Power Gig Does Rhythm Gaming With Real Guitars

Not a fan of the way Guitar Hero and Rock Band have dumbed down playing music to the level of button mashing? Then you may find Power Gig: Rise of the SixString refreshing, as it delivers a real six-string experience to the music gaming genre.

Announced at the start of the Game Developers Conference earlier today, the novel approach comes courtesy of Seven45 Studio, who develop and publish the game, as well as manufacture their own controller for it. Like other music-based titles in the market, Power Gig allows four player support with voice, guitars, drums and bass. Unlike them, however, the peripheral is a completely playable guitar.

An early version of the game was shown off at the conference, along with the prototype controller. The default mode of the game supposedly plays much like Rock Band and their ilk, where you match notes shown on the screen by tapping at the corresponding button (it’s color coded down the side of the fretboard). Alternatively, you can turn on the chording feature, which requires you to press on the proper strings as shown in-game. It accounts for a learning curve, so it mixes simple chords with regular taps during lower levels.

The prototype guitar is a 20-fret six-stringer, which makes it smaller than full-fledged instruments (it’s likely aimed at kids, after all). When plugged into a console, a dampening block pops out of the body to mute the strings, so the sound doesn’t interfere with your gameplay. Once pulled out, you can play it like any regular axe, even popping it into an amp for your deafening solo rendition of “Welcome To The Jungle.”

Since only a demo version of Power Gig: Rise of the SixString was shown, the entirety of the game isn’t clear. According to some reports, there’s a hint of a narrative in there, ala Brutal Legend, to differentiate it from the two popular rhythm gaming titles and their clones. The game is scheduled to arrive in the Fall for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

[via Team Xbox]