Pixel Addictions: Best Thing You've Heard All Week

Okay, so we all know that Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time is one of the best games ever made. Doubt as may, Hip Hop is also one of the most popular forms of music today. So in the rare instances when these two worlds collide, its pretty much gives us a visual and audio orgy blowing the mind. Okay, so that was an exaggeration. But, in quite possibly the best thing heard all week, Team Teamwork has created a mash up of tracks from the Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and blended them with lyrics from hip hop giants such as Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Common, Mike Jones, and Snoop, to name a few, and the end result is exactly what you think. AMAZING!

I wish more people would offer fans media like this. Listening to these tracks brings back so many memories of playing Ocarina of Time and bouncing along to these songs on the radio. Download the full album below and enjoy the audio bliss.

Download the full mix tape: Team Teamwork

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The Behemoth Reveals New Trailer

Game developer, The Behemoth has released the trailer for their third game. Details about the new game are scarce, with The Behemoth continuing to say that the game is in very very very very early stages. No price, console, release date, or game details have been announced yet, but from the looks of the trailer, the game looks to include a level of multiplayer, that The Behemoth is known for.

The trailer does say that we should expect a release in the 2010 time frame, but considering the delays with Castle Crashers, I'm putting 2010 in the section of wishful dreaming for now. I just hope that any online play actually works this time around. Check the video for an idea of what to expect from The Crying Block Head Diamond Trading Ga....okay I'll stop. That's how rumors get spread.

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Pixel Addictions Review: Peggle XBLA

Peggle finds a home on the Xbox Live Arcade bringing with it the super powered pachinko-esque, point and shoot gameplay to Xbox 360s. It's insanely addictive, just like the majority of PopCap's lineup of games.

The concept of Peggle is a simple one: shoot balls from a cannon to destroy colored pegs all the while being guided by talking unicorns and skateboarding beavers, ultimately resulting in a screen clearing orgy of points, rainbows, and a feel-good blast of Beethoven. It's all very rewarding work, and the end result never gets old. Peggle features what you'd expect from the an XBLA game, including online multiplayer, voice chat and Achievements, all while retaining its original core gameplay.

I should note that Peggle was originally a cell phone game that was later ported over to the PC. So the question now is, should you catch the extreme fever of Peggle addiction, or should you skip class at the Peggle Institute?

Everything that made the original Peggle so fun and addictive is here in the XBLA release: the peg hitting fun, the crazy Peggle masters, the challenges that test your skills, the over saturated colorful presentation, its all here.

Peggle is fantastic, casual, and relaxing fun. It's also one of the better deals on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Adventure mode alone can take up to six hours or more to complete. Throw in unlockable challenges, master duels, and a solid multiplayer support, and you'll see why Peggle pushes itself into the ultra extreme value zone. For casual fun on the Xbox 360 it's nigh impossible to overlook Peggle. Needless to say, it is the most addictive substance since crack.

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Ali and Tyson Square Off in Fight Night Round 4 Trailer

IGN has uploaded a shiny new gameplay trailer for the recently announced Fight Night Round 4 and it's pretty much full of what anyone would expect, overgrown men beating each other senseless. This time around the cover's boxers showcase the legendary Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, both of whom are featured in the video below, Fight Night Round 4 claims to be even more realistic than any previous fight nights. I just hope they make it super realistic and give players the option to bite opponents ears off.

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Thor and Avengers Movies Get Delayed

Bad news everybody. Latino Review is reporting that the release dates for the highly anticipated 'Thor' and 'The Avengers' movies have been extended by almost a year. Marvel is reporting that the new release date of the multi-character superhero film 'The Avengers' has been pushed back to May 4, 2012 instead of the original July 15, 2011.

'Thor', is also being extended to June 17, 2011, up from July 16, 2010.

"This new schedule strongly sequences Marvel's movie debut dates, big screen character introductions and momentum. It maximizes the visibility of our single character-focused films, leading to the highly anticipated release of the multi-character 'The Avengers' film in 2012," said David Maisel, Chairman, Marvel Studios.

I'm willing to wait as long as it takes for Marvel to film these movies, just so long as they get it right. With the recent release of Watchmen and the upcoming releases of Transformers 2 and X-Men Origins, studios have finally begun to get comic book movies right. It seems that every year these movies get better and better. This is something I'm sure fans won't mind waiting for. After all, we wouldn't want these movies turning out like Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li.

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Pixel Addictions: Flash Game of the Week

What I hope can be a main stay here at Pixel Addictions is Flash Game of the Week. Every week I will feature a new flash game that is sure to keep you addicted for weeks on end. First up is Music Catch 2. It's a beautiful masterpiece with moving music and super addictive game play. Just don't let your boss catch you playing games at work.

Music Catch 2

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New Batman Arkham Asylum Trailer

Remain calm folks! MTV Multiplayer just debuted a brand spanking new trailer for Batman Arkham Asylum. This is definitely a game that's shaping up to be one of this summer's biggest hits. The trailer focuses on Batman’s Invisible Predator stealth combat techniques. I can't wait to drag some poor unsuspecting henchman into oblivion.

MTV Shows

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Is Resident Evil 5 Racist?

In a recent article by the Wall Street Journal, Jamin Brophy-Warren tackles the racial implications that many are claiming to see in Capcom's upcoming shooter, Resident Evil 5. The game's producer Jun Takeuchi recently said, "There is no racial element to it all," and Capcom's Chris Kramer expands on that point, stating to the WSJ that the game adopts an "anti-colonialist" stance. Mr. Kramer is referring to white protagonist Chris Redfield, shooting his way through RE5's African non-zombies, and the imagery it represents with regards to traditional Western colonialism on the continent.

The theme of the article is one of finding out if whether or not the game is racist, rather than starting with a condemnation and then going forward like we've seen so many times in mainstream video game coverage. Jamin speaks to an array of major game developers (including Fallout 3's Todd Howard) and even broaches the topic of racism in American society being perpetuated by a largely Caucasian game industry.

RE5 begins with Chris Redfield walking through an African village that appears uninfected. He sees some men kicking something in a sack. The implication here is that even before the infection, these people are portrayed as bad people. If RE5 were set on another continent and these characters had white skin, no one would give it a second thought. Typical “village full of bad guys” gaming cliché? Possibly, but these characters are black and such an imagery can be perceived to have racist undertones.

Does this image and the fact that the core gameplay has you shooting black men and women make RE5 racist? The answer is going to vary greatly from one person to the next and, perhaps more significantly, from one region to the next.

In Japan, for example, it’s unlikely that the events depicted in Resident Evil 5 will be viewed as racist in any way. Japan and other Asian nations never experienced centuries of racist oppression against blacks.

In Europe and America, where racism continues to be an issue to this day, and where, less than two centuries ago, slavery was legal, the imagery will likely resonate more substantially.

I’ve played the first half of RE5 and through those three chapters gamers spend a good majority of time shooting people with dark skin. There are moments that some will never connect with racism, but some others will definitely see a clear use of racist iconography.

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