Have you ever played a game or watch anime or cartoon and thought, “Hey, that voice sounds familiar…”? Odds are, you’re not going crazy. Many of the voice actors in the industry are quite ubiquitous and their voices can be heard in dozens of series, from bit parts to leading roles. Sometimes, you’ll realize that two characters in totally unrelated works have the same voice, and that can be a mind-blowing experience. So let’s take a look at one of the busier voice actors out there, John DiMaggio.
Marcus Fenix – Gears of War
When Gears of War was released, it gave Microsoft another huge exclusive to add to its list of killer apps. This was a big deal for the young Xbox 360 because Gears was released right when Sony and Nintendo were releasing their new consoles to the public. Right at the forefront of Gears of War was Marcus Fenix, the gruff and grizzly COD soldier brandishing an assault rifle with a chainsaw bayonet.
Normally I would say it can’t get any manlier than that, but when you hear Fenix’s voice it’s like being pummeled by a rock-slide of gravel. Marcus’s yell literally sounds like someone threw a pack of wolverines into a cement mixer, and then the strongest wolverine fought his way back out and built a football arena with the cement. Is that too manly? Perhaps, but we’ll just balance that out with all the homo-erotic fan fiction about Marcus and his ever present partner Dom.
Wakka and Kimahri – Final Fantasy X
Now if you were to imagine the opposite of Marcus Fenix, it would probably somewhat resemble Final Fantasy X’s Wakka. This tan islander with a passion for underwater soccer (football?) essentially wears a pair of waders with suspenders, is forever shirtless, and must use appromixately 1.5 cans of hairspray to get that kind of hold. Believe or not, Wakka and Marcus Fenix are both given life by John DiMaggio, fake Caribbean accent and all.
Of course, it was probably somewhere in DiMaggio’s contract that he couldn’t take the job unless he got to voice at least one tough guy, so Square (pre-Enix days) also gave him the role of Kimahri. Kimahri is a Ronso, a race of anthropomorphic unicorn cats who live at the icy peak of Mount Gagazet. Although completely mute early on in the game, Kimahri eventually warms up to the protagonist and is fiercely protective of the group. This Ronso’s characteristic trait is the broken horn on his forehead, and at over 2 meter talls Kimahri is considered “small” by the rest of his clan. Yeah, I’d say that makes up for Wakka.
Bender – Futurama
This next voice is the one that I instinctively hear whenever John DiMaggio voices a character. No matter what game I’m playing or what show I’m watching, every character of DiMaggio’s sounds to me like Bender. Wakka is Bender with a Jamaican accent. Marcus Fenix is Bender after the cigars catch up to him. It’s inevitable for me to hear this foul-mouthed, cigar smoking, larcenous robot everywhere.
As one of the stars on Matt Groening’s Futurama, Bender is a robot with a habit (well, a lot of habits) for crime. Crime and just being a jerk. A loveable jerk. Part con man, part pickpocket, and part folk singer, this mischievous automaton has even adopted a dozen orphans just to neglect them and collect the welfare checks. This guy has found a way to turn orphans into a business, people! I think that deserves some applause.
Jake the Dog – Adventure Time
Jake the Dog is a character that might be unknown to some of the older readers here, but that should change right now. Jake is one half of the adventuring duo from Adventure Time, a Cartoon Network show created by Pendleton Ward. The cartoon follows Jake the Dog and Finn the Human through their life of adventuring, which has included slaying candy zombies, dustomancy (which allows one to read the thoughts of dust particles), and Mannish Man the Manly Minotaur, who is oddly not voice by DiMaggio despite the apparent manly clause in his contract.
Jake, who is voiced by John DiMaggio, is a dog with magic powers that allow him to change his size and shape at will, and is the best friend of Finn the Human. Although Jake is 28 (in magic dog years, of course), he often acts less mature than his 13 year old companion. A personal favorite moment from Adventure Time has Finn and Jake melting washed up icebergs with flamethrowers in order to salvage the treasure within. After Finn finds a particularly awesome haul, a frustrated Jake complains, “I keep finding baby shoes. What the HECK man, and they’re all LEFTIES!”
