Michael Jackson game well into production

Mike Bantick
Saturday, 11 July 2009 09:16

Your IT - Entertainment

Singer Michael Jackson was a huge fan of video games, appearing personally in many great titles over the years.  Now some details have emerged on a new game that was well into production at the time of the pop artist’s demise.

According to a number of reports, MJJ Productions, Michael Jackson’s own production company had been working hard on a new MJ flavoured video game for several months.

Set for a Christmas 09 release on home consoles, the game was rumoured to feature Jackson’s likeness, voice and smattering of music.

According to a report over at IGN , game designer David Perry (responsible for games such as Earthworm Jim, MDK, Messiah and Enter the Matrix amongst others) had been working with MJJ Productions on the project.

"I was working with Michael on an idea to release a brand new album as a game. It was one of those "big" ideas and would have introduced millions of new players to the video game industry, that was the goal," Perry said.

"He was going to help promote it on a grand scale. We worked on a design and I even brought an industry friend up there to Neverland to help with the work. The timing was terrible however as this was when the 2nd round of allegations happened and everything went to a standstill.”

Perry is confident however, that the project will see the light of day and be released: "I'm really happy to hear there's a game coming, it's sad he won't be able to really promote his love of gaming when it launches." Perry said.

Jackson appeared in a number of video games over the years, with the multiplatform dance/action/adventure Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker being the first and most famous. 

The game hit the arcades, Sega Genesis and Master System in 1990, with the movie of the same name as the basis of games plot and play style.