday Legend's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 16:20
Everyday Legend
Holy Shit!
It's Dr. Tran!
Cowboy TTop's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 20:03
Cowboy TTop
No one really has anything to say, that's diappointing while amusing.

This is a tricky one. While I'm all for voice actors doing their bit, when unions get involved it can get very hairy (the games industry can be a bitch to work in). On top of that, I don't want games to become an open field for big name actors to ply their trade (I might be being selfish here), which would potentially also hurt struggling upcoming actors. Do you think someone like David Hayter would have a chance to be discovered and appreciated as much? Maybe not. There's also a question of money, and we all know many those in Hollywood can be especially greedy, as opposed to being reasonable. Kudos to those that do dip their toes in the games industry without going nuts, like the talented Ms Bell.

Think about a world where games are sold like movies, on the strength of the big name cast, as opposed to the game itself could be dangerous. Disney movies are a good example of this, but those movies are usually good enough to stand on their own while hiding the fact. Games don't need to sell this as much, kudos to those that do (cough ...Brutal Legend...cough).

So yeah, great to protact those actors, especially the small lesser known actors, and could be a nightmare for the creamy diva like big star actors. So long as they keep it real and don't be dicks, all is good.
Grandmas Boy's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/03/2009 22:03
Grandmas Boy
There's an artcle? Sorry my mind went numb after seeing that pic.
Pichu0102's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/04/2009 09:23
Pichu0102
Now if only more games actually put the voice actors in their credits so we'd know who did what voices. Actually, I wonder why they don't do this already?
wanderingpixel's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/05/2009 15:23
wanderingpixel
Ladies have lady parts.
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