Are the blatant rockist tendencies of Guitar Hero and Rock Band ruining your enjoyment of those otherwise brilliant titles? Of course they are -- we noted your b-boy flava from two blocks away. But don't sweat it because Genius Products, 7 Studios and Quincy Jones III have your niche in their sights and will happily sell you Scratch: The Ultimate DJ when it hits the stores sometime in Spring 2009. With a game controller designed by Numark (known worldwide for its DJ controllers -- there's an example for you after the break), the game will be available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and feature tracks by "many" (as yet unnamed) hip-hop artists. Trevor Drinkwater, President and CEO of Genius Products promises all and sundry "a cutting-edge game that captures the vital energy of hip-hop culture." And here we thought they were cynically jumping on the Guitar Hero bandwagon! We stand corrected.

DJ MoCAP, master of time and white space, has developed a camera-based controller for the TRAKTOR Scratch DJ System. Just sketch the deck onto a piece of white paper and turn any high contrast surface into a mixing table. There seems to be a bit of latency but overall the system looks fairly responsive. Why? Why not, we say. Video demonstration after the break.

[Thanks, Brian]

Not like we haven't seen Nintendo's DS used as a music maker before, but this variant may be the most amazing to date. yarglaaaafr's ProteinDS application is currently in demo mode, but judging by the demonstrative video waiting after the break, it's remarkably solid as-is. C'mon, it's a tool that enables users to scratch up tunes via the handheld's built-in touchscreen -- how could Mario not approve?

[Via BoingBoing]

So far the Xbox 360 has had its fair share of hardware problems, both large and small, and while Microsoft has dealt with most of these challenges by extending warranties and offering up free fixes, it usually takes its own sweet time to come around, which seems to be the case here. After completely ignoring a minor public outcry over what appeared to be a problem with a decent number of the 360s produced in December 2006 -- where a missing part in the drive caused the Xbox to scratch the disc it was reading -- Microsoft is finally confessing that there might actually be a problem and promising to look into it. This statement comes after Dutch TV show "Kassa" gave the movement some PR and ran its own tests on the 360, proving it to be the scratching culprit. Microsoft's still pretty wishy-washy about the whole thing: "We are not able to respond in detail on the results. It is possible that scratches on discs originate from frequent use. However, we have no indication that the results of the tests from Kassa are a large scale problem." But at least now Microsoft is willing to hear out customer complaints on the matter, and recommends that affected users contact support to deal with the issue. We're not quite sure what kind of pyrotechnics it'll take for Microsoft to actually run its own tests on these things, but at least things are moving in the right direction.

[Via gadgetzone.nl]

Update: Microsoft hit us with its actual statement on the matter, since a bit of the meaning got lost in translation. The truth is a bit more encouraging: "Due to the fact that we did not participate in the experiment done by Kassa and have little insight into the methodology that was used, we cannot comment specifically on the outcome. While we are aware that discs can potentially be scratched through normal wear and tear, we have not received any widespread reports of the issue highlighted here. There are millions of Xbox consoles in use today and we know that the majority of our customers are having a great gaming experience. That said, it is important to us that all of our customers have the best gaming experiences possible, and these claims are obviously very concerning to us. We encourage any Xbox customer who believes that their discs have been scratched in the same manner as identified by KASSA, to contact us at www.xbox.com/supportor 1-800-4-MY-XBOX for additional information. We will examine the console and make appropriate repairs if necessary in order to restore the console to full working order, as well as provide customers with information on how to obtain replacement discs should they need them."

If it's audio related, and can in any way, shape, or form be associated with Apple's gem, it will be. Consequently, we've even seen the turntables so adored by DJs everywhere taken to the white side, bringing us everything from Numark's duo of offerings to some alternatives that we'd probably shy away from. Hitting the low-end level once again is the iPod DJ Mixing Studio, a halfway decent looking creation that connects to an iPod (or any other DAP, to be fair), and allows you to "create your own digital mixing effects." For those into experimenting rather than buying pre-packaged remixes, you can utilize the scratch, "digi-sound," and voice mods via the two rotating discs. You can also toss in background rhythms and drumrolls as well as adjusting the volume and tempo. Per usual, the device can be attached to your Mac or PC for recording purposes, but we're a little wary of how sophisticated this gizmo really is considering the $39.95 pricetag and "four AA battery" operation.

[Via BookOfJoe]