Last month fans of the Tekken series took to Twitter to share their disappointment that several of the original voice actors for the series were being replaced in Tekken Tag Tournament 2. They did more than that, in fact, they digitally screamed and stamped their feet, all of it directed at key members of the Tag Tournament team, key members like producer Katsuhiro Harada. At the time he responded passionately.
"I believe that, before whining and complaining about everything, you need practice at taking a step back and analysing things objectively. And also at being an adult. The current generation of consoles are totally different in how they play back sound; both software-wise, and the internal circuitry. The playback program is different, as well as the sound effects added; reverb and 5.1 are examples of this. The compression rate, as well as the sound rate, is different today. Are you playing games on the same TV you used 16 years ago? What about your speakers? Headphones? They are all the same as 16 years ago? I wonder if it will sound like the same voice as 16 years ago, even with that data."
In an interview with Dusty Cartridge, Harada has looked back on the controversy and clarified exactly what it was that got his so fired up.
"As far as the change of voice actors go, one very easy reason to understand but maybe not a very good example would be the character Heihachi. The voice actor passed away so we had to use a different one. When I explain it like that, of course, maybe 99% of the people would understand. But even so there are still a small percentage of people who say 'Well why don’t you just use his past voices and pay the fees involved, just keep using it.' I find that it’s not very thought through because it might be the case that his family wouldn’t want us to use it, or maybe the case is that the agency will say “We want you to use a new voice actor.” There are all these things you can think of and I won’t say to the fans “please understand this and that.” At least try on your part to think that maybe there are some circumstances behind the reason why and then to think about it at all and not just say 'Do this and do that, do it the way it used to be because that’s the best.'"
People not thinking things through before sending rash messages on the internet? That never happens, surely?
