English
Indian
العربية
Español
Deutsch
Türkçe
Русский
Français (Afrique)
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag star Matt Ryan says the term 'voice actor' is outdated: 'You see the performances in the eyes, it blows me away'
Fully motion-captured performance for games "was in its infancy at the time, when I got the job," remembers Matt Ryan, who starred as swashbuckler Edward Kenway in 2013's Assassin's Creed: Black Flag.
Forms of motion capture have been used to make games for decades, of course: in the 1980s Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner filmed his brother galavanting around the woods to create the prince's rotoscoped animations; in the 2000s, Capcom was capturing stunt performers in tight bodysuits for Devil May Cry 3's cutscenes. But it's only much more recently that actors for games have been delivering all-encompassing performances within the confines of a motion-capture stage, their voices, movements, and minute facial expressions all making their way into a game.
"When I got the job, I didn't know it was going to be mocap—I thought it would just be voice," Ryan said in an interview with PC Gamer. "But I loved that it was mocap. I found another medium to work in: I love theater, and I love doing TV, but I like to change it up as well." catcross.org
Ryan is amazed by just how much more detail big-budget games have been able to convey in the decade since he played Kenway, and called out Troy Baker's performance as Indiana Jones as "fucking awesome."
"I think in terms of the vernacular that the media uses these days, they haven't quite caught up," he said. "They still say 'the voice actor,' and no, there's a whole medium out there. The games that I play, you see the performances, and it's good, man. Just how the performance can come through even after they've painted over you with the [game character's] skin. The eyes, the details in the eyes, it blows me away. With the technology they've got today, it allows me to come through even more."
Perhaps that increase in fidelity is part of the reason that game actors are more closely associated with their characters these days, and have attracted far more attention in recent years—Final Fantasy 16's Ben Starr, Baldur's Gate 3's Neil Newbon, and Resident Evil 8's Maggie Robertson, just to name a few. Improvements to the technology have also made it at least a little easier on actors to get themselves into the headspace of a character, despite being suited up in full-body lycra. Ryan mentioned that returning to do some fresh mocap work for Black Flag Resynced, his helmet was much more comfortable than the one he wore in 2013, which felt like "having your head in a vice."
"I think because [games] are becoming more actor-driven and story-driven, the actor is bringing a lot more of himself to the game," Ryan said. "The players and the audience, they get to engage with that, and they recognize that. And they spend more time with you than they do in a TV show or theater or any of that. They're with you for a long time. I really love the fact that it's become an actor's medium. We need to rejig the vernacular—something that really describes what the medium has become now."
2026 games: All the upcoming games
Best PC games: Our all-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
Best co-op games: Better together
Gerucht: Xbox werkt aan technologie om je schijven te digitaliseren
Het is algemeen bekend dat Xbox-gamers er overweldigend voor kiezen hun games digitaal te kopen, een trend die ze eerder omarmden dan andere platforms. Dit heeft Microsoft ook ertoe gebracht verschillende Xbox-modellen zonder schijfstations te lanceren, waaronder de Series S, evenals betaalbaardere versies van de Series X.
We weten nog niet wat de volgende generatie zal brengen, maar het is makkelijk voor te stellen dat Microsoft liever geen zorgen hoeft te maken over discs, vooral omdat Project Helix zich ontwikkelt tot een soort pc-hybride (en we hebben al ROG Xbox Ally)... en, zoals we allemaal weten, zijn pc's al heel lang niet meer standaard met discdrives geleverd. Voor Microsoft zullen ze misschien nog steeds een oplossing moeten bieden, aangezien ze zwaar investeren in achterwaartse compatibiliteit, en veel oudere gamers en verzamelaars meerdere kratten met oude Xbox-games hebben die ze in de toekomst graag willen kunnen beleven.
Nu meldt Windows Central dat er mogelijk een oplossing voor is, die de werknaam Codename Positron draagt. Het idee is om mensen de mogelijkheid te bieden hun schijven over te dragen aan digitaal eigendom. Ze hebben nog geen details, maar noemen wel een duidelijk probleem, namelijk dat het mensen in staat zou stellen schijven uit te lenen, waarna ze plotseling de betreffende spellen zouden bezitten.
Dit betekent dat er een soort technologie nodig is om de spellen te vergrendelen zodra ze zijn ingewisseld voor een digitale kopie, en het moet nog blijken hoe Microsoft dit zal zien. We vermoeden ook dat velen (zo niet vrijwel iedereen) erg terughoudend zouden zijn om hun spelcollectie in te ruilen als dat daadwerkelijk nodig is.
We zullen moeten afwachten tot Microsoft meer informatie over de zaak heeft, ervan uitgaande dat de rapporten überhaupt kloppen.
Steam tar bort NSFW‑ och Mature‑taggar i storstädning av Store‑etiketter
Förvänta dig stora förändringar i etiketterna på Steam-sidorna framöver, då Valves digitala plattform presenterat omfattande ändringar av Steam Store Tags. De har tagit bort 28 taggar, lagt till 17 nya och justerat flera andra för att göra etiketterna på spelen lättare att identifiera.
Det är lätt att förstå varför många av de 28 taggarna togs bort, eftersom Steam pekar på problem med att vissa taggar överlappar varandra, är för begränsande eller helt enkelt inte tillräckligt tydliga i vad de betyder. Taggarna "Mature" och "NSFW" överlappade exempelvis för mycket med "Gore", "Violent" och "Sexual Content", utan att det var tydligt vad som egentligen avsågs. Du kanske vill spela ett blodigt NSFW-spel, men inte nödvändigtvis ett spel med sexuellt innehåll riktat till den publiken, till exempel.
