DJ Hero: Feel the Beat
Tons of new details on the hottest music game of the year.
August 11, 2009 - DJ Hero, coming in just a few short months, wowed IGN's editors at E3 2009. Activision hasn't kept quiet, revealing new artists and tracks with regularity. Today, two big UK-based DJs were revealed. The Scratch Perverts (Tony Vegas, DJ Primecuts and Plus One) and DJ Yoda now top Activision's growing list of artists.
The Scratch Perverts are cutting it up on five mixes, including:
- Common's "Universal Mind Control" vs. Masta Ace's "Jeep A** Guitar"
- Eric B. & Rakim's "Eric B. for President" vs. M.I.A's "Paper Planes"
- Noisia's "Groundhog" (Beat Juggle)
DJ Yoda is responsible for two mixes:
- Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" vs. Gangstarr's "Just to Get a Rep"
- Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" vs. Shlomo's "Beatbox"
We caught up with Jamie Jackson, Creative Director at FreeStyleGames to get some new details on DJ Hero. We talked about what went into picking songs, whether or not Dr. Dre is dropping a new track from Detox and what to expect in terms of downloadable content. We also scored seven new videos in case reading isn't your thing.
IGN: Today you announced some UK-based DJs. Is there a difference in style between UK and US DJs?
Jamie Jackson: Yes and no. It's really more of a genre thing. Each DJ puts their stamp on their mixes and are influenced by music that is current to them. The genre of music the DJ plays, which can be influenced by where they're from, puts the unique twist to each mix.
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Grand Master Flash talks about the birth of the modern DJ.
IGN: When you talk about mixing two songs, your options are really wide open in terms of content. How did you come up with which songs to use?
Jamie Jackson: It's true, the options are almost limitless. Basically its goes like this. The DJ's -- either our in house guys at FSG or superstars like Shadow or the Scratch Perverts -- create a "sketch mix." This is sent to the "sound board," which is basically a group of music lovers from every department within FSG. These guys and girls provide feedback and answer the fundamental questions such as whether or not the mixes are something they'd enjoy listening and dancing to. This feedback then goes to the music team. These guys then select the most popular songs and start creating the actual mixes that appear in game.
IGN: Looking at the current list of announced songs, there are a lot of old school tracks. I call anything more than five-years old "old school," by the way. As more songs are revealed, will we see more current tracks or is the fact that these songs are being mixed what will give them that fresh feel?
Jamie Jackson: The game actually features a really unique mix of music from the past 40 years. Some of the new content -- from the past year even -- comes from the Black Eyed Peas, Kid Cudi and M.I.A. Additionally, Shadow did a mix for us, which we have not revealed yet and features an unreleased track from one of the biggest bands in the world.
We have really aimed to mix old school tracks with newer tracks, adding fresh appeal to the music, just like a DJ does. If you look at the charts around the globe now, it is full of tracks of current artists covering full songs or highlighting samples from the '70s, '80s and '90s mixed with a new school beat. We've done the same.
Obviously some DJ's, Shadow for example, have a more old school style. By that I mean, he has an amazing talent for crate digging and will find some sick '70s funk and give it a Shadow feel.
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Watch Common vs. Masta Ace.
IGN: Has your song selection been swayed at all by content restrictions? There's a lot of vulgarity and mature subjects in hip hop that wouldn't sit well with a Teen rating.
Jamie Jackson: Good point! We always wanted to appeal to young and old, so this meant that in order to keep from limiting ourselves while appealing to the largest audience possible, we had to creatively mix, scratch and cut around any potential language concerns from those mixes.
IGN: Freestyle did a number of the mixes in DJ Hero. So what goes into making a good mix and did the fact that you were doing mixes for a game change how you handled the songs?
Jamie Jackson: The DJ Hero music team actually did the lions share of the mixes. We have plus or minus 16 DJs in our London studio who are all producers and DJ's in their own right including the 2004 DMC Championship winner and a top BBC Radio1 DJ.
