Heather in St. Louis appears to be obsessed with playing the ocarina. She's got a hit YouTube channel full of dozens of videos of her playing Zelda songs, along with Donkey Kong songs, Final Fantasy songs, and even a Nelly song. (She manages to have a different ocarina in just about every other one of these videos.)

Plus, she recently launched an album, Echoes of Gerudo Valley. (It's on iTunes.)

Next?

On May 7, she will put on a concert of Zelda music, with some Final Fantasy music mixed in. Fans can choose the playlist at the forums for STLocarina.com. Vote in the forums or simply check out their Ustream on May 7 at 6pm Central (7pm Eastern).

Hulu Plus is coming to Xbox Live tomorrow, so we took a quick look to see if there were any mind-altering changes compared to similar apps like Netflix and the Zune store.

Guess what? There aren't.

Anyone who's used Netflix on Xbox 360 before will feel right at home with the Hulu interface since it's pretty much identical to other Xbox 360 apps, mechanically speaking. Like Netflix, Hulu Plus' menus mimic the menus from the Xbox dashboard. What more can I say? Hulu Plus menus have a black background, while Netflix menus have a red background...

If you were hoping the Hulu Plus would try to one-up Netflix with more extensive Kinect controls, unfortunately you will be disappointed; like Netflix, your Kinect-controlled options are limited to Hulu's 6-8 recommended programs. You can pause, rewind, fast forward, etc using both hand and voice controls.

What will be more disappointing to prospective Hulu-Plussers is the fact that, while you will be getting access to more content overall, many shows available on your browser aren't available via the Xbox app. (Or the PS3, or the iPhone, for that matter.) Many of Hulu's most popular programs are available, but there are some notable exceptions.

Aesthetics aside, Hulu Plus' content will complement the content available via Netflix, especially in the television department. If you were on the fence about ditching cable before, Hulu Plus might tip you over the edge.

Two videos give the first look at Madden NFL 12's gameplay, calling attention to gameplay (above) and presentation details added for this year's game. They don't cover everything. There are three deeper discussions of the game's defensive and collision upgrades and fully customizable playbooks.

The presentation video shows progressive lighting, new broadcast overlays, jazzier pregame cinematics with authentic mascots, introductions, cheerleaders, and Ray Lewis shrieking like a Tusken Raider. The gameplay video touts improved defensive AI, more authentic collisions and player momentum, and greater receiver sideline awareness for tiptoe catches.

A complete discussion of the gameplay can be found here. There are also breakouts on defender awareness and collisions. The focus with collisions is to take the suction-blocking and warping out entirely, something designers hope will lead to more authentic and functional defensive line play. I was also intrigued to see that a new tackle button will implemented.

For those interested in custom playbooks - a long-requested feature - a blurb says you'll be able to modify existing playbooks or create your own from scratch, drawing from 400 offensive or defensive plays from 75 different playbooks. It'll be integrated "with the improved GameFlow system," so there's situational game planning for you to do, too.

Before you run to the comments to demand to know why there aren't any Franchise or Superstar improvements, settle down. Upgrades to both modes will be revealed May 16. You can see the rest of the schedule here.

The makers of the new Tomb Raider have been stripping away any semblance of glamor Lara Croft may have exhibited in previous games. Her next, simply titled Tomb Raider, features a muddier, bloodier Lara simply trying to survive.

The game is the subject of numerous magazine covers this month, all of them appearing to use the artwork below of Lara Croft bandaging herself, brandishing some of her new gear, like her bow and climbing gear. Those previews, in magazines like PlayStation: The Official Magazine, point to more changes in store for the series, like more physics-based puzzles and platforming.

Lara will also be able to exhibit a "survival instinct" that will let her see helpful items in her world, according to early accounts of Tomb Raider previews flooding the Tomb Raider Forums web site. The game is reportedly taking influence from the likes of Half-Life 2, Assassin's Creed and Uncharted for some of its new mechanics, drawing influence from films like Batman Begins and 127 Hours for its themes.

For now, we'll simply take in the new artwork from the Tomb Raider reboot, waiting for more details from Crystal Dynamics.

After nearly two years of testing video game rentals in its ubiquitous crimson movie rental machines, Redbox is ready to take its game national, offering game rentals at more than 21,000 locations nationwide starting June 17.

Redbox began testing video game rentals in its DVD rental kiosks back in August of 2009, slowly adding locations over the past 20 months. I can understand them taking it slow. It's one thing to pack a kiosk full of DVDs and Blu-ray movies. At more than double the full retail price, video games are a much larger gamble.

Now Redbox is done pussyfooting around. Come June 17, those more than 21,000 locations will add $2 a day video game rentals to the $1.50 Blu-rays discs and $1 DVDs. That latest titles for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii will be available for rent shortly after they hit store shelves.

"Redbox will increase consumers' access to video game rentals by leveraging our incredible technology and business model to keep rental prices low for consumers," said Mitch Lowe, president, Redbox. "With more than 21,000 Redbox locations slated to feature video game rentals alongside movies this June, Redbox will be the one-stop shop for entertainment."

