Celebrities in video games are beginning to go together more and more. More often than not, these are weak ploys to appeall to their fan base and to generate a new revenue string. This can be seen in Gagaville and in the lastest Sims expansion featuring Katy Perry. I don't know what their gaming credentials are but there is one person that could probably peak my interest in a game.
Trent Reznor, the Oscar Award winning composer and the mind behind Nine Inch Nails couls actually change games. This sounds like fan boyism already but stop for a second and hear me out. Besides composing the soundtrack to the original Quake, he also implemented an augmented reality game into his release of Year Zero. After reading and listening to hundreds of interviews, I can make some conclusions with a certain amount of accuracy.
Trent, had pointed out that early video games played a major part in his life as well as being an avid Doom fan. This being said, we can assume that if he was hands on in the production process that the game would cater to gamers but would allow for an ease of access. Being able to bring this dynamic into development would help.
With many games with celebrity licenses, they are made by those who don't actually play. While he has said that he isn't an active gamer, we can still be reassured that he knows what would make a good game. The best and worst example of this would be Tony Hawk and how little input he actually put into the Ride series of games. They just slapped his name on the box and produced horrible shit.
I think the story would take a back burner to enjoyable gameplay. While there would be a story or plot, I don't think it will out shine the game play elements that would be seen. I can see this being a problem with modern gamers, who demand that their games have these deep intricate storylines that are often over valued. This would be a core gamer's game and possibly not have as much mass market appeal as many current titles.
Many of us would say that story is important, but I would beg to differ. The Final Fantasy series, always delivers an interesting storyline but they have been missing gameplay values over the years, mostly in an attempt to stay relevent. If we were to really discuss some of the greatest games of all time, most of them didn't have elaborate over done storylines.
Music and sound engineering would be amongst some of the best we have seen in video games. That's his niche in life, what he has spent years perfecting in some people's eyes. So the idea of there being much of a problem with the soundtrack seems sort of moot, unless it was just a showcase for an album.
Journey, did this back in the 80's and Guitar Hero tried capatilizing on this every chance they had. That being said, it would have to be unique music that fit the game without being a deep dick commercial for an album. I could see this as being a problem for anyone, because while you want to show case your talents, you also want to increase revenue in other ways.
Overall, I don't think you would end up with a hot seller right off the bat. I think over time it would gain a certain type of cult status and then expand beyond that. Many at first would be timid because of past failures and others may just buy it because they are Nine Inch Nails fans. That being said, it might sell 100K copies in the first week followed by a sharp decline then pick up as the word got out.
I am only making these assumptions because I can. I thought it was interesting to look at the idea of celebrity produced games, but actually give it to a celebrity that would know what is going on. I also think that this could lead to others branching out and creating interesting pieces but someone with a name that brings artistic integrity would have to step forward first.
