Air Guitar Hero ready to rock

SIDEBAR: When Guitar Hero first arrived on the PlayStation 2, the game's big hook was its guitar controller, a fancy toy that turned the button-tapping rhythm genre on its ear. Now that Guitar Hero is big enough to be its own brand name, one licensor is leaving the axe idea behind. At this week's 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, Jada Toys debuted its Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker, an electronic toy that hopes to re-create some of the gaming series' magic without toy guitars or game consoles. The Guitar Rocker is a gawdy Guitar Hero-branded belt buckle that produces notes when the toy's special pics are "strummed" in front of the buckle.

The challenge of the game comes from strumming the air guitar to the proper tempo to match one of the game's 10 preset song riffs. While five of the riffs are original compositions, the other five are pulled from rock classics. Included with the toy are Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," Black Sabbath's "Iron Man," Motorhead's "Ace of Spades," Van Halen's "You Really Got Me," and Boston's "More Than a Feeling."

The Air Guitar Rocker will be available in March for $29.99, and can be connected to an included miniamplifier or routed through external speakers. Jada has announced plans to release more cartridges for the toy in the months after it launches.