The player

Katy Perry is not the first celebrity to grace a videogame, says JOE GRIFFIN

JANUARY IS a silly season for gaming hacks, which makes it the perfect time for EA to announce Katy Perry's involvement in The Sims. She will appear as herself in the mega-selling franchise, starting with a marketing campaign for The Sims 3 Showtime in March.

Perry should fit right in with the optimistic, amusing, innuendo-laced series (below). "I love how you're able to play out different stories through your Sims characters – giving them different careers and watching them succeed," she said. "It's cool to see the Sims' stage performances in The Sims 3 Showtimedecked out just like my tour! I always like to think of myself as a cartoon, and now I'm a Sim!"

Celebrity cameos in games are tricky, as both the celeb and the game’s brand have a lot to gain and lose. Crime simulations offer a plethora of cameos, and they have an interesting inverse coolness ratio.

For example, Phil Collins sings and acts in the 1980s- themed Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Storiesand Burt Reynolds plays the mayor in Saints Row the Third.(The latter is ideal. The Saints Rowgames share some of the anarchy and tackiness of the Smokey and the Banditfilms, albeit with more sex and violence.) And the vaguely cool Snoop Dogg is a playable character in the quite naff True Crime: Streets of LA.

In each of the above cases, the personality fits the game, but that's not always the case. Ricky Gervais in Grand Theft Auto IVwas a rising stand-up expanding his audience, but Gary Coleman as a gun- toting version of himself in the controversy-courting Postal 2was another nail in his career coffin.

Of course, many cameos are done without the person's consent. I highly doubt that the Mikhail Gorbachev cameo in Street Fighter IIwas a real endorsement. If anything, the legendary politician and mediator would've disapproved of the game's bloody international fight tournament.

Likewise, I'm amazed the makers of NBA Jamweren't sued by Bill and Hillary Clinton for using their likeness. That franchise must have some good lawyers; how else could you explain the recent appearances of Sarah Palin and Barack Obama?