Ubisoft annouces Rocksmith a new guitar based music game utilizing a real guitar

Color me skeptical:

1) The obvious, the Music Game genre completely imploded on itself - like some Star about to go supernova.

2) RockBand has already done it. They now own the Genre with GH being dead.

3) Look at how Power Gig vaporized. A guy I knew bought it like-new for $50, from some guy who spent full price - but his kid hated it and stopped playing it after a week. My friend played through the setlist, said the game was a joke, and shelved it.

4) For a lot of people this is still a "Party Game". Even though I spend most of my time in Pro Mode, 90% of the time I play is with family and friends.

5) This game will almost certainly need the Guitar to have proper Tuning & Intonation, in order to get the notes to register. Will $99 cheapo electrics from wally-world work well? I think issues like that will frustrate newer players.

I'm not saying this will crash-n-burn like Power Gig did. But I think the odds are stacked against this endeavor.

I read about this yesterday and I'm intrigued. I haven't bought a music game since Rock Band 2, mostly because playing on plastic controllers got really old and I'm not spending $300 on that crappy squier when I've got a real nice Washburn and Gibson in the other room.

If this game comes out regular priced and works well as a teaching tool with the guitars I already own, I would definitely be all over it. I think they should market it that way instead of a game. It's not even like I can't learn to play on my own, because I have. But I think this could help you learn knew songs in a more fun way than reading tab or picking it out by ear.

I don't think it can since you'll have to have some kind of dongle to plug the guitar into.

http://rocksmith.ubi.com/rocksmith/en-US/

There are a few videos and a FAQ at this link.

If this is available for a reasonable price, then for whatever that price is you have just converted your HT into an amplifier with lots of effects. Even if the gameplay sucks that is worth the price to me. I don't care if it isn't intelligent enough to read the notes, etc. How many of us have guitars collecting dust that might consider using them with this?

We'll have to wait and see what premium they put on the dongle they show it connecting with.

^ Perhaps. But most people who have a Electric Guitar, most likely already have an Amp - and these days those Amps usually have built-in Effects.

I'm guessing this will attract mostly two types of buyers:

Those who want to learn Guitar, but don't have the Time/Money for a real teacher (for which there is no substitute anyhow).

Those who enjoy having everything for their HT and/or Guitar, for the "Neat-O" factor.

My gut instinct is that this will be nothing but a niche, and the followup support will be lacking due to disappointing sales. Remember, Video Game companies are driven by profit - and nothing else. Cool? Yes. Good Timing? No.

I was thinking about this the other day. I bought a 1/4" to usb cable for my guitar a long while back. It was just something I used to plug the guitar straight into my computer with when I wanted to record a riff or something to remember it. Didn't sound amazing and is definitely not a replcement for a mic on a good amp, but it worked well for that purpose.

Why could this not be used with the guitar games? The Xbox's usb ports are just standard powered ports as far as I know. It would cut out that hardware in the middle and the cable was only about $15 for a 5 footer.

dude, this game is starting to look awesome!!!



maybe I will actually take the mothballs off my acoustic guitar. the website says that if you have a plain acoustic guitar (what I have), you need to buy a pickup. Now, how easy is the process to make my basic acoustic guitar work with this game in terms of getting a pickup?

Can I use my guitar with Rocksmith?
Most likely, the answer is yes. If your guitar has a standard ¼ inch jack for you to plug in a cable, then yes, your guitar will work. If your guitar does not have a jack (for example, many acoustic guitars), you can go down to your local music store and buy a pickup, and your guitar will be ready to plug in and play.

Will I need an amplifier to play the game?
Nope. All you need is a TV, a guitar, and our game. With Rocksmith, your TV or home theatre system becomes your amplifier. You plug your guitar directly into the console, and play. It's that easy.

If there are specific tracks for bass guitar, I'm in. I stopped trying to teach myself the bass because it's so time consuming, and I just don't have the willpower to keep at it.

