S. Samuel
With hip-hop stars like 50 Cent putting out his own video games in recent years and rap icon Ice Cube doing a voiceover for last year's all-time selling video game Call of Duty: Black Ops, Resistance 3 Creative Director Marcus Smith gives his take on the growing movement.
In Smith’s eyes, he feels there are distinct differences in rap stars being involved in a game’s creation and actually creating a game.
“Celebrities have been adding voices to video games since the beginning, but who buys games to hear a famous person’s voice?,” Smith asked SOHH via statement. “So far, the only involvement of hip-hop artists or celebrities have had in games has been A) contributing a track to a soundtrack B) contributing voice acting or C) contributing brand identity (the 50 Cent games, ‘Wu-Tang’s Shaolin Style’ PS1 game, etc).” (SOHH)
Smith believes in order for celebrities to help contribute to the gaming industry, they have to bring something new to the table.
“Saying that someone who comes in for a 4-hour voice acting session is ‘involved’ in creating a game is like saying I’m involved in SOHH.com for doing this interview. I’d like to see more people come into video game development from the outside, bringing their own point of view to the table,” Smith added. “[Entrepreneur] Marc Ecko was involved in creating his game, “Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure” and at the time was pretty open about how hip-hop elements in video games (hell, all mainstream culture) are always presented in a ‘cartoonish’ way. And they are because they are when they are created by people who don’t understand (and respect) their origins. I’d love to see more hip-hop artist doing more than just music and voices. What kind of game could Madlib or Danger Mouse create from scratch? What kind of insanity would Q-Bert dream up? I’d love to find out.” (SOHH)
In 2009, reports claimed 50 Cent’s Blood on the Sand failed to hit the same profits as his 2005 game, Bulletproof.
Blood on the Sand has sold an estimated 56,000 copies in the United States between its February launch and early April. In its first two months of release in the fall of 2005, Bulletproof – Blood on the Sand‘s prequel, sold 681,000 copies, with life-to-date sales of 1,123,000 units. Kotaku takes a look at a few more reasons why the game sold so low, and even mentions that maybe Activision’s decision to sell of the title might have been a pretty smart move after all. (Co-Optimus)
Last year, Ice Cube confirmed speculation claiming he did a voiceover for first-person action shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops.
In his own words, Ice Cube is a rapper, actor and macker who has a little problem with a redneck cracker. According to his twitter feed, Cube is also a voice in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Here’s the tweet: “Check me out in Call of Duty: Black Ops. I’m Corporal Bowman. Game hits stores Nov 9. Who’s gonna get it?” I am, Mr. Cube, I am! Cube joins 80s gangsta rapper Ice T in the video game voice genre, as T will be in Gears of War 3. The rivalry between these two video game rappers and their competing, AAA game franchises is sure to break out in virtual violence! (G4TV)
Check out 50 Cent’s Blood on the Sand video game below:
