DJ Hero is a future music video game being developed by FreeStyleGames which will be published by Activision by the end of 2009.
Activision had initially applied for a trademark on the name DJ Hero in early 2008, leading to speculation that Activision was making plans to compete against Konami's Beatmania series of music video games with their own DJ game as a possible spinoff of their popular Guitar Hero series.[3]
On September 12, 2008, Activision purchased FreeStyleGames, a small developer of music games, to help produce localized downloadable content for Guitar Hero games and another yet-to-be announced music game. This game was later revealed to be DJ Hero. Activision CEO Robert Kotick confirmed the existence of DJ Hero in an interview with CNBC on January 20, 2009, revealing a release "later this year".
Activision CFO Thomas Tippl stated that DJ Hero would be aimed at a broader audience than the Guitar Hero games primarily through the use of more contemporary music in its soundtrack.
DJ Hero will primarily simulate Turntabalism, and will feature gameplay similar to the Guitar Hero games. The controller will consist of a wireless deck consisting of a Turntable, 3 buttons, an effects dial, and a crossfader. Notes will travel in an arc across a spinning record, and the player will hold down one of the 3 buttons and scratch the turntable to play notes. The effects dial will function like the whammy bar in the Guitar Hero games. The game is also expected to feature co-op modes that can utilize Guitar Hero controllers.