Flera stora varumärkestaggar togs också bort. Dungeons & Dragons, Games Workshop och Warhammer 40K har plockats bort från Steam Store, sannolikt för att spelen kopplade till dessa varumärken ska kunna identifieras utifrån genre snarare än bara varumärket de bygger på.
När det gäller vilka taggar som lagts till märks ett tydligt fokus på lurviga vänner, då Zoo, Animals, Wolves och Capybara alla har tillkommit som nya taggar. Det finns nu också taggar för Wuxia- och Xianxia-spel, vilket signalerar att stora titlar från framstående kinesiska utvecklare är på väg.
Här är hela listan över de nya taggarna nedan:
- Bullet Heaven - The opposite of Bullet Hell; Focus on upgrades while automatically attacking hordes of enemies
- Desktop Companion - Games that only use part of your screen and keep you company while you do other things
- Organizing - Tidy up, de-clutter, or unpack, carefully placing items in virtual spaces
- Cleaning - Satisfying removal of grime and dirt from stuff
- Decorating - Creative placement of furniture and other objects
- Wuxia - Historical fantasy adventure featuring martial arts, competing sects, and inner qi
- Xianxia - Fantasy adventure focused on cultivating supernatural powers and strength
- Falling Blocks - Arranging, rotating, and placing blocks from above
- Espionage - Spying or secretly securing valuable intel
- Samurai - Japanese warriors best known for katanas, loyalty, and self-discipline
- Zoo - Care for and display a park full of wild animals
- Wolves - Also known as Canis Lupus
- Capybaras - The largest and possibly most adorable rodent species
- Animals - Cute and furry, or large and terrifying and everything in between
- Cult - Small groups with extreme devotion to a person, thing, or belief
- Poker - Draw, bet, and bluff
- Language Learning - Learning and teaching new languages
Det finns även ändrade taggar, vilka i praktiken är sådana som inte har tagits bort, men vars formuleringar ändrats. Till exempel heter "Pool" nu "Billiards", eftersom den tidigare förknippades med spel som hade med simbassänger att göra. "Conversation" har bytt namn till "Dialogue-Heavy". Återigen handlar det om att skapa större tydlighet. Kolla även in de borttagna och ändrade taggarna nedan:
REMOVED:
- 3D Vision
- Ambient
- America
- Blood
- Crowdfunded
- Cult Classic
- Documentary
- Drama
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Electronic
- Experience
- Feature Film
- Foreign
- GameMaker
- Games Workshop
- Illuminati
- Kickstarter
- LEGO
- Masterpiece
- Mature
- Movie
- Narration
- NSFW
- Roguevania
- RPGMaker
- Warhammer 40K
- Web Publishing
- Well-Written
MODIFIED:
- Clicker" has been renamed into "Incremental" to capture the broader essence of games that focus on numbers going up.
- "Conversation" has been renamed to "Dialogue Heavy" for clarity
- We've made a few tags plural to match other tags: Dogs, Foxes, Vampires, Elves, Dwarves, and Assassins
- "Pool" was humorously applied to games with a swimming pool, so we've renamed this to "Billiards", which is the overarching term for all games played with cue sticks anyway
- Merging "Jet" into "Flight", as the term "Jet" was not unique enough.
- Merging "Unforgiving" into "Difficult" since these terms mostly overlap in usage and intent
Southampton kicked out of Championship playoff final and docked four points for spying
Club admit breaches involving three opponents
Boro reinstated to take on Hull in playoff final
Southampton have been expelled from the Championship playoff final and docked four points for next season for spying on Middlesbrough and two other opponents.
An independent disciplinary commission handed down the punishment after the English Football League charged Southampton with a breach of its regulations. The EFL said Southampton had “admitted to multiple breaches of EFL regulations related to the unauthorised filming of other clubs’ training” and that the admitted breaches “concern fixtures against Oxford United in December 2025, Ipswich Town in April 2026 and Middlesbrough in May 2026”.
Continue reading...Aston Villa bid to complete journey from Championship to Europa League glory
John McGinn will lead out team in final against Freiburg seven years after helping them win promotion with club chasing a first major European trophy since 1982
As Aston Villa arrived at Besiktas Park on the banks of the Bosphorus, for one last training session before the real thing, it was impossible not to consider the journey to the Europa League final. John McGinn, who will lead Villa out as captain in Istanbul, was in the side promoted from the Championship via the playoff final seven years ago. Tyrone Mings also started that day at Wembley and across the course of the following 12 months Villa built a spine that on Wednesday will be central to their hopes of winning their first major European trophy since 1982.
It is why McGinn’s mind goes back to a 3-0 league defeat at Wigan and a midweek trip to Rotherham in the season they clinched promotion, averting a likely financial disaster. Tammy Abraham, then on loan from Chelsea, also began the playoff final victory over Derby. “If we lose that match, are Aston Villa here at the minute?” McGinn says. “Probably not. For us, tomorrow night, it will be nice to see the supporters who were there at Rotherham away, Wigan away, nights like that on a Tuesday evening when it’s very easy to stay at home. They deserve it just as much as the players do and hopefully we can give them something to remember.”
Continue reading...