Playing the Crowd in MLB 2K10

MLB 2K10 is trying to be more creative and less repetitive with what you hear coming from the stands this year. For that they need voices for more than 10,000 sound clips. Here’s what two had to say.

Bitmob’s Aaron Thomas and his friend, Shanker Srinivasan, journeyed to 2K Marin’s studio in Novato, Calif. to play the part of Cubs and Athletics fans, respectively. Going into it with the same kind of “I can do that!” attitude we all have about voice acting, they quickly found how hard it was to be convincing when you’re reading 300 lines of dialogue and cheering on phantom players – some of whom are long past dead.

Says Thomas:

After Shanker lit a fire under the Oakland A’s, I went back into the studio to cheer for some all-time greats. It was a little weird to scream words of encouragement to Ty Cobb, Dizzy Dean, and Honus Wagner, but I quickly got back into character. I was perhaps a bit too excited when I saw Andre Dawson’s name appear on screen. “The Hawk” is my favorite player of all time, but because I never was able to see him play in person, this was as close as I’d ever get to cheering him on. I think I did him justice.

When recording jeering and heckling, the two were reminded that as an E-rated game, wirty-dords were off limits. So was anything impugning the integrity or competence of an umpire. But that didn’t kill their creativity.

“I mocked a pitcher’s base running skills; Shanker screamed for a player to drop a pop-up. I told the opposing team that payback was coming after they hit one of our players; Shanker informed the opposing pitcher that he had seen Girl Scouts with better arms.”

Unfortunately, after signing his contract to appear in the game, “2K Sports basically owns me now,” writes Thomas, “but I do get my name in the credits, so that’s pretty cool.”

Check the whole thing out, it’s a very cool read.

My Day as a Voice Actor For MLB 2K10 [Bitmob]