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Zivix's Headliner guitar lets you rock the real and virtual stage

Survey says

: kids who pretend rock out in music videogames are more likely to want to learn to play those instruments for reals. For would-be strummers, that means a rather abrupt transition from cheapo plastic toy with buttons to hand-crafted wooden instrument with strings. That could change with the Zivix Headliner, a prototype guitar that also works in both the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, featuring sensors on the neck to act like buttons and real strings that replace the plastic strum bar. It's not the first game-friendly guitar with strings we've seen, nor indeed is it the company's first stab at creating a hybrid instrument like this (they demo'ed something similar called the Hero Maker last year), but with a little more venture capital infusion Zivix hopes to have this model on sale by year's end for under $250 -- expensive for a game controller and not exactly cheap for an electric guitar. Any takers?

[Via OhGizmo!]