Fifty won't be continuing the search for his diamond encrusted skull, however. The rapper will simply lend his vocal talents to Modern Warfare 2 as "The Multi-Player Voice," according to official site ThisIs50.com. The rapper dropped the news following a visit to Infinity Ward, during which he played Modern Warfare 2 with Good Charlotte's Benji and Joel Madden. No official word yet on whether those two contribute to the game or if Infinity Ward was simply double booked.

Robert Bowling, the developer's director of communications, says that 50 Cent will be "one of the squad voices in Multiplayer / Spec Ops" on his Twitter account.

This wouldn't be the first Call of Duty to feature famous voices, as actors Keifer Sutherland and Gary Oldman played prominent roles in Treyarch's Call of Duty: World At War. Obviously, Mr. Cent is no stranger to video game voice over work, having appeared as himself in 50 Cent Bulletproof and 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.

The only question we have is whether 50 Cent can go as deep and hard, (bitch), as Infinity Ward's own Mark Grigsby did in Call of Duty 4...

Update: Robert Bowling from Infinity Ward tells us that 50 Cent is "one of many squad voices" that will be featured in the multiplayer and Spec Ops modes in Modern Warfare 2. Expect to hear Fifty saying things like"Reloading," "Watch your fire," "I'm down, get me up!" and "Tango Down!" according to Bowling.

"He is one of quite a few casual cameos in the game, none of which I can name at this point," Bowling says. "Benji and Joel of Good Charlotte NOT being one of them. They're just good friends with Curtis and came along with him when he was here recently to check out his voice in the game."

50 Cent Visits Infinity Ward (Creators of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) [This Is 50]

Speaking with MTV, Fiddy says that he's already had talks with publisher THQ about the possibility of some day being "a part of designing and marketing a video game I'm not actually in".

We thought Spielberg would do something with aliens and/or explosions, and ended up doing...coloured blocks. Wonder what 50 can come up with?

50 Cent Hoping For Sequel To 'Blood On The Sand' Video Game [MTV]

Speaking with MTV (in the vid below), Fiddy reveals that, as we already knew, he's quite the Pac-Man fan. And that Eminem, who he regularly plays against, totally kicks his ass at the game (they keep scores). So where's the beef? According to Fiddy, Eminem kicks his ass via unfair methods (that, really, don't sound terribly unfair to anyone who's not Fifty Cent).

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is the second game to feature the famous rapper's name and likeness, following up on the multi-million selling 50 Cent: Bulletproof for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. Now 50 and the G-Unit take battle off of the mean streets and into into desert, shooting, driving, and flying their way through a fictional country in order to retrieve his stolen diamond skull. An epic tale of adventure if I'd ever heard one.

During the interview, I finally got a chance to ask 50 Cent the question that's been nagging me ever since Blood on the Sand was announced - why the hell did you make a game where rappers shoot up an imaginary Middle Eastern country?

"It might be far-fetched, but that's me avoiding you telling me that my game is so graphic that you feel like it will make kids go do stuff that they're not supposed to." 50 is actually addressing the concerns raised by his first game, 50 Cent: Bulletproof, that took place in an urban setting that many felt was too realistic. "If I didn't do what I did conceptually when it came time to create the setting for the game, I would get all these complaints about the game being too aggressive."

So in essence, Blood on the Sand's rather strange story and setting are a direct response to criticisms over the last 50 Cent game. He was aiming at making a non-realistic game. Mission accomplished.

Before answering the question, however, 50 actually corrected me, telling me that the game didn't actually take place in the Middle East - it just looks like the Middle East. It could be anywhere, really. He pointed out that Blood Diamond, a movie he likes to cite as an inspiration for the game, takes place in Africa, though it certainly looks like the Middle East at times. I just assumed "fictional Middle Eastern country" still indicated the Middle East. 50 Cent doesn't think so.

The war setting is not only inspired by movies, but by 50 Cent's own visit to the troops in the non-fictional Iraq. "The intensity of being a part of the war setting...it's probably the most dramatic situation you can actually be in, and people consciously go into that, which is a trip to me."

We also asked 50 is the release of games like 50 Cent: Bulletproof and now Blood on the Sand had an effect on the sales of his music.

"I do see a change in the response to the actual music. What I've learned is a lot of time they'll turn the television down and play music from another source, because the quality of material that's on the actual game isn't up to standards right now. The opportunity to provide that intensifies the actual experiences.

