Maybe it’s the fact that we have an affinity for music games around here. Maybe it’s because two of our review crew are former disc jockeys. Maybe it’s just because it is a damn good game. Whatever the reason, we’ve been big fans of DJ Hero since its release late last year. Between a 9.0 review score and awarding it “Best Music Game of 2009″ along with Beatles: Rock Band, DJ Hero has earned itself a place in our hearts and on our gaming shelves.

Lucky for us (and for you), yesterday Activision announced a downloadable three pack of mashups for DJ Hero featuring the headline artists of the game’s Renegade Edition, Jay-Z and Eminem. Coming on first to the XBox 360, the three pack will include:

“Can I Get A…” by Jay-Z / “Lose Yourself” by Eminem (Shown Below)

“Shake That” by Eminem / “Show Me What You Got” by Jay-Z

“Without Me” by Eminem / “Encore” by Jay-Z

The XBox download will cost 640 Microsoft points ($8.00) on March 18th.
PlayStation 3 will be receiving the pack at $7.99 on March 25th.
Wii will have all three songs as downloadable singles for 300 Nintendo Points ($3.00) each on March 25th.

Take a look at “Can I Get A…”/”Lose Yourself” from the upcoming pack after the jump and keep it here for more news on the game as it breaks!

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In the first half of The Best Video Games of 2009, we saw Best Portable, Wii, Playstation 3 and XBox 360 Exclusive titles. Now things are ramping up on the way to the Game of the Year.

Best Music Game

Tie – The Beatles: Rock Band and DJ Hero

The Rock Band / Guitar Hero formula has been done to death at this point. Players play songs in a set list to unlock more music. Repeat as many times as needed until all songs have been unlocked. But it was 2009 that the music game genre took two big steps forward. As loved as Metallica is, their Guitar Hero installment couldn’t hold a candle to the weight of the legacy that the Beatles would bring with them in The Beatles: Rock Band. For the first time, there was a career spanning take on the legendary act with amazing and unique visuals attuned to the songs being played out.

With the addition of harmonies for the first time in any music game, The Beatles: Rock Band stepped up the feel of being in a full band to another level. Along with the unrivaled set list that only the Beatles could produce, the game has a shelf life that can outlast the pop-centric songs of current game releases.

A little over a month later, music gaming took another leap but this time into the unknown. Many people grow up hoping to become famous musicians at one point in their life but nowhere near as many look to become famous DJs. DJ Hero from Activision brought in masters of turntablism with the likes of the original hip-hop DJ Grand Master Flash to DJ Jazzy Jeff to electronica legends Daft Punk in the ultimate mashup collection.

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This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt are joined on this milestone episode by comic and video game expert John Carle and, as usual, dive into a whole bunch of new topics. This time around the guys discuss Joss Whedon’s bid to buy the Terminator franchise, XBox’s new Live Rewards program, the epic Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band war, Best Buy’s foray into video on demand and the merits of various Michael Caine movies.

Of course, the guys also made some more great pics this week including John’s pick of the great new demo for Left for Dead 2, Matt’s pick of a very special episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold and Chris’ pick of the 1992 Oliver Stone movie Natural Born Killers.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.

Thanks for listening.

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Podcast: Download (90.2MB)

XBox 360 – Activision – 119.99 (Standard Edition), 199.99 (Renegade Edition)

Score: 9.0

“Holy addictive gameplay Batman!” That’s the first thing that comes to mind after sitting down with DJ Hero for just a few minutes. For those who haven’t been following our DJ Hero coverage here on the Flickcast thus far, is an extension of the Activision Hero franchise that started with Guitar Hero and also now includes Band Hero.

Taking a step back from the full band four player party experience, DJ Hero focuses on the single player experience with little hints of two player action. DJ Hero also comes with a steeper learning curve than the guitar focused games and isn’t going to be the kind of thing someone can hand to an uncoordinated friend and expect them to quickly pick up and play.

Gameplay:

Like Guitar Hero, DJ Hero couldn’t come in to existence without a custom made peripheral to play it. (Well it could, but then it’d be no different from Boom, Boom Rocket for XBLA) Enter the DJ Hero Turntable. Unlike a classic DJ turntable, this one already has a “record” attached with three buttons built in to it.

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As you have seen, we’ve been closely following the release of DJ Hero, the next step in rhythm gaming from Activision. Today is no exception as the company has now released the full 93 song set list for the game. While all club styled mixes, remixes and mashups, DJ Hero boasts one of the most varied collection of artists in any Hero franchise release.

With everything from the Jackson 5 to 2Pac, Daft Punk to Queen and everything in between, that variety of DJ Hero’s playlist is unmatched, as long as you like mashups and remixes. If you are a musical purist to the extreme, this game isn’t really what you’d be looking for.

In addition, the game will feature 10 tracks where players can plug in their Guitar Hero guitar and play alongside their friend on the DJ Hero turntable for a true real time rock / dance mashup. But the track we are most excited to try out… Vanilla Ice “Ice Ice Baby” vs. MC Hammer “You Can’t Touch This” which brings together the two most famous “hip hop” acts from our youth and combines two of the catchiest songs of the early nineties.

