Sometimes even obviously brilliant ideas need time to ‘germinate’ and reach their full fruition. Take the Apple Newton, which was arguably the first “real” PDA. It was much maligned for its temperamental text recognition and difficulty to use. Still, a brilliant idea was germinated that went on to inspire a generation of Palm Pilots, Blackberries, Sidekicks and to bring it full circle, the Apple iPhone.

Which brings us to “Def Jam: Fight for New York”. The idea of celebrities, in this case famous rappers, fighting it out in a pro wrestling/Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat type scenario is about as much inspired brilliance as you’ll find anywhere. The seed was planted with the original “Def Jam Vendetta” game, but the new version has upped the ante significantly:

# 40 of the Biggest Hip Hop Artists and Celebrites: Starring and music by the hottest names in hip hop from Def Jam and beyond — look for appearances by Busta Rhymes, Carmen Electra, Fat Joe, Flava Flav, Freeway, Ghostface, Ice T, Joe Budden, Kimora Lee Simmons, Lil’ Kim, Ludacris, Method Man, Redman, Sean Paul, Slick Rick, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, and many more.
# Five Brutal Fighting Styles: Master each fighting style: street fighting, kickboxing, martial arts, wrestling, and submission fighting. Combine up to three styles to create devastating hybrid-styles, complete with new “blazin’ moves” to finish off your opponent.
# 22 Interactive Venues : From destructible environmental objects to rowdy spectators who like to “get involved,” the 22 venues are the ultimate weapon.
# Create-A-Street Fighter: Build your own street-ready fighter and outfit him with thousands of pieces of unlockable licensed gear, tattoos, and even bling from the Jeweler to the stars, Jacob the Jeweler.

So what’s not to like? You’ve got rappers, hybrid fighting and product placement. You can even get ink done and buy some bling.

The only complaint that we have is this: why limit it to hip hop artists? This concept should quickly be expanded to other celebrities in other genres. Who wouldn’t love to watch “The Golden Girls” throw down? How about an “Eight is Enough” vs. “Brady Bunch” gang war? Or even better, how about a “World of Warcraft” type game set in Hollywood where you can lead a group of celebrities into battle against other random celebrities? The possibilities are endless and with the entertainment media struggling to stay relevant in the Internet age this would bring in some much needed revenue.

Here’s a couple of videos of the gameplay, the first some random moves and the second a fight featuring Snoop Dogg (what is Long Beach homie Snoop D-O-Double G doing in NYC anyway?):

Official “Def Jam Fight for New York” website @ EA

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