A Night to Remember is a brand new, fan-made quest for The Witcher 3, set after the events of Blood & Wine, and while I’m keen to check out new writing and new battles, I’m also interested in the AI tech being used here to simulate the trademark sounds of Doug Cockle, Geralt’s voice actor.
The mod is using technology called CyberVoice, which is able to simulate Geralt’s (admittedly already monotone) voice to a degree that had sprinting for this mod’s credits to wonder, shit, did they actually get Cockle to do this?
I mean, watch this trailer, it’s pretty damn close!
CyberVoice is similar technology to Tacotron, which we highlighted recently for doing much the same thing when it allowed a team of modders to use voice acting that sounded like members of the original Skyrim cast.
[referenced id=”1205910″ url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/02/big-skyrim-mod-comes-back-from-the-dead/” thumb=”https://www.gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/02/16/nbqo5mosbgwjdtetcqcp-300×169.jpg” title=”Big Skyrim Mod Comes Back From The Dead” excerpt=”Wyrmstooth, a hugely popular mod for Skyrim, was taken down in 2016 when its author removed all traces of it from sites like Nexus Mods. This month, it returns!”]
While this is impressive, it’s also potentially a legal minefield waiting to happen, since what these services are doing is essentially allowing people to replicate an actor’s performance without their permission, or having to pay them or sign a contract.
Anyway…that’s a conversation for another day, and for lawyers and rights holders to sort out. For now, you can check out the mod here (though it’s noted you really need to have finished Blood & Wine before you kick off).
Leave a Reply