Co-founded by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons in the 1980s, Def Jam Recordings is one of Hip Hop’s most iconic imprints. In 2004, EA Games released a video game called Def Jam: Fight For NY that featured characters made in the likeness of Snoop Dogg, Redman, Flavor Flav, Lil Kim, Method Man, Xzibit, Ice-T, Busta Rhymes, Sean Paul and Slick Rick, among others.
Serving as the sequel to Def Jam Vendetta and prequel to Def Jam: Icon, the popular game had 67 playable characters mostly affiliated with the longtime label. On Monday (February 28), Ice-T petitioned for the game to get a 2022 reboot via Twitter.
“Gamer Stuff: The one game they need to ReBoot,” he wrote. “Would be a huge hit all over again.”
Last May, Def Jam Recordings’ former president Kevin Liles took to his Twitter and Instagram pages to ask fans if they thought the Def Jam video game franchise should be revived.
“#itsinthename Thinking I should bring back the series,” Liles asked fans. ”How many of y’all would like to see this happen #DefJamEnterprises let me know.”
According to the May 2021 article, Liles had always been interested in gaming and was well versed in everything from Atari to PlayStation to Xbox. He also explained how the idea for a Def Jam video game came together rather organically.
“We had a lot of Madden wars — we would call them in the office — after work,” he said. “And when the gaming industry started putting music inside of games I was wondering, ‘We’re licensing all these songs to the game company — how come we’re not making games?’
Hip Hop Mogul Kevin Liles Teases Reviving ‘Def Jam Fighting’ Video Game Series
“I sat down with the Electronic Arts — I didn’t go around to a lot of different people — and said, ‘Listen, let’s think of something bigger that we can do together. Why don’t we come up with something that hip-hop will be in and actually bring it to life, and not just make a small game that people will just play for a couple of minutes, but something that people could engage with and actually tell a story and go through the whole process?’”
In August 2020, Def Jam teased a possible return to video games with a tweet saying the public wants another fighting game. The company claimed if their page hit one million followers, it would announce something special for the fans, although nothing ever materialized.
Reboot yes please not all these new trash artists
So very true. Haven’t thought about it having to be a reboot until you reminded me that it would very likely have the new “artists”.
I meant to say that until you reminded me that a sequel would very likely have the new “artists”. My mistake.
I would love for this to get a reboot but I think the original developers are working on AEW’s game. Plus, these rappers would want so much money for their usage.
The first two are classics.
Yes Please YES
I would pay $70 for that today!!
1. Yes. I would definitely favor a new version of the Def Jam fight for New York engine, but this time, make it in multiple cities around the world but I know for the love of hip-hop, with each City having different Superstars, venues, shops to customize your character, and, depending on where you end up, different Final Bosses to fight.
2. Make sure you get Aki/SynSophia to do the fighting engine. That’s got to be Paramount.
3. I know EA pretty much has this franchise, but I what also suggest doing a sort of collaboration with Rockstar, as they’ve been known to put some Heavy Hitters from the underground hip hop scene in their games.
4. Customisation was a big part of what made Def Jam fight for New York so popular. This time around, I will definitely say bring more customization to each individual player, taking not just from the modern era, but from decades in the past as well, and let’s also introduce female customized characters in the mix! And yes, put in Brooke Valentine and the song girl fight, because damn it you just have to.
5. If possible, maybe branch out and do different storylines, that still motivate them to rise to the top in the world of Hip-hop underground fighting, such as paying a debt, or raising money to keep an old neighborhood from being torn down… whatever cause the player takes on, it can lead the the phattest adventure on the streets!
5. NO MICROTRANSACTIONS. I mean this. NONE. The appeal of the Def Jam games came from actually playing the game multiple times in order to raise money so that you could get new gear, get enough experience points to make your fighter more versatile in the ring. Microtransactions are cheap, lazy, and it’s been proven that it’s just not popular, to keep pumping money out of players. Hell, if you want to do that, then do it like World of Warcraft, take it online with online servers who will constantly update. Speaking of which…
6. It ain’t no fun if the homies can’t have none.Online play with the characteristics I mentioned, would absolutely smash. Build your crew, go up against rivals, or go solo. It would also be a good way to interact what fellow fans from around the globe.
7. Keep the different types of matches from fight from New York, because simply put they were a lot of fun. Course, stick to the core element fighting, with destructive environment, items that can be picked up and used as weapons, Etc, however, and this would be good especially if the game was put online, but it could be done offline as well. Put in random conditions. Such as if the fighters were brawling outside, weather, or, if they’re inside somewhere, perhaps a time limit, and throw in some interference, like say if the cops decided to raid the place in the middle of a fight.
8. Of course, bringing in the big names from Def Jam fight for New York and Vendetta might cost, since a lot of these stars have gotten bigger then. However, just as Ice T has proven, getting some star power can help. And just as before, why not step outside of Def Jam, and look up stars such as Ice Cube, Common, Lupe Fiasco, and as I mentioned, bring some stars from the underground hip-hop scene. This would be a good chance to get more exposure for their music as well.
My apologies for the extremely long post, perhaps I’ll do a video on this. But these ideas would be some of the things I would consider for new Def Jam game. Let’s Get It crackin.
What a text block. If we were able to make spaces, we wouldn’t have this problem. But back to the point of your post, some nice ideas, and definitely agree that there should be no microtransactions. Tired of that bs.