Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
#989124
11/18/14 07:33 PM
11/18/14 07:33 PM
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Marian
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I learned of this a few days ago via social media, and I then wrote to the company asking them why this decision was made. Nancy Drew #32, due out next May, entitled Sea of Darkness, will be the last time that Lani Minella will be doing the voice of Nancy Drew. Lani has posted via social media that she was "floored" by this decision and apparently did not know that they were planning on replacing her. What follows is Her Interactive's response to my email: Thank you for taking the time to communicate your concerns to us as it relates to Lani Minella. We read every email, post, tweet, etc. from our fans and take all of their feedback very seriously. Please know that we always have the best interests of our fans in mind.
As clearly illustrated in your email, we understand the emotional connection that our fans have with Lani Minella and the impact that this decision will have on our fans. This was a very difficult decision for us and many factors played into this decision. Unfortunately, many of those reasons I am unable to share with you at this time but may eventually come to light later down the road. It’s too early for us to announce the new voice of Nancy Drew and provide additional details regarding this decision but we hope to provide more insight and reveal the new voice of Nancy Drew shortly. We appreciate your patience during this time.
You may have read some similar message on social media but we need to have a consistent message so that all fans understand where we are at this moment. It's not about copy/paste but rather being consistent when addressing this issue. We mean it when we say that Lani Minella will always be a part of the Her Interactive family and we will continue to enjoy a tremendous working relationship with her. We hope to maintain this fantastic creative partnership for many years to come albeit in a different capacity than in the past.
A core value of Her Interactive is to always show transparency, and this situation is no different. Again, we will update all our fans as soon as we can. Thank you for supporting Her Interactive and Nancy Drew games.
Sincerely,
Her Interactive I thought that fans of the Nancy Drew games would be interested in this news and thus am posting about it here.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#989130
11/18/14 07:47 PM
11/18/14 07:47 PM
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Joined: Dec 1999
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MaG
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Marian, That is a sad thing. Nancy Drew adventure game is Lani Minella. Lani also mentioned it in her FaceBook page. Thanks for the information.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#989133
11/18/14 08:04 PM
11/18/14 08:04 PM
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BrownEyedTigre
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I'm very saddened to. The two are one and the same. Thanks Marian. Ana
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#989141
11/18/14 08:33 PM
11/18/14 08:33 PM
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BrownEyedTigre
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I can't imagine a good reason to eliminate her. I think it will backfire. Ana
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#989146
11/18/14 09:16 PM
11/18/14 09:16 PM
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BrownEyedTigre
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I would totally recommend that anyone bothered by this let them know!
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Jenny100]
#989154
11/18/14 10:17 PM
11/18/14 10:17 PM
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Marian
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I pity the person they try to replace her with -- they'll be reamed. An unenviable position to be in, indeed.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#989191
11/19/14 06:37 AM
11/19/14 06:37 AM
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 25,135 Marlborough USA
Kaki's Sister
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Doesn't make sense to change the voice of the main character for no good reason.
Gerry
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#989214
11/19/14 10:04 AM
11/19/14 10:04 AM
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Kootsie
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Wow! What a shock. I can't imagine how this will effect my decision to play ND from now on. At the moment, I am inclined not to play in the future.
Interactive stated that she will remain in the company in some capacity...?????
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Kootsie]
#989233
11/19/14 12:01 PM
11/19/14 12:01 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
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Marian
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Tally Ho, money is sometimes the reason for such decisions, and that was my first thought too (it often explains the otherwise inexplicable). But I have heard that Lani does voices for free at times, and in this instance I'm not at all certain that this is the issue. I think there's something else going on.
Kootsie, I believe Her Interactive is suggesting that Lani might do voices in Nancy Drew games for lesser roles in the future, something which she has in fact already done. In past ND games, she has voiced other roles, including Freddie in White Wolf of Icicle Creek, a parrot, and several others. There is seemingly no voice that she cannot do - she has done voices for World of Warcraft, Skyrim, Diablo, you name it. If she wasn't so outstanding and so versatile, I would be less puzzled by this decision. It's hard to understand why the company would voluntarily throw away such an asset.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: chrissie]
#989610
11/21/14 04:20 PM
11/21/14 04:20 PM
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Marian
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The only reason I can think of is that maybe HI are taking ND in a new direction? That's possible, and I can only hope that it isn't a negative direction...
