Michael Jackson: the Video Game

Alright guys, pull out your agenda books, ‘cause you’re definitely gonna want to pencil this one in. On August 22, Michael Jackson will release an online game which can be played via Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo. The game involves mimicking Jackson’s dance moves and pits users of each social networking site against each other. As added incentive, players compete to win prizes like iPod nanos, international plane tickets, a plasma TV, and a Playstation 3.

The game is a promotional ploy to manipulate people into finding MJ even remotely relevant, just in time for the release of his new compilation album, King of Pop, which will be released August 25, and his 50th birthday August 29. What would a Michael Jackson bicentennial birthday party look like? Well one can only imagine. There may be some baby dangling out of open windows, since that’s always a blast. Or maybe it will be a more relaxed affair, involving sipping on Jesus Juice and moonwalking.

Doug Brod, the editor of Spin, was too right when he commented on Jackson recently for a USA Today article called “Still Fabulous at 50: Pop icons Prince, Madonna, and Michael Jackson”:

“No pop star has a more rabid fan base than Jackson, but he has so many strikes against him scandalwise… Like Elvis, he went the craziest, and that’s a story that gets remembered. We don’t know how much the ghost of Elvis would haunt us if his end had not been so ugly and spectacular. The ghost of Michael haunts us while he still walks among us.”

Indeed, Jackson even looks like a taller ghost (or other creepy version) of his younger self. So playing his new game should be a lot like playing Resident Evil: the Pop Version.