"Guitar Hero" Makers Plan "DJ Hero," Cross-Platform Mash-Ups

By Daniel Kreps

September 17, 2008 10:54 AM ET

The makers of Guitar Hero have a new music game in the works, as DJ Hero might finally hit shelves next summer after two years of development. As the name suggests, DJ Hero feature a simplified plastic scratch deck instead of a mini plastic guitar to hit prompted cues. Whereas users follow a guitar's neck on the screen for what notes to play, DJ will forecast its moves using the half-arc of a vinyl record on the screen. Part of the game's long delay to stores — besides the inherent difficulties in getting the rights to sample-heavy hip-hop tracks — now appears to be Activision's plan on making DJ playable with Guitar Hero gear, allowing users to create mash-ups between the rap and rock genres, which hopefully means playing along to the OJayZis mixtape is within our grasp.