This was kind of a cool and fun read to find on Gamasutra's site. Partly because it is all about one of my favorite games and anticipated game of '09. God of War III just to be clear on that. Most of the article is about how they are going to the voice acting for the game, and it is a pretty interesting and an industry first. According to the article, I wasn't able to fact check.
Pretty much, instead of using the standard to collect assets, they are using a method used for film and TV. Let me explain.
In games, it is standard to have an excel type of setup which pretty much just lists the scene, dialog to say, character, etc. A nice long list to go down and check off. It is nice and easy to keep up to date with what you have and need to get. The issue that is at hand is that most voice actors don't have a solid grasp of the character or game from just these things. Even with the sound director present. As stated in the article, "very limited, and out of context to any relationships."
Well, what they are looking to do is have the script written up much like they would for any TV Show or Film. They already have a 120 page script for the game as is. But instead of just going down a list and saying what is needed, they are actually going to have a table read with the actors before they put voice to mic. This should give a better understanding for the character and the emotions and all the other things that can be expressed through voice well in advance. This should give a more "real" feel to the characters of the game in aspect of voice acting.
Thinking about this, this could make it so we don't get the lackluster voice overs and acting that have plagued games in the past. I mean, games are quickly becoming more like interactive films so using the same setup to gather the audio would make sense. But then again, I don't make sense sometimes.