Scotsman – Samurai Jack
And for our last entry in this look at the voices of John DiMaggio we have somewhat of a return to form. The Scotsman from Samurai Jack, voiced by the very not Scottish DiMaggio, is exactly what his name implies. He is a brawny, kilt-wearing Scot whom Jack first encounters while crossing a rope bridge. As the bridge is rather narrow, one of the men will need to go back in order to allow the other to pass. Neither man gives in, however, and in a display of sheer manliness (i.e. stubbornness) the two partake in an epic battle before plummeting into the river below.
The Scotsman, unlike Jack, is loud and boisterous and is more than a little bit like Gimli from the Lord of the Rings. I wonder why it is that Scots always get painted as brawny men who love to fight and drink. Must be a coincidence. Anyway, this guy is so freaking tough that he literally has a chain gun for a leg which he uses to pump enemies full of lead when he isn’t too busy playing his bagpipes. I don’t know how you can top that.
There are tons of other characters, in both video games and animation, that John DiMaggio has lent his voice to, but there are just a few of the more prominent ones. While some might say that he is somewhat typecast as the tough guy, seeing a picture of the guy makes it pretty clear that he isn’t just faking it. So that’s it for now, and as John DiMaggio’s character Shnitzel would say on Chowder, “Rada rada”.
Everyone knows that when it comes to making games targeted for the casual audience, no one does it better than PopCap. In the past few years, the company has been pushing a bit more into the social market with several Facebook applications, and to move more forward in that direction it was announced today that PopCap have now acquired ZipZapPlay, the creators of the popular Facebook title “Baking Life” (which has well over 2 million players) as well as several other smaller games on the site.
Most of the time when an acquirement of any company takes place, you see a lot of changes from the top, but in this case, PopCap seem to eager to move forward with ZipZapPlay by keeping the infrastructure relatively unchanged. Founders Curt Bererton (CEO) and Mathilde Pignol (CCO) will continue to direct all game design and development from the San Francisco studio.
A Statement was issued today from PopCap on this huge move for both companies:
“The team at ZipZapPlay is one of the best in the social games space, and combined with our existing group in Seattle gives us the opportunity to dramatically expand our development resources,” said John Vechey, PopCap co-founder and VP of Corporate Strategy and Development, who oversaw the acquisition. “While the acquisition creates immediate cross-promotional and operations benefits, this is a strategic move with huge long-term potential; we believe ZipZapPlay can help us further evolve and expand the definition of social games.”
“Adding ZipZapPlay’s strong design and development team to our rapidly-growing social games group is a big move for us,” said Jason Kapalka, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at PopCap. “ZipZapPlay is a great cultural fit: a truly creative company that lives and breathes in this space. And their next game is very innovative and exciting – we believe it has the potential to be a step forward in the evolution of social gaming.”
Bereton also offered his input on the future of ZipZapPlay as well: “We’re elated to join the leading casual games developer and help grow PopCap’s presence in the social arena,” said ZipZapPlay’s Bererton. “PopCap’s focus on innovative gameplay and user experience meshes with our own design philosophy. We can’t wait to put our heads together with PopCap and start creating the next generation of games for Facebook and other social platforms.”
With EA and Zynga currently leading the Facebook Market and PopCap already running a close third in the race for the top spot, this acquisition should only lead to spectacular results for the company as PopCap now expect “four to five” new games to be launched for the social networking site by years’ end due to the expansion. Personally, I only play Facebook games that are from PopCap such as Bejeweled and Zuma Blitz, but the options look to be about to open up in a big way very soon and we very well could be seeing the start of PopCap dethroning Zynga from the top of the food chain when it comes to social gaming. This story seems to be just heating up and will certainly be one to watch as the year progresses.
While those of us with flux-capacitor-enabled DeLoreans have already played all 5 episodes of Telltale Games’s Back to the Future episodic adventure game, the more chrono-impaired gamers out there are just now getting hold of episode 4: Double Visions. Clearly Marty and the Doc have by now completely thrown out the old rules of not altering the past, because utter chaos has broken out so far in the series. In the newest episode of Back to the Future: The Game, Marty and Doc Brown must travel back in time to prevent a young Emmett Brown from marrying his deranged future (present?) wife, Edna. While describing the events of any story that involves time travel can get confusing, perhaps the trailer below can do a better job. Now excuse me, I’m off to the end of 2011 so I can play Telltale’s Walking Dead game. Great Scott!
