HD Collection PS3 Exclusive (Hah! 360 too) /New VAs

[Beanovsky Durst]

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Sneak peak of the new voiceovers... Also the HD collection is going to be available also on Xbox 360. Still not amused by the lack of Yamaoka.

[riderkid]

ok so yay on the 360...but wtf was with the male voice actors sounding like japanese trying to be american?

the only solution i see is to allow an option to have both sets of audio usable for this game, lord knows yatzhee will be firing balls of death and pain.

[Branden_Lucero]

wow they really butchered the HD collection

[riderkid]

sadly i w3ill buy this cause i am a silent hill fan...

[Canas Renvall]

Fuck... now I gotta buy it, that's Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Mary, is it not?

As much as I hate this idea of changing VAs (and so far, James and Eddie sound worse), Mary Elizabeth getting involved that much into SH2 is very tempting... She sounds much darker and deeper than Mary/Maria in the original. But that could very well be the bias I have toward her.

[Darkmoon]

Mary/Maria sounds OK...James and Eddie made me cringe, though.

[GuardhouseMusic]

Maria sounds awful, a sterner version of the older vocal performance which sounded playful and tempting (or mood swingy) for a god damned reason. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn should be ashamed of herself, regardless of how much of a fixture of the series she's become.

As for James and Eddie, Darkmoon said it best. Actually, it sounds like they're cringing in their performance. Definitely not getting this.

EDIT: To slow down just a bit, I will admit that it would've taken a miracle to get me to accept anything different for the VA. What can I say? Silent Hill is up there, if not eclipses RE as my favorite series.

[riderkid]

gamestop has removed the gmae of there site and amazon now has a 2011 window on there site, no matter what i can now next month get some well deserved revenge on todd now...he did say he would get the gmae for me...and for those saying i am still beign petty...fuck off.

[Rombie]

Ugh. Horrible, just horrible. Sticking with my PS2 versions thank you.

[Scream]

James sounded the worst I think.

Any previews of SH3 yet?

[Smiley]

Might get this down the road, but this and RE4/CVX are no rush buys for me. I guess it helps that my ps3 is backwards compatible.

As far as the new voices are concerned I think it goes without saying that this was a mistake.

It's one thing to recast an actor for a brand new game like say Tara Strong playing Harley Quinn in Arkham City instead of Arleen Sorkin.

It's another to take pre-existing work and cover over it. And in the case a past actor with a new actor. The last time I saw something so insulting was the special edition of the Star Wars trilogy.

I also heard they did something like this with the psp version of Shadow of Destiny.

Now granted I know acting is a business all on its own as well. And the decision to have new voice actors was definitely a business move by the people working on HD release of the game. Even so, this is a case of business trumping over art. For Silent Hill 2 and 3 I would gladly defend its artistic merit in many categories including the vocal talent. To hear the voice of some professional recognizable voice actor filling in the same shoes just rings false to me after having played the original version many times over and hearing a performance that I've grown accustomed to. It may not amount to much for newcomers, but to a fan like me this is unfortunate. Even more so when you look at the work involved in those specific games for the direction they were given in both vocal performance (and in some cases vocal and physical mocap).

Anyway that's all I have to say on the matter. The fact is Silent Hill has become just like any other long lasting franchise and changes will be made to pave the way for further business and new fans just like Resident Evil. In this case though it's just a shame that changes had to be made at the expense of excluding previous actor's performances. Regardless, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn is good at what she does, but it's also a business for her just like any other gig and I'm sure she's well compensated for her contributions to the franchise.

[rewak]

Sound like Rahda Mitchell and Sean Bean doing Mary/Maria and James. Lord knows what Eddy sounds like, Sylvester Stallone with a cold? Terrible terrible terrible idea to replace the VA's and the games don't even look anything more than the PC versions running at HD resolutions. I'll bet you whoever actually is doing Mary/Maria will probably do Heather as well, James' actor will do Vincent, etc etc, cause they aren't exactly splashing out money on good talent so why bother spending on separate actors?

[Canas Renvall]

Sound like Rahda Mitchell and Sean Bean doing Mary/Maria and James. Lord knows what Eddy sounds like, Sylvester Stallone with a cold? Terrible terrible terrible idea to replace the VA's and the games don't even look anything more than the PC versions running at HD resolutions. I'll bet you whoever actually is doing Mary/Maria will probably do Heather as well, James' actor will do Vincent, etc etc, cause they aren't exactly splashing out money on good talent so why bother spending on separate actors?

^ I highly doubt Mary Elizabeth McGlynn would play as Heather. If anything, she'd make a better Claudia, only with a deeper, darker voice.

But I agree, this is really upsetting. You can't replace someone like Vincent or Heather. They just... sound perfect. I mean c'mon, nobody else could replicate that crazy-yet-calm smoothness of Vincent.

"Relax. It's... just a joke..."

Or, again, even Heather's strong performance.

"Shut your stinkin' mouth, bitch!"

^ Nobody else can do that. Not even Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, as much as I love her.

[Zombie_X]

WTF with those new voices!?!?!?! They are god awful! Blergh!!

James and Eddie didn't bother me but Maria's voice was totally off. Wow Konami just fucked up two perfectly great games. Guess I'll just stick with my PS2 versions and just upscale them.

[Smiley]

Maybe we shouldn't be jumping the gun here yet. I mean Mary Elizabeth is talented as a singer and actress, and her resume in voice directing shows with games like Umbrella Chronic*SHOT*