Despite Guitar Hero‘s brand name popularity, the quality of the games have been under heightened scrutiny, ever since original developers Harmonix bailed and created, Rock Band. Since the split, some have slammed recent Guitar Hero efforts, labeling it as a glorified Simon, instead finding solace with Rock Band, which appropriates itself with the actual instruments. History repeats itself, only it’s not Harmonix to thank this time around, it’s Scratch.

Some may have already heard of Scratch; they recently sued Activision over shady dealings with one of their developers. Nevertheless, not even corporate espionage has seemed to hurt Scratch‘s edge. The game looks to have a clear one up on the simpler DJ Hero. Numark has designed the Scratch peripheral, Scratchdeck, from the ground up, using all of their actual turntable know-how and parts. In fact, they’re calling it “the first and only legitimate DJ controller for gamers.” Unlike the three button and one fader option for DJ Hero, Scratch’s turntable is buttonless, accompanied by a side panel with a crossfader and five Akai Pro MPC drum pads, color-coded in the familiar red, blue, yellow, orange, and green.

Having more buttons than DJ Hero not only promises more complicated gameplay but also more realistic techniques. Numark emphasizes that you need more than a crossfader and a turntable for the “true feel of hip hop” and integrates the MPC drum pads into the gameplay. DJ Hero‘s focus seems to be exclusively on performing their preset mash-ups, hence the two crossfaders. For Scratch, the use of the turntable with the crossfader allows for the player to perform hundreds of real DJing techniques to the extent that Numark claims you’ll be able to graduate your skills to the real thing or vice versa. There’s a strong feel of legitimate improvisation within Scratch‘s format, too. Players can work their own beats into a track, and as long as your beats are on, they’ll not only count, but you’ll earn extra points for improvisation. The same goes for scratching outside of freestyle sections.

What’s more, Numark isn’t the only big industry name associated with this project. Scratch‘s production has been overseen by the Beastie Boys’ Mix Master Mike and major hip hop producer Quincy “QD3″ Jones III. It might just be Numark’s hype machine, but I’ve gotta say, if you’re thinking about picking up a DJ game, Scratch looks like the one that means business.

Check out Numark’s debut video for Scratchdeck and see for yourself:

Among those competing against the Beatles in the fight for fake rock stardom are Kings of Leon, Santana, Sonic Youth, A Perfect Circle, Weezer, Bon Jovi, Billy Idol, Elliott Smith – seriously?, The Bronx and Queen & David Bowie are among the acts whose music will be heard on Guitar Hero 5. Rumor has it (via CNET) that The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Blink-182, Band of Horses, Blur, Johnny Cash, Kiss and Tom Petty will also be making an appearance.

The aspiring DJs out there will have just as an eclectic batch of names to chose from. The music of Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent, Justice, Marvin Gaye, Beck, Beastie Boys and N.E.R.D has all found its way onto DJ Hero, while Outkast, Tech N9ne, Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Gorillaz, Deltron 3030, Snoop Dogg and Mixmaster Mike provide the soundtrack for the game’s apparent bitter rival, Scratch: The Ultimate DJ. Of course, whether either of the two games will actually teach you to DJ is still up for debate.

Info about all four games can be found at their respective websites: gh5.guitarhero.com, thebeatlesrockband.com, djhero.com, scratchvideogame.com. Unfortunately, as far as we can tell, none detail the location where money grows on trees.

According to Paid Content, Activision and 7 Studios, the game’s developer, are being sued by gaming companies Genius Products and Numark Industries for “intentional interference with contract, breach of contract, conversion and misappropriation of trade secrets.”

What does this mean? Well, basically Genius and Numark claim that Activision approached Genius about acquiring the rights to a Genius game called Scratch: The Ultimate DJ. With a premise similar to DJ Hero’s, Scratch features tracks by the likes of Kanye West, The Beastie Boys, and Run-DMC and is developed by rap industry vet Quincy Jones II. When Genius declined Activision’s offer, Activision went to the game’s source: They purchased 7 Studios, which was under contract to develop Scratch. Genius and Numark claim 7 Studios violated terms of their contract, including non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, by working with Activision on such a similar game. Activision is accused of withholding code and Scratch’s turntable controller to delay Stratch‘s release and, consequently, buy DJ Hero some time.

To put Genius’ claim of “substantial damage” into perspective: According to Rolling Stone‘s Rock Daily, Rock Band made over $1 billion dollars last year – with full albums like Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy and a Beatles version coming soon. As music-themed video games get more specialized, the competition is only getting fiercer, and Genius is just trying to get ahead.