Armin Van Buuren Releases New DJ Video Game

We live in a world of technologically enabled hyperreality, where video games like Guitar Hero and Wii Fit can make simulated rock stars and Olympians out of the talentless unskilled sad sacks of the planet. So it should come as no surprise that the DJ experience is also now available...

By Sean Levisman

May 15, 2009

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "19274298",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17482312",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18711090",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17482310",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18711090",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17482313",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

We live in a world of technologically enabled hyperreality, where video games like Guitar Hero and Wii Fit can make simulated rock stars and Olympians out of the talentless unskilled sad sacks of the planet. So it should come as no surprise that the DJ experience is also now available in canned form. Über-commercial DJ Armin Van Buuren has announced his upcoming release of the new Nintendo Wii virtual DJ game Armin Van Buuren - In The Mix, providing the world with a brand new apathetic shortcut to the already endangered DJ art form.

Proper DJ skills have been in steady decline (or evolution, depending which side of the vinyl purist debate you're on) since CDJs replaced turntables and, furthermore, since MP3s and software replaced records altogether and made it that much easier to mix tracks. Van Buuren's new game allows players to toy around with preset music loops and effects using the Wii console, while attaining mythical DJ status in their own minds. This is doubtlessly going to lower the bar even more. Call me a hater, but whatever happened to getting actual skills in something? Get off the couch, people!

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Miami, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.

Sean Levisman has been a contributing writer for Miami New Times since 2008. He has a bachelor's of fine arts from Suffolk University. When he's not rambling about music or arts and culture in Miami, you can find him color-splattered in the studio, advancing his practice as a figurative expressionist painter.

Contact: Sean Levisman

Follow:

Instagram: @SeanLevisman