"chocolate Rein!"

nice jacket Mark.... :P

exion

Billkwando

oboreruhito

npa190

Also, I hope nobody thinks I was trying to harp on some type of racial point, as you said its a sad story, the point was more to illustrate that his talent was not unique (the line, according to the story as I read it, was around the block), he just had the right "look" to where it was easier to market than the arguably superior talents of some of his peers. He isn't the first artist who "lucked" into a career in a similar fashion, and probably won't be the last, for every Justin Timberlake for example I'm sure you could find 10 more talented singers/dancers who aren't as "attractive" to the demo JT appeals to ;)

DaiMacculate

adaorardor

You ain't nothin but a hound dog, been snooping round my door
You ain't nothin but a hound dog, been snooping round my door
You can wag your tail but Lord I ain't gonna feed you no more

You told me you were high class, but I can see through that
You told me you were high class, but I can see through that
And daddy I know you ain't no real cool cat

You ain't nothin but a hound dog, been snooping round my door
You ain't nothin but a hound dog, been snooping round my door
You can wag your tail but Lord I ain't gonna feed you no more

You made me feel so blue, you made me weep and moan
You made me feel so blue, you made me weep and moan
You ain't looking for a woman,
Lord knows what you're looking for

You ain't nothin but a hound dog, been snooping round my door
You ain't nothin but a hound dog, been snooping round my door
You can wag your tail but Lord I ain't gonna feed you no more

Now Elvis:

You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
cryin' all the time.
You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
cryin' all the time.
Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit
and you ain't no friend of mine.

Ya, they said you was high classed,
well, that was just a lie.
Ya, they said you was high classed,
well, that was just a lie.
You ain't never caught a rabbit
and you ain't no friend of mine.

One of the co-writers of the song:
Mike Stoller recalled later, originally, the song had been written for a female singer:

"There was a group, Freddie Bell & The Bell Boys, working in the lounge in Vegas who had recorded it. They had altered the lyrics - the altered lyrics don't really mean terribly much. They made it sound like the song was written about a dog. Big Mama's record had the original lyrics, which were written about a freeloading gigolo."

If you look at the original lyrics it is clear. Now the Elvis version is about an actual dog. Not very interesting compared to the original IMHO.

ProfWho

adaorardor

I would love to play as a UE3 Elvis. Dual wielding banana sammiches and karate chopping and pelvic thrusting my way into the hearts of ladies. Also later levels you can play as fat Elvis. And rob banks.

Derigor

ProfWho

Now if people really get excited about listening to some guy mumble on and on about how much money he has now that you have bought his game, drank his vitamin water, bought his albums, bought his movie, sporting his shoes and clothing, and bought his books (yes the fiction novels he didn't write) that is their right. People can spend there money on dog shit that looks like Lincoln as well. Still it doesn't change the fact his game will most likely suck or be mediocre knock off of other games.

I cannot wait to be sporting my 50 Cent lunch pale and backpack.

The fact is, 50 is a marketing tool and keeps peddling substandard crap with his name slapped on it. I think him and Hanna Montana should team up and release a duet album and marketing campaign so that all those uneducated fans who knocked upped their girlfriends in the trailer park when they were 15 can now got to a concert with their young daughter. Hell, maybe throw in Zack and Cody or something to bring the little boys as well.

Anyway long rant made short, the track record of licensed games is poor. The track record of licensed 50 products is poor. It is very reasonable to assume this game will be shit and that is probably a safer bet than betting Bush will not president this time next year.

ProfWho

Strange Bedfellows

Captain Impulse

Thats why Elvis got his start, this is a factual account I'm paraphrasing from a book on the History of Sun Records...Book that is at least 10 years old BTW, so its not a "New One", its just not something most talk about.

I'm not attacking Elvis, its not his fault necessarily he just happened to be White in the right place at the right time. I'm just saying that I see merit to the 50 Cent-Elvis comparison, in the way their music and personal marketing continues to work out, Elvis deserves no deification either ;)

DaiMacculate

el_rezzo

Though yeah, I mean, more like jolly young Elvis, surrounded by death and coping -- with music.

108

Pinhead

Gunloc

I'm not exactly convinced of anything, either -- just that, conceptually, these games are such good ideas. Healthy ideas, even. We need more non-serious stuff like this, and a tiny bit less Tom Clancy.

So says me!

