People really do love the gravelly voice of Garett. A recent online petition has been set up to replace Romano Orzari, recognized for his mo-cap role in Assassins Creed, with Stephen Russell, the original voice actor for Garett. A long and impassioned plea, it features both logical reasoning behind its request, and also the sentiments of Thief fans worldwide. Their main complaint is, as to quote: "We were promised that we will play as Garrett. The voice we've been given is not him." In fact, they follows this by stating that changing the voice of Garett would have drastic consequences, destroying the rapport fans have built with the old character, leaving them with an "impostor", a "plastic Garett lookalike". They even brought up Splinter Cell, stating that the main character grew too distant from its fans because he was replaced by "a new actor after five games".

Stephen Russell himself came out from the shadows and left this message on the forums at TTLG:

"I've been aware of some of this but, nevertheless, I am truly overwhelmed and astonished by the appreciation so many people have shown. I have been meaning to write something on the forum to thank all those who have taken the time to post and I hope to get to that later today. The fact that people all over the world have responded so positively to the work I was fortunate enough to be able to do means the world to me. Creating Garrett's voice (and Benny and Karras) and working closely with the incredibly talented and encouraging audio team at Looking Glass, particularly those geniuses Eric Brosius and Kemal Amarasingham, was one of the highlights of my life and I'm extremely grateful to them for the opportunity. I'm also more grateful than I can ever express that so many fans responded so enthusiastically over the years and continue to do so even now. I hope you do get a chance to visit WHAT this Summer and that you get to see one of the productions. I think you'll like what you see."

While this petition is clearly an emotional plea, it does bring up some important issues in the gaming industry. With the rise of mo-cap artists, what about talented voice artists such as Stephen Russell? Would they take a back seat? Should they? Let us know what you think below.