Episode 38 – In Sync

I know there is probably a good reason but I cant come up with one. But how come in video games the lips are never in sync with the dialogue? Seriously is that the best they can do?

Playing Gears of War, it looks great. The textures, the colors, the good guys the bad guys… everything is gorgeous. The voice acting is really good too. Voice acting in video games has come a long way. Starting with no sound, and only subtitles (much like movies) we have progressed rather nicely to today where most games have stellar voice talent. Yet for some reason the lips never sync up right during those scenes with heavy dialogue. The lips look… funny. They don’t move properly.

If it was something I thought was impossible then I wouldn’t be writing a post about it. But you know what, Toy Story came out in 1995, and proved to me that it was possible to sync computer animation and human voices.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “I bet he has a great story to share with me.” Nope. This is just one of those things that bothers me quite frequently in games. Especially when there was so much time taken on other things its almost as if they didn’t care about it. Granted lip-syncing is not the most crucial part of video game making. Yet when it’s the only thing that is lacking, in a game that has everything else it bothers me.