Judging from IGN's interview with 4mm and Def Jam reps, the game will speak "directly to the hip hop consumer base," will contain music from artists outside the Def Jam stable and will cover the last 30 years of the musical form. It will also contain elements beyond just getting on the USB mic and bustin' some dope-azz rhymes. According to Nicholas Perrett, CEO of 4mm:
"What you'll see when you come to E3 is really a number of things that we think are new and innovative and will make the experience of rapping a song fun. And we'll also give you things to do once you've finished singing a song. And this just goes right to the heart of 4mm and the types of games we want to make, games that live long beyond the box. That actually allow us to create a community that does go on for a very, very long period, almost MMO-esque, if you like. That has a long tail of many, many years because we're going to give it features that encourage people to keep playing the game both on the console and keep interacting with a game-like experience on the web."
Interesting, if not exactly revelatory -- look for more info about this game during G4's coverage of E3 next week.
My prediction is that, obviously, positive reaction to this game will coorelate perfectly with consumers' desire to be a rap star. The fact that it's coming from a company made up of ex-Rockstar employees implies that at least the people behind the game have experience bringing an urban vibe to video games...but, personally, I think when a CEO of a corporations starts referring to the subculture that surrounds rap as "the hip hop consumer base," it's funny, but a little sad, too. Like this is a game idea that came up in a board room in order to exploit a market, as opposed to coming straight from the heart, like good hip-hop.
What do you think? Do you want to be a rap superstar...or at least play a game about it? Care to speculate as to what the online, MMO-esque features of the game will be like?
Oh, and if you like real hip-hop, check out G4's Webby award winning Freestyle 101.
