Seven45 Studios talks Power Gig details, we go hands-on with its six string guitar peripheral
By Darren Murph 
posted March 9th 2010 5:04PM
posted March 9th 2010 5:04PM
We had a sit down with the team today at GDC, and besides coming away impressed with the alpha build of the game and the prototype axes we saw, we also learned quite a bit more about their plans than what was revealed in this morning's press release. Just to be exceptionally clear, Seven45 Studios will not only sell their upcoming title as a standalone product, but it will sell a "band bundle" that includes the game, a guitar (plus a strap, picks and an extra set of strings), a drum set and a microphone, the latter two of which are still very early in production and weren't available for us to test. The beat matching setup that gamers have grown used to in Rock Band and Guitar Hero is still there, but most everything else is new; a "chording" addition will allow users to strum actual power chords that match the chords used in the song, giving newbies the ability to actually learn songs as they play the game if they want to. In other words, if users strum the same chords required to succeed in the game but through an amp, they'll be playing the actual song; if you'd rather not learn, you need not have any clue how to play a guitar to enjoy the game. Speaking of which, the bundled guitar (along with extra guitars that are still being sorted in terms of size, material and color) doubles as a legitimate six string by simply depressing the dampening pad beneath the neck, and while it won't match the crisp tone emitted from your Les Paul Custom, the prototype we heard here in San Francisco sounded just fine for a beginner's instrument. We also learned that existing Rock Band and Guitar Hero guitars will work with the Power Gig titles, and Seven45's guitars will work with existing music band games -- not bad!
More after the break...
The crew went on to explain how the gameplay will be different than what's out there already; users won't focus so much on customizing their characters, but will instead follow them through a rock journey (of sorts), the ultimate of which would involve a singer, a drummer and a guitarist. To that end, you can't have two guitar players and a drummer, or two singers and an axe slinger. We're sure that'll aggravate some gamers, but we were assured that the layout was cemented due to the impact on the storyline. Another huge boon here is that artists who have strayed away from existing music titles due to the lack of genuineness are apparently talking to Seven 45; they told us that their first title would have "a comparable amount of tracks" (when looking at GH / RB titles), and that the playlists "wouldn't be rehashes of what's already out there." Evidently some bands are more eager to get their music onto a game that utilizes a real guitar, and that bodes well for those who are growing tired of what's being pumped out today.
Not only will Power Gig use final masters exclusively (read: no covers), but the team is already planning a robust DLC lineup to give obsessed players the ability to download even more content. The game we were shown today was only around 30 percent complete, but we were still duly satisfied with how everything looked; we also saw a half dozen prototype guitars in various colors, and there was even a full-size guitar / controller that the team hopes will entice those who are looking for something larger than the 3/4-size peripheral that'll ship in the bundle. Put simply, there's no set plan on how many guitars will be sold, but it's safe to say that at least one full-size version will be offered. Oh, and as for you Wii gamers? You're on their radar, though no time table was given for a Wii launch.
Finally, we were able to glean that the band bundle would sell for "about the same amount" as bundles already on shelves. They understand that they're playing the underdog role here, and they have no intentions of pricing themselves out of the market. What's truly amazing about this is that you get a legitimate guitar (and in our estimation, a far superior game) for essentially the same price. Got a kid who you know will be barking for both a band game and a guitar for Christmas? Go ahead and toss this atop that must-have list. The launch bundle will be out and about in North America "this fall," with other nations to get localized versions shortly thereafter. Better still, we were promised a look at a much fresher build of the game and much more developed guitars at E3, but till then, feel free to have a look at the prototype axe we were allowed to photograph.
Darn, wish i could have seen the guys face in the picture.
@ashleythehottiest I'm not sure that's a good idea... what if it's Chuck Norris?
If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can't see Chuck Norris you may be only seconds away from death.
@ashleythehottiest I'd like to see his face, too. He has such nice arms. Surely a nice face would go with nice arms?
@ashleythehottiest
And I wish I had real musical talent :(
@ashleythehottiest FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE LET METALLICA-ONE BE IN THE GAME!
Wow. That's actually pretty damn cool. As long as it's not astronomically priced, I could see it going places. If the company is smart enough to think out the idea and hardware this much so far, I don't see them letting it be hindered by a gigantic pricetag... so let's hope that they can pull it off.
@Prokanda
A gaming device with a 1/4 audio jack
Nuff said
The glaring omission in the article is: Do these guitars also function as MIDI controllers, like the YouRock? To omit that functionality would be a massive blunder, one would assume yes. But why not ask that question, and why isn't it addressed in the press release?
@Information Central
The "glaring" omission. I'm sorry sir, but I figure 99.9% of people who buy Rock Band or Guitar Hero are not using it as a MIDI controller. That's for geeks and geeks alone.
oh god now everybody is going to be able to play guitars because of this game.
playing guitar will be as common as breathing... well not quite :P
@BubblegumBalloon Ya, but being "expert" at guitar and actually being good at guitar will always be two completely different things
@The Geek
true but on the bright side this game is actually easier if your a guitarist unlike rockband and guitar hero
luckily I can play guitar woop :p
@BubblegumBalloon I don't know about you but i actually play guitar, rather well and i'm sick of my friends who can play guitar hero on expert (i play on hard) and can't play guitar for their lives. Time to show them where it's at
@The Geek
yeah I play guitar pretty well aswell, I mainly play metal style tracks :)
Im pretty good at guitar hero I can play expert very well but this new controller sound bring a whole new experience :)
also what happens if you break a string on that thing? the average gamer wont know how to replace it
@BubblegumBalloon Oh no, then how are you going to get all the babes?
