The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of Las Vegas, many years after a nuclear war. The player assumes the role of a courier who gets shot and left for dead by a mobster named Benny (based on real-life gangster Bugsy Siegel). Benny steals an important storage device from you, and once you get back on your feet, you’re tasked with tracking him down. When you eventually catch up with him, it’s up to you to decide whether to kill him or let him go.
The voice of Benny, by the way, was provided by Matthew Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends. Perry was such a big fan of the previous entry in the series, Fallout 3, that he injured his hands from playing the game so much. He told Ellen DeGeneres in 2009 that he had to go to a doctor and get injections in his hands as a result:
Perry expressing his love for Fallout on The Ellen DeGeneres Show caught the attention of the people at Bethesda Softworks and Obsidian Entertainment, who were working on New Vegas at the time. According to the game’s senior producer, Jason Bergman, that was what led to Perry getting the role.
In an interview from The Making of Fallout: New Vegas, included with the collector’s edition of the game, Perry said, “Fallout is just bigger and smarter than any game I’ve played before.” He went on to say, “There’s just amazing amounts of things to do, and I like the idea that you can, you know, sort of pick what you’re gonna say to somebody, and go on all these quests, and it’s just this gigantic world that seems sort of endless.”
Take a look at the courier’s first encounter with Perry’s character, Benny, from the beginning of the game below.
The latest season of the Fallout TV series, which takes place in New Vegas, begins today on Amazon Prime Video.
The post The ‘Friends’ Star Who Voiced a Character in ‘Fallout: New Vegas’ appeared first on VICE.
