Fear & Respect goes up in smoke

Game fronted by Snoop Dogg and John Singleton canceled; Midway still plans to work with the pair of stars.

LOS ANGELES--With the recent abundance of urban-themed games flooding retail shelves, it made sense that a publisher would collaborate with two of the entertainment industry's best inner-city yarn spinners. In 2004, Midway Games announced that it had struck a deal with rapper and one-time Dr. Dre protégé Snoop Dogg and Boyz n the Hood director John Singleton.

They agreed to meld minds for Fear & Respect, a gritty tale about youths in South Central, which would be overseen by Singleton and feature the voice and likeness of Snoop. Development on the game was bumpier than a ride in an Impala with hydraulics, as the shooter's status bobbed and weaved, at one time being slated for current-gen consoles and later scheduled exclusively for next-generation systems.

It turns out the game won't be any generation now. Speaking with GameSpot News, Midway CEO David Zucker said, "Fear & Respect is on the back burner. We are still working with Snoop and John Singleton to do a game, but the actual game Fear & Respect is canceled."

The reason for the cancellation isn't clear, but it may be part of Midway's new plan in dealing with crowded genres. "I think we're at a juncture in the video game business. Everyone's talking about it. How many times are you going to give me the 16th iteration of...I'm not even going to talk about the other products," Zucker explained. "The 20th iteration of a driving game isn't going to keep the industry growing."

73 Comments

  • FFzelda005

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:08 pm PT

    Maybe this is for the better.....

  • SnowFarmer

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:12 pm PT

    No kidding, this one had craptacular written all over it.

  • isawthelight

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:12 pm PT

    The game actually never interested me, but I feel a bit sorry for those that were interested.

  • Space_Godzillla

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:14 pm PT

    Any game with a "gangsta" rapper in it will no doubt fail.

  • DreTire

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:15 pm PT

    Midway made a respectable and righteous decision. We just had enough of these urban games.

  • billigloo

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:15 pm PT

    this is a great day for video games crap gets cancelled before it come's out i hope scareface is nexted

  • hydrolite

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:15 pm PT

    7th heck yes!!!. Just what we need another urban themed shooter... come wake me up when GRAW comes out

  • Jharper

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:20 pm PT

    Pwned. No one was going to buy this game anyways.

  • niko44

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:20 pm PT

    Anyone thinks there is a connection between this and a game for the revolution announced( a "new" project)?

  • j14rk1n

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:22 pm PT

    Hah! I new it would go nowhere.

  • Dman4Life1217

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:28 pm PT

    It seemed interesting. The arcticle that Game Informer wrote on it made me interested in it. Especially with the track record of John Singleton's projects in any medium. It could have been that game that authenticated the urban genre from people who've lived that lifestyle such as Snoop and John Singleton the way Getting Up authenticated the urban tagging lifestyle through the vision of Marc Ecko because he lived that lifestyle. Hopefully, this game gets picked back up in some way.

  • ArchieGates

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:39 pm PT

    "How many times are you going to give me the 16th iteration of..." says the Midway guy. To which I'd like to reply, "How's that new Mortal Kombat coming along anyway?"

  • Kuruption84

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:40 pm PT

    Good, money saved.

  • ao_bomber

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:42 pm PT

    We've been spared from the wrath of a crappy game, hooray! =D

  • NeoJedi

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:43 pm PT

    Well, this is for the best... we've seen enough GTA: San Andreas clones.

  • KIELW93

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 4:47 pm PT

    who didn't see this coming? as soon as it got delayed to next-gen systems, I immediatly knew this would happen

  • lordsyn

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 5:00 pm PT

    ArchieGates, I just would like to state that even though the MK games are still coming out at least they redesigned the fighting and changed them enough to keep them fresh. Plus MK was their idea and continues to be their flagship franchise. I think what he was trying to say was to not just copy someone else's idea that has been copied a million times over already. I am happy it was canceled b/c quite frankly it would be just another basura urban game. Hopefully they will try something new and different with John Singleton.

  • akilshohen

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 5:21 pm PT

    the only intresting part about it was John singleton.

  • psgored21

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 5:38 pm PT

    in a gaming world where game producers are praised and coveted, people look down on movie producers who want to bring their vision to a game. For what reasoning? How many games out there are going for that cinematic feel? Why call this crap? probably the same people that thought every GTA that came out after three was going to be crap also. unbelievable. Now if snoop has the a role like Game did in GTA:SA then you all would still pick it up. Just because you feel as if the market is becoming flooded with urban aimed games (that sims nonsense, 25 to life, true crime, bulletproof and others) doesn't mean that the all have no room to become their own game. I hope the utilize the talents of both of them in future projects in a way that they would be happy.

