You don't know what he looks like (see below, if you're curious!), but you've heard Hernan Sanchez talk—maybe even on our soundboard. Also known as "the Mortal Kombat voice guy," the vocals behind Midway's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe shared his 10 years of fatalities and how he was almost replaced by a woman. And then, of course, we made him say "Finish Him!"—in Spanish.

So, you must be popular around Halloween.
Halloween generally, but it seems to be throughout the year, honestly. In terms of random people that I meet, it's never limited to a particular season because this MK thing has been so ingrained in people's minds since childhood. They're just happy to hear it anytime. It's weird being a sort of celebrity when people discover what I do.

Have you met a lot of famous people?
I'm quite an active supporter of the electronic music scene. A lot of those people are geeky in nature and seek inspiration from pop culture, and a lot of them have grown up with this game. I meet people on the dance floor throughout the world, they'll introduce me as the "Mortal Kombat voice guy" and you can see their eyes get as big as plates. These are people that I respect within the industry, that I'm a fan of, and they'll look back at me and say, "I'm am so glad to me you!" Then the conversation eventually comes around to, "Hey can you please do 'Finish Him!'" or something like that, and it becomes an exchange of fandom from one world to another.

Hernan Sanchez. Look, he's real!

So, how do kids grow up to be the MK voice guy?
Well… derail from whatever career path you originally planned for yourself because for me, it just ended up happening randomly. I had done some voiceover and commercial work on video and behind the camera. I had always been an artist first and foremost. I ended up working with Midway as a character modeler and designer and it was only through that association that the MK voice thing wound up happening. One of the sound designers overheard my voice in the hallway when I was a designer holed up in this hermit office working late nights and they figured I'd be a good voice to capitalize on. They asked me to come to the studio for an hour to see if it would pan out. Of course, over a decade later, I'm still the Mortal Kombat voice. If you have a good voice, make sure you speak loudly and clearly and things will come to you as a result.

Do you smoke or anything?
Actually I am pretty vice-free, except for the occasional drink. My father also has a very deep voice which terrified us as children. My sister and I would cower when he would get angry. He had a pretty house-filling voice when he wanted to use it as a weapon. I'm just following in the line of my father.

With a new series of characters involved, was Midway aiming for a different kind of voice for this game?
There was a actually consideration of a different voice entirely. We went through some trials with other voiceover artists because of the DC association and the potential rebranding of the series and I was open to it; I'd had my time at the mantle. Ultimately, everyone decided it was a better idea to stick with the tried and true version. It just didn't feel like Mortal Kombat without my voice on it, I was told. We actually had a couple of female voices doing the same narration and emphasis over the fight scenes that I was going to be doing. It just didn't quite work out. So, they yanked me back in and I did the traditional work, except now with "Superman" and "Batman" instead of just MK characters.

Do you ever wake up with an idea for a new phrase?
The phrases are all based on what Ed Boon puts forth. He is the one who essentially decides what is said in the context of the game. But, a lot comes from studio sessions; we'll say some things in Spanish just for kicks. These things never get released, but they're on our hard drives for humor's sake.

How do you say "Finish Him" in Spanish?
Acabalo!

Muchas gracias. How do you prepare to do the voice?
Actually, beyond just going through some dry runs and having a nice warm bottle of water ready, that's all I really need. I've been doing it for so long and it's only a few steps away from my normal voice. I just put a more ominous touch on it, really.

Is there another game voice you think is pretty cool?
There's a game called Portal that Valve makes. There's a woman who did an amazing voice for this computer being called GLaDOS. It's the most soothing, yet simultaneously sinister voice you've heard and it's fantastic. Picture Hal 9000 as a slightly sexier, but slightly more psychopathic tone. It's one of the games that has stuck out in my mind because of the superior voice acting.

If the Mortal Kombat voice, Hernan Sanchez, had a fatality, what would it be?
We'd be at a club, the music would be thunderously loud and two subwoofers would come out and smash you in between them. Then, they'd remove themselves and I'd do a spin move on top of your bleeding corpse.

Something to look forward to in MK vs. DC 2.

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You are quite literally the face of KFC. How does it feel to shoulder such a deliciously greasy burden?
It's an honor. Having known the Colonel, we were good friends before he died. I met him back in 1962. In fact, Colonel Sanders loaned me the money to buy my first Kentucky Fried Chicken store down in Florida and so we became good friends and I knew him up until he died. I never thought I'd look like him, never had any idea, but I sold my business and thought I had retired. But the Colonel's daughter saw me at a convention 12 years after he died and she said, "John, you're beginning to look like my father." The next year, KFC advertising came out with a program where they wanted all of the franchisees to get someone and dress them up in a white suit and do some Colonel-look-alike promotions. My son sent me a copy of the letter and says, "Dad, why don't you get your white suit and let's try this." So I did. I got the white suit and I fixed my hair and got the cane and the bowtie. My first gig was a Christmas parade down in St. Augustine, Florida and that just set it off. After that, I've been busy ever since.

