Bionic Commando

Outside our San Francisco hotel lobby, there are currently half a dozen police vehicles and enough armed officers to stage an assault on Capcom headquarters itself. So with any plans for leaving the hotel firmly on hold, I thought I should update you with news of today's voice recording session.

Every aspect of the main character of a videogame is a big decision. As you'll be staring at their back, or through their eyes, for tens of hours, they are inevitably over-analyzed... something we here at Bionic Commando are rather familiar with. Choosing the voice for that character is one of the trickiest tasks, and frankly, something a lot of games do not get right. But on Bionic Commando, we've been lucky enough to enlist the services of Mike Patton, one of the most talented and downright nicest guys you could ever hope to meet - much less convince to star in your game.

Most readers might remember Mike as the lead singer of Faith No More, but he has also provided voice for The Darkness, Portal and the movie I Am Legend, while continuing his own diverse musical projects. And like all the voice actors on this project, Mike has simply blown us away. I expected him to have an incredible voice range and sound considerably cooler than anyone I've ever met, and I was not disappointed. But given that it was my first time to meet a rock legend, I was genuinely surprised by Mike's down-to-earth attitude, willingness to take direction, and best of all, his commitment to the project (Mike's a big gamer, fan of the original, and was very impressed by our "Exploding Head" t-shirt).

With the delivery of the Alpha build and a week of great voice recordings under our belts, this has been a very successful and satisfying week. Sadly, those police officers are still there. It's going to be a long evening...