Click through to check out the full set list.

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We’ve got a new intro cinematic video to share with you today showcasing the cool upcoming DJ Hero game from our friends at Activision. I’m going to go out on a limb right now and say this game, based on all the stuff we’ve seen so far and the caliber of artists involved, could end up being as big as Guitar Hero.

I know, that may sound crazy, but this game seems to have what it takes to succeed with its innovative design and new turntable controller. Plus, its got some great music from artists like Jay-Z, Eminem, Daft Punk, The Scratch Peverts, Grand Master Flash and DJ AM which only enhances its potential awesomeness.

I guess the jury is still out but I, for one, can’t wait to get my hands on the game. DJ Hero and DJ Hero Renegade Edition ship to North America on October 27th for Xbox 360, Wii, PS3 and PS2. Until then, be sure to check out the video of this cool into cinematic after the jump.

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We’ve been following the game DJ Hero for some time now and are definitely looking forward to its release. As fans of other games like this, including the original Guitar Hero, Rock Band and the recent Beatles Rock Band which, yes, we purchased with all the extras, these games have certainly become a mainstay of our popular culture. Now, the wait is almost over as you can finally pre-order this must-have game right now from your favorite retailer.

But wait, there’s more. Not only can you now order the game, if you do you can get some extra cool stuff as well, depending upon where you order from. Want to know more? Of course you do.

Fortunately, the folks at Activision have provided all the info you could ever need right here in this handy press release.

Be the first to order the DJ Hero Renegade Edition Featuring JAY-Z and EMINEM and DJ Hero by heading to the following URL: http://www.djhero.com/buy. Those who pre-order DJ Hero from the below retailers will receive the following bonus items:

Amazon.com – Pre-order DJ Hero and DJ Hero Renegade Edition from Amazon.com and get a $5 credit towards the music tracks that inspired the music for the game

Best Buy – Pre-order DJ Hero from Best Buy and receive a free code that unlocks a Daft Punk level

GameStop – Pre-order DJ Hero and DJ Hero Renegade Edition and receive two free playable song downloads

Guitar Hero Store – Pre-order DJ Hero and DJ Hero Renegade Edition and receive free two-day shipping

Hollywood/GameCrazy – Pre-order DJ Hero and receive an exclusive turntable slipmat

Walmart.com – Pre-order DJ Hero at Wal-Mart.com and receive a $10 electronic gift card

DJ Hero and DJ Hero Renegade Edition ship to major retail outlets across North America on October 27th for Xbox 360, Wii, PS3 and PS2.

With the epic battle between Guitar Hero and Rock Band waging on these past few months, the fans have only been caught in the crossfire of awesomeness. First, fans get to take a swing at metal with Guitar Hero: Metallica, then Rock Band retaliated with their Beatles expansion last week. Now it looks like the Heroes are swapping a guitar for a turntable in DJ Hero.

We’ve had quite a bit of news surrounding this fresh new game, and we’re all pretty excited about it’s release. We’re now getting word that the legendary techno funk band Daft Punk will play a pretty big part in the game as one of the playable DJ’s and even a handful of their songs.

Check out the newest trailer featuring Daft Punk and their songs included in the game after the jump. Don’t forget to grab DJ Hero in stores on October 27.

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Our friends at Activision have dropped a couple more cool videos from the upcoming game DJ Hero on us and we’ve decided, since you’ve been so good lately, to share them with you. These new ones showcase more of the fun that can be had when playing the upcoming DJ Hero game and feature an appearance from one of the greatest entertainers of all time: Grandmaster Flash.

The other video is more “educational” and, well, tries to teach you a little something about the game. As we’ve previously shown you, this game looks very cool and, unfortunately for someone like myself still mastering Guitar Hero, complicated but definitely worth playing.  DJ Hero let’s you “scratch and mix the hottest hits” and comes to all next gen consoles on later this year.

Check them both of the new videos after the jump.

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The impressive crew of turntable legends bringing mixes to Activision’s DJ Hero continues to grow. PR Newswire announced today The Scratch Perverts and DJ Yoda will be joining the list of contributors to the game, which includes DJ Shadow, DJ AM, DJ Z-Trip and Daft Punk. The Scratch Perverts have spun five mixes including M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” while DJ Yoda has created two mixes that will appear on-disc when DJ Hero drops this Fall.

Expanding upon the revolutionary easy to pick up/challenging to master gameplay mechanics found in Guitar Hero, DJ Hero delivers an all-new interactive music experience that allows players to experience and hear music in an all-new way. With over 100 individual songs, highlighted in 93 unique never-before-released mixes that blend genres of music, including hip-hop, pop, rock and dance, DJ Hero delivers the most diverse and international collection of music ever assembled in a music game.

Created exclusively for DJ Hero, the turntable controller allows fans to utilize various techniques including scratching, blending, cross fading and sampling, while leaving room for creative expression with a variety of effects and player chosen samples and scratches.

DJ Hero will be available on October 27. Until then, check out this video of DJ Yoda doing his thing after the break.

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