Activision-owned FreeStyleGames are reportedly hard at work on a sister game to their popular 'Guitar Hero' series. 'DJ Hero' will allow gamers to scratch up their favourite tracks with a special turntable-style controller. Now two years into production, with numerous re-designs of that controller apparently holding things up more than anything else, the game is pencilled in for release next summer.
Obviously, 'Guitar Hero' has been successful partly due to the sheer number of classic rock tracks it allows you to 'play'. In an attempt to induce similar excitement amongst consumers, the makers of 'DJ Hero' have apparently added a soundtrack consisting entirely of mash-ups, which will surely either breathe new life into the flagging mash-up scene or just kill it off altogether. That plan, of course, assumes that any record companies will grant FreeStyleGames permission to use tracks in that form; though given the success and revenue 'Guitar Hero' has delivered various rock bands, record companies might be a little more willing to legitimise mash-ups as an art form this time. Which will probably definitely kill off the scene.
Still, diversifying the 'Guitar Hero' brand would seem like a good idea - especially given the increasingly competitive nature of the pretend-to-play-music gaming space. Electronic Arts' 'Rock Band' has taken a fair share of the market, of course, and Konami, who pretty much invented the whole 'rhythmic game' genre with the 'Guitar Freaks', Drum Mania' and 'Dance Dance Revolution' arcade games, are launching their own console-based title, 'Rock Revolution', next week.