I had a discussion with a friend a couple hours ago about what rock and roll stars, these days, deserve their own (non-music) videogames, and we just couldn't think of one with enough personality.

I mean, aside from GUITAR WOLF.

108

JohnnytheFuture

Samos42

But I'm still not going for a 50 Cent video game. I'll remain a skeptic until it is released and people are raving about it.

JohnnytheFuture

chiefpoopingpants

However, we live in insane times!

Also, I would totally buy a ticket for that Elvis movie, and then probably scalp it at the door for BIG $$$.

Man, you know what -- someone needs to make an "Elvis Movie", starring someone else as Elvis starring as an Elvis-like technicolor dude, like, fighting zombies and robots in North Korea or something.

Make it real gritty and documentary-like, with bizarre technicolor musical numbers.

. . . And then get Cliffy B to make a game about it!

108

In fact, I think the preposterousness and inanity might even be the point here. It's supposed to be ridiculous.

Gabexmosh

boopadoo

Okay picture this:

Elvis, same time period as "Viva Las Vegas" (1964)
But instead of Vegas, let's make it Korea (Korean War)
Elvis is a soldier, fighting against Communism
Also trying to find a "diamond-encrusted skull"

So what I'm trying to get at here is, 50 Cent is in the Middle East, but he's not trying to "liberate" the people of that region, nor is he working toward peace, or promoting safety or even really hunting for terrorists, no, of all the things he could be doing in that delicate and temperamental region of the world, he's finding a "diamond-encrusted skull".

Does that not strike you as preposterous? Inane even?

JohnnytheFuture

Captain Impulse

I wonder if Mark played this game at all, or was just commenting on how it looked? I wouldn't be shocked if it looked decent/good, we've all seen some nice looking UE3 games already. That doesn't mean it plays well at all, of course ;)

DaiMacculate

elevenoverzero

@108: Um, Dre and the other DJs making 50's beats have talent. If Curtis has any I've never seen/heard it, watching tapes of him performing Live in particular is an affront to anyboy who has ever loved a TRUE live MC.

Don't hold 50 Cent against Hip Hop in general, but yeah, he is not somebody I'd defend as especially talented.

On a wholly unrelated topic, I continue to call for a Prince game! Rock Band integration, RPG-esque skill and "weapon" systems, with unlockable B-Ball and Pancake making Mini-games? How could that not be GOTY?

DaiMacculate

Observe here:

"Viva Las Vegas", starring Elvis Presley:

"Plot summary

Lucky Jackson (Elvis Presley) goes to Las Vegas, Nevada to participate in the city's first annual Grand Prix. However, his race car is in need of a new engine in order to compete. Jackson raises the money and mislays it when distracted by Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret). Soon, Jackson's main competition, Count Elmo Mancini (Cesare Danova), enters the picture to steal both the race and Rusty."

Et cetera!

Hah!

108

darthnader

Captain Impulse

Nirolak

Captain Impulse

elpoepFTW

Garo

I guess its just that you and I just don't agree on a couple points. And that's totally fine.

I love the grass roots approach that Hip-Hop allows for, I love the dominant beats, the sampling, the level to which it allows a listener to get into it, to dance. The fact that hip-hop is DIY is fantastic. It gives inner-city kids, like Curtis Jackson, something to aspire to, something to get them off the streets selling crack or heroin. That's the beauty of hip-hop.

But again, I feel like today's equivalent of an Elvis movie would be say, 50 Cent's movie, or 8 Mile. The game perhaps in storyline alone, but a game is so much more. I think that the community of gamers present here (those who regard this creation with disdain) only view this game to a ploy for 50 Cent, Sierra, etc to claw at some more cash. I mean, 50 Cent, searching for a "diamond encrusted skull" in the Middle East? Couldn't he be doing something more creative, than trying to "Get Rich or Die Trying?"

JohnnytheFuture

Or perhaps he'd been waiting all day to put his calendar's Word of the Day to use.

Majeen

ManjiKengo

relax_guy

symeon6

+ Watch video

SaxxonPike

You raise a pretty good point!

Though yeah, Elvis, as the first "idol", was, well, just that -- an "idol". Young Elvis was built up by producers and promoters to be this perfect shiny object to be adored. And he had a hell of a singing voice. And he was gorgeous!

