Though we’ve yet to hear of 4 Men With Beards reissuing Shaquille O’Neal’s poorly regarded hip hop recordings, nor has the Criterion Collection announced a blu-ray disc of “Steel”, video game publishers Hiptic Games have unveiled a sequel to Shaq’s 1994 fighting title, “Shaq Fu” (above). The scoop on “Shaq Down” comes via Yahoo Games’ Chris Morris (link swiped from Ball Don’t Lie’s Dan Devine) :
“When we were working on the game, we codenamed it Shaq Fu 2,” Long Vo, cofounder and creative director of developer Hiptic, tells VentureBeat. “This game is set in a postapocalyptic world where Shaq has become a legend, and it’s up to him to save humanity from mutant zombies.”
That’s right. The Big Survivor.
As you might have guessed, O’Neal has a sense of humor about his gaming legacy, having told the developers to “have fun with it.” And it looks like they did. In addition to bringing the pain to legions of undead jerks, Shaq will team up with a variety of allies, including three-time world wrestling champ Lee Kemp.
Ahem, “Steel.” The Big Baryshnikov played a metallurgist in that one, naturally.
I know, typecasting!