Mass Effect 3 voice over director reveals IVM system

Mass Effect 3's voice over director Caroline Livingstone explained in the latest episode of BioWare Pulse: "It'd be impossible to have every actor in the booth recording this 40,000 line game."

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The Mass Effect franchise can never do "an Uncharted," having all the actors performing together in a single area. Why? "We can never do that," Mass Effect 3's voice over director Caroline Livingstone explained in the latest episode of BioWare Pulse. "It'd be impossible to have every actor in the booth recording this 40,000 line game."

To get around that, Livingstone describes a few of the tools that they've used to help actors work together virtually. One of the tools employed is the "IVM" -- the "intensity volume matrix." Essentially, it tells actors and writers how lines should be said.

Mass Effect 3 will be available on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on March 6th.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 9, 2012 8:45 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Mass Effect 3 voice over director reveals IVM system.

    Mass Effect 3's voice over director Caroline Livingstone explained in the latest episode of BioWare Pulse: "It'd be impossible to have every actor in the booth recording this 40,000 line game."

    • reply
      January 9, 2012 8:47 AM

      [deleted]

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        January 9, 2012 9:37 AM

        You mean 5:08?
        Maybe its a POSSIBLE ending. Still she did bug out.

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        January 9, 2012 10:14 AM

        Soooo glad I didn't click.

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        January 9, 2012 11:50 AM

        Yeah, I don't think it's really a spoiler. It's a likely scenario--and given what happens in ME2, I wouldn't be surprised if ME3 allowed you to do that.

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        January 9, 2012 12:35 PM

        They did it in ME2 so, probably not. I think it was to be expected as a potential outcome.

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      January 9, 2012 10:06 AM

      Shack Editors, time to fix the release date on this one.

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      January 9, 2012 11:52 AM

      I restarted ME2 yesterday and played ~12 hours straight. I kinda want to get the Shadow Broker DLC because I have read that it is good. Is there a cheaper way than paying the $10 to EA? Any deals or something? Is it worth $10?

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        January 9, 2012 1:50 PM

        It's a bit short--but it's def the best ME DLC ever. If $10 is too much, wait for a sale--or just don't bother buying any of the other DLC releases and spend your cash on that.

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        January 9, 2012 2:04 PM

        if you like ME2, it's well worth $10, one of the most spectacular missions...play it after you beat the main story, it makes for a really satisfying epilogue with Liara...you can technically play it anytime after the Horizon mission, and it does give you a bunch of resources (which means less planet scanning) as well as a way to respec your squadmates, which is handy...but storywise it works best after the main game

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        January 9, 2012 2:20 PM

        It's absolutely worth every penny. It redeems Liara from being a totally unimportant NPC in the base game to being as interesting and compelling as any of the other party members in ME2. Plus the whole Shadow Broker story is really cool if you're into the Mass Effect universe at all.

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        January 9, 2012 2:56 PM

        It's combat-heavy, has some fantastic setpieces, gets you Liara back, and has some cool stuff to noodle around with after its over.

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      January 9, 2012 3:14 PM

      IVM = excel spreadsheet?

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        January 11, 2012 1:40 PM

        Yeah. It's also not telling the writers anything as the news item says, rather the writers use it to direct the talent.

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