DJ Hero hands-on

Activision's being pretty guarded with DJ Hero at the moment. Not only is it available only behind closed doors at its E3 2009 booth, but even then we weren't able to get our own hands-on time with the game, relegated instead to playing guitar along with someone else on the deck through that Monkey Wrench / Sabotage mashup. We did, however, get a chance to play take it out of the darkly-lit room and get a good feel of its weight and build quality, which we might add is pretty solid. Click on through for our full impressions and a video showing off the DJ vs. guitar mode.

Gallery: DJ Hero hands-on

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The turntable rotates a smooth 360 degrees, and each of the three disc-based buttons have a well-defined texture and provide needed traction. Gameplay features taps and scratches, with single notes requiring a tap, bars requiring holding the button while scratching. There's also a blue bar that moves left or right, indicating where you should have the crossfade slider positioned. Finally, there's a knob that can be used at certain parts of the song actually rewind the track a few bars, letting you nail that sweet, sweet combo again for twice the points. Needless to say, you'll have your hands full here.

Your required directional pad and trigger buttons are hidden elegantly under a panel on top of the mixer (Wii users will actually be able to just slip the remote in here, instead), which we might add is quite glossy and fingerprint friendly. Our southpaw friends will be happy to know that the two sections can separate and you can reattach the turntable to the other side. Of course, none of this matters if the game doesn't kick out the jams, and unlike our time spent with Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, we didn't get to actually play here, so we're gonna have to reserve judgment at least a little longer.

[LondonConsultant @ Jun 4th 2009 10:43AM]

Anything to do with DJ Talent?...

[Idlemind @ Jun 4th 2009 10:57AM]

same as the guitar sims... only manual dexterity required...

[old.news @ Jun 4th 2009 3:15PM]

And also you need to be a complete douche to play. So yeah. Just like Guitar Queero.

[Danny @ Jun 4th 2009 10:47AM]

Incubus, PLEASE!

[suburb @ Jun 4th 2009 11:48AM]

How/why would you want Incubus in a DJ-related game? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some of their music, but their DJ has roughly 0.5% to do with the music they produce. Get some real DJs on there (more Shadow, Z-Trip, A-Trak) and we're talkin'...

[Josh @ Jun 4th 2009 11:50AM]

pardon me?

[shimmy shimmy yah @ Jun 4th 2009 9:44PM]

Dj Jazzy Jeff!

[John @ Jun 4th 2009 10:48AM]

Pretend to be a DJ.

[Idlemind @ Jun 4th 2009 10:57AM]

how many incarnations of this thing are there?? I could swear i've seen like 4 so far...

[ash @ Jun 4th 2009 11:00AM]

Oh great... couple this together with the rest of Guitar Hero / Rock Band and you can pretend to be Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.

I wonder when they'll allow you to use a midi controller and resell it as "Synth Hero."

[Alex @ Jun 4th 2009 2:19PM]

My vote is for keytar hero...on second thought, cowbell hero.

[Blackstar @ Jun 4th 2009 3:08PM]

Or Tambourine Hero, so your girlfriend will have something to play instead of just swaying back and forth...

For the rebel Amish youth there is Cow Hero for those 4 am milkings...

Spatula Hero for those who excel at homemaking...

Masturbation Hero for those without girlfriends....

[old.news @ Jun 4th 2009 3:17PM]

I thought these games WERE for people with no girlfriends...

[Rishard Chapoteau @ Jun 4th 2009 11:11AM]

Noths rue how I feel about this. I want to get my hands on it and try it. Not sure it actually looks fun though.

[Eddy120876 @ Jun 4th 2009 11:21AM]

Looks interesting and don't spoile the surprize Ash. you know the next two version are 1-synth Hero and 2-Groupy heroine or Hero depends what you like..lol

I do wonder is this belt drive or electric. I do hope is beltdrive since is easy to handle compare to electric where you can screw up with the slightest touch

[Agent .25i @ Jun 4th 2009 11:53AM]

Really? You're REALLY wondering this? Do you really think (

[Agent .25i @ Jun 4th 2009 11:55AM]

Oh post fail. No arrows allowed?
Anyway.
Do you really think this has a drive mechanism? Like a real turntable? This is a controller... a game controller. Come on.

[old.news @ Jun 4th 2009 3:18PM]

Dude I wonder how many needles it goes thru in a jam sesh.

[colouroflight @ Jun 4th 2009 11:46AM]

It's like beatmania, only bad!

[Richard @ Jun 4th 2009 12:57PM]

I think it looks like more fun that Beatmania. I almost bought that one when it came to the US, but ended up trying it out a friends house instead. Yuck! Random button mashing was not a good time. I didn't feel like anything I was doing on the controller really synced up with the songs included.

[Eddy120876 @ Jun 4th 2009 12:08PM]

@agent .25i

Look bro I said this because i had tried both turntables..digital and beltdrive, a beltdrive is a system that is easy to get into and is more forgiving since it gives you force feedback digital don't. Also i know is a game controller but replicating a turntable is no easy task. Try a digital one next time you go to a music shop, then you will see why i say i hope they replicate the beltdrive.