What goes into a good mix? Well good music to start with and the Activision music team did a great job on getting us a massive catalog to choose from. The next and probably biggest thing is a good musical ear. The FSG and celebrity DJ's all have an amazing talent for hearing one track and creatively understanding how other pieces of music will blend with it.
This makes it sound easy, but I can tell you it isn't. Quite a few mixes didn't make it.
IGN: Mastering Guitar Hero doesn't mean you can pick up a guitar and suddenly know how to play. Do you think DJ Hero will actually teach people how to throw down with a turntable?
Jamie Jackson: I don't think DJ Hero will give some the turntablist skills to go hit the decks straight away, but it will open up peoples minds to what they can do if they want! Musically it will make you go "yeah, that track with this one really works." I think it will have the same effect as GH in that it will get people interested in wanting to play around with records and real decks.
IGN: What do you say to the Guitar Hero player who doesn't listen to hip-hop, but who is certainly a potential customer?
Jamie Jackson: Lets be clear, this isn't just a hip hop game. Yes we have hip hop in it, but we also have dance, electro, rock, pop, soul, R&B and funk. Check out the list of songs and mixes we've revealed to date. If the music appeals to you, then you'll love it, because you already enjoy music rhythm games, so here is something totally new.
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Give a list to Noisa's Groundhoug.
IGN: Is career mode designed like previous Guitar Hero games where it's just a list based on difficulty and you play your way from easy to hard or is there something more to it?
Jamie Jackson: We do not have a traditional career mode in DJ Hero. DJ Hero is meant to be a totally social game and has a wide variety of music. We didn't want to make the hip hop fan have to play through a dance set list to unlock a hip hop or vice versa. Much of the game's content is unlocked from the start. You unlock venues, characters, outfits and a few unique set lists by playing through any song and earning stars. Venues range from small clubs of 100 people to an open air festival of thousands.
IGN: Is there any type of spectator mode where you can listen to the tracks without the game interface?
Jamie Jackson: Yes, we have a Party Play mode which can be activated at anytime, simply by holding down the Euphoria button for a few seconds. In this mode the mixes continue to play allowing you to hear the unique music without having to play the game. If you want to play, just grab the deck and you can join in.
IGN: Any thoughts of releasing some of these mixes as MP3 downloads?
Jamie Jackson: We'd love to, but that's not in the plan right now. Who knows what the future holds.
IGN: What should we make of the fact that Dr. Dre Beats headphones are shown on the DJ Hero site?
Jamie Jackson: We wanted to represent the best equipment in game we could and the Beats by Dre headphones are incredibly sick, so we are featuring them in game on the DJs.
IGN: Is there any hope for a track from Dre's Detox showing up on DJ Hero?
Jamie Jackson: That'd be telling…
IGN: You've said there will be DLC from day one. Should we expected more current songs with DLC or will it be an even mix of new and old?
Jamie Jackson: Expect some very cool stuff new and old, but our aim is to deliver the highest quality and relevant popular music we can.
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See a mixing match-up between The Jackson 5 and Gang Starr.
IGN: What are the chances of seeing full albums, like say Kid Cudi's upcoming studio debut, as DLC?
Jamie Jackson: We think the music in the game has the chance to do many things and this is certainly one of our goals. We're working on lots of cool stuff behind the scenes up to launch and beyond, so you'll have to wait and see for now.
IGN: Can we expect more downloadable tracks with playable guitar parts?
Jamie Jackson: We are aiming to release a good balance of both guitar and DJ tracks. We are really pleased and excited by the co-op DJ/guitar mode and we can see it introducing GH players to a game they may not have otherwise picked up.
IGN: Is there any artist that isn't in the game that you wish you could get?
Jamie Jackson: Well, we have so many in DJ Hero that I don't think I can say there is, but there are of course DJs and musicians we want to work with in the future.
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