Nolan North Star Trek 2 Role

At this point in gaming history, it would come as no surprise to hear that Nolan North had been recruited to appear in the upcoming Star Trek movie tie-in game. As one of - scratch that - the single most well-respected voice and motion capture actor in the industry, North's work on the Uncharted series has  caught the attention of the upcoming sequel's director, J.J. Abrams.

Not for the accompanying video game, but for a role in Star Trek 2 itself. Could this be the start of a trend?

It would be a bit misleading to claim that Nolan North's best work resides solely in voicing video game characters. While his status as the go-to actor for just about every role imaginable isn't in question, fans of Uncharted know that North's work is no different from a film or theater performer. Apparently some important figures in Hollywood are beginning to take notice as well.

In speaking with Eurogamer, North revealed that his most recent work won't be showing up in a video game, but was made possible by one:

"I just worked on Star Trek 2 with J. J. Abrams... The reason I did that movie - it's a very small role - but it's because he and his son are huge fans of Uncharted. I met him doing some work on Super 8 and he said 'We're doing Star Trek, you wanna do it?' And I said I'd love to.

"He's a huge fan of gaming and he was telling me how people just don't understand [the medium] yet, but they're going to catch up. They don't understand how amazing this technology is and it doesn't get the respect it deserves, but if it keeps making the money it makes you're going to see more and more people converted... It's a new age dawning, and I'm just really proud to be part of it."

It's difficult to understate just how important North's range of performances and recognition beyond gaming fans really is. Uncharted undoubtedly deserves much of the credit for blurring the lines between film and games, but North has previously spoken out on how Assassin's Creed isn't doing everything they can to accomplish the same.

That being said, it's not exactly unprecedented for Star Trek 2 director J.J. Abrams to cast a gaming legend. Aside from linking Portal 2 with Super 8 last year, the creative team behind the wildly successful motion picture reboot is also lending their talents to the game's story as well.

Whether Star Trek the game can be as successful at igniting interest remains to be seen, but Abram's taste in games has to at least warrant some optimism.

Star Trek is slated to release in early 2013 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. North's on-screen work can be seen when Star Trek 2 arrive in the U.S. on May 17th, 2013.

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Source: Eurogamer