Game News The Overseer is Dead

[Jason]

Tags: Fallout

<p>The Overseer himself, Kenneth Mars, is <a href="http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Ausir/Vault_13_Overseer_Kenneth_Mars_died" target="_blank">no longer with us</a>.</p>
<blockquote>American actor Kenneth Mars, who voiced the Vault 13 Overseer in the original Fallout, died from pancreatic cancer on February 12, 2011 at the age of 75.<br /><br />Mars was best known for his roles in several Mel Brooks films, including the insane Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in 1968's The Producers, and Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Fredrich Kemp in 1974's Young Frankenstein. Aside from Fallout, his voice work is most remembered for his role of Ariel's father King Triton in Disney's animated feature The Little Mermaid.</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MFED80Ytwc" target="_blank">Now go to the library and rest for a while. Yes, you can touch things.</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Wiki">The Vault</a></p>

 

[racofer]

I killed him 2 years ago.

Regardless, he will now fight the good fight with prayers.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

It's quite sad to see favourite games' creators go (and yeah, VAs do create important part of gaming experience). May he rest in peace.

 

[Melcar]

He's exiling Vault Dwellers in heaven now.

 

[Punck_D]

Should have brought the waterchip in time.

Rest in peace, good man!

 

[Volourn]

"It's quite sad to see favourite games' creators go (and yeah, VAs do create important part of gaming experience). May he rest in peace."

He's a voic actor. He didn't create anything. And, the Overseer wouldn't have been any worse with anyone else in the role, imo. The overseer being memorable had to do with the writing not the acting.

Anyways, sympathies to his family, and kudos to him for living his life.

 

[Jools]

Respect.

 

[Melcar]

Bullshit.

 

[Azrael the cat]

"It's quite sad to see favourite games' creators go (and yeah, VAs do create important part of gaming experience). May he rest in peace."

He's a voic actor. He didn't create anything. And, the Overseer wouldn't have been any worse with anyone else in the role, imo. The overseer being memorable had to do with the writing not the acting.

Anyways, sympathies to his family, and kudos to him for living his life.

Dude, I'd post respect to the Janitor of the building they worked in and the guy that brought them coffee too. It's not about him being a great actor or anything, just a nod from people who actually experienced the outcome of some of the guy's work during his life. Of course FO would have been equally good without a minor voice actor. But he still placed his brick in the wall of one of the greats, and given how much fun that wall has brought to me over the years I'd like to express that, and it seems that others here do to.

 

[Volourn]

I gave him kudos.. yet you guys are mad I didn't suck his work's dick?

I'm not gonna bash the cool dude who just died as he did nothing wrong just the fuckkin' morans sucking his dick.

Sorry, dude, but the janitor has nothing to do with the quality of FO. FFS

 

[Melcar]

Bioware's janitor clearly did a better job.

 

[SCO]

Bioware's janitor clearly did a better job.

The market has spoken.

 

[GuideBot]

There's one thing you can't fault late 90s Interplay for and that is hiring quality vocal talent for their games. It's ridiculous how much better it was then than it is now when they get the valet and the CEO's son or someone from some shitty anime to do the acting.

The Overseer wouldn't have been just as good if someone else were doing the role - what if it were Mass Effect's Male Shephard? You know an actor has done a quality job when they make their own excellent performance look easy.

The sad fact is that Fallout, a midbudget RPG from the late 90s, had a far better vocal cast than we will likely ever see again. Nowadays it's all Patrick Stewart/Max von Sydow/Liam Neeson/Martin Sheen stuntcasting rather than spending the same money on filling the entire cast with quality but less famous actors.

 

[Jaesun]

Good night sweet prince.

 

[laclongquan]

"It's quite sad to see favourite games' creators go (and yeah, VAs do create important part of gaming experience). May he rest in peace."

He's a voic actor. He didn't create anything. And, the Overseer wouldn't have been any worse with anyone else in the role, imo. The overseer being memorable had to do with the writing not the acting.

Anyways, sympathies to his family, and kudos to him for living his life.

Pretty Princess, I am saddened to see you underprice your VAs. Especially in these days and ages where devs after devs running toward them offering obscene amount of money to make their games. Where is your reasons? Where is your respect? Is that any way a veteran of gaming should act?

 

[deuxhero]

The sad fact is that Fallout, a midbudget RPG from the late 90s, had a far better vocal cast than we will likely ever see again. Nowadays it's all Patrick Stewart/Max von Sydow/Liam Neeson/Martin Sheen stuntcasting rather than spending the same money on filling the entire cast with quality but less famous actors.

One area JRPGs do well. Professional VAs (who most companies use when localizing them) can actually voice act (who would have thought).

 

[sgc_meltdown]

One area JRPGs do well. Professional VAs (who most companies use when localizing them) can actually voice act (who would have thought).

