Gaming at the Oscars

Once considered the entertainment industry's whipping boy, video games have offered even the greatest of actors a new outlet for their artistic expression -- or at least a quick paycheck. No matter what the motivation, some of the world's most highly-regarded performers have at one point or another applied their thespian chops to our favorite hobby. And occasionally, they've even been good.

So in honor of the upcoming 80th annual Academy Awards, we take a look at ten Oscar-worthy performers and their respective contributions to the art of play. The envelope, please...

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Steven Spielberg

Notable games: Boom Blox; Medal of Honor; The Dig

The blockbuster director better have a sturdy mantle -- with three Oscar wins (and a whopping 12 nominations) to his credit, Spielberg's got about 25 pounds worth of gold-plated britannium to proudly show off. We're not sure where such a busy guy has found the time to dabble in video games, but his support of this burgeoning art form dates all the way back to 1995 LucasArts adventure game The Dig, which bears his writing credit. More recently, Spielberg has teamed up with mega-publisher EA to create Boom Blox, the director's very own Wii puzzle game. And if our preview look is any indication, he might need to clear off more space on the award mantle before all is said and done.

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Peter Jackson

Notable games: Peter Jackson's King Kong; Every game based on his "Lord of the Rings" films; Wingnut Interactive

Video games and Peter Jackson go together like Hobbits and pipe-weed. Having won three Oscars for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," the New Zealander promptly set forth making his adaptation of "King Kong" come to life. The game based on that film performed so well on the Xbox 360 that it moved Microsoft to tap Jackson to take its mega-franchise Halo from the console to the screen. While that plan has been put on indefinite hold, Jackson has teamed with Microsoft to launch game development studio Wingnut Interactive. Three titles have been set in motion thus far, including the episodic Halo: Chronicles. Little is known about the game, but with this acclaimed fantasy man at the helm, it could very well be the one to rule them all.

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Ben Kingsley

Notable games: Ceremony of Innocence

He's a real knight, a fake saint and hands-down one of the greatest actors who's ever lived, so the fact that Ben Kingsley once slummed it with video games is a huge boon to the medium. And while you probably never heard of the 1997 adventure/mystery game Ceremony of Innocence, the voice of 1983's Best Actor winner is right there, clear as day. Inspired by a novel, the game was produced by Peter Gabriel's Real World label and actually won several BAFTA awards. Such high pedigree didn't pay off in brand name recognition, but it's a fair shake better than Sir Ben's other flirtation with games - the role of Vampire King Kagan in Uwe Boll's abysmal big-screen adaptation of the action game Bloodrayne. Even legends make mistakes.

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Louis Gosset, Jr.

Notable games: Half-Life 2; Half-Life 2: Episode 1

From the "How did they pull THAT off?" file comes this gem of a cameo. Louis Gosset Jr.'s undercover video game contributions stand in stark contrast to his aggressive, Academy-Award winning performance as Sergeant Emil Foley in "An Officer and a Gentleman." But even if you played through the whole Half-Life 2 series, chances are you missed him. That's because he was simultaneously everywhere and nowhere, providing the collective voice of the alien Vortigaunts, Gordon Freeman's unlikely allies. He was replaced by another actor in Half-Life 2: Episode 2, but for millions of first-person shooter fans, Gosset is the only alien they'll ever truly trust.

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James Earl Jones

Notable games: Kingdom Hearts II; Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun; Under a Killing Moon; Everything Star Wars

He might be most famous for voicing the world's worst father figure, but Darth Jones actually earned his sole Oscar nomination for his stirring portrayal of boxer Jack Johnson in "The Great White Hope." Over the years, he's also earned a spot as one of gaming's most beloved baritones. In addition to all those Star Wars games, Jones got to play opposite another tough customer (one might even call her 'Punky') when he starred alongside Soleil Moon Frye in the P.I. adventure game Under a Killing Moon, though that was merely an appetizer for his gruff General in the live-action segments of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. Feel bad you missed it? Don't fret - we have a feeling he'll turn up in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed playing you-know-who.

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