According to the DJ Hero peeps, stores in the U.S. have been stocking real DJ equipment next to the DJ Hero game resulting in an increase of sales of turntables and mixers, in much the same way Guitar Hero resulted in a surge in sales of, er, guitars. Creative Director and very nice chap indeed, Jamie Jackson, has been speaking to CVG.
“I can’t confirm it, but someone’s told me the same thing about DJ equipment – that they’ve seen sales in The States at Best Buy and Wal-Mart increase,” he said, “They had a strategy where the music games were situated near their music area. I thought it was quite a cool way of doing things, but I think it works differently for each market.”
He also indicated that Freestyle had noted European gamers comments to the rather rap heavy DJ Hero 1 track list,
“One thing that I’ve learnt is that the American market is vastly different to the UK and European market.”
The track listing for DJ Hero 2 features many more artists from the European dance scene including The Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Kid Cudi, Gorillaz and Dizzee Rascal although there is one notable admission – If you are reading this Jamie, did you pass on my UK No1 DJ mash up album to your music department? Big chap at the Activision event earlier this year with the fabulous jeans? I’m waiting for your call…
Source: CVG
3shirts
Anyone who buys DJ equipment off the back of DJ Hero is in for a rude awakening!
Amphlett
Ha ha, you said “rude awakening”! Oooer.
Forrest_01
What about if i buy it off the back of a lorry?
TSBonyman
Tuffcub,please excuse my ignorance.. is your moniker actually “DJ mash-up” or is that the genre? and what’s the album title, thanks.
Tuffcub
It’s the genre – all the tracks in DJ Hero are a combination of two seperate tracks – for example Lady Gagas vocals over a Gorillaz instrumental. Mixing the tunes together to create a new one is known as a ‘mash up’.
Forrest_01
Wow Tuffcub – Was that a blatant marketing opportunity missed there?
TSBonyman
Thanks for the info, can any vocal track in DJ hero be mixed with any instrumental track? That could be interesting.
TRiLoGY
As I have decks i’ve never really been interested in DJ Hero..
Kronik76
Same, but I was hoping this would happen. Need a resurgence in vinyl sales! Vinyl FTW!
Tuffcub
God no, I’m much happier carrying a rucksack with a CD case. record boxes looked cool but they are so damn heavy!
Kronik76
True, but there’s no denying that mixing & scratching vinyl is more of an artform and takes more skill than mixing CD’s. I’m a champion of vinyl through and through!
Tuffcub
Really? Why so? There is no difference beweetn beatmatching or scrathing on CDs vs Vinyl – just a smaller disc :)
3shirts
@Kronik Have you used proper CD players with large scratch wheel? The effect means it is almost the exact same action for scratching.
Personally I prefer vinyl but that’s because I have always found it easier than CD, not the opposite.
Kronik76
Ok, I may have to take that back, I’ve only ever used CD decks once or twice. I was actually just taking the word of my brother who used to mix vinyl before switching to CDJ’s. Personally I just love everything about vinyl (well, apart from the weight of the record box!), even down to the way it smells. Sometimes I’ll even lick it. Ok, I don’t actually lick it…
AddictedAndy
@Kronik Have you ever seen Eddie Halliwell? He can do more with CDJ’s than anyone can do with a turntable and vinyl.
Kronik76
Because it’s easier to do? ;-)