Mad Max was a bit of a surprise to see out at E3 this year, and I'd be lying if I said I'd never wanted to play a game based in that universe -- it's ripe for the videogame picking, after all with everything the first two films gave us.

What thoroughly irked me during the presentation of the game by new developer, Avalanche Studios (it was originally being worked on by KMM's in-house, Sydney-based games studio), was that Max was voiced by an American. In fact, it was really uncomfortable to sit through given the studio talked passionately about treating cars and car-combat in the game with respect given the movie heritage and its impact on pop-culture.

I asked them after the presentation what the decision behind that was, and if they'd change it, but was met with "we wanted someone generic", and a bit of a shrug regarding any sort of reverence to the character in the same way they're giving vehicles.

So we've started a petition.

Max is an important part of Australian cinema and pop-culture history, even globally. The character's man-of-few words persona made (admittedly US-born) Mel Gibson's Australian accent a hugely memorable and significant factor of the films. All we're asking is that Avalanche look for an Australian voice-actor who can channel the stoic film icon, and treat the property with the respect it deserves. If you feel the same way, please check out our petition on Change.org and get as many people involved as possible.

For more on the game, check out our game page and stay tuned for impressions of what Avalanche is doing beyond ignoring the importance of Max, soon.

Even a kiwi speaking aussie would do

How much of the rest of the game seemed true to the movie universe? The quick e3 trailer didn't really give me a Mad Max vibe at all. Indeed, it all felt rather "generic".

I'd rather go with an American voice. I always cringe when I hear an Aussie accent in movies when all the other accents are American. Just sounds wrong.

The worst version of the mad max films are the ones the Americans dubbed... Sadly most the people outside of Australia heard this poor dubbing rather than the original Australian Actors voices.. :(

That's called cultural cringe, it's not a good thing, and worthwhile getting over. Took me a while to do too.

Yeah, the voice actors in FF13 and Uncharted 3 were f***ing horrid, and the chick in Uncharted was an Aussie, yet she didnt sound like anyone I've ever met.

Just read the petition, really well written! Signing right now.

you might want to also get a post up on /r/gaming/ might get more exposure/signatures..

just a suggestion.

Why can't they just make the game the way they want and you not buy it?

If we spoke another language we would hear our own accent on all translated games, it's not right that we don't have Australian casts for more games.
I am so sick of hearing Americans telling me what to do.
Sometimes I turn off the voices and use the closed captioning

The appropriate accent for the character;

In World of Tanks they have pseudo Belarusian-American voice acting for all the tanks, Weird in American Tanks, totally wrong in British tanks, Stupid in Russian, insulting in German and really dumb in French and Chinese tanks.

Having Max as an American is just pig ingnorant.

Actually... remembering the TERRIBLE accents and voice acting in Just Cause 2, maybe we should be thankful they're not including an "Australian" one in Mad Max

I was horrified when i heard that they dubbed the Mad Max movie for an American release, talk about ruining a cult classic. Same with the game, it won't be the real Mad Max will it.

I was horrified when i heard that they dubbed the Mad Max movie for an American release, talk about ruining a cult classic. Same with the game, it won't be the real Mad Max will it.

You do understand that its a cult classic all over the world, not just in Australia.. Thus the dubbing is part of the classicness... We Australians are just snobs and don't like our s*** meddled with, but to everyone else this is going to seem normal.]

I'd love to see Australian voice work in lots of games, but we don't really have that many big studios around any more that could potentially lead the way with this kind of thing.

I'm perfectly fine with MadMax being an american in the game, id rather see the game have success world wide than just itty bitty Australia.. lets face it, we will be the only ones who care.

I want John Jarratt to voice this

whats wrong with not wanting our s*** meddled with? this is another axample of americanisation. we have to put up with their annoying accent in every form of media. why cant we insist on keeping ours untouched. ignorance!

Dev's are pissing all over a lot of IPs right now....Batman Origins, Metal Gear V, not much surprise they are doing it again. Has even a single petition ever work in these circumstances? Nope.

I'm pretty sure that the creator of the characters, James McCausland, is an Aussie - this is the guy you want to protest to the Devs!

Sorry for the double post - but this s*** makes me livid.

Vote with your wallet people. I'm pretty sure there is a line in Mad Max (one of 'em) ...'Money talks...bulls*** walks...'

This guy could pull this off I reckon

http://www.youtube.com/embed/grh0tlJtViw

last edited by Dan at 13:14:00 19/Jun/13

Can you imagine someone trying/having an 'Aussie Occa' accent in a game?
f*** listening to that noise, generic is fine by me.

I don't recall anyone whinging about the british sas characters in COD actually having british voices. Infact they worked well and would be an insult if they were any other accent than what is fitting to the characters. The assumption that an Australian voice for an Australian character can be nothing other than some westie bogan is absurd.

Can you imagine someone trying/having an 'Aussie Occa' accent in a game? f*** listening to that noise, generic is fine by me.