    (the games i used in the example were crap ass and I named them on purpose)

  • jimbo102671

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 5:46 pm PT

    This may be a wise decision as the genre this game falls in is getting overcrowded. Midway is not in the best of financial shape and they probably believed they'd lose money with this game in its current form. 8 to 5, however, that some aspects of this game will appear in whatever Snoop Dogg and Singleton get Midway to push out.

  • thekey

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 5:48 pm PT

    That game didn't look that apealing any way. It was up in smoke when it was first anounced.

  • 0neWingedAngel

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 5:55 pm PT

    I didn't even know about this game O_o Oh well...From the looks of it, it was going to flop like a fish out of water

  • screwup6

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 5:56 pm PT

    Looked stupid to me.

  • rish6085

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 5:56 pm PT

    Thank god someone had the brains to realize the obvious insted of just putting out something to make money. Besides snoop sucks and now he can spend his time with his flip flop gaming league or whatever.

  • Timstuff

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 6:35 pm PT

    Proof that God exists, and that he loves us!

  • Primenova

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 6:42 pm PT

    This coming from the company that keeps putting out Mortal Kombat and Rush games every year. Despite brief lulls in releases, there have been way too many games in these genres, too.

  • FallenAngel

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 7:00 pm PT

    Thank god...the fad of releasing GTA wannabes is finally coming to a close, JUST maybe...

  • trogdorchief01

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 7:16 pm PT

    there are too many games like that already, a cancellation may be a good thing

  • KarthikKane

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 7:54 pm PT

    After seeing how LA Rush bombed Midway would think twice before making a games full of rappers.

  • adroitone

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 8:15 pm PT

    Space_Godzillla
    Any game with a "gangsta" rapper in it will no doubt fail.____Well apparently, Def Jam Vendatta and Fight for NY did fail. They were done good.

  • SonicHurricane

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 8:33 pm PT

    HAHAHHAHA Yes!!!! there is justice in the world. I am so sick of the open ended urban-thug simulator games. This one looked like a total stinker in the first place. Good riddance. No if the 50 cent game sequel gets canned the world will be a somewhat better place.

  • doomsoth

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 9:47 pm PT

    Just crap anyways.

  • jiggster147

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 10:19 pm PT

    Good move

  • KiLLer_ba

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 12:21 am PT

    Good, we dont more washed up GTA clones.

  • CaptainLunchbox

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 1:14 am PT

    thank god. oh thank you god. and thank you Snoop's Gaming League of Godly Celebrity for excluding the little guy.

  • mikekare79

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 2:07 am PT

    Booooooo!!!

  • mikekare79

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 2:08 am PT

    I really wanted this game!!!

  • Orasion_Seiz

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 2:56 am PT

    not my type of game really

  • iammai

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 3:43 am PT

    like they said it "it may be part of Midway's new plan in dealing with crowded genres"
    how ever i' am sorry for that.

  • Reetesh

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 4:59 am PT

    Midway did a Good thing not making games of the same type again(as many are there in the market of ths Type) hope they come up wwith something New and nice

  • Fatality4u

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 6:52 am PT

    Thank the lord, Midway finally saw that this was going to horrible if it was going to go any farther.

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 7:02 am PT

    Well, at least somebody is realizing the over-saturation of certain genres. *cough* shooters *cough*

  • jonnyjd

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 7:37 am PT

    Thank you for cancelling this. Enough is enough.

  • ThePhantomVI

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 8:10 am PT

    Awww, poor Snoop. At least he has his "gaming league" to fall back on....
    (yes, this is sarcasm)

  • Briantb_2008

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 8:15 am PT

    Theres to many games like that so It won't be missed

  • Paul_TheGreat

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 8:48 am PT

    It was crap anyways.

  • gman313

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 10:16 am PT

    Thank god am tired of sterotype games that have african american males in it. Why does a game wit a black man in it have to be about the streets

  • gman313

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 10:17 am PT

    Thank god am tired of sterotype games that have african american males in it. Why does a game wit a black man in it have to be about the streets

  • StillWingless

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 10:26 am PT

    *shrug* not surprising. the hip-hop/street fad in gaming is losing a lot of appeal. it only seems natural that they'd cancel it if it wasn't that good... and it never looked that good.

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