Nearly everybody wants to be a rock star. That’s why consumers have spent billions on such video games as Rock Band and Guitar Hero. But who dreams of being a record-spinning disc jockey in a grungy nightclub?
Probably not so many. Which is why Activision Blizzard Inc., maker of the Guitar Hero series, may face a tougher sell for its latest music game.
Designed for Sony’s PlayStation 2 and 3, the Microsoft Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii, DJ Hero, which debuted this week, is a classic “brand extension’’ product, a bid to wring a few million more bucks from a once-fresh product line that’s now as mature as Sean Connery. According to the research firm NPD Group, Americans spent about $900 million on music games in the first eight months of 2008, but just $480 million during the same period this year.
The recession gets part of the blame. But there’s also this: Nearly everybody who wants a music game probably owns one, and even those who upgrade to the new versions already own the plastic make-believe guitars that come with them.
So how about producing a game with a plastic make-believe turntable instead? At $120 for the basic version, DJ Hero gives gamers a platter and audio console. Players use them to generate the illusion that they’re mingling beats and melodies from two different songs into an original music mix that’ll rock the dance floor.
Activision sent me its top-of-the-line Renegade Edition, a $200 kit. It includes a carrying case that turns into a stand for the turntable when you screw in a set of extendable legs. The game software includes nearly 100 mixes in which David Bowie meets 50 Cent, or the Beastie Boys cohabit with Blondie, or Rihanna teams up with The Trammps. You get access to just a couple dozen mix tunes at first; the more you play, the more songs become available.
DJ Hero features the same basic playing style as other music games. Instead of colored push-buttons on a guitar neck, it has three buttons on the turntable’s platter. Each corresponds to colored dots that flow across your TV screen as the music plays.
When the dot passes over an onscreen icon, you push the button on the turntable. Time it wrong, and parts of the audio stream are cut off, with ear-wrenching results. But make the right moves, and you can revel in the danceable melodies.
Good performance earns you points and opens access to those other tunes.
Simple enough, right?
But remember that true DJs use the turntable and vinyl records as an instrument, by “scratching’’ - turning the platter back and forth with their fingers to produce sounds that mark the beat. DJ Heroes must do the same, spinning the platter while pressing the buttons.
Then there’s crossfade, a technique in which a DJ playing two separate tracks can boost the sound of one while fading out the other. Using a separate slide control, the game compels you to crossfade, scratch, and press buttons all at once. Get everything right, and you can leap into Euphoria mode, which boosts your score and speeds your access to new mix tunes.
DJ Hero’s playlist is loaded with hip-hoppish material that generally leaves me cold. Still, there were a few mixes that set my toes tapping. A blend of Eminem’s “My Name Is’’ and Beck’s “Loser’’ was good fun, and the mix of Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl’’ and Rick James’s “Give It To Me’’ is outstanding.
I found myself wishing the game would let me create my own original mixes, with beats and sound samples of my choosing. No such luck. But you can create custom playlists of the existing mix tunes.
And you don’t have to play alone. Some mix tunes let a friend chime in on lead guitar. Just plug a Guitar Hero instrument into the game console and start jamming.
There’s also an online mode that lets you match beats with DJs around the world, for game points and bragging rights.
DJ Hero is the sort of game you’ll like if you like that sort of game. But while we’ve all imagined ourselves as Eddie Van Halen, the universe of would-be DJs is probably a lot smaller.
Besides, apart from the turntable controller, DJ Hero smacks of the same-old. It doesn’t deliver the sense of revelation and delight that millions of us felt when we first played Guitar Hero.
And for a game costing as much as $200, revelation and delight are the least I expect.
Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com. 