This is why this is perfect to release (the game) prior to the sales of the actual album. When they actually get a chance to hear some of that material, it raises the anticipation of what my next album is going to be because this music has been held to standard."

50 Cent is a pretty big gamer himself at this point. He's got a Nintendo Wii in his office, complete with Wii Fit, an Xbox 360 in his truck, and all three systems at the racquetball room in his house, where his kids play on a 24-foot projection screen.

As for what's next for 50 Cent in the games industry? Aside from delving into video game films with Saint's Row, the rapper expresses great interest in creating new games that don't actually feature him as a playable character. "I'm a big fan of Tetris (as mentioned in McWhertor's interview with the G-Unit)...some of the older games...Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Centipede...where you only had one joystick and one button. I want to be able to create...not necessarily a different controller and all that...just to be able to create something different."

Maybe 50 Cent has a better head for gaming than we first expected?

Answering a question about the possibility of his own games becoming films, 50 Cent explained that he had other movie plans in store before he could work on bringing Blood on the Sand to the big screen.

With my relationship with THQ, they'll actually see me develop Saint's Row into an actual screeplay and into a film project. I'm optioning the rights for that right now, so they'll see that before they see me do it from my own perspective for my game.

No word on what Fiddy's involvement in the movie would be other than simply producing it, but I have faith that he'll be able to come up with a suitable cast of gangbangers once the time comes.

Once again the game will be supplemented by quite a huge selection of 50 Cents music, likely guaranteeing at least decent sales.

In fact, during our recent sit down with Banks and Yayo, they played 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand the entire time, attention divided between shooting up scores of unidentifiable Middle Eastern bad guys and answering questions.

Banks and Yayo are self-described "video game heads," raised on 8-bit classics like Contra, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! and Commando, arcade fighters like Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. Yayo's current obsession? Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, a title in which he feels pretty confident he could kick my ass. (We're exchanging Gamertags to settle that...)

Yayo even bragged about his Gunnar Optiks gaming glasses, the eyewear that purports to reduce eyestrain when staring at a monitor for hours on end. What else are bored rappers going to do while on the road?

"It's an addiction to me," Yayo lamented, admitting that he, like the rest of us buys games on a whim... and never even plays some of them.

Unsurprisingly, the G-Unit tour bus is decked out with plenty of sports games — NBA Live, Madden, 2K Sports. They play Madden and Live for money, with a hard and fast rule that if you lose a virtual basketball game by 40 points or more, you're banned for life. But Banks surprised us with mention of one of his favorite games of the PlayStation generation, Final Fantasy VII.

"They probably up to [Final Fantasy] XVIII now, huh?" he joked when I questioned his Japanese role-playing game credentials. "Yeah, man. Sephiroth and all them dudes. I remember when [those games] came on, like, four CDs. They were all scratched up by the time you finished ‘em. That was a big thing to see that game come up."

The G-Unit rappers seem to represent that most mainstream of audience, the hard-casual gamer who buys and plays nothing but the biggest and best-selling of titles. They're less fussy and learned about their gaming choices than the forum dwelling hardcore gamer, with little interest in distinguishing Rock Band — a G-Unit tour bus and green room favorite — from Guitar Hero.

But they have better taste than the purely casual gamer, preferring Street Fighter to the Def Jam brand of fighting games, Call of Duty 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV to, well, certainly not the game they're appearing in.

"This is going to be my favorite game when this comes out," Yayo confidently proclaimed, referring to his second video game appearance in Blood on the Sand.

The Swordfish Studios-developed third-person shooter might not appeal to the daily Kotaku reader, mainly because of its celebrity endorsement. But with some two million-plus copies sold of 50 Cent: Bulletproof, it's obvious that there's a substantial portion of the market that doesn't mind celebri-gaming. While the first 50 Cent title — created by Genuine Games — was panned by critics, it was loved by the group's fans, according to Banks and Yayo.

"People loved the game!" swears Yayo.

"Most people I talked to beat it," added Banks, even though neither of the G-Unit founders finished the original.

"You know what we did that we kind of laughed at?" Yayo told us. "We wanted there to be less curses than the first one." But there won't be an E-rated 'clean' version.

Fortunately for fans, Blood on the Sand looks like it will be a higher quality product than its 2005 predecessor. Swordfish has a more established development pedigree than Genuine Games did when Bulletproof was released and the UK developer looks to have borrowed smartly from its third person action game peers. 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand could easily be described as "Rappers do Gears of War while hunting down Damien Hirst sculpture," an appropriate sampling of tested gameplay and pop culture. It's got a good beat and you can dance to it.