How did you meet the original Colonel?
I was working with a franchise in Florida opening stores and we had a two for one sale, a grand opening for the store and I worked with him that day. Then my boss let me travel with him, going around Florida and helping franchises get their stores open and so I had a chance to learn some of his mannerisms and his philosophy—his way of doing things. You could say it kind of rubbed off on me.

What do you think makes KFC chicken so delicious?
The consistency. It's the same worldwide. I've been around the world three times promoting Kentucky Fried Chicken and it's the same in China as it is in New York. And the tight controls that the Colonel put on the recipe in the early days and his insistence that everybody do it his way or no way at all has kept it the same worldwide.

You've met a lot of people, obviously, as the face of KFC. What is the weirdest thing anyone has ever given you or told you?
Well, everybody's got their story. They want to tell you about Colonel Sanders. See, a lot of folks think I'm an actor and that I didn't know anything about Colonel Sanders, but I hear stories now that people tell me, things that the Colonel did or something relating to him. Some of these stories never happened. If they tell me they they met the Colonel in the Atlanta airport ten years ago...no, they didn't. When I was up in Minneapolis in a mall, a bunch of college students were coming down the escalator. I was going up. And one of them said, "Look! There's Orville Redenbacher." I've been called everything.

So we're here at this event for Guitar Hero. Have you ever played Guitar Hero? Do you know what Guitar Hero is?
Three days ago, I never knew what it was. See, my kids are all grown, married, and gone and we don't play video games at my house anymore because the boys all left. So I didn't know, until the KFC sent the information, what this was going to be. Now everybody I ask, at the bank or the pharmacy or Walmart, I'd ask them if they'd heard of it, and they said, "Oh, yeah."

Why do you think so many people are so interested in playing video games like Guitar Hero?
Everybody wants to be on TV, you know? Deep down inside, everybody wants to be a star. And this gives them a chance to respond to their dreams.

November 4th is coming up. Obviously it's an important day for America. Considering that KFC is such an American food, I'd like to know what the Colonel thinks of the presidential candidates.
Well, I'm still investigating both of them. I 'm one of these undecided, because I have to find out which one of them eats the most chicken. Then I'll decide.

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There are a lot of people out there who argue over who the best Bond is from the movies. What exactly does it take to be a good Bond in a video game?
I actually think we have the perfect Bond with Daniel Craig. He's just a much more hands on Bond, a much more physical, more cunning, and more dangerous Bond than ever before. From a video game standpoint, that's awesome. That's great for us—he doesn't sit back and rely on a lot of gadgets as much and he's just much more aggressive and much more involved.

Do you think that James Bond's gadgets are a cop-out?
I wouldn't say it's a cop-out so much as it's almost like a crutch you can lean on, and sometimes you can lean on it too much. If you go back to some of the old Bond movies and some of the old Bond games, it can be something that you lean on too much. We have a few gadgets in our game and it's a subtle touch, but it's not something that's overpowering. You don't come to each new level in our game with a new gadget to somehow save you from whatever bad guy you take on. It's a bit different from previous Bond games where you'd get cufflinks and lasers and stuff. Yes, you almost become Superman in games like that. I don't think gamers like to become Superman because then there's no drama, there's no conflict, there's no concern. Unless someone pulls out kryptonite, you're not going to be harmed too much.

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Assistant designer Jonathan Crankshaw lets you in on all the searing Excel spreadsheet action.

Let's get right down to it—who puts the Madden ratings together?
It's me, I have the final say. Before a game comes out, I assemble a group of media experts, around 10 people or so, and a bunch of college athletes, and I show them where I think I'm going as far as ratings go.

How do you make the numerical transition from how athletes perform on the field to how they perform in the game?
I look at a couple of things. First is public perception—everyone knows a certain player can do one thing, so he has to be rated as such. Second is what he did last year and what I think he can do this year. We now do roster updates every two to three weeks, so at home I have several TVs along with my laptop documenting everything players do. Some guys are in better situations for stats than others, so you have to watch that. For example, the Patriots' Laurence Maroney got very few rushing attempts last year because Tom Brady passed all the time. But when Maroney did get attempts, he ran real hard. Same thing with a guy like Steve Smith compared to Terrell Owens. T.O. was in a prolific offense that put up 35 points a game while Smith's team was juggling quarterbacks all season, so it was hard for him to get going. You have to read between the lines sometimes.

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Just beat "Flirtin' With Disaster" on Expert, eh? Congratulations—enjoy your reward of 35 smelly fans. A pittance, I say. Now meet the guys with the most Rock Band fans in the whole friggin' world (over 630 million!), The Fiff Purriod Boyz. They just finished up high school, but if there were Ph.D's for pulloffs, they'd get 'em. (P.S. - If you want a thong with their faces on it—and who doesn't?—go here.) Now hit the jump page for the interview.

Name: Home: Age: Plays:

Tyler Schroeder Richmond, Indiana 19-years-old Bass and guitar

Brandon Brookbank Richmond, Indiana 19-years-old Usually plays drums, sometimes bass and guitar

Mitch Widau Richmond, Indiana 19-years-old Bass and guitar

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