With the demise of "Guitar Hero," it began to look like "Rock Band" had cornered the music video game market. But along comes "Rocksmith," an upcoming title that allows the user to play along using a real guitar plugged into the video game console. It's certainly a departure from the simplistic controllers used by other games, but will requiring players to jam with a real instrument limit its popularity?
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The October release of Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS)' "Rock Band 3" turned a lot of heads with its so-called Pro guitar controller that looks and feels more like a real guitar than any previous title in the series. But now another publisher, Ubisoft, is taking things a step further, having just revealed an upcoming game called "Rocksmith" that will actually let players plug in a real guitar to play along.
Rocksmith
The game will come with a special USB cable that connects to the quarter-inch jack slot found in any electric guitar. Other than that, few of the game's details have been disclosed, but that hasn't prevented speculation from flowing freely.
Precarious Timing
Presently, the future of the music video game genre is murky. It was just a matter of weeks ago that Activision shut down its legendary "Guitar Hero" franchise. The "Guitar Hero" brand apparently just couldn't compete with "Rock Band," which has become the de facto band simulation game.
The introduction of a new music game focused on playing guitar seems almost suicidal in that context, Jordan Cressman, an analyst at Market Communications, told TechNewsWorld. "This is like opening up a Chinese restaurant in place of a Japanese restaurant that just went out of business. It may seem like a completely different endeavor, but will it be all that more enticing in the eyes of consumers?
"The closure of 'Guitar Hero,' which was for years one of Activision's most valuable brands, means one thing: Consumers have chosen what they want out of a musical instrument simulation game, and they want 'Rock Band.' It's going to be very difficult for a new company to come in and convince them otherwise, especially if they see the real guitar aspect as nothing more than a gimmick," said Cressman.
The shattering of Activision's "Guitar Hero" studio may have come at an unfortunate time for Ubisoft, but the fact is that development on "Rocksmith" has likely been underway for quite a while. Back in 2009, Ubisoft posted a job listing for a lead designer in what it referred to as "an exciting new cross-platform music-based game." That could very well have been "Rocksmith."
What Ubisoft Can Bring to the Table
Aside from a few games for the Nintendo DS, Ubisoft has virtually no experience creating guitar-based music titles. However, the company has recently gained acclaim for its dance games like "Just Dance" and "Michael Jackson: The Experience," so it has learned some of the tools of the trade when it comes to making rhythm-based music games.
The game promises to have music from such artists as The Animals, David Bowie, Nirvana, and The Rolling Stones, and its debut trailer says it's for all audiences, "whether you've performed on a stage or never played at all."
However, Chris Morris, freelance video game journalist, is skeptical. "Ask anyone who's tried to play guitar after mastering the plastic 'Rock Band controller' -- playing a real guitar is difficult. It can take years of training to be able to competently perform a rock song," Morris told TechNewsWorld.
"Rocksmith will most likely not be for the casual gamer, but it will open up a new market," he added. "There are 'Rock Band' players who want to learn how to play the guitar, and there are real guitarists who want to have a better guitar-playing simulation in a game. Rocksmith will cater to these crowds."
Built for a Limited Audience?
The game is unlikely to have the same blockbuster success as "Rock Band," Morris said, since most casual gamers won't have the time, desire, and skill to learn the complex finger maneuvering required to play a real guitar.
"Most people who play 'Rock Band' are quite happy with the experience they get, and don't have any aspiration to break out an authentic Gibson five-stringer."
For those who do, though, Rocksmith could be an exciting new advancement in music gaming technology.
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