For those of you stuck in the present, you might as well make the most of your time and pick up Back to the Future: The Game at Telltale’s site or on Steam. PSN and iOS versions of Episode 4: Double Visions will be available at some point in the near future (present? man, you guys really need to get a DeLorean so we can keep this time stuff straight).
So PSN is still down roughly a week after this whole debacle has started. Arguments over who is to blame are largely over and done with, leaving one of the big questions left for the users to ask is, “So what am I getting out of this?” Sony has thought of that too, especially considering that some users do pay a fee for services on PSN such as Qirocity, PSN+ and DC Universe. Sony has stated that it’s going to do “something” about this issue of compensation, but no hard details as of yet. It’s pretty safe to assume that users will be reimbursed for the time lost.
More importantly is what’s going to happen to the regular, not-paying-any-fees users. Even though they don’t pay any fees on PSN, they were still hindered just the same by this whole situation. So what’s in it for us? A “thank you” and a pat on the back for being so patient? Possibly, but maybe not.
Sony has mentioned in their latest Q&A that they are,”…currently evaluating ways to show appreciation for your extraordinary patience as we work to get these services back online.”. What this means is anybody’s guess. Microsoft issued a free game (Undertow, great game) to all who were effected by a similar network outage way back when. Sony may do the same, if so a possible candidate is the recently released Mood Diver. But really, who knows what Sony will come up with, if anything at all (it’s safe to assume we are going to get something)
More interesting is that there are rumors that Sony is going to finally do something about a few key features that they have mentioned before but never followed through on in an attempt to retain their customers who may be considering dropping the PS3 for a 360. Specifically, a Sony employee has mentioned in their blog that, “As we are rebuilding the network, we are taking into consideration in implementing features such as cross game chat and in-game video chat to name a few…” Pretty interesting, though do note that the employee follows up with, “I cannot confirm any new features at this time but expect a massive update when the network is restored.”
Sony has mentioned before that when the network comes back up there will be an update, most likely to beef up security to make sure this won’t happen again. Will this update also include the much awaited cross game chat as well as others? Honestly, I’m not getting my hopes up. There have been rumors of cross game chat being added for quite a while now, so I’m just going to chalk this up to more hearsay. Regardless, be on the lookout for more information from Sony in the coming days. This whole situation should be nearing a close and finally be resolved in a few more days. Hopefully Sony will go into a bit more detail about compensation for its users and maybe even shed some light on these “new features” that might be added.
Yesterday we discovered that the cover art for both versions of Catherine were appearing altered on the Gamefly service and then also on Amazon.com (Amazon has since altered the box art back to the original). This spelled out bad news for fans of the game as it was originally announced that the cover art would not be censored at all and fans would receive the same cover as the Japanese version of the game.
Fans can breath a small sigh of relief however because after contacting ATLUS we were able to find out from Aram Jabbari that the cover art is only going to be modified for select markets. These markets are a minority and the vast majority of the titles will instead keep the same cover art originally released. You can read his full statement below:
“In addition to the existing North American covers for Catherine on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, there will also be modified designs that appear in select markets. The vast majority of copies available at launch will feature the cover we originally unveiled, essentially the Japanese cover of the game. A small percentage of copies, however, will feature a cover that is more considerate of certain retailers’ broader customer demographic. Fans need not worry; Catherine’s cover art is NOT being altered for North America. There is just an extra option being made available for more sensitive shoppers.”
If you feel like you haven’t had enough speed in your life and feel the need for speed then I should probably stop trying to milk the title name more. Either way EA has announced today that Need for Speed: The Run will be released on November 15th in the US and November 17th everywhere else. EA Black Box is developing the title with EA DICE’s Frostbite 2 development engine. The title is being released for practically every console available, the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii and Nintendo 3DS.
The Run will use the Autolog feature that was seen in previous Need for Speed games as well as the latest in fast cars and even faster chases. They have also released a teaser trailer to go along with the information but unfortunately besides that and the box art we will have to wait to hear more on the title as weeks go by.
