One of the highlights of the summer for me will be getting my grubby mitts on the new DJ Hero and Scratch The Ultimate DJ turntables for PlayStation. If you too can't contain your excitement then why not pass the time to the release dates by playing free online virtual DJ games. Granted, you won't find anything as complex as the new console titles, and you won't get to mess around with virtual decks, but there are some genuinely fun games out there where you can perfect the art of mixing, scratching, and sampling before DJ Hero and Ultimate DJ come out. Here are some of my favorites:

DJ Mixer - Take to the studio in this fun game featuring two mixmaster aliens who rap in Romanian. There are 12 loops to choose from and you can scratch tracks by clicking a button on the decks. Weird spacey effects will play if you hit the red buttons at the top of the screen.

Coolio DJ Rock Out - I'm not sure if crazy-haired gangster rapper Coolio actually had anything to do with this game, but if he was involved then hats off to him. Coolio DJ Rock Out is an addictive game in which you must spin the decks to match the patterns that appear in the circles. It's harder than it looks, especially when your brain's caught in the grip of hardcore techno.

A Break in the Road - This creative game involves a bit more imagination than the previous two offerings, and can be very rewarding. The object of A Break in the Road is to trawl the streets of a virtual world recording samples of noise from a range of sources then going to the studio to mix it down. Once finished you head for the nightclub to play your track, where your fate will be decided by the crowdometer.

Scratch Simulator - If you wanna get f-f-f-fresh with some scratching then this is the perfect way to satisfy your vinyl perversion. Start by playing a record on the turntable at the top then roll over either of the bottom  decks to scratch. You can choose whether you want to scratch or transform a record. Try clicking the stoner in the corner of the screen, too.

The Indian Shankar Drum Ganesh Machine - This crackpot invention allows you to produce your own Indian-style music. There are loads of sounds and instruments that you can mix and match between, including different types of percussion, sitar, xylophone, flute and voice. You could be the next big thing in bhangra.