And it has exploding barrels.

What was Banks' and Yayo's involvement in Blood on the Sand, 50 Cent's upcoming shoot 'em up featuring a financially scorned rapper on the hunt for his diamond-encrusted skull? To hear it from Banks, it was a considerable amount of work on their part.

The concept, they say, was borne from a sit down with the G-Unit crew, influenced by the movie Blood Diamond and the group's own travels in Iraq.

"But I have to give credit to the computer people," Yayo says, the folks at Swordfish who turned four rappers into virtual action heroes.

"[We] just take pictures for hours," Banks noted, sounding still exhausted from all-day voiceover recording sessions and texture-building photo sessions. That effort of showing up to THQ's studios may have been time consuming, but it also contributed to former G-Unit rapper Young Buck being ejected from the group. He just never showed up, according to Banks.

Regardless of the poking, prodding and voice acting, Banks and Yayo still sounded as thrilled as two rappers can to be starring in their second video game, excitedly pointing out "That's Banks! That's Banks, right there."

"It’s weird cause I'm from South Jamaica Queens and I remember when Banks and I didn’t have shit," Yayo said. "I still remember not havin'. We can go through our old neighborhood and still hang with the people that don’t have. You know what I mean? Whenever it comes out it'll be big for me. I’ll be in the store buying my copies."

For now, we're just going to have to settle with trash-talking each other in the games dated B.B.O.T.S. (Before Blood on the Sand). Banks is ready to take you (or Soulja Boy) on in Pac-Man. Yayo will gladly bust you up in MK vs. DC.

And 50 Cent?

"Tetris," Banks reveals. "Yeah, he talks all kinds of shit."

50 Cent: Blood On The Sand [OFLC via NeoGAF]

Yeah, it's dead. Caught in the unflinching cogs of big video game business, mergers, and close downs, we hear. Victim of a flooded genre and a potential publisher with one too many shooters on its hands.

But don't cry for Fifty. We hear the G-Unit-sporting rapper got his appearance cash, while Swordfish, the team behind the budding game, is likely to get sold off.

You gotta love this business.

Update, We Got it Wrong, Wrong, Wrong: Turns out that our internal sources were slightly confused and despite our best efforts we got it wrong. While I'm still waiting for some sort of official word from the companies involved, this is what we've heard: While 50-Cent: Blood on the Sand was indeed jettisoned by Activision, the project isn't dead. In fact we're told that it is approaching gold and that a deal, perhaps with THQ as publisher, is in the wings.

Update 2: Activision has responded:

"We have a policy of not commenting on rumors.

I can tell you that we announced back in July that we are retaining only those franchises that are a strong fit with our long-term strategy - - Crash Bandicoot, Ice Age, Spyro, Protoype and an unannounced new IP. We will not publish other titles that previously were part of the Vivendi Games portfolio and are currently reviewing our options regarding these titles."

The game's producer, Aaron Blean, told MTV that he sat through a demo of the game three times several weeks ago and was "really excited."

The producer also talked up a mysterious love interest in the game that, brace yourself, 50 Cent came up with. Oh, this is going to be a grrrrreat game.

50 Cent 'Really Excited' By 'Blood On The Sand'; Video Game's Music, Love-Interest Details Revealed [MTV]

The Bourne Conspiracy Impressions
Ghostbusters Impressions
Sierra Online's XBLA Offerings
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon: Spyro Grows Up,
World in Conflict 360/PS3 Impressions
Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant Impressions
Prototype Impressions
50 Cent II Impressions

I wasn't a crazy video-game head. But my son is crazy about them, so he sits and plays them all day. I'll play with him ... he beats me at those games. He likes to bring me around so he can beat me.

...what's inspired the title is, 50 and G-Unit are putting on a sold-out performance somewhere in a fictional Middle Eastern setting. This is where the 'blood on the sand' comes in. They put on the performance; the people are pleased, but the concert promoter stiffs them and doesn't give 50 and G-Unit their payment.

So, of course, 50 isn't going to leave until he gets paid, so he hassles the concert promoter, [saying] if he doesn't come up with the money now, there will be consequences. And instead, the promoter offers him a very valuable gift - something that's valuable to this particular country - a diamond encrusted skull.