At the sight of DLC some people cringe and then have to reach for their wallets. Well you can put your wallet back in because Portal 2’s first DLC won’t cost you a thing according to Valve. Valve announced today that Portal 2 is not only their fastest selling release since Half-Life 2 but that they will be bringing their valued customers Portal 2 DLC #1 entirely free of charge.
This DLC will surprisingly be free of charge even on the Xbox 360 which usually has a price tag for DLC that is normally free on the PC such as Left 4 Dead. But despite their past history of charging for free content the 360 will allow the DLC to be entirely free. The PC and Mac version as well as the PS3 version will also obtain the DLC for free.
The DLC #1 will offer new test chambers for players to experience, leaderboards and a challenge mode for both single and multiplayer. The potential release date given by Valve is some time this summer but that is as clear as they were able to be at the moment.
A new patch went live for the Xbox 360 version of Fallout: New Vegas today. But don’t be so quick to accept that download yet because the patch is actually not a good thing. Although Bethesda released the patch officially today, you should not download it. At least if you value your game progress.
The reason you shouldn’t download the patch is that some people have reported that the patch has caused problems with their saved games and causing them not to work. The exact issue has not been discussed yet or revealed but Bethesda is warning its fans that they should choose to decline the patch at the moment until they are finished with a patch for a patch. Soon New Vegas will be more patches than game if things continue at this rate.
Yesterday we reported that NIS America had cemented a release date for Cave Story 3D on the Nintendo 3DS. That release date was August 9th. Unfortunately yesterday we didn’t have any actual footage of what the game may look like, but that is no longer the case because today NIS America has also released a handful of screenshots that will show what the game may look like in the end.
At the moment there are only a few screenshots available and these pictures are all under development. Being that the title is just under four months away there is a good chance that the game may look even better once those months tick away. Catch the gallery below and a bit of artwork for the main character above.
Developer: Nokia
Specifications :
Anodised Aluminium Casing, Scratchproof Gorilla glass
Symbian 3 platform with 680MHz processor and 256Mb Ram
3.5″, 640×360 AMOLED screen with 16.7 million colours
1200 mAh battery, 720 mins talktime, 920 hours standby
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI and MicroUsb slots
12MP Camera, Carl Zeiss lens, Zenon flash, digital zoom
When I read a review I want to hear about the products use in daily life and the main features and benefits it can provide me for the money I’m going to spend on it. All I want to know is what differentiates it and why it deserves my attention in the sea of competition beckoning me forth. If you want to be bamboozled with every spec and detail I suggest you read the manual it’s all in there. What I hope to provide is a detailed but easy to understand review on Nokias relatively new N8 Smartphone from my limited time and experience in using it over a 2 week period.
Design and Feel
As soon as I opened the box and saw the N8 I was impressed by its sturdy yet classy elegant look. Originally I thought the design might severely reduce Nokias target market as the phone has an initial air of masculinity to it, be it a labourer requiring a strong external casing or a suit wanting that prestigious look. Saying that, the more time I spent with it and the more people I spoke to, I began to see how the rugged, strong scratch proof anodised aluminium casing captured its masculine side while the sleek elegant casing complete with soft round corners would appeal to females alike.
A very noticeable feature is the rather large camera compartment that protrudes from the top back part of the phone. While it was not annoying in the least it was a constant worry when putting the phone down and I always found myself picking it back up to see that I hadn’t damaged the camera or flash. Saying that I never saw a scratch after leaving it on any surface, a testament to the strength and quality of the material. This is a very minute price to pay for the unsurpassed quality of the 12MP camera and Xenon flash that we shall get to later on. One slight complaint was the position of the actual camera lens which lined up perfectly with the users fingers when they were making a call or playing games with the phone on its side. Not a major issue especially since almost every feature is touch screen and only requires holding by one hand but a slight relocation of the lens would have been nice.
The slots for the sim and extra memory are nestled nice and flush with the body and although they are quite difficult to get open (women with long fingernails may disagree), they are very sturdy, and well supported by small flexible and durable rubber hinges. This also has the added bonus of preventing unwanted opening of the slots during use or through light touch. The sim is on a spring based system so the user knows that it has been placed in correctly.
