Do Androids Dream of Fake Plastic Turntables?
 

The sales numbers for DJ Hero are in, and they are disappointing at best.  122,300 copies of the game were sold across all platforms.  That's very low for a music game, especially one that was as heavily promoted as DJ Hero.  Ars Technica attempted to explain the low sales, and fans of co-op will likely appreciate this particular reason:

Rhythm games work best with crowds, and DJ Hero is a solitary experience. That's not a knock against it; playing the game is great fun. It's just hard to share with others, compared to the more popular Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises.

In other words, the lack of a compelling co-op mode may have been a factor in the game's lack of sales.  Music games seem to work best in a party setting, and DJ Hero just doesn't work due to the single-player focus.  Other reasons are listed in the article, but it just goes to show you that co-op is a major selling point for any game, especially one in a genre known for excellent co-op.

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Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.

The stories for this week:

- Final Fantasy XIII Releasing in America and Europe March 9th, 2010
- Gamestop to Begin Selling DLC in Stores
- Modern Warfare 2 is Burning the Benjamins
- October NPD Numbers Out, Some Good and Bad News
- Assassin's Creed II, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Left 4 Dead 2 Highlight Last Major Release Week

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In a fall crowded by rock music games, DJ Hero manages to stand out by focusing on music and mixes for various music tastes. Gone is the plastic guitar and in its place is the turntable. Are you ready to try your hand and spinning records? Ready to grab a guitar and help out?

Borderlands (PC) - Borderlands hits the PC with four player online co-op TODAY. Millions of weapons, four character classes, and a boatload of quest await you in this beautiful RPS. 

DJ Hero (360, PS3, Wii, PS2) - Our first foray outside of the world of comfortable plastic guitars, DJ Hero invites players to work their DJ-ing skills on a plastic turntable through almost 100 remixed songs.  10 of the songs are co-op-able with the aforementioned plastic guitar, and others works with two turntables.

Fairytale Fights (360, PS3) - Fairytale Fights allows four player online and local co-op through a twisted world of traditional fairytales with a bloody twist.  

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One of these ads are exciting, one of them, not so much.  The 15 second TV spot commercials for DJ Hero don't show a whole lot of the game, but they do have a glimmer of style to them.

DJ Hero launches on October 27th with a 10 two player co-op songs playable with a guitar and turntable.  

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Music game intros seem to be getting more and more grand.  If you've witnessed the intro for The Beatles Rock Band, you know exactly what I mean.  Today we have the introduction for the two player co-op DJ Hero and it does it's own share of over  the top-ness.

We've got giant turn tables, flying trucks, thumpin beats and Ushankas all rolled into one.  This party has definitely gotten started, the rest of us can join in on October 27th when the game releases.

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Activision and Gamestop are teaming up this Sunday to give gamers hands on time with DJ Hero at participating stores.  The DJ Hero website has a store locator to help you find a place to demo it, and from the looks of it, there's plenty of stores available.  

If you do head out be sure to enter the contest to win one of many prizes, including a VIP trip to see EMINEM in concert and 2 DJ Hero Renegade Editions - perfect for co-op scratchin'.  

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As music games go, DJ Hero has one of the biggest set lists out of the box we've seen to date.  With almost 100 songs to play, you're sure to work up some arm muscles scratching discs on your plastic turntable by the time you make it through the full set.  

Activision has unveiled every song for the game, which will be available at the end of October on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and PlayStation 2.  Songs that are playable in the DJ-Guitar co-op mode are marked and bolded.  At anytime someone can plug in a microphone and MC over as well.

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With less than a month until DJ Hero's release, Activision has been showing the game off at various events.  Destructoid got some hands on time with the game and seemed to enjoy what was played.  

For music game veterans, you are in for a shock, as the game plays completely different than any other music game out there despite looking similar in presentation.  Because DJ-ing provides the ability to free style effects into music, the game takes a similar approach with itself.

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At this rate, there's not going to be any incredible DJs left to put in the upcoming game DJ Hero.  Today Activision has announced that the legendary duo that is Daft Punk will be lending their talents and likeness to the game in the form of 11 original mixes.  

 In total DJ Hero will launch with over 100 songs, including 93 never before heard mixes.  What does Daft Punk bring to the table?  We've got the list and the latest screens. 

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