For those of you not glued to your local Gamestops or EB Games stores, I wanted to bring the word from EA about Def Jam: ICON shipping out to retail today.  (available in the UK on March 16)  It’s time to get crunk and lay some smack down to the hip-hop beats!  Use the music to your advantage to strike down your opponent with Def  Jam: ICON’s new ‘Building’s with Bass’ fighting mechanic.

The musically charged environments become alive to the beat, creating hazards that you can use to defeat your opponent. Players can even trigger the beats to set off the hazards at the right time with the game’s unique DJ Controls.  Never before has music become an instrumental part in the actual gameplay of a videogame.  With brand new tracks from hip hop’s greatest, ICON delivers the ultimate soundtrack.

Big Boi, Lil Jon, Ludacris, T.I., and Young Jeezy are just a few names featured on both the soundtrack and in the game.  To keep the music fresh, players can load their own MP3’s into the game version for Xbox 360 and have their favorite beats drive the environment and gameplay.  Become a hip hop icon and build your empire from the ground up in the all-new single-player story mode.  And don’t forget to tune in to Episode #28 with Def Jam: ICON producer, Brian Hayes.