The slashing riffs of Metallica, the solos of Deep Purple, the rage of the Sex Pistols: an increasing crop of video games are inviting players to live out their dreams of being a rock star.
Pick up your mock guitar, plug in your gaming console and become Keith Richards or Kurt Cobain from the comfort of your own home.
Guitar Hero III and Rock Band impressed gamers when unveiled at the E for All exhibtion in Los Angeles, highlighting a growing niche in a market traditionally dominated by violent "shoot 'em ups'' or street-racing games.
The successful Guitar Hero franchise was launched in late 2005 for the PlayStation 2, and was followed by another top-selling sequel in 2006 for both the PS2 and Microsoft's Xbox 360.
Now the gaming developers behind Guitar Hero, Harmonix, have partnered with Electronic Arts (EA) for Rock Band, which promises to take the world of virtual air guitaring to the next level.
While Guitar Hero limits participants to one instrument, Rock Band will accommodate a singer, a lead guitar, a base or rhythm guitar and a drum kit.
To score points, players must hit exactly the right note, the right tempo or sing in key.
"You can play it alone, with your friends and on line,'' says Brent Dady, product manager of EA.
The game's makers believe it will really come its own when played online, in theory making it possible for a band to be composed of a drummer in Singapore, a lead singer in Tanzania, a guitarist in America and a bass player in France.
"The whole experience is actually about reaching out to other people and forming a band together in that kind of collaborative experience of working with a group of people to form a band,'' said Harmonix chief executive Alex Rigopulos.
"o rise from obscurity into stardom and fame, and to go through that experience together.''
"It's great, but I think you really have to play a lot to get better,'' said one young gamer Billy Grooms after trying his hand at Rock Band.
EA have sought to cover all bases with the catalogue of songs available, making it possible for gamers to emulate a wide range of different music, from classics by The Rolling Stones to the apocalyptic thrash metal of Slayer.
The game has its limitations however. And budding guitarists who hope that after hours of playing Rock Band they will be blessed with the skills of Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page are likely to be disappointed.
Steve Cotton, an avid fan of the Guitar Hero games who is also a member of an amateur rock group in Ohio, points that the differences between the mock guitar issued with the video game and the real thing are huge.
"It's very different, because on a real guitar, you have frets and strings, and this is only five buttons,'' Cotton said.
"But it would help guitar players with their accuracy as far as where the fingers should go.''
Nevertheless Cotton admitted to being impressed. ``I'll be one of the first in line when this one comes out,'' he said.
"It's cool enough for a bunch of people to play it. It can bring a lot of people together.''
Source: News AU