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#989676
11/22/14 12:09 PM
11/22/14 12:09 PM
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BrownEyedTigre
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I saw Her Int respond to someone either on Twitter or Facebook that their move to not use Lani had nothing to do with them switching to the Hardy Boys or anything related to the Hardy Boys so that wouldn't explain anything about their decision. I wish they would have kept their Nancy Drew Dossier series though because I really liked them.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Jenny100]
#989688
11/22/14 01:42 PM
11/22/14 01:42 PM
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Marian
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#989958
11/24/14 01:59 PM
11/24/14 01:59 PM
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 4,491 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Susie07
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Hi, Marian!
Thanks for the info. I guess "Her Interactive" has never heard of the phrase "if it ain't broke ... don't fix it". I had played every Nancy Drew game until the release of "The Shattered Medallion". It received such awful reviews, I decided to pass, and I didn't bother with "Labyrinth of Lies" either. If sales are down (and that's usually the reason a company starts making major changes), they should look elsewhere for the reasons because it has nothing to do with Lani Minella.
When gamers play a series, they look for something familiar, whether it be a theme song or a voice. I haven't seen the numbers for Tex Murphy's latest adventure, but how many would have purchased the game if Tex was played by someone other than Chris Jones? When Jane Jensen remade GK1, Tim Curry didn't voice Gabe; however, the storyline and character development are so strong, it really didn't matter, especially since we had a different actor in GK2.
Susan
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#989971
11/24/14 03:22 PM
11/24/14 03:22 PM
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 4,491 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Susie07
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Hi, Marian!
Why is it when a new CEO is hired, instead of waiting to see what works and what doesn't, they just have to put their own stamp on things by making changes that are not necessary? As far as I can tell, the Nancy Drew franchise has been extremely successful, and Lani Minella is a huge part of that success. Even though the games have always been geared towards children, those of us who grew up reading Carolyn Keene's "Nancy 'Drew" books enjoyed playing them as well.
I can't wait to read the comments on the "Her Interactive" message boards when the news becomes public because I think there will be a major backlash.
Hi, Jenny!
Sort of like the television networks' obsession with the elusive 18-49 demos who have better things to do than sit down and watch TV. Meanwhile, those of us who have been devoted viewers for decades don't matter anymore.
Susan
Last edited by Marian; 11/24/14 04:17 PM. Reason: combined stacked posts
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: BrownEyedTigre]
#989990
11/24/14 07:38 PM
11/24/14 07:38 PM
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Susie07
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Hi, Ana! Petitions are great, but they rarely work. The best thing to do is hit them where it hurts by not purchasing any more ND games. Money talks so, if HER sees a substantial slump in sales, they may rethink their decision, and get themselves a new CEO while they're at it . Susan
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#989992
11/24/14 07:47 PM
11/24/14 07:47 PM
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Maybe a combination of massive numbers of signatures on a petition and hitting them in the pocketbook will make a difference.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#990110
11/25/14 02:19 PM
11/25/14 02:19 PM
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Susan, there are several threads on the Her Interactive forum about this already, and thus far I haven't read a single post suggesting that anyone is happy about this decision - far from it. Not to suggest that I would support loosing Lani from the role in any way, but the Her Interactive forums are the last place I'd expect to read people saying Lani should be dropped! My experience is that you rarely hear a storm of support on the internet for any change of this magnitude.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#992917
12/13/14 04:52 AM
12/13/14 04:52 AM
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Marian
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Just a heads up that Lani posted on the Her Interactive forum yesterday in response to a very long "petition" thread of folks wanting the company to reconsider their decision of replacing her. Lani posted as follows: I just want you to know I am still acting, directing etc. and nothing is preventing me from work. It was an exec decision to try something new with a different Nancy Voice and making game improvements as well. Thanks so much for all your support. It means the world to me and I will miss you all a lot. And no it had nothing to do with money either.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#992961
12/13/14 11:22 AM
12/13/14 11:22 AM
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AWwww...I was hoping you were going to say they are taking her back! Ana
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#998149
01/16/15 12:25 PM
01/16/15 12:25 PM
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Marian
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Her Interactive recently posted this letter on their website: Dear Nancy Drew Fans,
As the New Year starts, we wanted to take a moment to thank you for being such great fans and loyal supporters of our Nancy Drew community. We value your enthusiasm and comments, so we feel it’s important to keep you “clued in!”
