Ubisoft announces Rocksmith guitar game

Ubisoft has announced a new music game, called Rocksmith, that will teach gamers how to play a real electric guitar, rather than rubbish plastic toys.

Ubisoft's hope is that the focus on teach real-life music skills, rather than just reaching for high scores, will be enough to distinguish Rocksmith from the recently cancelled Guitar Hero series.

'Guitar Hero is a party game. Rocksmith is a music experience,' said Ubisoft's vice president of marketing, Tony Key, in a comment to the Hollywood Reporter. 'The dream of playing guitar compared to how many follow through - there's a big gap. We will create a new generation of guitar players.'

Ubisoft will include 45 licensed songs with the game, including tracks by David Bowie and Nirvana.

The music genre has endured tough times lately, with Activision closing the Guitar Hero and DJ Hero franchises and MTV Games selling Harmonix after Rock Band 3's poor sales performance.

Ubisoft has said that Rocksmith will be compatible with most electric guitars already, via an amp pickup, but that it is in talks with Gibson to make a game-and-guitar bundle for £125.

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