A video game with a real guitar?

Video game maker, Ubisoft, plans to release Rocksmith, a game that will allow you to plug your guitar directly into your PS3, XBox, or PC, and play along at your own speed and ability level. While it isn't yet clear if the game will replicate the style of Rock Band, the player will get the opportunity to learn and play a number of different well-known songs.

Learning guitar has always been a challenge, particularly if you're doing it on your own. Learning from books can be excruciating, and while there are many excellent instructional DVDs, they lack the interactivity to keep the learning guitar player engaged. Not that these aren't both effective methods for learning guitar on your own, but the prospect of a video game that can actually teach you to play the guitar and encourage the player to reach "expert" level is extremely exciting.

Of course, Ubisoft is not the first to come up with this idea. A couple other companies have introduced plans for similar products in the past few years, but ultimately either failed to launch (Disney Star Guitarist), or failed to impress (Power Gig). Hopefully, Ubisoft has found the magic combination of great gameplay and a solid instructional tool. Plans are for a Fall 2011 release, so it will be interesting to see how this develops.