The top of the phone has the power (and profile change) button, HDMI input to stream directly to a television or other device as well as the AV connector. The bottom of the phone features the charging connector as well as the wrist strap hole, allowing users to continue USB streaming while charging the phone, a very useful feature in itself.
The right hand side of the N8 houses the volume control which is nicely raised allowing for blind use, as well the camera button which features 2 levels of resistance, half pressed for auto-focus and full press for quick access to the camera as well as taking pictures. I’d have to say that many times I went to use the camera quickly and thought it was faulty but wasn’t pressing hard enough to activate it. In between these 2 buttons sits the lock slider which essentially performs the same function as double tapping the screen. The slider was not quite resistant to touch which was essential in preventing accidental unlocking of the phone in the pocket. The left hand side is a little less busy, housing only the aforementioned Usb/memory and the MicroUSB slot which is surprisingly uncovered.
My only complaint was the position of the command button on the bottom of the phone in the left hand corner instead of in the middle or right where it would be easier to access.
Included in the box was a nice set of goodies including a HDMI to mini HDMI adapter, very good quality inline earbuds, a very (I can’t stress this enough) practical VERTICAL power adapter that doesn’t take up more than one slot and a USB adapter to directly save data on usb based storage media should you not be able to access a computer. Direct USB connection to a PC required additional cords.
Display
The N8 features a crisp 3.5” AMOLED screen with 640 x 320 pixel resolution. While I found the screen to be of ample size even for watching movies, the resolution let the phone down during certain games such as Fifa 11 as well as on certain websites that had small links and banners which became quite blocky and very hard to read. This could be quite easily fixed when web browsing through the zoom function though. Also saying this, the resolution during general use such as menus and apps was superb with rich saturated colours and sharp defined icons. The quality of movies was quite astounding and there was very little loss of quality when games were played on a large plasma screen through the HDMI adapter.
The screen is made from a material called Gorilla Glass which according to their website, “Gorilla Glass is an environmentally friendly alkali-aluminosilicate thin-sheet glass. Elegant and lightweight, Gorilla Glass is durable enough to resist many real-world events that commonly cause glass failure, enabling exciting new applications in technology and design.” This is pretty strong stuff renowned to be able to take quite a beating.
Performance
Even though the N8 has an older software platform and is lacking the same CPU and Memory specs of the current Iphones and other Smartphones, there was no difference in performance in daily tasks or functions that required high end power. The 680MHz processor combined with separate Broadcom GPU and efficiency of the Symbian 3 platform results in more than enough power to perform any task on the N8. From playback of 720p movies to multi-tasking, I rarely noticed any lag or hint that the processors were struggling despite also only having 256Mb Ram, half the industry standard.
Also packed into the N8 is GPS, which worked flawlessly in both real and assisted mode, as well as Wi-Fi, Blue-tooth and a 12oomAh battery that seemed to go on forever, although I will say that the camera, especially when used with the flash had a heavy drain on the battery. There is 16Gb of internal memory, and while this may not seem like a lot in today’s current market of 200+Gb music players it is more than enough to hold 4000 songs or 10000 photos especially when combined with an external 32Gb optional card. Also included is an FM transmitter which I haven’t even thought about since the days of the old itrips. It is a cool feature but not something I would imagine most people have much of a use for anymore especially considering the amount of songs that can be stored internally on the unit. Saying that some of us do still have older model cars with low connectivity and this feature could provide you with many hours of music on those long boring car rides.
While the debate between Symbian 3, Android IOS and Windows will go on into the next millennia, it really comes down to personal preference and what the manufacturers do with the technology they possess. Nokia have utilised the Symbian platform very efficiently, creating a phone that will never lack the power it needs for any low or high end task.
The Home page was very easy to navigate and could be readily customised to the user’s personal tastes. Despite much criticism from some people wanting to spend half their lives setting up a homepage I enjoyed the simplicity of the N8’s widget function which although limited to one size was easy to use and implement. Simple does not mean ineffective and via the Symbian platform, Nokia have included up to 3 fully customisable homepages displaying different user information. Again it all comes down to personal preference as I prefer to have nothing on the homepage and to access apps and other functions through the menu.
