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Daniel Frederick Wallace (born 1976) is a Scottish comedian, author and presenter of radio and television. From Assassin's Creed II onwards, he provides the voice and model for Shaun Hastings.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Danny Wallace was born on 16 November 1976 in Dundee, Scotland and is half-Swiss. He grew up in Loughborough and Bath, England and attended Park Place Primary School. When he was 13 he started writing video game reviews for magazines, after a chance occurrence during a school-based work experience after a review had fallen ill and Wallace was asked to write a review for the magazine.[1]

He later graduated from the University of Westminster, where he specialized in media studies.[1]

Early career[]

In the 1990s, Wallace wrote video game reviews for a number of gaming magazines based in Bath, including Sega Power, Total!, SuperPlay, GamesMaster, and Ultimate Future Games.[2][3]

In 2005, he wrote and published his memoir, Yes Man. The book later went on to receive a loose adaptation in the 2008 film of the same name, starring Jim Carrey. He also formed the micro-nation known as Lovely, the key focus of the documentary mini-series, How to Start Your Own Country.[4]

Assassin's Creed[]

Danny Wallace Ubisoft interview 2009

Danny Wallace interviewed in 2009 as promotion for Assassin's Creed II

For Assassin's Creed II, sequel to Assassin's Creed, Wallace was initially offered the role of Shaun in March 2009, the same night that he presented the Fable II team with the BAFTA award for Action/Adventure.[3] For his part as Shaun Hastings, Wallace was allowed to improvise and ad lib, in order to fully bring his character to life more.[5] In an interview with The Guardian, Wallace described it as "weird" that "as the gamer you can just go up to me and start bothering me by just pressing the button, and you know I'll just get more and more annoyed—which I think my wife will enjoy doing." His first appearance as Shaun Hastings was in Assassin's Creed II, released on 20 November 2009.[6]

In September 2010, Ubisoft announced that Wallace would be reprising his role in the then-upcoming sequel, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, which released on 19 November.[7] Unlike the previous game, Brotherhood utilized more motion-capture and Wallace had his face filmed as he was being recorded so the animators could match his facial features to his character's.[8]

Wallace then appeared in the next sequel, Assassin's Creed: Revelations,[9] released on 15 November 2011.[10]

Being given more freedom in the character, aaccording to Wallace, he was asked by Corey May to write some of the material for Shaun Hastings in Assassin's Creed III.[11] In development for three years, that game was released a year after the previous, on 30 October 2012.[12]

After the storyline of Desmond's saga ended Assassin's Creed III, Wallace's next role in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, released 29 October 2013,[13] was smaller as he was only a side character.[14]

In November 2014, as part of a promotional website for Assassin's Creed: Rogue titled "Question the Creed", Danny Wallace as Shaun Hastings debated with Melanie Lemay (voiced by Cristina Rosato) for and against major assassinations by the protagonists of the series so far.[15] He also returned to voice Hastings in Assassin's Creed: Unity,[9] where he was code-named "Deacon" and still a side-character. It was then released on 11 November, the same date as Rogue.[16]

When Assassin's Creed: Syndicate released on 23 October 2015,[17] Danny Wallace was back as Shaun Hastings, this time as a main protagonist of the modern day story. For the first time since Assassin's Creed III, he had more of a role.[18]

Danny Wallace was rumored to have had a cameo in the 2016 Assassin's Creed film, but his part was allegedly cut.[19]

Danny Wallace Audible interview

Danny Wallace interviewed in 2020 as promotion for Assassin's Creed: Gold

Wallace was announced to be a part of Audible's original Assassin's Creed audio-drama Assassin's Creed: Gold in November 2019.[20] Suspected to be playing his usual character of Shaun Hastings, it was later confirmed in February 2020, close to its release. It was then unveiled on the platform on 27 February.[21] He did not play Hastings as a character per-say, but an artificial intelligence replica of the character.[22]

Danny Wallace hosting livestream

Wallace hosting the "Odin's Hootenanny" livestream

In November 2020, Wallace reprised his role as Hastings for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, having last played him in a video game five years ago for Syndicate. As part of the promotion of Valhalla, Wallace hosted the "Odin's Hootenanny" livestream event on 6 November.[23] Valhalla was released on 10 November.[24] Wallace later narrated the educational game mode, Discovery Tour: Viking Age, which was released on 19 October 2021.[25]

