Bionic Commando

Two members of Grin and I have been brushing shoulders with the stars this week in Hollywood, supervising the voice recording sessions for Bionic Commando.

Listeners to our podcast will know that we've tried to toe the line between sticking to the original game's much-loved warts-and-all story, and creating something with the drama that gamers today demand from a title of Bionic Commando's stature. With all the different cultures that are involved in this project, it hasn't always been easy. But after months of seeing words on paper done and redone in ever-changing renditions, sent back and forth repeatedly between Sweden and Japan, it's been a pleasure to finally see those lines come to life in the performances of some extremely talented actors.

Thanks to the efforts of casting and voice director Kris Zimmerman (coming to us fresh from Metal Gear Solid 4), we've been able to get the right talent for the job. With a mix of experienced voice talent and actors who are more used to being on the screen, the characters who previously existed as mere descriptions or concept art sketches have come to life with full personalities sometimes far surpassing what we had envisioned.

We'll be talking to Kris and Soundelux's Voiceover Manager Chip Beaman on an upcoming episode of the podcast. In the meantime, we're heading on up to San Francisco, where we'll be recording the voice of Nathan Spencer, with the former lead singer of Faith No More, Mike Patton himself.