Hip-hop, though, is something that started on street corners by anyone with a boom box and a tape with some beats on it. Hip-hop is DIY. Hip-hop is hands-on! Hip-hop is any dude with something to say and a clever way to say it. There's a shitload of culture surrounding hip-hop, maybe as much as there used to be around rock and roll, and I'm aware that the stuff about guns and drugs doesn't exactly apply to every hip-hopper with a record deal, though that doesn't stop everyone else from believing it. Why not exploit and ridicule the stereotypes?

Remember what Cliffy B said about the easiest way to "reach out and touch someone" with a videogame is to touch them "with a gun".

I say, if you're going to do the modern-day equivalent of an Elvis film, it might as well be hip-hop (modern hip-hop is, after all, about money and cars and women, same as old-time rock and roll), it might as well be 50 Cent (he's got enough mainstream popularity), and it might as well have shooting shit. Whereas Guitar Wolf did something brilliant with romance, zombies, and schlock horror, I say putting a big bad American MC in the middle of a conflict in the Middle East is about as good as it gets.

I'm seriously counting on this game! Seriously!

108

MrAkash

BryanGuitarDude

TheEngineer

Though yeah, I think LOST is referencing the same thing that I'm referencing.

@Komrade_Kayce: Well, he does have musical talent. Believe me, my "ideal date" involves sitting on a sofa with my girlfriend in dead silence and pitch darkness, listening to horribly obscure exorbitantly depressing ambient noise-metal rock music in which single notes are sustained sometimes for twenty-two minutes at a time, so believe me, i know the very essence of music; i live inside the beating heart of ROCK, and it is with great confidence that i say fiddy and his producers got something going on, even if i personally don't care to listen. ever.

in closing, hip-hop, as pop-culture, needs exploitation if it wishes to evolve. these two 50 cent games are hilarious; i remember reading about the first one and thinking, "this is the new 'elvis movie'":

in real life, 50 cent was shot nine times, and it made him give up his life of dealing drugs and focus on making music.

in the game, 50 cent is shot nine times and assembles a BAD-ASS posse (which includes the genius life-comedian eminem) to get FUCKING REVENGE.

that 50 cent OK'd this is a huge statement in and of itself.

still, it was probably too subtle for the times it was released in. this new game, however, sounds just ridiculous enough to work.

so stop hating, people! give 50 cent a chance!

108

Lemming To The Sea

oosiegewolfoo

alb1221

And no, I'm not trying to defend it I'm just saying you guys should hold your tongue at least until we can confirm it's trash.

Lemming To The Sea

Saint Anima

I fail to see how this game can be even remotely good.

huginn

Schoolimangooli the doogie mag goosie!

Obs1dian

I stopped reading when you used the words 'musical talent' and assumed it was just another april fools laugh.

Komrade_Kayce

indiemike

A movie is one thing, it can carry a story, and can be watched, enjoyed with little work involved, keeping one's eyes open. I liked that you mentioned the old Elvis films, because I loved them, I loved watching them. But would I enjoy playing as Elvis in a video game? I dunno...

Video games, are a much more finicky medium, they entail considerable investment: money ($60), time (hours as opposed to 1.5 hours), physical/emotional (story AND gameplay).

To make a video game enjoyable is very different from making a movie entertaining.

JohnnytheFuture

108

robokasey

Or, this actually happened, and Mark is going to call the company back tomorrow to say 'oh yeah, that was an april fools joke. your game looks like shit'.

Komrade_Kayce

Just the kind of responses I expected too. So what if he was "blown away?"

indiemike

shagari7

rich8606

coppanuva

jihadjoe343

blackadvent

i mean, at least 50 cent is a better-looking dude than marcus fenix!

and he has musical talent!

why not make a good game about him?

the first 50 cent game had the right idea and the wrong execution; this new one sounds hilarious, and i'm sure fiddy himself finds it funny as well.

done the right way, these games can -- and should -- be like the modern-day equivalent of a ridiculous elvis presley film, or that KISS movie.

or like the american / hip-hop videogame equivalent of guitar wolf's film "WILD ZERO"

[uk]

+ Watch video

so come on, people; think before you hate. if no one cheers these guys on, they're not going to be motivated to go completely nuts with the craziness. T-T

108

If it's real, maybe he's just talking about the graphics. I don't see it being too difficult to get some decent images out of Unreal Engine 3.

kylenalepa

JohnnytheFuture

Netnavi

HALPP! I've died and gone to hell.

Polywhirl

Thankfully It's still april first.

ManjiKengo

sbrumm1983