@BubblegumBalloon
I better say goodbye to the concept of guitar playing impressing chicks.
@The Geek Yeah, I'm a musician(not a guitar player but still) and I'm pathetic at all musci games in comparison to my friends who couldn't play music to save their lives but can run circles around me on the games.
In consequence, ive never bought guitar hero/rockband, although I might buy this if I can get a computer version of it.
@BubblegumBalloon
dude come on- guitar strings are not hard to replace. Give people a little credit.
This goes under the Mini 5 and PS3. In other words: I CAN'T WAIT FOR RELEASE.
@BigJayDogg3
Just so you're aware, the PlayStation 3 was released in 2006. You're a bit behind.
I'm not good at ebay. How do I time the sale of my RB1 instruments so that I'm not too long without video game instruments in my room waiting for this to come out?
I'm liking their "quality" approach. Everything in-house, no covers, presumably more quality artists ho were otherwise turned off by the other music games guys. If they could get the drums to sound like the band's drums during solos (as opposed to suddenly going into stock sound mode) they'd have an awesome package here!
And I'd totally be in if the equipment is more durable. I currently have duct-tape all over my RB2 drum kit, and the cymbals have broken rubber in the middle, so they sag (thanks Mad Catz!).
@sonicyoof I agree about the odd stock drum kit during the fills.
As for a durable drum kit, I'm using a Roland TD-9K, try as I might, I don't think I could break it.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m70/hugh_jardohn/FRANKZAPPA75-1.jpg
I'm very interested in this!
I hope they don't choose activision as a publisher.
@Prestidigitator Better Activision than Ubisoft...
Bah, just play the guitar (a real one) and give up on the music games.
@xenious
Why? This would provide a bit of a challenge and push for some people that play guitar, and those that don't might learn from it. Of course, they won't be learning musical theory from it, but they will get basic technique down.
I like the idea. Though I wonder how difficult it would be to play. I suppose if they start people off on an "easy" setting like in GH or RB, that they would be able to pick it up well enough. I haven't played RB/GH in a while because of it's 'toy' factor. I would rather play something more resembling the real thing.
Looks interesting, and I'm down for a purchase when it comes out. I've always wanted to really learn an instrument and this looks like a good stepping stone.
I wonder why these games never implement a piano / keyboard...too bad.
This looks awesome and I'll probably check out the Guitar game, but I'm probably not going to buy another full band game.
I'm also not sure it'll catch on as well as GH/RB simply because of the added difficulty of the real instrument, it becomes more about music enthusiasts and less about picking up, playing, and having fun. That said, I play guitar and I'm mainly intrigued by this as a fun new way to learn new songs.
@Mach
Actually, it'd be just as easy as Guitar Hero, IF you want it to be. You can play it with as much difficulty as possible, or you can play it liek you would GH or RB.
@HardToBelieve
There's no way it could ever be as easy. You're talking about six strings (over however many frets they're going to use), and six different strings to strum vs. one bar.
I thought the appeal of the Guitar Hero/Rock Band games were they were a no hassle approach to "playing" music with friends.
This seems to have taken that concept and made it more complex unnecessarily. I've never had to restring a controller before, and I'm not sure I want to start.
Then don't buy this.
I've been waiting for something like this....learning guitar is not easy...but playing a game to learn guitar could be a lot of fun! I'm expert in Rock Band/GH so I would love to step up to the next challenge!
This sounds great, but three questions:
will I be able to hook up my Fender?(or whatever type of guitar you already happen to have?)
will there be a PC (or better, but less likely, mac) version?
Will there be Brad Paisley songs?
@iCello
Haha, I would love to hook up my Fender Strat and Macbook, but Brad Paisley interests me less... :P
@Stormbringer Lol so we have the same tastes in gear but not in music! Haha.
@StormbringWhat kind of music do you like?
And why don't you like Brad Paisley?
"will I be able to hook up my Fender?(or whatever type of guitar you already happen to have?)"
No, because a regular guitar doesn't have sensors in the neck to determine which notes you're playing. MIDI guitars are often "regular" guitars, but they have pickups that sense the vibration frequency of each string and convert it to a note signal for the computer.
Unfortunately, all of the First Act products that I've run across as an elementary music teacher, particularly guitars, have been nearly unplayable. Most of them cannot hold their pitch because the tuning pegs are too weak, and several others have action so high that it takes an adult hand to press the string to the fretboard.
I hope these folks invest in build quality as they're trying to take Rock Band style games to the next level.
Buy a real guitar. Whats the point of having game controllers move closer and closer to real instruments?
For one thing, computers and games may have excellent potential as a teaching tool for real music. So far this has been largely unexplored for guitar, because MIDI guitar is fussy and expensive. There was an effort to develop a cheaper guitar/computer interface in the '90s (it was called the G-Vox), but its educational software missed the boat a little bit. I think it may also have been pretty expensive at the time.
I think they should just make an adapter to pair a regular guitar to a PS3 to play the game. I don't need to buy another guitar, but I would totally love to try this out. Where I imagine it would help is improving chord changing speed, and it would be sweet if they had more advanced levels for riffs
Been playing guitar for 20 years. Kind of mixed feelings about this. It is really going to kill GH/Rock Band and discourage some kids. Guitar is not easy to learn and master.
I am very interested!! I hope its not too expensive....
Imagine the look on your guitar-tech's face when you bring this thing in for a setup...
I hink the next evolution will be my dream coming true: playing Guitar Pro files on a guitar which detects your mistakes. Which means that you actually practising songs, can track your progression, you'll get extra fun, and you can compare yourself with others.
I have this idea for at least 5 years, they should hurry up a bit!
hahaha this thing is cool looking. i cant imagine where we will be in ten years time.