Outsource Media Gives Pac-Man a voice for his 25th birthday!
Pac-Man® speaks for the first time in Pac-Man World™ 3.
27th October 2005. Sheffield & Los Angeles. Outsource Media, the interactive entertainment industry's leading voice production company, today announced that it has created the voice of Pac-Man - the world's most recognised videogame character for publisher Namco Hometek, in the forthcoming Pac-Man World 3.
In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the global gaming icon, Pac-Man's verbal abilities have been vastly expanded from its two famous sounds - "wocka wocka" - to a full vocabulary with a voice provided by Martin T. Sherman.
Sherman's previous acting work includes 'Gangs of New York', 'Band of Brothers', 'Batman Begins' and can be seen playing Orson Wells in 'Days That Shook The World' to be broadcast on BBC 4 on Nov 3rd followed shortly by repeats on BBC 2 and the Discovery Channel.
Mark Estdale, voice director and CEO of Outsource Media commented 'It's been a privilege to create a voice for one of the world's most loved and enduring gaming icons. We've thoroughly enjoyed the process of working with Namco and Blitz in finding the voice for Pac-Man and to my mind he sounds just like he should!'
Etsdale continued, 'Casting a voice for such a gaming icon was a challenge. I was expecting to just deal with his half eaten cheeseness, 'wocka wocka' and his icon status but thankfully we were given a well-written and crafted script with lots of character to base the casting on. This gave the yellow fella lots of scope to identify with. We whittled down 300 possibles to a short list of 15. Then working from the script we auditioned all the actors we felt could bring Pac-Man to life. The holy grail of casting is to find the voice that energises the character within the context and makes the character easy to identify with. Martin nailed him from the get go.'
Martin T. Sherman, voice actor added, 'I've been the voice of many different characters but Pac-Man is without doubt the most fun and the most difficult - I mean, what is a yellow, ghost-eating circle supposed to sound like? Me, apparently! I had a great time recording this voice and can't wait to see how people react to it.'
With his newly discovered voice, Pac-Man will talk throughout the new title; he will provide helpful back-story information, as well as interact with the other characters. For fans interested in a getting a sneak peek at how Pac-Man will sound with his new voice, a special introductory video to Pac-Man World 3 has been created, the focus of which is on Pac-Man's 25th birthday celebration.
Developed by highly respected UK studio, Blitz Games, Pac-Man World 3 is scheduled for release in November 2005 (USA) and early 2006 in Europe, and will be available for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Microsoft Xbox®, Nintendo GameCubeTM, PSPTM handheld entertainment system and PC.
About Outsource Media
Formed in 1996, Outsource Media is a creative production company specialising in voice, music and sound effects production with studio facilities in London & Los Angeles. http://www.omuk.com
About Pac-Man World 3
In Pac-Man World 3, Pac-Man must save the world from evil genius Erwin, exploring varied environments and turning his old enemies into allies in the process. The title combines platformer elements with classic Pac-Man gameplay principles, and for the first time, players will be able to take on the roles of the ghosts Pinky and Clyde. Pac-Man favorites such as Pellets, Pac-Dots and fruit are in the game, as well as some new moves for everyone's favorite yellow friend.
About Namco Hometek Inc.
Namco Hometek Inc. is the U.S. consumer division of Namco Limited, a Tokyo-based world leader in the high-tech entertainment industry. Based in Santa Clara, CA, Namco Hometek Inc. is an award-winning video games publisher for next generation game consoles. Namco has created some of the industry's greatest video game franchises: Tekken®, SOULCALIBUR®, Dead to Rights®, Pac-Man WorldTM, Ridge Racer®, Time Crisis® and ACECOMBATTM. For more information about Namco and its products log onto www.namco.com.
PAC-MAN WORLDTM 3 & ® 1980 1999 2002 2005 NAMCO LTD., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PAC-MAN® ® 1980 2002 2005 NAMCO LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Manufactured pursuant to license with Namco Holding Corp.
TEKKEN®, SOULCALIBUR®, PAC-MAN WORLDTM, PAC-MAN®, Ridge Racer®, Time Crisis® and ACECOMBATTM are trademarks or registered trademarks of Namco Limited in the United States and/or other countries. Dead to RightsTM is a trademark or registered trademark of Namco Hometek Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
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