A new twist to the popular music game genre will bring players one step closer to the rock icons they seek to emulate — Power Gig: Rise of the Sixstring features a guitar controller with real strings (
The game, developed by Seven45 Studios, was announced on Tuesday at the beginning of the Game Developers Conference. Power Gig is similar to other music games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and features “beat-match” style play in which players must match the onscreen beats with their instruments.
There will also be a new mode of play that requires players to depress certain strings in order to play actual chords — the same chords that players will then be able to play outside of the game.
Power Gig: Rise of the Sixstring will be a great option for people who enjoy Guitar Hero-type games, but who don’t want to spend a lot of extra money on an otherwise useless game controller. The guitars in Power Gig will come in a variety of sizes and will feature standard quarter-inch instrument jacks — which means you’ll be able to plug these babies into a regular amp and play real music. The guitars have a dampener near the pickup that will raise up during video game play (so the strings don’t make sounds) and lower for actual guitar playing.
If learning to play guitar isn’t your thing — and playing Rock Band is — the game will also be playable with Rock Band and Guitar Hero guitar-controllers. Likewise, Rock Band
Power Gig: Rise of the Sixstring is scheduled to be released this fall for PS3 and Xbox 360, and will also come as a “band bundle” with a set of drums and a microphone (still in production). Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but it will be priced similar to other games of its type — which is anywhere from $70 to $200. There’s no word on what the official licensed tunes will be like, either.