There I was, feeding quarters (not quickly, I rocked at Centipede) to the machines at the only arcade in my little town of 2,500. A booming voice came from the corner where Tron once had repeatedly kicked my tween behind. I hear: “Lead on, adventurer. Your quest awaits!” Dragon’s Lair was speaking to me! I’d turned to look and lost 90 minutes of play on a single quarter. UGH.

I don’t know if I’d consider this an example of voice over in games, but without it Dragon’s Lair would have been truly awful — especially for the killer $.50 it was charging. Dirk’s grunts and groans as he tried to save the princess and was repeatedly fried by the dragon or fell to his death (I was so much better at Centipede) were much of what gave the game its charm. I don’t know when it was after Dirk’s first beckoning me at the arcade that a good majority of my games contained some voice, but I do remember that it was bad for oh so long.

My ears — and soul — are thankful that the video games industry is populated with developers who love cartoons. That’s why I think the change in quality of acting in games came about. Someone watched some anime or perhaps Nicktoons and thought, “Hrm, perhaps we should consider Hollywood actors for our games.” Or maybe I’m just a cynic. It could be that it’s simply less expensive to bring in a professional actor to do one to two takes; nothing says “win” like multiple takes of flat dialogue.

SAG (the Screen Actors Guild) has been rather proactive in its campaign to let players know just how much its members change the quality of a game. I can’t say I blame them. Having met with them last year at the Austin Game Developers Conference and again this year at Game Developers Conference, I am impressed not only with the talent the actors bring to the job, but their passion for the medium.

I had lunch with the Arbiter from Halo Wars. No, really. OK, I had lunch with the voice of the Arbiter from Halo Wars, David Sobolov. David is a wonderfully engaging man, outgoing, animated and as big as the characters he voices. His credits include Quake Wars, EverQuest II (27 characters!), Vasquez in Call of Duty 4, and now the Arbiter in Halo Wars. David loves what he does; he frequently drops into character during conversation, and I’m sure it’s an experience for those not at the table.

How do I, as a writer, impart the ability of Hollywood to add sound to a game? When asking David about his most memorable voice over parts, he had to think about what video game he enjoyed most but knew immediately what cartoon was his favorite: a dinosaur who spoke only in kisses. To our delight, he demonstrated immediately. In Austin, David had given a single example of a battlefield yell from Call of Duty 4; my ears rang for a few seconds.

The rigor of voice acting I never understood until my time with SAG. Picture an entire day yelling into a microphone. At the end of GDC — where I only speak — I’ve lost my voice. SAG actors will die “15 different ways” for a single take. What exactly does a Strogg sound like? How does a Strogg death from crushing/impalement/multiple weapons fire sound? I don’t have the slightest idea ... “It hasn’t been a good take unless you’ve left a lung on the glass,” David said. Um, yeah.

Bob Jensen, one of SAG’s New Media managers — it’s his responsibility to find work outside traditional Hollywood outlets — also was at lunch and didn’t mind my annoying questions. When is Hollywood going to invest in games? Dreamworks gets it; why can’t the rest of the industry? With Hulu.com on the rise, Hollywood risks the fate of the music industry — though it has been proactive to date; video games and movies/television seem such a great combination. Where’s the symbiosis? I think I made Bob choke on his food. Or, maybe that was a smile.

I felt one of those “oh, duh” moments coming on as Bob reminded me that the entire reason SAG was performing outreach at conferences was to show the gaming community just what professional actors bring to the table. On the SAG Web site iActor, is a database of actors and services available for developers — even indies — to utilize in their production. And as much as he’d like to speak for the entire industry — I did so try to corner him — he only represents the actors, actors who play games!

Later in the week I had the pleasure of previewing Sega’s new Wii title, Conduit, a familiar voice rang in my ear as I was shooting aliens. Hercules? Why, yes, it was! Kevin Sorbo performed the voice over for the mysterious Mr. Adams of the Trust. He was a little creepy in an oh-so-good way. David would call Mr. Adams a “delicious villain.” I just call it good game.