With Rock Band 3 and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock making major announcements, projects like Power Gig: Rise of the SixString have gotten somewhat overlooked by many media outlets and fans. That looks to change starting today as Seven45 Studios announced the first wave of artists that will be exclusive to Power Gig: Rise of the SixString.
In a previous interview with Examiner.com, Jeff Walker, VP of Marketing for Seven45 Studios claimed that Power Gig "will have a handful artists which are exclusive to [them], who have deliberately shied away from partnering with other music games just because of philosophical differences with their image of what's good for music and what's bad for music."
The biggest name in the first group of exclusive artists is, without a doubt, the god of guitars himself, Eric Clapton. "Layla", a song which has been highly requested in Guitar Hero and Rock Band since the dawn of those series, has already been confirmed to appear in the game. Seven45 Studios also made the big announcement that Dave Matthews Band and Kid Rock have also agreed to be exclusive to their platform. More exclusive and non-exclusive artists that will have their tracks in Rise of the SixString are sure to be announced at E3 this month.
“We think Power Gig is a much needed and much welcomed game because, unlike any others before it, it puts a real guitar into the hands of aspiring musicians, and we hope it inspires our fans and others to start playing even when they’re not playing the game,” said Dave Matthews Band. “We love the thought that fans of ours who’ve never picked up an instrument can now play our music on a real guitar and experience what we love to do day in and day out.”
“I was never interested in pressing buttons on a guitar to entertain myself or anyone else,” said Kid Rock. “The reason I signed up with Power Gig is because this game is a way to not only have fun, but also to play real notes on an actual guitar! Anyone can now rock out—even if they have never shredded before in their life.”
The screenshots show a user interface that much resembles the Guitar Hero layout. There are slight differences here and there, but it appears as though the main concept remains in tact. The graphics in the screenshots don't look quite up to par to the high standard set by Guitar Hero 5, but the version being displayed is not the final product, so a little polish might be added.
Seven45 Studios capped off the day by revealing their drum kit, which is similar looking to the Rock Band kit, only it doesn't appear to have legs. While it might seem that players need to prop it up on a table, the AirStrike Drum Kit actually uses breakthrough technology that allows the player to play without hitting anything.
“We know that people may be skeptical of the AirStrike drums at first glance when they see there’s no actual drums and can’t understand how that’s a match to our SixString guitar which is a fully-functioning electric guitar,” said Seven45 Studios Chairman and CEO, Bernard Chiu. “But we also know that as soon as people sit down to play it, they are going to see how much more real and authentic it feels to be moving much the same way true drummers do when they play, without the limits of the drum kits already on the market. Just like our guitars, the AirStrike drums are a step forward for authenticity in the band game genre.”
Power Gig is starting to come together nicely. With huge artists like Clapton and DMB on their side, Seven45 has certainly shown their ability to grab the talent that might have resisted Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The main question is, can they grab other huge artists that have so-far evaded those trademark series, such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. The drum kit may be a huge question mark in the eyes of most gamers, but many questions will be answered within the month about the peripherals that Power Gig centers.
Stay tuned for the latest details regarding Power Gig and the other music game franchises as E3 shows why 2010 might be the biggest year for music video games yet.
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Comments
Wow, they think air drumming is more real than playing on an ion drum kit? o.0 That's redonkulus
Also, after watching the video, the graphics and fret board look worse than Rock Revolution. :/
the game looks like crap but i like the eric clapton song
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