Ubisoft unveils guitar game Rocksmith

It's been a tough stretch for the rhythm genre. After being sold off by former parent Viacom, Rock Band developer Harmonix laid off 15 percent of its staff. Meanwhile, rival rhythm publisher Activision completely disbanded its Guitar Hero business unit, taking the DJ Hero franchise with it. Undaunted, Ubisoft has decided to enter the genre.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ubisoft will unleash Rocksmith for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii this September. The game will come with 45 songs from bands like the Rolling Stones, the Animals, David Bowie, and Nirvana. According to the report, Rocksmith will sport songs not available in Rock Band or Guitar Hero games.

Rocksmith was developed with realism in mind, according to The Reporter. In the game, players will strum along on actual strings. Ubisoft is betting that the game can avoid the fate of Guitar Hero because its players won't soon grow tired of learning how to play an actual guitar. The game will come with an input jack that is compatible with "most electric guitars" for play on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but not the Wii.

Additionally, the report states that Ubisoft is in talks with guitar maker juggernaut Gibson and others to manufacture a $200 edition of the game that bundles an actual guitar with a copy of the game.

More specific details on Rocksmith are not yet available, as Ubisoft has yet to formally announce the game. However, the game's lone screenshot (above) shows that the game's note highway will apparently scroll horizontally, as opposed to the vertically designed Rock Band and Guitar Hero note charts.

Ubisoft has enjoyed great success in the music game genre lately. Its latest dancing game--Just Dance 2--has gone quintuple platinum, selling 5 million copies worldwide since debuting in October 2010.