[fyre182 @ Jun 4th 2009 12:49PM]

direct drive is better

belt drive = hideous unless you are only trying to listen to music

[ScottishDan @ Jun 5th 2009 1:16AM]

I think you mean direct drive rather than digital, and direct drive turntables crap all over their belt driven counterparts.
Secondly, this is a game controller and as such doesn't have a driven platter

[Taylor @ Jun 14th 2009 12:39AM]

Yeah, I really doubt that the disc platter actually moves while you play.
If it does I'll be super impressed!

[damiaking @ Jun 4th 2009 12:11PM]

wow looks good and theres guitar too wow am getting this fo show

[ray k @ Jun 4th 2009 12:25PM]

sounds... fucking.... awful.

[surly @ Jun 5th 2009 10:28PM]

worst... mix... ever!!!

[djhyro @ Jun 4th 2009 12:42PM]

@Eddy120876

You mean a direct drive turntable.

[Richard @ Jun 4th 2009 12:59PM]

I think it looks good! Want to hear more about the Jay-Z/Eminem version though. Did they mention anything about it Engadget? Or show pics?

[marques williams @ Jun 4th 2009 1:02PM]

could that video get ANY DARKER...holy $hit

[xbubbax @ Jun 4th 2009 1:06PM]

im a real DJ, and a REAL Drummer.......all these wanna be rock games are so off of what the real thing is like.....
this is just another game to buy 3rd party crap to play a crap game.....get over ir and learn how ot play for real.....its worth alot more than speanding the same time diddling a plastic wannabe guitar / turntable / drumset

[Argon @ Jun 4th 2009 1:16PM]

Oh, look a real drummer/dj. Get off your high horse, people want to have fun without needing to spend X amount of time learning an instrument or are we not allowed to do that anymore? Oh, I feel like playing Grand Turismo, I guess I should become a professional race car driver?

[schema @ Jun 4th 2009 1:24PM]

As a real drummer/guitarist/DJ, I love music, and music games, and think maybe you should lay off the arrogance juice.

It's called FUN, give it a try sometime.

[buck @ Jun 4th 2009 1:13PM]

wat about didgeridoo hero eh?

[una @ Jun 4th 2009 1:44PM]

this is totally gay shit.

[Ninbrendo @ Jun 4th 2009 2:03PM]

Your gaydar sucks.

[Dom @ Jun 4th 2009 1:56PM]

Oh dear oh dear. Now *that* is bad.

Next up, "Watching Paint Dry Hero"...

[marco @ Jun 4th 2009 3:15PM]

Hope they will have a Wii version, and some music from DJ Qbert

[kenneth @ Jun 4th 2009 7:05PM]

im a drum&bass and skratch dj. and that shit is so fake its retarted who ever spends the money on this deserves what ever thy got coming too them. all this is doing is turning something that we actually enjoy doing into somethng that used to be cool ( tony hawk im looking at you)

[Zapp @ Jun 4th 2009 9:42PM]

Did they just pick those two songs at random? It's a serious question.

Was the next "mix" Carrie Underwood over Bulls on Parade? Who the hell decided to put Sabotage on top of Monkey Wrench? I just threw up a little in my mouth.

[Zapp @ Jun 4th 2009 10:09PM]

Sorry, I apparently missed the hate-fest from yesterday where this got bashed to death.

Further proof that Activision is run by suits and not artists. Maybe Harmonix will make a musician's version.

[Matt @ Jun 4th 2009 11:33PM]

The knob is an effect knob, actually -- my understanding is there's filters/effects that you can use the knob for to effect one or both tracks. The rewind feature, meanwhile, is used by rotating the turntable itself more than the distance of a scratch (it appears to be the only reason the thing /needs/ to allow 360 degree rotation, as you'll want to rewind by kicking the turntable all the way around, similar to how you would a record were you to want to rewind it).

What you end up with is you'll probably keep your dominant hand's fingers on the turntable buttons, neutrally lined up parallel to the bottom/top and pointed inwards, and shifting slightly up and down to scratch... meanwhile, your non-dominant hand manipulates the crossfader, effects and euphoria (star power) button. What I find unnatural about this is the fact that you'll basically be resting your dominant hand on the turntable /all the time/. In a real setup you'd want to be allowing the record to spin, and you'd "grab" any section of the record to scratch. This is the main problem I have with this controller.

The Numark controller that goes with Scratch:TUDJ has what sounds like a capacitive touch sensor on it's turntable -- meaning your finger *touching* it is an input (a "grab" on the record), plus the rotation for scratching. That setup sounds more like Beatmania progressed to the next logical iteration, honestly. I don't know which is better, though the concept behind Scratch sounds more interesting to me personally.

[Mike @ Jun 5th 2009 10:26AM]

I guess I must be old, because I have no idea who would want this, or why.

[jammerz @ Jun 8th 2009 8:20PM]

why would you put the buttons on top of the dj deck? seems weird and not 2 realistic. i like scratch better