DJ Hero turntable detaches for lefties

By Robert Purchese Published 20 May, 2009

Hidden mixing deck part revealed.

Activision's plastic turntable peripheral for DJ Hero can be detached into two pieces and reassembled for left-handed people.

And we've only seen one half of the peripheral so, according to Raging Gamer scans of a Game Informer preview. Our pictures don't show the mixing deck, which has a Crossfader slider, Euphoria button (star power) and Effects dial. A d-pad and facebuttons are hidden under a flap, too.

Gameplay sounds quite complex. The coloured buttons on the record represent the scrolling on-screen notes, but they slide right and left, which the player must match by fiddling with the Crossfader at the same time. Notes can be held down and the record pulled back or pushed forward to scratch, depending on the on-screen command - an X means you can do either.

Players can use the effects dial during passages highlighted in orange, adding anything from echo to flange to the left and right tracks or the entire mix.

Like Guitar Hero, perfect playing builds Star Power, or Euphoria in this case. But there's also a Rewind meter that takes the track back, just like a real DJs do when Craig David asks them for a rewind.

DJ Hero is out later this year for PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. DJ Shadow has been helping make the game, and he thinks the amount of freedom players will have over licensed music will "raise some eyebrows" across the industry.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (22) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraysor #1 3 years ago

    It'll be nice to play something other than guitar and drums, as well as a completely different genre of music. I just hope they don't make the price ridiculous.

  • Thalanos #2 3 years ago

    The track list, if real, sounds interesting. At least it's not all commercial dance. Very little of it in fact.

  • skillian #3 3 years ago

    Craig David's Rewind? Ooh, topical humour ;)

  • Garulon #4 3 years ago

    Is this the part of the thread where I can moan about a game I'm not going to buy?

  • Domovoi #5 3 years ago

    That, but you'll have to make room for the 'playing other people's music' discussion as well.

  • Ryze #6 3 years ago

    Hmmm... this could be great or AWFUL.

    I'll get the ca$h ready - but it's going on real equipment if it turns out shite.

  • skillian #7 3 years ago

    Don't forget the "why not just just buy real turntables" argument.

  • YoJimbo #8 3 years ago

    yeah but then that could be said for tonnes of stuff "Why not just buy a Guitar, Why not just buy a real Drum Kit" ...for racing games, just buy a real car!!

  • kinky_mong #9 3 years ago

    @Thalanos: I agree. I'm definitely a lot more interested now that tracklisting suggests the game will be much more focussed on mixing different genres together.

  • Fixxxer #10 3 years ago

    It makes me sick that companies pander to these hideous freaks of nature.

  • Reihn #11 3 years ago

    @Fixxer

    It makes me sick that companies pander to these hideous freaks of nature.

    Huh??

  • Fixxxer #12 3 years ago

    Left handers, I mean. Awful people.

  • Pulsar_t #13 3 years ago

    Yes indeed we are awful..

    http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/fam...

  • theiceman #14 3 years ago

    Hey! I'm a southpaw too.
    /Blames the devil

  • Domovoi #15 3 years ago

    It makes me sick that companies pander to these hideous freaks of nature.

    Winner.

  • Reihn #16 3 years ago

    Aaaaah! Now I understand. ; )

    My feeling on the soon to be released DJ games is that they should be really fun . . AND hopefully they'll be very, very close to the real act of mixing vinyl.

    Given the way turntables work, its a very different proposition to the guitar based games. There's no reason that they couldn't be almost exactly the same (in terms of controls/faders/dials) as 'real' DJing on a pair of turntables. Which would be awesome - essentially it'd be a DJ technique trainer, with the 'game' serving as on screen feedback and a tangible reward for your progression in skill. From the peripherals thus far, I'm not really sure if this is how it'll be - but I'm holding out hope!

  • Reihn #17 3 years ago

    Also: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

    Evil, I tell you.
    Edited by Reihn at 20/05/09 @ 22:44

  • skillian #18 3 years ago

    My feeling on the soon to be released DJ games is that they should be really fun . . AND hopefully they'll be very, very close to the real act of mixing vinyl.

    I doubt it. Real turntables don't require pressing 4 coloured buttons stuck on the record ;)

  • Reihn #19 3 years ago

    skillian -

    Yeah . . I agree. Guess I'm just being unusually optimistic. The game that's in my head would be awesome . . but after seeing the buttons, I'm not sure if it'll match up with the reality of the final product. : )

  • skillian #20 3 years ago

    It'll be closer to the real thing than Guitar Hero is I reckon, but I don't think playing this game will make you any better or worse at mixing for real.

    edit: actually I take that back - presumably this could teach someone a lot about matching tempos which is a pretty good start.
    Edited by skillian at 20/05/09 @ 13:48

  • Garulon #21 3 years ago

    "Left handers, I mean. Awful people."

    Hey, just because we get confused with handshakes and can't write properly, or use scissors DOES NOT MEAN that we're some kind of second class citizen you can just mock arbitrarily on a message board, you hate crimer!

  • kangarootoo #22 3 years ago

    As it happens, a fair bit of recent investigation suggests that in fact about 50% of people are naturally left handed. And it is social conditioning (shored up by religeous depiction of fallen angels previously sitting on the left side of God and so on) that has shifted the balance. That balance has been changing rapidly over the last 50 odd years, far away from the 5-10% of the Victorian age, when kids in school would often be forced into right hand preference.

    Who knows, maybe the pelting of lefties with rotten fruit that we currently consider to be normal behaviour, may one day be considered "a bit rude" and perhaps even "to be avoided" ;)