Don't know that I'll buy this, but I'll definitely give it a shot. I already play guitar, but if this could help teach me some new songs and maybe practice some techniques I don't use often, it could be pretty good.

This looks cool! Being able to just plug in my Strat and use that is a very attractive feature

I also want to see actual video of someone playing. I would like to know how accurate the thing is. Seems like a pretty advanced software title that can decipher what you're playing just from the tone coming from the pickup.

I checked out some prices for pickups for acoustic guitars... man, they're pricey... maybe it's not worth it trying to use my acoustic guitar for this game.

okay, maybe pricing isn't as bad as I thought. I saw an acoustic guitar pickup for $40 on amazon and it's getting good reviews...

I'll buy this game when it hits $20.

well, that's how much RB3 is

Ummm... okay.

[quote=RemoWilliams84;20157466 I've got a real nice Washburn and Gibson in the other room.[/QUOTE]

I would get RB3 and the mustang. Use the mustang to get the hang of what RB3 pro mode is all about, then start playing along with the charts on your real guitars.

At the very least play along with youtube videos...

There is no way I'm buying a crappy plastic guitar to play along with RB3. I bought GH2 and RB1 and the peripherals and I'm not falling into that again.

Quoting myself here. I just read on IGN where they are using a usb cable that will come with the game that plugs into a standard 1/4" guitar jack. Basically a 1/4" to usb. What I thought was funny is that IGN called it unique and never before done because now you can plug the guitar straight into a windows pc or game console. Not true. I bought a cable just like that years ago as stated in my past post.

Hmm interesting, it sounds a bit too good to be true, if it reviews well I'd be in. Admittedly I never burned myself out on the music games though.

So, here's the thing, those videos have pretty much sold me on this game. I just don't own a guitar...

I have 2 bass guitars though, now I'll have to go find a cheap guitar to play this.

cool videos, bro, but this genre is DEAD, sadly. Music games have had their time.

You can blame Guitar Hero for that. Putting a game out every 6 months diluted the quality of these games.

I really don't understand why everyone seems to be eating up all the hype and getting so hot and bothered for this game. Hey, if it comes out and it's awesome I'll be getting it, but right now it's launching into a wasteland of broken promises and there is no reason to *assume* it's going to kick any kind of ass.

what is this wasteland of broken promises? it seems odd to automatically assume something is bad without trying it out first

I never bought into the squier because I never liked the gameplay interface for rockband pro mode. I think this one looks a lot better in terms of teaching someone how to play a guitar.

GH ad naseum, the Jack Black story driven game that ended up not even using a guitar controller, Power Gig, the botched launch of RB3 with no MPAs and no pro controllers, the even more botched release of the Squier.

I'm not intending to be a Rocksmith hater, it's just that I don't understand why there isn't a LOT more skepticism about it. I hope it's great and will pick it up if it's "kinda good" or better, but I'm starting to turn Missourian here about music games and need them to "show me" a finished product.

I don't know why you even mention Brutal Legend. Because it had music in it, it's a rhythm game? You apparently have some personal misconceptions about some of those games. Activision is destroying all the titles it owns by smothering people with new games every month. None of their games will last much longer.

This is a major failure of logic. you can't hold failures of other products (and those "failures" are completely subjective) against other products. That's like blaming Britney Spears for the downfall of the music industry.

Skepticism is fine. But outright criticism of a product that's not even out seems strange. It reeks of sour grapes. I'd understand if you tried it out at E3 and came away unimpressed. Otherwise, joining a discussion to criticize an unreleased product is not something I'd recommend.

As for those failures, those who enjoyed those products would beg to differ. I liked the Guitar Hero series. I liked the Rock Band series. I'm sure there are plenty of RB3 guys who love the Pro Mode and their Squier so to denigrate them because you didn't like them is more sour grapes. And if you're criticizing the marketing of the RB peripherals, well, that's external to the product itself so the product itself doesn't warrant the criticism. Don't judge a product by its wrapping.