Thursday, May 7, 2009

First Pic Of DJ Hero Turntable Controller


Check it out! Activision just released this pic of the interface for its upcoming DJ Hero. Here's a bit of info:

The company's groundbreaking DJ Hero expands Guitar Hero's signature social gaming to all-new consumers with the addition of diverse music genres including hip-hop, R&B, Motown, electronica and dance. Introducing an all-new innovative turntable controller, DJ Hero transforms players into DJs who rule the club scene by creating original mixes of popular songs and music from the world's most exciting artists and DJs.

As someone who DJ's myself, I have a few thoughts. Now obviously we don't know everything there is to know about the controller at this stage; we have a photograph and that's about it. BUT -- looking at the photo, we can make some observations and bring up potential issues to address.

First, where is the cross-fader? Every DJ on earth uses a cross-fader to transition from one song to the next. Second, would it have killed the designers at Activision to include a pitch slider? The pitch slider is used to speed-up or slow-down the speed of the record and makes it possible to "beat match." Good god almighty, did Activision not bother to consult with any real-world DJs when they were designing this thing... like maybe Paul Oakenfold or Tiesto maybe...?

Here's a hypothetical. Maybe Activision is selling the DJ Hero turntable controller solo. That way, the consumer can decide whether or not to purchase two of them and link them together. And maybe the company will also offer a mixer interface (also sold separately), since not everyone may be willing to shell out extra cash for the full-tilt experience. Who knows?

In any event, you can read the full press release here.

Thanks to Gizmodo


1 comment:

  1. They did consult one of the BEST djs out there... DJ Shadow:

    http://bit.ly/1bbRG6

    How about doing a little more research (aka more than one website) before you write an article blasting the game. The picture of the controller is clearly a rendered pic, so who knows if the final product will include a crossfader or pitch control. I would think that DJ Shadow would at least set them straight on the crossfader! I doubt they will focus on beat-matching (which, as you know, takes YEARS to master) and will prolly let you throw the song using a button, speed it up or slow it down with a button (shifting beats to match the measures up) then move onto basic scratching and turntablism. It's just a rhythm game, if you want to MIMIC the real thing, go buy Virtual DJ...

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