Without going into too much detail, simple calling and messaging on the N8 came with zero issues. Once the phone locked up and wouldn’t allow connection until it had been reset but I can’t say what the problem was. In a few instances the phone couldn’t keep up with the speed of number entry but it was only a very brief pause and it did correctly register what had been typed. The conversation mode while messaging was also a welcome addition. Call quality was fantastic, with the speaker phone showing no hints of ghosting or echoing. Voices were very natural in tone and lacked the empty plastic feel of many other Smartphones.
Many users have reported slight slowing as when switching between apps, they all remain open in the background. I didn’t notice any congestion or slowing in respect to performance.
Multimedia and the Internet
The music and video player applications are simple enough but have nothing that set them apart from any others; in fact I found the music player a bit archaic and not very user friendly. Thankfully songs can be directly and simply used as a ringtone. All of this does nothing to take away from the unsurpassed sound quality of the speaker on the N8. While it’s not going to keep a party going (unless you connect it to the TV through its HDMI output), the sound is rich and full doing justice to all styles of music from classical to hip-hop. For its size the speaker really packs a punch and is a joy to listen to. Although missing codec’s for such lossless formats as FLAC and Ogg, all the other common formats are included including MP3, WMA and AAC. Personally I think the N8 delivers a more natural sound than its competitors but can vary depending on the source and type of music.
Its outstanding video playback has already been noted. The N8 is capable of playing mkv files, a popular format for high quality Blu Ray and HD content to be ripped in. This is a very welcome feature which emphasises the 720p playback and is something even the PS3 doesn’t offer. Nokia have also included a DivX codec much to the pleasure of many users.
The Ovi store had plenty to offer with over 40000 different apps to choose from. Nokia are getting more and more third party developers on board and are currently adding 1000 applications per day, getting around 5 million downloads per day through the service. The service seems to be becoming much more integrted into Nokias service seemingly giving the likes of Apple and Microsoft something to think about in the phone internet market.
My internet experience with the N8, although offering speed and reliability was not overly enjoyable and a little time consuming. The stretch and zoom features worked well although the size of the screen did require very accurate pressing of small links and text boxes. There was a noticeable lack of a back button which was very annoying although additional browsers can be purchased. In landscape mode the QWERTY keyboard was simple and easy to use while in portrait mode the standard touch phone keyboard lacked functionality and prevented fast browsing.
Camera
The Camera function on the N8 is so astonishing that during my time with it my own digital camera of exceptional quality didn’t see the light of day. Everybody that I showed it to agreed it was the best quality camera phone they had witnessed with rich saturated natural colours and lighting. There are many options to play around with such as white balance, contrast and sharpness and due to the quality and amount of information captured even on lower resolution settings; there was room for ample post-processing and editing. The shutter speed was extremely fast allowing for those photos of kids and pets that just don’t seem to want to stay still. The digital zoom was exceptional and even when fully extended resulted in very little noise. The auto-focus was like lightning compared to most other Smartphones and was controlled by a 2 touch camera button rather than an onscreen touch icon. While it did increase the shakiness when taking a picture it is no different to the design of every digital camera on the market and presented no issues in relation to picture quality. Night pictures were of no concern to the Xenon flash which provided more than enough illumination for clean, bright crisp pictures. Sometimes the photo gallery took a little while longer than expected to load but was of little concern and not really a function of the camera.
For shooting video, the N8 was a pleasure to use, delivering 25fps in 720p. While some may argue the Iphone 4 and some other Smartphones are recording at 30fps I honestly couldn’t see a difference between the two in terms of sharpness or smoothness of playback. I didn’t encounter any stuttering or freezing whilst either recording or playing back any type of video or media.
Conclusion
The Nokia N8 is a fantastic piece of hardware that all in all will provide the user with every bit of functionality offered by any other Smartphone. The design is flawless and something that puts it apart from Apple and Samsung who are even involved in law suits regarding the similarities between their products. Not only does it feel powerful but the CPU combined with the GPU and Symbian 3 technology provides ample horsepower for the modern person’s daily tasks. To say the Iphone and Android based phones have more power on paper is like owning a Ferrari in the city; if the physical constraints of the environment restrict the devices power then the argument is irrelevant. Sure a Ferrari looks better but then hey, so does the Nokia N8 compared to the competition.
