Thursday, December 29, 2011

Star Wars: The Voice Acting Republic

Preface: I have been playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, an MMORPG by Bioware that launched on December 20, 2011. This post pertains to certain voice actors used in the game.



I have restarted the bounty hunter quest-line several times -- either because I didn't like a choice I made, I rolled on another server, or otherwise -- and each time, I keep coming to the same conclusions: the Male Bounty Hunter voice acting is credited incorrectly on several websites.

I've looked around, and it seems that early discussions indicated that Steven Blum (who also voices a several other characters in the game) was confirmed as the Male Bounty Hunter voice...but then I found that the credit on a few websites (such as IMDB) is being given to someone I hadn't heard of -- Tom Spackman -- who is basically a watered-down Don LaFontaine (the "movie voice guy").

None of the voice-acting lists I've seen have been fully confirmed, and I tend to treat IMDB as I would Wikipedia -- that is, don't trust it unless I hear it from the horse's mouth. But I am curious to find out if anyone else thinks that the voice is Steven Blum emulating David Hayter (who also worked on voices in the game).

Here are some clips the demonstrate my point:


Steven Blum
as Spike Spiegel from "Cowboy Bebop"





David Hayter
as Solid Snake from "Metal Gear Solid" (various titles)





SW:TOR Gameplay
on Hutta, the Bounty Hunter starting zone
(discussion starts at the 8:40 mark)





And finally a link to the page of the alleged voice actor
Tom Spackman



I mean, it's still early, so people are trying to attach names to voices (and so-on) but I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! I listen to the snark and tone, and hear a combination of Spike and Snake. The playable character is a Bounty Hunter and a Mercenary, which SCREAMS to be an homage to both of those characters.


Anyway, just a passing thought I thought I'd share!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

I need to write more...

Somewhere, in the race that has been this year, writing fell to the wayside. For that, I am sorry -- to my readers and myself. I find ideas don't come to me as clearly as I'd like, and I fumble over words. I never fumbled over words before, but unless I sharpen my creative, sharp tongue soon, I feel I will rapidly lose the capability of true wit.

Yes, I think I'm witty. Wannafightaboutit?

Obviously, I have Twitter and Facebook, to write little bite-sized packets of mind musings. But those barely serve to quell my hunger. Every now and then, I find myself craving a meal, so to speak. What a fugue is to whistling a jingle. A pas de deux to dancing a jig. A schematic to...well, you get the idea: I need to write something of grander substance.

I have a good excuse: I started a solid job as a contractor with Texas Instruments. I work with a small team -- nestled within larger-growing layers of teams -- where I am the baseline. It's exactly what I needed right now, and is giving me some stellar experience. I quite enjoy my coworker and boss -- Joe and Elaine respectively -- who have been a trememndous help in my transition into the corporate, contractor workforce. I find myself constantly challenged here.

But that's just my excuse: it's draining. After spending several hours working in a constantly evolving environment, one needs to embrace escapism in whatever manner they can. In all honesty, I fall back on friends, television, videogames, or some combination of the three.

But it is summer: the season of bad television. Except for Game of Thrones. Go watch that shit right-the-fuck now if you haven't already! Seriously. I'll wait...






[/whistle]






...right? RIGHT!? Anyway, it depresses me to admit that I haven't been writing, playing music, or even running as much as I said that I wanted to at the beginning of the year. I'll fix that.

Also, for those of you that didn't know: I have a puppy now. His name is Fenris and he's 95% Timberwolf, 5% Husky, which makes him 100% amazing. Trust me, I did that math. He's also my new running partner, since he's finally old enough to keep up with me. This should make things interesting. We'll talk more soon. Until then...


...Over and out,

David Lucio

Monday, January 10, 2011

Check in - 10 Days

So far so good, I think. I'm being mindful of all my resolutions as things come up. I haven't started the breakfast thing yet, and running almost immediately hit a halt when I got ill last week; I wasn't going to make it worse by trying to work out.

But otherwise, the ongoing resolutions are proving to be easier than I originally thought. I've even been brainstorming ideas for my website. I figure I'll wait until my birthday (March) before officially starting the project, so I can treat it like a gift to myself.

Speaking of which, I found the first thing on my (tentatively titled) "list of outlandish, shiny things I want, but don't expect to get at all, for my birthday." It's, quite simply, a masterfully crafted case for my iPhone 4.

The EXO 5, Silver or Black Aluminum Cases with Rosewood Sides just looks classy as hell to me. I'm not quite sure why. But, since it costs half as much as the phone itself, I am not really banking on getting myself one -- much less anyone else getting it for me.

I came across these on Gizmodo and fell in love. In my defense, I also saw a jetpack on there I would love to have as well, but I'm being reasonable with myself!

A few months until 25, and I'm already dreading it. I figure it's a big-enough staple that I should celebrate. Some kind of party, perhaps? With a theme maybe? We'll see as the day draws closer.



Over and out,

David Lucio