Yakuza

The stars behind gaming's voices

You won't believe who you were just listening to

September 18, 2007

What do Bender from Futurama, Marcus Fenix from Gears of War and Wakka from Final Fantasy X all have in common? Amazingly, they're all voiced by the same guy - John DiMaggio. In fact, once you get looking around, it's amazing how many stars do games voiceovers for a bit of extra cash. Of course, in some circumstances, getting professional actors in is essential - just look at Heavenly Sword's excellent cutscenes for proof of that. We decided to find out who's done what - and the results are quite surprising. Check out this little lot, starting with John...

Game: Gears of War (Xbox 360, PC)
Star: John DiMaggio as Marcus Fenix
Best known for: The voice of Futurama's Bender

John is probably best known for being the voice Bender the robot in Futurama. But a quick look at his credited appearances reveals a very impressive scope of roles. As well as Wakka in Final Fantasy X and X-2, he also voiced Kimahri Ronso. Then there's Tiny Tiger in Crash: Nitro Kart. Bizzaro in Superman Returns. Juggernaut in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. It's amazing how varied the work can be for a voice actor - and not just in videogames.

The list goes on - Jackie Chan Adventures, Kim Possible (not as Kim - that really would be versatility), Ultimate Spider-Man... we're impressed. If we were giving out awards, John would win. But we're not, it's just for fun. Yeah, "Bite my shiny metal ass", we know...

Above: John DiMaggio (bottom-left) who plays Wakka, Marcus Fenix and Bender. And that's just for starters...

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The Knowledge
Yakuza
Yakuza

Genre: Adventure
Release date: Sep 5, 2006
Published by: Sega
Developed by: Sega
Designer: Toshihiro Nagoshi
Franchise: Yakuza
8 GREAT
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