A little over a month after Activision canned the Guitar Hero and DJ Hero franchises, Ubisoft is stepping forward with their own music game to fill the void and give Harmonix (of Rock Band fame) a run for their money.
The game is to be called Rocksmith, and is set to hit the Xbox 360 and PS3 this fall in 2011. You won’t need those plastic instruments to play this game, as it allows gamers to plug in real standard guitars into their gaming consoles and learn to play a variety of rock and pop songs. Plus, I don’t think you can play very many songs with 5 colored buttons. “Tap tap tap, tap tap tap….” That’s about all the sound you’ll get out of them.
Ubisoft has promised that the game will be okay for both beginners and experienced players alike, making sure to change the difficulty level in the game to your skill level on your axe. And don’t worry about mastering that killer guitar solo. Both rhythm and lead guitar parts will be available on certain songs. Plus, there will also be a feature with a bundle of mini-games to “hone in on specific skills.”
When asked about the musical lineup to be featured in the game, Ubisoft simply said they “can’t reveal everything just yet.”
The Hollywood Reporter got a chance to chat with Ubisoft Senior Vice President of sales and marketing Tony Key where he revealed that the game will release with around 45 songs, including tracks from bands like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Nirvana and the Animals.
Mr. Key also said of the obvious Guitar Hero comparisons, “Guitar Hero is a party game. Rocksmith is a music experience. The dream of playing guitar compared to how many follow through - there’s a big gap,” he continued. “We will create a new generation of guitar players.”
What do you guys think? Is this the way musical games are going? Were the Guitar Hero controllers and Rock Band guitars just the training wheels to get people into guitar playing and picking up a real instrument? Is this the next step? Ubisoft seem to think so. I guess we’ll just have to be ready this fall when Rocksmith hits store shelves.
[via Gamasutra]
Tweak
Magnus Canis
David
Dragonslayerrr71
I don’t see how this game finds any success in the market. Music games are becoming a small niche and I don’t see how an expensive product like this can make any money. I think Harmonix has the right plan.
I like the concept of teaching people to learn to play songs, but it depends on how they will go about doing that. People would have to have their own guitar to use this unless they bundle a shitty guitar to learn on. It has potential.