Why does it have to be 'Aussie Occa' or nothing with Australian accents though? It's just that it's primarily used to push a stereotype.

It is possible to have an authentic Australian accent without the person talking exclusively out of their nose and constantly saying things like "yer a f***in' carrrnt, mate".

We're getting off topic here - last time I watched Mad Max, he never sounded like that, nor said s*** like "yer a f***in' carrrnt, mate"

But that was the point. People are saying that they'd rather generic American over people talking like that, as though it's the only option if you have an Australian actor voice the character.

It really is bollocks that Australian actors can't be handled just fine in a big budget game, there just seems to be a big corporate focus-group mentality that they won't be as popular to the primary US market.

Sadly the only good remotely recent example I can think of is Chloe Frazer in Uncharted, voiced by Claudia Black, completely non-bogan, natural and refined Australian accent that didn't ham it up.

It's kind of s*** that they didn't have Yvonne Strahovski with her natural accent as Miranda in Mass Effect, as other humans in that game have an assortment of accents, so wouldn't have been out of place.Edit: I'm a derp, she did, and it seems it was so not out-of-place that I recalled it incorrectly.

The worst version of the mad max films are the ones the Americans dubbed... Sadly most the people outside of Australia heard this poor dubbing rather than the original Australian Actors voices.. :(

Yep i totally agree, i had the misfortune of seeing the american dubbed version for the first and last time only just last week and it was frigging horrible.

Who ever said even a kiwi would be ok needs a kick in the balls. No kiwi ever sounded ok .... ever. Actually that would have to be a troll surely.

Zoe Bell sounds pretty alright to me.

WTF man. How can people be against having an Australian Accent, talk about self hate. There are plenty of nice aussie male accents you could use, something along the lines of Hugh Jackman or something. I thought Miranda was Australian in ME2? Is she seriously meant to be something else? Sounds completely Aussie to me.

Also this isn't just about accents, this is the best chance Australia has EVER had to be put on the video game map, finally a game could be set here and no, they f*** it up, just so stupid. I'm so disappointed.

You're right about Miranda Hollow Gr4m. I feel like a knob for being that wrong, but kind of vindicated by the fact that she obviously seemed completely natural in the game, and proves the point for me that Max with an Australian accent should be similarly fine.

I might look into matters more and see if I can drum up an article on Australian voice actors in videogames. I didn't play it, but Strahovski did her Chuck/Dexter cali accent in The 3rd Birthday, and I recall Anna Torv puts on the faux-British fantasy accent as Nariko in Heavenly Sword (which amusingly was replicated by every-game US voice actor Jennifer Hale for PlayStation All-stars).

As for who could actually play the voice of Max. Surely there's no shortage of viable candidates in the US film industry. Not going to be delusional enough to think they could spring for someone like Guy Pearce, or Eric Bana, but someone like Ryan Kwanten, or Liam McIntyre, or probably half of the Spartacus cast for that matter.

What kind of accent is in the new movie? I guess that would dictate what the game voice should be?

tom hardy is the new mad max. not sure if he's using his brit accent or not.

tom hardy in a bain mask playing humungus would work for me: "just walk away, and we will spare your lives".

Lol i think youre onto something there bane as humungous would be spot on :-)

I think News.com.au read QGL

I was about to mention that myself, just ran across the story and saw that Steve got a mention.

Avalanche Studios said the new game was a "different take" on the Down Under post-apocalyptic classic.

So call it something else!

Why not have a British accent Captain America? Indian accent Punisher? Swedish accent for Wolverine? Doesn't fit does it. Max Rockatansky is as much a super hero here in our pop culture as anything else created and pushed around the world. He is Australian, existing in a post apocalyptic Australia. The films have been and continue to be marketed as such. Dubbing or not.

Petition signed.

eski, that's Claudia Black - definitely an aussie - and dead set gorgeous too. She was told to play a quasi aussie-south african - brit and she nailed it too.

She's a Brisbane girl isnt she?

nope, she's from sydney.

I actually always thought she was from New Zealand. How unaustralian of me.

We're going to be on ABC Radio Broken Hill shortly to discuss the petition

http://www.abc.net.au/brokenhill/

We're going to be on ABC Radio Broken Hill shortly to discuss the petition

has this happened?

Can we not do this? The rest of the world saw the US dub and doesnt care about Australian accents and Avalanche have a horrible track record on VA. It just make Australians look like crazy people who can't tolerate other accents.

you realize they didn't even FILM the latest one in australia but africa, a VA for a game is really insignificant when you consider that fact. Our high dollar is really making it bad for foreign companies to come here

shade you're looking at it from and economic standpoint, whereas the argument here is from a cultural standpoint.

I would consider the location of filming to be distantly secondary to the setting, theme and actors/characters. Movies are filmed in all sorts of weird locations without it affecting the culture or theme of the stories (eg. the many movies filmed in Australia - in the 1990s and 2000s when the dollar was low - that were very much American).