Play Halo 3 with Wanted's James McAvoy

by Dustin Burg { Jun 13th 2008 at 2:00PM }

If you aren't doing too much this Sunday, then you may want to sit yourself down on the sofa, turn on your 360 (as if you weren't going to do that anyway) and play some Halo 3 with Wanted movie star James McAvoy, because he'll be online as part of Xbox.com's Game With Fame. And while sticking spiker grenades in his melon or filling his chest full of pink needles, you may be able to chat it up and talk about how Wanted co-star Angelina Jolie keeps her unnaturally supple lips so plump. Or you could question him about his supposed involvement in The Hobbit. Or you could just play Halo 3 and refrain from badgering him with annoying questions. But that's no fun. We demand our Jolie lip questions be answered!

Tags: bungie, bungie-studios, game-with-fame, gwf, halo-3, wanted, xbox-live

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lewis (GT: StoneRevolver) @ Jun 13th 2008 2:43PM

I'll see how he games :)

Grant @ Jun 13th 2008 3:16PM

Sweet looking movie, but he's barely a B level movie star.
Should have got Angelina!

AoE @ Jun 13th 2008 3:28PM

lol, that's *why* they were able to get him.

Grant @ Jun 13th 2008 3:37PM

Come on, that's implying that A level stars don't play games. I'm sure even the busiest Hollywood stars can take a night off once in a while to play video games.

AoE @ Jun 13th 2008 5:26PM

no, I'm implying that A-level stars probably aren't willing to schill for MS Game With Fame for the amount of money MS is willing to pay out for it. Also I'm willing to bet that game with fame doesn't have a super-huge pr-budget, so getting A-listers to indudlge isn't even a part of the plan... take a look at all the game with fames so far, b-listers, genre stars and bands... no one that commands a super high appearance fee, I am certain.

Really dude, do you think that game-with-fame isn't a staged pr event? Do you think those participating aren't getting paid?! HAH!

Grant @ Jun 13th 2008 6:11PM

i'm not saying it's not a paid PR event, i'm saying that certain celebs probably like video games enough that they don't care that they are being paid, they want to do it because they like video games and want to do something for their fans.

AoE @ Jun 13th 2008 9:12PM

Right, but unless MS runs their business in funny ways, stars aren't hitting them up for game with fame events; MS is approaching their managers/studios, etc. In light of the fact that Wanted is just around the corner, this particular game with fame for example is clearly a promotional tie-in that originated in talks between MS and Universal, I doubt McAvoy was involved until his manager said "Hey, as part of the promotion for Wanted, Universal would like you to do this game with fame event for MS."

If stars are doing anything that involves promotion or banking on their name, they ARE getting paid. Everyone who goes on the late night talk circuits, morning shows, radio programs, you name it... they're paid for each and ever last one of those events, generally (though, thankfully not always) they even get paid to appear at charity events.

And yes, famous people play video games and have xbox live accounts too; they don't need game with fame events to be gamers or enjoy online play; there's a chance that you've even played with someone famous before and not realized it.

As for the "for the fans" stuff? I'm sure somewhere out there there's a star with a good heart. But dude, you should come visit LA sometime. I can tell you from living here that actors tend to be the most shallow, self-involved lot imaginable. Spend a week here and any admiration and awe you have for them will evaporate.

Grant @ Jun 13th 2008 11:07PM

Clearly living in LA has made you bitter and think anyone who's ever graced a screen has their heads up their asses.

Celebs do go after things they are interested in, they aren't just booked for random shit out the wazoo. They aren't their managers pets, the managers work for them and find them things they tell them what they want to do, except in situations such as this where they are facing a major movie release, and then they are a slave to the studio marketing machine.

They certainly didn't become an actors/resses for the money, because the majority of actors can't make a living salary off of it. I'm sure the payment for this gig isn't exactly going to pull anyone away from their next Nike commercial shooting, which pretty much means they are doing it because they're interested in playing with their fans. No one said anything about it being free, i just said they aren't doing it for the menial amount of cash.

I've very familiar with movie tie-ins and marketing and i'm fully aware this is part of the marketing campaign for the movie, but very few of the "Game with Fame" events are tie-ins like this. Most of them are bands/rappers/athletes, which i would almost guarentee you are doing it for the fun of it and just want to play with their fans.