For the past few years, we’ve been strumming away at our plastic strum bars, cramping our hands to no end to nail that epic solo. And a little more recently, going animalistic on some rubber pads and screeching out that long vocal note. Well it’s time to shove it aside and throw it down on the turntables, because Activision and Freestyle Games are bringing out DJ Hero. Recently, some details have been spilled. And now here we are.

First things first: you won’t be acting as the sort of DJ seen in groups like Linkin Park or Incubus. Though that could have worked to a certain degree, it would have been incredibly dull at some point. Rather, you are the mix-it-up type of DJ that keeps the club thriving off various mixes. Over 70, to be a little more numerically accurate.

DJ Hero will be featuring a vast number of mixes that span various genres, such as rap, rave and pop. And of course, you won’t be doing this with a standard controller. You’ll be busting out on a turntable peripheral that the game will ship with.

The turntable features the ever standard green, red and blue buttons, but the similarities to the way Guitar Hero is control ends there. The buttons sit on the inner part of the platter (or, disc), in green, red, blue order. Connected to the base of this section is a detachable other half, which features an effects dial, euphoria button, crossfader, and a hidden set of d-pad and face buttons. Why detachable? Because not all DJs are right handed, so the lefties are getting some love.

On screen, you have the colors coming at you, all of which you have to try to match. Seemingly easy, with only three buttons to hit, but you have to work in the crossfader. When in the middle, the two tracks being mixed will play evenly. But indicators on the screen will tell you to move the crossfader to the left or right, pushing one track to the forefront.

You’ll also have two meters going. The first of which, a blue meter called the euphoria bar, will act as your Star Power and be activated with the euphoria button. On the other side of the screen will be your rewind meter. This brings in the renowned scratching element. Depending on how much is in your meter, you will be able to throw the track back to a particular section or even the beginning. There’s no way they could have kept the scratching element from a DJ game, right? Heads would have been called for.

The tracks you’ll be spinning have been mixed by a team of internationally known DJs compiled by Freestyle. Most names have been kept behind closed doors, but fans of DJ Shadow, one of the more prominent DJs, will be pleased to see that he has had quite a hand in development. In fact, he has provided a few brand new mixes that include artists such as David Bowie, Nirvana, Rick James and Gorillaz. Blondie, Beastie Boys, Beck and Billy Squire have also been confirmed. And going off the recently released trailer featuring a mix of Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl,” we’ll make a safe guess that it may make its way into the game.

So there you have a quick look into one of the latest music games. DJ Hero is due out this fall for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and Wii; a specific date has yet to be announced. Of course, and like always, keep it locked here for any updates.

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About This Author: Alex Quevedo

I have been writing about games since 2007. Graduated St. John's University in 2009 with a bachelor's in journalism. I also like me some sports.

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