Posted on 03/25/2004 7:00:13 PM PST by NYC GOP Chick
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Aerosmith (news - web sites) guitarist Joe Perry has got a hit on his hands -- not a song, but a free online game that features a virtual Perry as a smart-aleck genie.
The game, "Genie Joe and the Axeman," was built to promote the legendary rocker's Boneyard Brew hot sauce, available at http://www.JoePerrysRockYourWorld.com. Traffic to the site has skyrocketed 200% since the game launched earlier this month, said Perry's step-son, Aaron Hirsch, who runs the hot sauce company.
"There's a huge buzz on message boards about Joe rockin' out on a video game," Hirsch said. That's primarily because Perry voiced the genie himself and provided original music for the game.
Perry supplied 45 guitar riffs to be used as special effects, explained Briar Lee Mitchell, who created the game at her Star Mountain Studios.
"It's very eerie to hear the raw music -- he makes his guitar sound like it's laughing," she said.
Mitchell said that 42 different Web sites linked to Perry's site or hers, at www.StarMountainStudios.com, in the first week the game launched.
Mitchell, an artist formerly with Vivendi Universal, first drew Perry as a cartoon genie for a magazine article about the hot sauce, then later pitched a game idea based on the character.
The game has proved so popular that Star Mountain and Perry's Rock Your World company are working on an all-out video game version for multiple platforms.
"It will be a sweeping saga," Mitchell promised. "Like 'Lord of the Rings' with genies. It will take months to play the whole thing."
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