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Harry Lloyd, who voices the chronically ill genius Viktor, first became widely known playing Viserys Targaryen in the very first season of Game of Thrones. He layers on a distinct accent for Viktor, so it's an easy one to miss unless someone points it out.
Andrzej Sapkowski, the Polish novelist behind the books this whole series is built on, had no creative involvement in the direction CD Projekt Red took the story. All of the quests, characters, and choices players remember were shaped entirely by the studio's own writing team.
The phrase existed in smaller gaming circles before this game came out, tracing back to Halo 2 forums as far back as 2004. But it was Call of Duty 4's underslung grenade launcher that pushed the term into the mainstream and made it a permanent part of shooter slang.
Taz Skylar has talked about being genuinely surprised that a throwaway pre-fight line about 'the blonde at table 8' turned into a running joke among fans, some of whom now dress up as the line itself at conventions and quote it back to him.
Lead writer Emil Pagliarulo grew up in Boston, and once the city was locked in as Fallout 4's setting, he couldn't resist putting a bit of himself into the game. One of the destroyed houses you can wander through is modeled on his actual childhood bedroom, complete with a mattress buried under a pile of comic books.
Co-director Rodney Rothman has said a huge chunk of how Miles moves and feels came directly from Shameik Moore's voice work. Moore landed the role after one set of dialogue tests, and he wasn't just reading lines, he was bringing unscripted emotion and body language that the animators then built the character's physical performance around.
Since the original game launched on PlayStation 3, Naughty Dog snuck actual PS3 consoles into the environment as a little in-joke. You can spot one under Joel and Sarah's TV right at the start, and another later inside Larry's TV & Stereo store, complete with a couple of DualShock controllers on a nearby shelf.
Jorge-052, the big, gentle heavy weapons guy of Noble Team, was voiced by Hakeem Kae-Kazim. He went on to reprise the role for Jorge's later appearances outside Reach too, so it's the same voice carrying the character across more than one game.
Tucked away among the debris in one of the exploration-heavy Seattle areas is a glowing orb that looks suspiciously familiar to anyone who grew up with Naughty Dog's earlier platformer series. It's a straight-up reference to the Precursor Orbs collected throughout the Jak and Daxter games.
