Is there any celebrity out there that would sway your opinion in favor of a certain game or console?

There was an article released recently talking about how John Cena (WWE wrestler for those who don't know.) talked about how he was "floored" by the Nintendo Switch.

That got me thinking (Oh no, no more thinking Ninja!).

Is there any “real” celebrity out there that would sway your opinion in favor of a certain game or console?

Are there any “big name” stars (I’m talking at the A list level.) that are big gamers and actually know what they are talking about?

It seems like these big companies hire whoever they can who has a big fan-base or following and "pimp" them out to say or do things they wouldn't otherwise normally do (I'm not insinuating that Cena doesn't play games but he hardly comes off as an authority on gaming.).

Being a "hardcore" gamer isn't a necessity to being able to relate to or say what you do or don't like when it comes to gaming but I think it is definitely a positive (in addition to what they say having more "weight.").

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There are quite a few that have admitted to be really into WoW, at one point or another. For some reason Henry Cavill comes to my mind, I don't know if I read that somewhere. He straight up missed a call from Snyder telling him he got the Superman part because he was busy raiding.

Vin Diesel is a known DnD geek. The Last Witch Hunter was basically him making a movie out of his own favourite DnD type character.

Honestly I don't know that if any celebrity endorsements would convince me of anything. I would really have to know that they were into it, and not just doing it because a cheque was being waved at them just out of frame. Okay, maybe for Emma Stone I would make an exception.

Absolutely zero because celebrities' jobs are to entertain me for short periods of time, I couldn't care less what they think about anything else or what kind of products they might get paid to endorse. In fact the less I see of celebrities outside of their profession, the better.

This right here. Why would I pay attention to what a celebrity has to say about games or anything else for that matter.

Na, not video games but I do look to them when I have to figure out who to vote for. I'm sorry.

Closest I can think of is Wil Wheaton. But he's not really A-list, and more for the board games, not the video games.

I don't think there is any celebrity that could sway me on something so personal.

Here is my top 10 list of things I care/don't care about so much that celebrities can't touch my opinions:

1. Apple products - I hate em I don't care how many celebrities Apple uses.
2. Coke - I started drinking coke when their commercials were a bunch of dirty not-photogenic hippies singing on hill. I just like the taste of classic coke and Pepsi's better use of celebrities over the past 40 years has not swayed me. Pepsi gets Micheal Jackson, Ray Charles, Madonna and Britney Spears...Coke has bears - coke just tastes better.
3. Video games - I use my system daily, there is no away a celebrity who can sway me from a device or game I like better.
4. Books - I don't think I ever read a book because Oprah told me too, or John Madden, or Clint Eastwood. What you liker from books is to personal.
5. Cars - Fuck your soft leather seats Ricardo Montalbán! I will never buy a Chrysler car. I don't think any vehicles I had, was ever influences by their spokes people.
6. Celtics - I don't care where Jack Nicholson sits, because I ain't rooting for any other team that isn't the Celtics. Who sits on the side lines of a Celtics game...damned if I care...it about the team- good or bad. If Matt Damon was sitting on the sidelines I just say, "Fuck you Matt Damon!" and He'd say, "Well fuck you too"...because that how we greet each other in Boston.
7. Old Spice - Those Isaiah Mustafa and Terry Crews Old Spice commercials are mad funny...but I think Old Spice makes you smell like a 'dad'. Thus I don't wear Old Spice and would not trust any woman who smelled it and said, "This is the guy...he smells like my Daddy" yikes!
8. Axe Products - Do celebrities even spokesperson for Axe? Fuck, I hope not. Axe smells...well, it just smells too much. I don't care what supermodel you could find that said she liked it, because I'd never ever wear it - ever.
9. Jell- O Pudding - I like it...Bill Cosby is a weirdo come to find out, but that's not Jell-Os fault. Cosby is most famous for pudding pops, right? Well, I never had one even when I thought Bill was an "all right" dude.
10. Apple - Oh, I said Apple already...too bad I hate their productions that much. In fact, and tell me I'm wrong in those Justin Long vs John Hodgman commercials didn't you LIKE the PC guy more. He was schlubby and I think Microsoft is pure evil, but even in Apple's own commercials they made the Mac guy, Justin Long, vapid and a bit dumb. Fuck Macs!

@monkeyking1969: This is literally the most "I am from Boston" post I have ever read.

No.

Celebrity culture is an extremely ????? thing to me. I don't give a flying fuck about what celebrities think or do outside their work, and I have no real reason to take their advice or thoughts at face value.

Even celebrities like the bombcrew here.I have very different opinions on games than pretty much all of the giant bomb editors. So even from professionals in this field, who I respect, I won't take a blanket recommendation.