In 2014, we had a busy year with two all-new PC/Mac mystery adventure games plus our expansion into mobile with the tablet version of Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall. We were thrilled to hear that many of you liked the experience on mobile and are hoping to see more games available for “on the go” Nancy Drew fans. We believe there’s a great future for adding a mobile Nancy Drew experience because the devices offer so many fun ways for players to further engage with Her Interactive games. We are currently working on developing the best game experiences possible for you. Although we will not be moving forward with Nancy Drew: The Silent Spy for tablets, please keep looking for news and updates as we continue our development work on this exciting platform.
We have a lot in store for 2015. At the top of the list, we are very excited about the upcoming release of Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness this spring. Set in Iceland, it will truly be an epic game that we know you’ll love. After Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness, we will have a new voice for our famous amateur detective. We didn’t take this decision lightly, and we’re hard at work on the casting process. Recasting an iconic character like Nancy is no small task, and we promise to bring you a voice we feel is equally as true to Nancy’s spirit and personality.
We hope you will grow to have the same emotional connection you have enjoyed with the previous Nancy Drew voice and all the other supporting characters. The feedback we have received from the community about the talented Lani Minella has been very heartwarming. We know that for some fans, change is hard, but trust that our goal remains to continue the legacy of developing award-winning games for many years to come. It bears repeating that Lani will always be part of the Her Interactive family.
In closing, thank you for being part of the Her Interactive family. It means the world to all of us to be the constant recipient of your insightful feedback and your wonderful enthusiasm for our games!
Cheers,
Team Her Interactive Not even so much as a hint contained therein that would shed some light as to why Lani is being replaced. One fan on the Her Interactive forum posted this in response to this letter: The entire fanbase is in complete turmoil with petitions popping up left and right, nasty emails being sent, people threatening to boycott and comments expressing how hurt, insulted, and betrayed everyone feels. "Heartwarming." I agree. And there are many other responses to this letter along the same lines.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#998152
01/16/15 12:48 PM
01/16/15 12:48 PM
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BrownEyedTigre
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Since Lani could make any voice they wanted, it will never make any sense at all.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#998167
01/16/15 03:34 PM
01/16/15 03:34 PM
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judith
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I just might have to wait until someone posts a video walkthrough with the new voice for Nancy & just listen to it. Then I can make up my mind to either buy or boycott. This really upsets me because I'm such a fan of the games. I'm playing labyrinth of Lies right now & I'm really loving it.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#998904
01/21/15 10:20 AM
01/21/15 10:20 AM
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Vegpot
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Sad to hear this, it was news to me. Probably they will be trying for a soundalike voice, it would make no sense to suddenly have a completely different voice in the games. Strange decision which does sound like something going on behind the scenes.
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Re: Her Interactive replacing Lani Minella (voice of Nancy Drew)
[Re: Marian]
#1001325
02/06/15 05:04 PM
02/06/15 05:04 PM
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chesnut
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Her Interactive recently posted this letter on their website: After Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness, we will have a new voice for our famous amateur detective. We didn’t take this decision lightly, and we’re hard at work on the casting process. Recasting an iconic character like Nancy is no small task, and we promise to bring you a voice we feel is equally as true to Nancy’s spirit and personality. I'm with everyone else on this one. This part of the letter really said it all. The way I read it they're saying - We let her go and don't even have a replacement in mind yet. We're trying to find someone. Hope you'll like her!! I've played every single Nancy Drew game. Count me as another disappointed fan who will protest the loss of Lani - the voice for Nancy Drew.
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