Monday, June 15, 2009
E3 THOUGHTS: SCRATCH THE ULTIMATE DJ on NEWS10
on News10
Submitted: June 15, 2009
A good portion of the post-E3 hype when it comes to music games has been fueled by Activision’s upcoming game DJ Hero, but an in-development DJ mixing game by a California-based home video company might have what it takes to rain on Activision’s parade.
Scratch: The Ultimate DJ is a music game similar to the popular Konami game Bemani, but instead of piano-type keys and a turntable Scratch features a turntable, fader, and five color-coded synth pads. The game takes cues from what’s worked in the past for other music games when it comes to the in-game interface. Colored “notes” come at the player and eventually hit a line which signifies when players are supposed to hit the proper key on their professional-grade “scratch deck” (made by Numark). Same is true as to when to scratch with the free-spinning turntable or use the crossfader. Unlike DJ Hero and most other music games, however, Scratch doesn’t penalize players for freestyling (hitting notes when the game doesn’t ask for them to be hit) and in fact rewards players for doing so if it works well with the music. This may of thinking encourages creativity on the players side and, in turn, the game ends up being as fun as the player wants it to be.
At the time of demo at E3 only a number of songs were available, but Genius did a good job obtaining popular R&B and pop songs that their mostly American audience would want to play and freestyle to. Track (so far) include “Feel Good, Inc” by Gorillaz, “Flashing Lights” by Kanye West, “Intergalactic” by The Beastie Boys, and “Let’s Get It Started” by Black Eyed Peas. Scratch is supposed to also feature music from Dr. Dre, Far East Movement, MURS, and Nelly (among others).
While at the E3 Scratch preview event where the media was allowed hands-on access to the PS3 version of the game, News10 asked Genius if they were concerned about possible legal actions by Bemani publisher Konami. In 2005 Konami sued publishers Roxor Games and RedOctane for patent rights infringement, stating that their In The Groove game was too similar to Dance Dance Revolution. That lawsuit was settled out of court. Concerning Scratch, Genius states that they are “not concerned”.
There is currently no release date announced and Scratch: The Ultimate DJ has not yet been rated by the ESRB.
