DJ Hero is my new Friday night out

The venue: my living room. Dress code: stiletto heels not necessary. It’s Friday night and I’m glued to my TV, barely moving, eyes trained on the screen, my fingers doing a tap dance over a portable rectangular module perched on my lap. Somebody Told Me by the Killers is blaring from the TV speakers. “Well somebody told me/ You had a boyfriend/ Who looked like a girlfriend… (scratch, screech)… Disturbia!” The riff from last year’s summer anthem by smooth Rihanna suddenly cuts in. And wouldn’t you know it, I am the one responsible for this pop mashup. I’m mixing The Killers and Rihanna in one song. Eat your heart out, Kristian Hernandez. It’s me on the decks now.

Welcome to my new Friday night ritual: DJ Hero on Play Station 3.

Developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision, the same people behind Guitar Hero, DJ Hero is the perfect music video game for non-rockers, clubgoers or people who just can’t seem to master even the easy level on Guitar Hero (erm, that would be me.) This rhythm game is based on turntablism, a musical style used by disc jockeys to create a new mix by putting together two, or more, previously-recorded songs along with sound effect generators. The game features 94 remixes of two different songs from a selection of over 100 different songs of various genres, from pop (The Killers, Gwen Stefani, Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna) to electronica/house (Daft Punk, Tiesto) to hip-hop (Beastie Boys, JayZ, 2Pac) to retro favorites (Queen, David Bowie, Rick James, MC Hammer).

The controller is in the form of a portable deck with various buttons, switches and even a “turntable” that does a 360-degree turn. To be able to master these controls you have to sit through a training session with Grandmaster Flash, the American hip-hop musician and DJ, who supposedly perfected the art of scratching and invented some cutting and mixing deck techniques. Flash eases you into deck work by “teaching you” how to mix and stream beats (the three color buttons), how to crossfade (a switch that goes from left to right), how to do tuning effects (a small plastic dial), and, of course, how to scratch using the turntable. Eventually, you’ll also figure out how to do a rewind. And the chosen soundtrack for these training lessons: Daft Punk’s Da Funk mashed up with Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust, a trippy mix that, if you listen closely, has already found its way to the ambiance setlist of boutiques.

Learn how to work all these switches and together and you can start paving your way to DJ hero-dom. Scratch and button-mix your way through awesome setlists that include strangely cool mixes: The Jackson 5’s I Want You Back with Third Eye Blind’s Semi-Charmed Life or 2Pac’s All Eyes on Me with and orchestral interpretation of Bittersweet Symphony. Then there are the dance-all-night mashups: Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction with Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas, M.I.A’s Paper Planes with Wale’s Lookin at Me, David Axelrod’s The Edge with Eric B. & Rakim’s Eric B. is President. By this time, you should have also already mastered that chest and shoulder-pumping action that characterize most club DJs.

The coolest thing about DJ Hero, though, is how many DJs and mix artists have created mixes and setlists to the game. Understandably, their avatar images have to be played the first time you unlock each artist’s setlist. Grandmaster Flash has his own setlist, a collection that melds old school hiphop with standard favorites. Electronica gods Daft Punk also have their own setlist called the Daft Punk Record Bag. Even in videogame format, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter have retained their light-flashing helmets and metallic suits. Other djs who gained their own avatars include DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, DJ Jazzy Jeff (remember him from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and even the late DJ AM.

FreeStyleGames, though, has also come up with their own cast of turntable characters, whose fictional bios cheekily relate stories of alien abduction (that would be for bug-eyed Dutch dj Vunda Boy) and broken friendships between one-time Ibiza club staples Kitty Smash and Candy Nova. (A man got in the way.)

The DJ Hero box contains only one turntable, which identifies single player mode until you shell out about P3,000 to buy another turntable from djhero.com, or hook up a guitar — DJ Hero contains two setlists with a DJ vs Guitar mode. And then, the real party starts.

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DJ Hero is available on PS2, PS3, Xbox and Wii in toy stores and computer stores.