Fiddy cent and THQ rumor: The real reason?

Destin went on a little rant about this on Mondays Hard News and it was talked about on the recent Sidescrollers pod cast about the rumor of THQ picking up 50 cent: Blood in the Sand game over games like Ghostbusters and Brutal Legends. The question that was asked:

"Why Blood in the sand?!"

Here is something to think about: Maybe out of those three titles Blood in the Sand is the cheaper title.

Think about it, Ghostbusters is a sure fire hit with the fans of the movies and in a way the cartoon. And it was one of the titles that people were surprised and shocked by. But the bigger news was that

The original cast was writing the story and doing the voices!

But that could make the price for the game sky rocket.

You have four Hollywood actors (granted the only one who is still a big name is Bill Murry) so you know there is a price tag behind using their voices and likeness. Plus depending on the movie studio who owns the rights to the movie may also tack on even more money to the cost since they put up a good amount themselves. This could have been a bit out of THQ's pocketbook.

As for Brutal Legend. The only talent (that I know of so far I haven't read up too much on this game) is Jack Black. Yeah he is a Hollywood actor but not as big a name a Murry so his price tag may not effect the price too much. And the mind behind this game is Tim Schafer and his studio Double Fine. These are the people behind Psychonauts, a game that was on top of almost every game reviewer's best game list. The idea of a quirky hard rock adventure game could get a lot of people excited and get this game...

But then again Psychonauts was a interesting quirky game that didn't sell well. Sure it was fun and some complained about the controls but this got released around the time games like Halo 2 came out, and sadly Psychonauts was lost into the bargain bin of many game stores.

And its this kind of thinking that makes THQ nervous about picking it up. Think of them sitting there looking at Brutal Legends and Blood in the Sand. One is a fantasy adventure game with a lot of nods to classic heavy metal, the other is a shoot'em up game that really needs no plot or real understanding of any odes or music history.

So the gramers win out over something that is could be new and fun.

But I know what your saying now "But wouldn't Blood in the Sand be expensive cause it has 50 cent and G-Unit all over it?"

It could, but riddle me this... when has 50 cent done something that would warrant his price tag to go through the roof? His movie "Get Rich or Die Tryin" barly made a mark in the box offices and from what I remember his last cd took a while to get to number one. Not really knocking 50, his music or his fans or anything but his last game "Bulletproof" was paned but hey if putting his name and face to a game might sell, plus be linked into a future cd release then it could some how work.

So, in a nut shell: Two of the three games have a built in audience that would make money, one is a interesting concept based on classic heavy metal.

Ghostbusters may be too expensive due to Hollywood actors and studios

Brutal Legends may be too quarky and different to risk putting money behind it.

50 cent: Blood in the Sand is the standard run around, shoot "terrorist" and "mercs" with a some what popular rapper and his crew that may get his fans and fans of shooting "terrorist" something to rent while waiting for some decent game to come out.

So yeah. If this rumor is true then THQ is picking a game that will most likely be a soon forgotten action game that will be collecting dust next to the last 50 cent game...

Then again, when was THQ known for making or releasing a good game?