Ice-T is asking for a reboot of Def Jam: Fight For NY, a game in which he was featured as a playable combatant. The famous rapper and Law And Order: Special Victims Unit star has often worn his love of gaming on his sleeve over the years, streaming Let’s Play videos and sharing his thoughts about popular franchises like Call Of Duty, Resident Evil, and Payday. Sometimes publishers like EA even evoke Ice-T while trying to get customers to play their games, leading to some light roasting by the gaming community at large.
In addition to playing video games, Tracy “Ice-T” Marrow has occasionally lent his voice to them, playing street-tough characters like Madd Dogg in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Agent Cain in the lesser-known PC action title Sanity: Aiken's Artifact, and Aaron Griffin in Gears Of War 3. Ice-T has also voiced digital versions of himself in fighting games like UFC: Tapout and Def Jam: Fight For NY - the latter of which was the sequel to 2003’s Def Jam Vendetta. Combining pro wrestling and hip hop, Fight For NY is known for featuring a collection of real-world rappers as combatants in a battle to see who is the toughest fighter in the New York City Underground. Fight For NY was praised at the time of its release for its solid gameplay mechanics and novel roster of musicians from the Def Jam record label, spawning a PSP spin-off titled Def Jam Fight for NY: The Takeover and a 2007 sequel named Def Jam: Icon. However, the series has remained relatively quiet since then.
Ice-T hopes this will change soon, as he recently took to Twitter to remanence about Def Jam: Fight For NY and ask for a reboot. To illustrate his point, Ice-T included an old advertisement for Fight For NY featuring the game’s version of him alongside the rest of the Crows Crew - the criminal organization Ice-T fought under in Def Jam: Fight For NY’s story alongside Snoop Dog, Xzibit, Lil’ Flip, Sean Paul, Slick Rick, and Busta Rhymes under the persona of Magic. Twitter users have responded well to Ice-T’s suggestion for a new Def Jam game, waxing nostalgic about the original Fight For NY and even recommending Griselda or Mach to serve as the game’s final boss.
Def Jam has previously hinted at a new fighting game off and on over the past few years, with a cryptic social media post promising to make a “special announcement” if it gained a million likes – though this ultimately didn’t amount to anything. Last May, former Def Jam Recordings president Kevin Liles asked fans on Instagram if they would like to see a new Def Jam fighting game, as well as an excerpt from an article pointing out the large demand for such a project. However, publisher EA has yet to make any formal announcement regarding a new Def Jam sequel or reboot – though it has teased the prospect with fan polls in the years since the last Def Jam fighting game.
These polls have indicated that fans are still hoping for a new Def Jam: Fight For NY sequel since the original took the gaming world by storm back in 2004, and it looks like even Ice-T is ready to step into the arena once more. With a new wave of wrestling games from official promotions like WWE and AEW on the horizon, the timing could be just right for a brand-new showdown between some of the toughest rappers in the industry in a Def Jam: Fight For NY reboot.
Source: Ice-T/Twitter