When we thought of this it was a new idea. A bad idea, but a new idea. Since then it's been everywhere, from our forums to... well, I don't know, I didn't exactly do research. Colin McRae Rally has been one of the definitive rally games for a long time, matched for fan favourites by only Brett's one true love, Sega Rally. Colin McRae proved something that the world had never realised before. You can name a game after a guy, and not have it suck.

It's always a dubious thing when a game's title includes the name of someone famous. Is this just a dodgy half-assed game trading on someone's good name to cover its inadequacies? Or is it so good that they endorse it 100% and used their in-depth knowledge of the field or industry to make it excel?

It's especially odd when you don't even know the "famous name" at all. I mean… take a look at American McGee's Alice. Who the hell is American McGee? Is American his real name? Because that's a big call. THE American. OK, so I look...

When we thought of this it was a new idea. A bad idea, but a new idea. Since then it's been everywhere, from our forums to... well, I don't know, I didn't exactly do research. Colin McRae Rally has been one of the definitive rally games for a long time, matched for fan favourites by only Brett's one true love, Sega Rally. Colin McRae proved something that the world had never realised before. You can name a game after a guy, and not have it suck.

It's always a dubious thing when a game's title includes the name of someone famous. Is this just a dodgy half-assed game trading on someone's good name to cover its inadequacies? Or is it so good that they endorse it 100% and used their in-depth knowledge of the field or industry to make it excel?

It's especially odd when you don't even know the "famous name" at all. I mean… take a look at American McGee's Alice. Who the hell is American McGee? Is American his real name? Because that's a big call. THE American. OK, so I looked into it and his real name actually IS American. His mother was a hippy. But what made him famous enough to put his name there like it's a big selling point. Alice, what's that about? Oh! American McGee's Alice! Well, if A McG is responsible I'm all for it! Let's buy seven! And what about Clive Barker's Undying? Should I know? I mean, he's just some random horror writer, why do they think that makes me care about his game? As a point of interest there was a Stephen King game made in 2000 or so, called Stephen King's F13. Possibly the worst name for a game. The game, by the way, was utter shit.

It's actually not too bad when a games developer becomes a big enough name to be a seller in themselves. Though admittedly it seems like it's only megalomaniacal guys with strange names (like American) that actually do it. The ones that get big enough to be respected either shut up and keep their name off it. (Warren Spector, Miyamoto Shigeru, Richard Garriot, Kojima Hideo, John Carmack, or Will Wright jump to mind.) There are a few, though, that put their name to their game without having to plaster it all over the front, and I'm OK with that. Sid Meier's Civilisation being an excellent example of that one. I'm not quite sure who Sid Meier is, but I DO know he did Civilization, and that's all I needed.

That seems to be a good guide. If the game can stand on its own merits, and you don't have to say the developer's name as part of the game, then you've got some hope. Relatively few of the "names" in games are actually developers, of course. Most of them are random celebrities or sports people brought in to sell a game or give it credibility.

If you're going to talk about that the first to come to mind is Madden. As a good Aussie boy I had really no idea who John Madden was. I thought it was strange that he looked different every year, and then one year noticed that he was black all of a sudden. Then white. It never occurred to me that Madden was a commentator and the guy on the front wasn't Madden. One of the strangest things about Madden is that since 2006 the game doesn't even have Madden in it. It's just a name on the box. It could say "Vin Diesel" for all the relevance.

The other ones that are really obvious are Colin McRae Rally, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Tony Hawk Pro Skater (am I the only one who'd play Bob Hawke Pro Skater? That would rock) and its offshoot Dave Mirra BMX, along with lesser known titles like Kelly Slater Pro Surfer and David Beckham Soccer. It seems that if you have someone famous in the name you don't have to give it a good name. Take those proper names out and you have "Rally", "PGA Tour", "Pro Skater", "BMX", "Pro Surfer" and "Soccer" which pretty much sounds like a 10 in 1 cartridge for the Colecovision.

Speaking of Colecovision, the 80s and 90s had some stellar examples. The shining paragon of eponymity in games would have to be Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Managing the bifecta of being both a movie license game AND a game with just some guys name to sell it ranks it as one of the worst games ever. At least if you could molest the children when you save the the game would have some point to it.

Unfortunately even Michael Jackson's good name couldn't make a game as bad as Aerosmith. Revolution X, a light gun game from the mid 90s has been brilliantly described as "biblically horrific". Granted it doesn't use their name, so it's a bit of a stretch, but any game that features the player using a gun that shoots CDs to free Aerosmith deserves everything it gets. Aerosmith bring to mind two questions for me. How did they have a career? And how the hell did Liv Tyler get so hot? It's like those gigantic Quarter Pounder patties Steve Tyler has for lips somehow were morphed into pure sex. If there's ever been proof of God it's that the genes of Steve Tyler somehow created Liv Tyler. A loving and kind hand had to be at work there.

You can't really blame these guys, though, for cashing in. When a company has an engine that they need a name to make a game for I'm sure they bring a truckload of money to the door with them. The trick is to look beyond the name, beyond the face, to the game below and objectively decide whether it's worth it.

The funny thing is that some of the games that should have been made with a particular headliner never were. Mother Theresa's Halo would have been idea. OJ Simpson's Manhunt. Stevie Wonder's Eternal Darkness. George Bush's God of War. So many possibilities, feel free to make your own!