Oh boy. About two weeks ago with the announcement of We Dare, the gaming industry (everyone except for Gavin) began to question Ubisoft’s collective sanity. Now there is no doubt: the European publisher has lost its marbles.
The music genre (Rock Band, DJ Hero, Band Hero, Guitar Hero etc) has pretty much imploded. The market became saturated, people lost interest and companies like Harmonix went on sale for the price of copy of Rock Band – ouch. This, however, is not stopping Ubisoft; they’ve just announced Rocksmith. That’s right! It’s another guitar game.
But it’s not just any plastic instrument game, says Ubisoft, it’s a real instrument music game. Instead of a miniaturised guitar, the game will come bundled with an adaptor cable that will allow people to plug real guitars into their PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 consoles. After that, the game is your standard Guitar Hero clone albeit (presumably) a little more in depth than strumming to five coloured buttons.
Ubisoft is coming out fighting (although why they’re bothering is a mystery seeing as the competition is dead) and claiming that “Guitar Hero is a party game. Rocksmith is a music experienceâ€. They’re also claiming that the game will be able to teach people how to play the instrument properly: “we will create a new generation of guitar playersâ€.
Of course, Ubisoft is not the first bunch to use a real instrument for a rhythm game; a lesser known music game called “Powergig: Rise of the Six String†tried to do the same thing; that game has since gone through two price cuts and still cannot shift units.
Oh! And in case you don’t actually have an electric guitar lying around the house, there will be a bundle version that comes with one. Confirmed bands so far include The Rolling Stones, Nirvana, The Animals and David Bowie, but because the game uses a real instrument, Ubisoft is counting on the more snobby bands (who previously pooh-poohed plastic instruments) to license their music to the game.
Source: Kotaku
Last Updated: March 15, 2011
