Videogame company Ubisoft has just announced an interesting new title called “Rocksmith”. It’s basically what all the critics of games like Guitar Hero have been asking for, a game where you learn to play an actual instrument instead of a plastic ‘toy’. You don’t need any kind of ‘special’ guitar controller either. Any electric guitar with a standard 1/4 jack will work.
The gameplay is similar to those other rock games in that you see a stream of notes to play, except that they are the actual notes to the song played on the correct fret and string. You can choose between rythymn and lead on most songs. The game will also adjust the difficulty on the fly based on how well you are doing. There’s an amp sim mode where you can use the game as an amp for your guitar and it has lots of built in effects as well.
This looks like a great way to learn guitar as well as for more experienced guitarists to learn songs and practice. There will also be some type of multiplayer. I’m looking forward to trying this out when it comes out this fall. It will be available for the PS3 and Xbox. More info at the Rocksmith site.
I play guitar and I’m going to buy this game as soon as it comes out. One thing I can’t seem to find anywhere is information on what if you play parts of a song differently, for example different chord voicings or you play a harmony slightly different? Would it score you wrong for playing it like that?
I was wondering about his too. I guess it depends on how they do the note recognition. I know you can’t “fail” a song, it just keeps playing no matter how bad you do.
How about a Jazz version where you get extra points for substitutions, embellishments etc.