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Games Losing Their Voices
Gamespot is reporting on a possible SAG strike against the video game industry. The working contract that the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has with the major game publishers expires tomorrow and negotiations are still underway. From the article: "Academy-Award winner Charlize Theron will lend her voice to Majesco's Aeon Flux, David Duchovny and Marilyn Manson voice-act original characters for Midway's upcoming Area 51, and Sean Connery will do some Bond-speak for EA's recently announced From Russia With Love. Actors are even voicing from beyond the grave--the late Marlon Brando will join James Caan and Robert Duvall in Electronic Arts' digital version of The Godfather."
This may, in the end, be good for the games industry; removing the advantage of a big development to hog the limelight by parading big name actors on their game boxes, and giving a tiny bit more of a chance for smaller game houses, who rely on gameplay to sell their games, to grab a piece of the pie.
However, this is another example of a big money union crossing the line. While SAG is acting perfectly within its bounds, it is completely pissing on the spirit in which the union were founded.
Unions are there to protect the workers, not to be dicks.
Actually, the entertainment unions are one of the last places where the big guys stick up for the little guys. SAG, the WGA, etc. leverage the known (and much sought-after) talent to make sure those who aren't in a position to bargain get something close to a fair deal. Actors, directors, writers, animators etc. are in a highly competitive business where it's tough to break in (and stay in) and the powers-that-be (studios, networks and production houses) know it. Aspiring actors would happily sign their lives away for a shot on a sitcom, a young writer would work on a network series for a hundred bucks a week if the rules weren't in place-- yes, because they're desperate, but also because there's enough competition that if they tried to negotiate it would go to the next guy. Look at the record industry, which has no union to protext musicians, to see how badly young arists are screwed.
Take the money you would pay these actors and put it towards quality testing up front and less time towards patching buggy releases.
Meet the new sig, same as the old sig
A bad actor would emphasize the word "meatbag" too much, just because it's funny. But part of the reason it's funny in the first place is because HK-47 doesn't sound like he's trying to be funny.
I bet a name-brand actor wouldn't have done half as well with that character.
Unions are there to protect the unions. They used to be there to protect the workers, and they attracted leaders who were concerned with protecting the workers. Then they grew large ...
As the son and grandson of blue collar union members, and as a person who has materially benefited from the original ideals of unionization, I'll add that a large part of the problem is that union won their war but did not demobilize. Nearly all their legitimate issues are enshrined in law. Now they largely exist to preserve themselves and their power.
The occassional exception where they actually do something useful would be the "Save a job, buy American" type public relations campaigns. We bitch and moan about about jobs being exported and blame the government and corporations but the simple truth is that it is our own damn fault. We tend to buy whatever costs less. The union's modern battle is with the public not government and corporations. Well, that is if they were interested in protect their workers.