So 50 gets the skull, and as he's about to leave this war-torn country, when they're ambushed and the skull is taken. They escape the ambush, but they're without the skull. So 50's motivated to get what belongs to him. So basically, throughout the game, he's trying to track these people down and find out who they are and why he was ambushed.

MTV has eight exclusive screens of Mr. Cent's sandy adventure, currently planned for the Fall, which actually look quite nice. There's no shortage of details on the game, said to be a "Three Kings' meets 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'" crime story, which you'll find linked below.

50 Cent Video Game Exclusive: 'Blood On The Sand' Details, First Images Revealed [MTV]

Yeah, sure, I like "In Da Club" and "Hate It or Love It" too, but just because the dude has some finger snapping jams doesn't mean we need another game with his visage slapped on it, do we? Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a wall, Vivendi Games!

EGM SOCOM Cover! [The Real SOCOM]

Take Two, publisher of Rockstar Games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, received it's ruling from the Federal Trade Commission over the infamous "Hot Coffee" hidden sexual content incident. What was the punishment? Nothing really. Just a warning from the government. Still, Take Two did incur almost $25 million in losses in conjunction with the product's recall.

Footage of the Tomb Raider remake for PSP snuck out this week, much to the ire of publisher Eidos. First, the original Google Video was pulled, then all YouTube videos. It's looking good, but this was surely not how the Eidos marketing department wanted to reveal the game.

In other handheld news, every Nintendo fan's ultimate fantasy has been realized. Legend of Zelda alum Tingle is getting his own RPG, Freshly-Picked Tingle's Pink-Coloured Rupee Land! Surely, the title will be Americanized for its Western release, but we still expect the same effeminate mannerisms and copious prancing about for which Tingle is famous.

Sure, it's fun (and easy) to hate on 50 Cent's video game, Bulletproof. So fun, in fact, that the lead designer of the game let slip his distaste for working on such titles. Hey, I don't like showing up for my weekday job either, but these $200 jeans aren't gonna buy themselves.

What's the benefit to owning a PlayStation 3 on day one? Bragging rights, of course. Also, you may be the owner of a fully backward compatable PS2 playing device, sans software emulation, as the PS2 chipset may be included in earlier versions of the next-gen console. Suspect? Maybe, but who can guess what Sony will do these days?

Do you, or someone you know, have a World of Warcraft addiction? Now, there's help. Amsterdam-based Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants are set to open a detox center for console and PC gaming "addicts". Doesn't anyone just do heroin anymore?

Finally, it seemed that last week was full of DIY content. From the Xman portable to this homemade DDR pad to the Freetar beta release to this mutant Lego-Xbox-SNES monstrosity, it seems that gamers are more content than ever to make their own fun.

Think being a game designer is all pink children and Christmas? Think again. High Voltage Software's lead designer David A. Rodriguez squashes the dream for millions of stary-eyed wanna-be's by telling it how it is. In a column over at PopCultureShock (via GameSetWatch), Rodriguez tells all:

I'm not an artist... Someone comes to my company with a contract. They give us money to make something. I make it. They take it and sell it. I don't work in art. I work...in customer service. And fortunately or unfortunately, the customer is always right. That means that no matter how bad I think an idea is. That means no matter how unreasonable the request or how STUPID the last thing they said was, in the end they write the check, so they get to decide. I can voice my opinion. I can tell them what I think because that's what they are paying me for, but ultimately, if they decide that something must be in the game...then you can bet your sweet ass it's gonna be in the game.

Kudos to Rodriguez for being honest and not self-delusional. Reminds me of something Pop painter Andy Warhol said, "Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art." Rodriguez is currently slaving away on the new 50 Cent PSP game, which I'm sure had no connection with his article whatsoever. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [PopCultureShock]

50 Cent hit up E3 with not a single G-Unit in sight, but he did bring his own booth babes. It looks like he's wearing one of those swag medallions from last year's show.

50 Cent really is an idiot. In a recent interview with Reuters the rapper turned actor turned, apparently, video game activist said that parents should buy his mature-rated video game for their kid because buried beneath the over the top violence and drugs is a way for him to make more money. That's not he real excuse, but it makes about as much sense as it.

So Bulletproof is apparently meant for kids, I guess that explains the infant-sized faux bulletproof vest the press kit came with.

50 Cent Claims Bulletproof Suitable for Kids [Gamasutra]