Samuel L Jackson's voice appears in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Hit games such as Grand Theft Auto and movie spin-offs often include dialogue recorded by actors.

Producers agreed to give them a 36% pay rise in a deal struck hours before the result of a strike ballot was due.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) rejected the contract. Most games are produced with non-union talent, however.

Minimum fees

The three-year contract has already been approved by the smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Aftra) which many voice-over actors also belong to.

Under the terms of the deal, actors who are currently paid a minimum of $556 (�305) per four-hour session would see their fees rise to $759 (�416) by 2008.

But some SAG members argued that the union should hold out until computer game producers agreed to give a slice of profits from every copy sold to the voice-over actor.