Wallace returned again as himself, to narrate Behind the Legends a new segment of the Echoes of History podcast. Behind the Legends was released to streaming on 29 June 2022, with the first episode being about Leonidas I of Sparta.[26] On 10 September, Danny Wallace co-hosted the Assassin's Creed Ubisoft Forward showcase alongside Assassin's Creed's senior community developer, Alice Terrett. Together they revealed Assassin's Creed: Mirage, a documentary celebrating the last 15 years of Assassin's Creed, and discussed the future of the series with Marc-Alexis Côté.[27]

Assassin's Creed works[]

External links[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Wikipedia-W-visual-balanced Danny Wallace (humorist) on Wikipedia
  2. YouTube Danny Wallace talks about the BAFTA video games nominations on the BAFTAproductions YouTube channel
  3. 3.0 3.1 History. Writer and Presenter Danny Wallace. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved on 12 July 2018.
  4. Beadle, Craig (25 September 2015). Danny Wallace: Ten Years of Yes Man. British Comedy Guide. Archived from the original on 3 November 2015. Retrieved on 8 September 2022.
  5. YouTube Assassin's Creed 2 Danny Wallace interview #1 on the Assassin's Creed UK YouTube channel
  6. Arnott, Jack (30 October 2009). Interview: Danny Wallace - Assassin's Creed II. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved on 4 November 2014.
  7. Cullen, Johnny (23 September 2010). Danny Wallace to return for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. VG247. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved on 7 September 2022.
  8. Danny Wallace's gaming return. ShortList. Archived from the original on 26 October 2010. Retrieved on 7 September 2022.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Imdb Danny Wallace at the Internet Movie Database
  10. Krupa, Daniel (9 June 2011). Assassin's Creed Revelations Release Date. IGN. Archived from the original on 8 March 2013. Retrieved on 8 September 2022.
  11. Wallace, Danny (30 June 2012). Thomas Was Alone…. Writer and Presenter Danny Wallace. Archived from the original on 3 July 2012. Retrieved on 12 July 2012.
  12. Yin-Poole, Wesley (15 February 2012). Assassin's Creed 3 release date announced. EuroGamer. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved on 8 September 2022.
  13. Phillips, Tom (4 March 2013). Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag release date, next-gen launch leaked. EuroGamer. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved on 8 September 2022.
  14. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
  15. Elawar, Zac (7 November 2014). Assassin’s Creed: Rogue Forces You to Question the Creed. Capsule Computers. Archived from the original on 1 July 2015. Retrieved on 8 September 2022.
  16. Haas, Pete (28 August 2014). Assassin's Creed Unity Now Has Same Release Date As Assassin's Creed Rogue. Cinemablend. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved on 8 September 2022.
  17. Dyer, Mitch (13 May 2015). Assassin's Creed Syndicate Release Date Revealed. IGN. Archived from the original on 12 July 2015. Retrieved on 8 September 2022.
  18. Jones, Alyx (25 October 2015). Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Game Audio Review. The Sound Architect. Archived from the original on 1 November 2015. Retrieved on 8 September 2022.
  19. Blackett, Colum (22 December 2017). Modern Day Breakdown. TheOnesWhoCameBefore. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved on 8 September 2022.
  20. Hunt, Julia (18 November 2019). Riz Ahmed and Anthony Head join Assassin’s Creed audio drama. Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 September 2022. Retrieved on 7 September 2022.
  21. Phillips, Tom (27 February 2020). Assassin's Creed Gold's blind hero provides the perfect formula for audio drama. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved on 7 September 2022.
  22. Assassin's Creed: Gold
  23. Ubisoft white swirl only ODIN’S HOOTENANNY – A CELEBRATION OF ALL THINGS ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA on Ubisoft's official website (backup link)
  24. Foward, Jordan (28 October 2020). Assassin’s Creed Valhalla release date and gameplay details. PCGamesN. Archived from the original on 15 June 2021. Retrieved on 8 September 2022.
  25. Wright, Steve (19 October 2021). Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour Viking Age Review: Educational and fun. Stevivor. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved on 8 September 2022.
  26. Twitter Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) on Twitter "Leap into history with our new podcast: Behind the Legends Learn more about Leonidas' personality with the first episode of this new season of Echoes of History! Listen now: https://lnk.to/echoesofhistory" (screenshot)
  27. YouTube Assassin’s Creed: 2022 Showcase | #UbiForward on the Ubisoft YouTube channel
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