I'll let my opinion be swayed when a solid argument is made, from a person I respect and or trust. Both of which you would have to earn. I don't know any celebrities, and even if I was friends with one, that already invalidates the celebrity <> fan connection, making the entire point worthless.

Randy Savage

Oprah.

My answer is no, but to your point about John Cena playing games I wanted to leave this here. It`s great.

I am not saying I am influenced by what he says (I am not a wrestling guy), but the dude does actually seem to care about video games so I can see some people caring about his opinions if they follow him.

Depends on the definition of celebrity, but no regardless.

Is the celebrity going to play games with me on a regular basis?

No?

Then no.

Drew Scalon - he's a celebrity now right?

Fuck no, I'm not a mark... AJ Styles though maybe...

Sure: I'm willing to take any person's reasoned argument for why they like a game towards checking it out myself. I'm not going to like something because a celebrity said so but I'll at least found out more about it. They're still people, and most people play games in some form today - just because they may or may not be paid to say something at some point doesn't mean I should discount everything celebrities say about video games.

I also don't know what counts as an A-list celebrity but I can certainly say I'm interested in Dara O'Briain's viewpoint on games (his comedy is actually what introduced me to the Metal Gear franchise) as well as Charlie Brooker (though he might be an exception due to previously being a video game critic). James McAvoy would have an interesting perspective since he quit video games after having an addiction problem with Oblivion that hurt one of his acting jobs. Even Kanye West would probably be a great gateway to some weird arty games. These are just a few that popped into my head right now.

For most people, they don't go to gaming focused sites for info. so hearing from celebrities might be the only place they hear about games. With the majority of popular actors being in their later 20's and early 30's, we are finally reaching the point where they would have grown up with gaming being a normal pastime (so more of them would have natural and experienced viewpoints of games). This is extenuated further by acting in video games taking the roles of mo-capped actors over professional voice actors, incentivising actors to know more about games in general as a potential career path.

If Andrew Dice Clay tells me to buy it, I'll buy it.

If Mike Tyson punched down my door, shoved a copy of Superman 64 in my face, and shouted, "Greatest game ever!" I'd probably be convinced.

Macho-Man Randy Savage

No?

Unless they're writing a review in full, I don't care. Why would you

Nopes.

I feel like celebs in commercials work in a sublimal way. Just how a Coke commercial doesn't directly inform you of the product, but creates a clip every now and then to keep the brand awareness alive .

A large majority of the people won't come out and be like: " yeah i care a lot about commercials & celeb endorsements! Those definitely work on me!" Yet when you're standing in the aisle looking for skincream, you might end up with a product that 'will probably do the job' because those commercials are on the TV all the time and Jane Fonda still looks alright.

That said, i doubt the effect works well on people that are very invested in a certain topic. Dr Dre won't sway any audio enthusiasts to buy his beats, and John Cena won't sway any hardcore gamers to buy a Switch. But i can totally see how John Cena's Switch endorsement brings attention to the Switch for the crowd that is not that up to date with gaming. Heck, i'm only aware of this John Cena deal because people were excited enough about it to meme around with that picture and make John Cena invisible. So on some level, people do care about these celebrity deals.

Morgan Freeman and Christopher Walken obviously

I can't think of any celebrities that would influence me. I do like the Clueless Gamer segment on Conan - but the opinions of Conan & Company certainly don't sway me.

There are a few Novelists I enjoy that sometimes touch on games on their blogs, and those are more likely to sway me - Joe Abercrombie being the best example.

@fezrock: though on Tabletop he has promoted some good games and some not so good games, he is definitely not my go to for board game advice.

I wanted an Xbox some what because of Dwayne Johnson back in 2001 so yeah it can work if you target the right demographic.

Now? I can not imagine a celebrity endorsement swaying my opinion.

No, absolutely not. I will say that I like the H.E.B ads the San Antonio Spurs do.

Do video game companies even get celebrities to do direct endorsements? I imagine they think doing something like that now will just backfire, given how paranoid the gaming audience is about 'authenticity'.

They sometimes have celebrities voice characters in games and upload interviews with them about it, but that's generally them talking about the character.

I guess the closest other thing I can think of recently was that insane Battlefield 1 EA celebrity weed+play thing at E3.

And also Terry Crews talking about Overwatch, but I think that comes from his own enthusiasm for it, not from Blizzard. Who knows.

Nope.

I dunno about endorsements or whatever, but I abide by a standing rule that states I must, eventually, watch or listen to anything Patrick Stewart's appeared in. So, if he's in a game, I'll probably play it at some point.

Y'know, I couldn't help but crack a smile watching his enthusiasm over command and conquer. That was great.

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