So who's ready to stand in line behind the DVD renters at Walmart as they hem and haw over which Fast and Furious movie to rent? I'd rather poke myself in the eye with Vin Diesel.

Can an egg-laying dinosaur without sex organs be gay? IGN's Jack DeVries makes the case that Mario's green dinosaur steed with the prehensile tongue is "dating"-in the strange, largely irrelevant backstory that frames the series-Birdo, the pink, bow-wearing dinosaur first seen in Super Mario Bros. 2.

Birdo, according to official Nintendo lore, is male.

The reception to the article has been largely negative. (I'll spare you the tweets, but it's broadly variations on "Really?") I think people are overreacting a bit, but that the overreaction comes largely from the right place: gamers don't really want to deal with gross characterizations of gay culture. (DeVries' comment about gay folk not getting sports references particularly grates.)

Yet a larger question looms: Why aren't there more gay video game heroes?

I wracked my brain to think of openly gay heroes. Not just gay characters-which while not uncommon, seem to be predominately flamboyant, evil, or giggling lesbian stereotypes—but central protagonists. The only characters that sprang to mind are the heroes of BioWare's role—playing games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, who can be gay depending on what choices the player makes. Better than nothing, certainly, but not the same as a character who is simply gay, no player interaction required. (The case is a little better with supporting characters.)

The explanation could be as simple as why there are few unassailably gay heroes in Hollywood movies: more commercial endeavors than artistic ones, any deviation from the perceived norm that would keep people from spending their money on a game gets sanded away.

Perhaps we shouldn't be so quick to ignore the discovery that DeVries has made about Yoshi and Birdo just because it was presented in such a ham-fisted, lazy way. (Although he's hardly the first to notice that Birdo is queer.)

That one of Nintendo's major characters has openly dated a transgendered character is a hilariously small step, but at least it's in the right direction, especially if Nintendo confirms the official 2003 reference to Birdo ("Catherine" in the Japanese version, but still male) as Yoshi's "boyfriend".

Looks like we're getting a peek at the next Need For Speed a little earlier than publisher EA planned. Details on Need For Speed: The Run appeared on UK retailer ShopTo.net earlier today, a title heretofore unannounced by Electronic Arts. So... what's The Run?

Based on the first trailer for the game, it appears to be a story-focused, cross-country driving affair with players fleeing from the law—often the best part of Need For Speed video games. It appears that players will travel from San Francisco to New York, driving through Las Vegas and Denver along the way. This may be the next NFS title from EA's Black Box studio, as Criterion Games delivered last year's Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit and Slightly Mad Studios just released Shift 2: Unleashed.

Need For Speed: The Run is dated for November 18, 2011 in the above video. Box art from ShopTo's web site indicates the game is coming to, at the very least, Xbox 360 with other platforms likely.

Need For Speed: The Run [ShopTo.net via VG247]

Tiffany Nevin, news editor at GamingAngels.com (we've featured her work before) lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Her neighborhood and much of the rest of the American southeast has been mauled by tornadoes, claiming the lives of more than 200 people. Yesterday, another tornado ripped through her neighborhood. She shot this video an hour after it passed.

Nevin and the rest of her family are ok but are understandably shaken by the disaster. Her husband told the BBC: "It is an unsettling feeling to look out on a skyline you no longer recognize. I am glad that myself, my wife and our two cats survived harm. But I mourn the loss of life, feel sympathy for the injured and wish my city a speedy recovery."

We wish them and the rest of you out there affected by the disaster well. For those who wish to donate relief, contact the American Red Cross.

Ubisoft Reflection's attempt to get the Driver series back on track will hit on August 30, according to a new trailer for the game that's coming to just about every platform imaginable. Want to see what Driver: San Francisco looks like now? Have a look.

Remember, this is the Driver game that has you playing inside the mind of hard drivin' supercop John Tanner, letting players switch cars on the fly during pursuit via its "Shift" mechanic. You can see that in action right here.

Driver: San Francisco takes you to The City this summer on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac, Wii and Nintendo 3DS.

In 2009 Zenonia changed my idea of what an iPhone role-playing game could be. 2010's Zenonia 2: The Lost Memories further refined the series' winning formula. Now Zenonia 3: The Midgard Story arrives, and it looks to big the biggest Zenonia yet.

The third installment of Gamevil's action-RPG sees players adventuring as one of four unique player classes: Sword Knight, Shadow Hunter, Mechanic Launcher, and Nature Shaman. They'll take on 136 quests spread across 227 unique maps as they quest to unravel the secrets of Midgard.

Improvements come by way of an enhanced selection of monsters (more than 200), Hundreds of new pieces of equipment, and the ability to fight with or against your friends in "asynchronous" online multiplayer modes.

If the previous two installments are any indication, Zenonia 3 should offer a hell of a lot of role-playing for a measly $4.99. Besides, can 90 five-star reviews for a newly-released game be wrong? Sure, but it isn't very likely.