If the concept of rhythm-game-cum-guitar-tutor Rocksmith has intrigued you, then there's a good chance you fall into the same category of guitarist that I do: a gamer who's fumbled behind the bike sheds of musical ambition in the past and left feeling rather sheepish and incapable, yet still enamoured with the prospect of making more meaningful progress.
Regardless of your experience with the instrument though, and in the wake of the plastic rhythm genre's spectacular fall from grace, Rocksmith has to answer one fundamental question. Is this a game that really teaches you how to play the guitar, or does it teach you how to play a game using a guitar?
This distinction is important, but you won't be able to answer the question immediately. While it's a technically impressive concept, there's nothing plug-and-play about Rocksmith. The lag between your guitar and console is surmountable - just - but only if you accept the stern instructions to avoid using HDMI for video and audio, ideally invest in a home cinema speaker system and some component cables (which are now rarer at retail than hen's teeth), and do so at the same time you just happen to be buying a guitar and a copy of the game from Argos. (Or a bass - support for this instrument has now been added to Rocksmith, an advance over the original North American edition.)
Annual football fiesta FIFA 13 has sold a million copies during its first week on sale in the UK.
It becomes the fourth game in history to do this, following Call of Duty titles Black Ops, Modern Warfare 2 and 3.
Video game sales jumped by 196 per cent in the past seven days. FIFA 13 accounted for 71 per cent of all games sold and 80 per cent of all revenue from game sales - both of these figures are higher than last year.
Ubisoft announces line-up for September show, also including Just Dance 4.
With E3 finally out of the way, we're getting the point where we can start to announce some of the games and developers who will be making their way to this year's epic, four-day Eurogamer Expo, taking place at Earls Court from 27th-30th September 2012.
Ubisoft's forthcoming music title Rocksmith has found itself the target of a patent infringement claim from a company who make guitar tutorial software.
Ubisoft guitar game Rocksmith will be released on PS3 and Xbox 360 in the UK on 14th September, Ubisoft has announced. A PC version will follow.
Rocksmith has already been released in North America and has scored decently - around 80 per cent - there. The game was held up here due to a trademark dispute with local band Rocksmith.
Rocksmith teaches you how to play guitar. The selling point is a cable that converts the output of any electric guitar so they can be used to play the game.
Ubisoft exec Laurent Detoc has hit out at the less-than-stellar review scores for Rocksmith, the company's attempt at cracking the music genre, and blasted critics for ignoring "innovation".
The critical response to Rocksmith was indicative of their "lack of enthusiasm for something that is new", Detoc told Gamasutra.
"As much as they claim they want innovation, they don't," Detoc, Ubisoft's North American executive director, explained.
Ubisoft "ignored" phone calls and emails from UK rock band Rocksmith while trying to file a Rocksmith (video game) trademark in Europe, Eurogamer has learnt.