Doesn't Japan have a culture of respecting VAs almost as much as actual actors? Due recognition and all that.

 

[Felix]

One area JRPGs do well. Professional VAs (who most companies use when localizing them) can actually voice act (who would have thought).

Doesn't Japan have a culture of respecting VAs almost as much as actual actors? Due recognition and all that.

No.

 

[laclongquan]

Why do you lie?

 

[Felix]

fucking weeaboos, otaku and their overblown shit on the interwebs.

 

[laclongquan]

I dont say the Japs worship VAs or shits. But from what I understand "being VA" among them is pretty much "being singers" in Vietnam, or "being minor local musicians" in US. Nothing to despise over.

On the other hand, on US, "being VAs for game" does NOT enjoy that same status. Oh yeah, much lower.

 

[Black]

He joins Tony Jay and other great manly men.

 

[curry]

He's a voic actor. He didn't create anything. And, the Overseer wouldn't have been any worse with anyone else in the role, imo. The overseer being memorable had to do with the writing not the acting.

This. It's not like he was on Tony Jay's level.

 

[Azrael the cat]

There's one thing you can't fault late 90s Interplay for and that is hiring quality vocal talent for their games. It's ridiculous how much better it was then than it is now when they get the valet and the CEO's son or someone from some shitty anime to do the acting.

The Overseer wouldn't have been just as good if someone else were doing the role - what if it were Mass Effect's Male Shephard? You know an actor has done a quality job when they make their own excellent performance look easy.

The sad fact is that Fallout, a midbudget RPG from the late 90s, had a far better vocal cast than we will likely ever see again. Nowadays it's all Patrick Stewart/Max von Sydow/Liam Neeson/Martin Sheen stuntcasting rather than spending the same money on filling the entire cast with quality but less famous actors.

The problem is the use of stunt casting, just like the Bioware awkward romances being stunt-writing, used for marketable effect. A top quality voice actor should come cheaper but be much much better than the name actors. It's a skill of its own, and it is a very very competitive market - even those radio ads tend to be dominated by a small handful of guys who make some pretty hefty income, by the standards of non-'name' actors. The ones I've met over here have usually been good professional stage actors (emphasis on voice over facial emotion - admittedly there's also the stage actors who are there because they are great at dynamic movement, your Brian Blessed charge to the front of the stage types, but given that it's all 'small intimate talking heads' theatre these days, theatre actors tend to be voice-focused). But they've then had additional skills that set them apart - practical stuff like being able to hit the exact number of seconds for every line of a paraphraph take. Which saves money, and gives them more opportunity to do multiple takes on the harder stuff.


Obviously there are film actors who are also good voice actors. Mike Myers and Mark Hamill are probably much BETTER at voice-acting than they ever were in person, and Patrick Stewart is pretty awesome at voicework. I haven't heard anything that has Bill Murray or Alan Rickman do voicework, but I'd be willing to bet that they rock at it, same with Helena Bonham Carter - those three could read the phonebook and be fun to listen to.

But by and large, the better voice performances in games have been by those who specialise in them. Hell - when it comes down to it, what roles do Bioware give to their stunt casting, and what roles do they give to the voice specialists. That's right - you don't have Stravonskhi voicing femshep now do you, not even Bioware is that retarded - you have Jennifer-fucking-Hale. Which means they know full well that they're dragging their own product downwards by casting a bunch of screen actors for marketing purposes.

 

[ironyuri]

"It's quite sad to see favourite games' creators go (and yeah, VAs do create important part of gaming experience). May he rest in peace."

He's a voic actor. He didn't create anything. And, the Overseer wouldn't have been any worse with anyone else in the role, imo. The overseer being memorable had to do with the writing not the acting.

Anyways, sympathies to his family, and kudos to him for living his life.

Not to take Volly's troll bait or anything, but....

He did create something. The voice actor created the personality of the Overseer and introduced the first quest in the game.

The way he sighs when he says that it isn't an easy thing to do, but he'll have to send the VD out into the Wastes for the chip, the timbre of his voice and the fact that he is not just reading, but talking TO the player. That is creation. He creates the feel and personality of an otherwise blank slate character who we'd have to imagine for ourselves. He sets the tone of your experience.

The Overseer's opening monologue is filled with genuine concern, acting that evokes genuine emotion is difficult, but this guy accomplished it because he knew his craft. As the first voice and the last that you hear in the played sections of Fallout (not counting Pearlman's prologue or eiplogue voice-overs), the Overseer sets the standard.

All of the VO work in Fallout was remarkably well done and more games today would benefit from it. Too often in games like DA:O or Oblivion, you suffer through VO work which sounds as though the actos are not in the same room at the time of recording dialogues, or that the VAs have even researched the role or what kind of emotional response is required from a scene at a given time. That is when VO work tends to break down and becomes as bad as B Grade movies.