Rocksmith 2014 presents more than 50 tracks, everything from Bob Dylan to Slayer. Ideally you will need to split the audio signal through a separate amplifier, but a component lead works adequately, reducing lag to a workable level.Įnsuring minimal lag is of paramount importance. It introduces the greatest amount of lag between striking a note on the guitar and the output being played on screen and through your speakers. Unfortunately for many, the now-standard HDMI cable for video and audio offers the worst option. A foldout poster included with the game lists the optimal hardware set-up. While there's no need for an amplifier (the game expertly models numerous amps and effects pedals to recreate the specific guitar tones featured on six decades' worth of tracks) you will, however, probably need to adjust your console's set-up. The game comes with a set of numbered stickers that can be applied to your guitar to help with sight-reading. Skills learned here will translate onto the stage or recording studio. Ubisoft says that the game offers "the fastest way to learn guitar" and, while that claim is impossible to test, what's clear is that with the right mix of talent, dexterity and dedication, Rocksmith 2014 will make a musician of you. There is no Fisher Price-esque plastic peripheral here to help you pretend to be a rock star in front of your television rather, you connect your own instrument to the system via a USB lead and begin to learn the authentic guitar parts to a slew of well-known songs.
Rocksmith 2014 cable xbox 360 series#
Ubisoft's Rocksmith series is a serious and laudable effort to do for bassists and guitarists what Rock Band 3 did for drummers.
Skills learned in one domain transfer without friction to the next. For the video game drummer there is no abstraction from the instrument to the game: the game is playing the drums. Konami's Drummania and, more recently, Harmonix's Rock Band stand apart. We know that the video game versions of these activities are only a faint echo of the real thing, but the thrills are sufficiently representative to compel our attention. As we push light around the television screen with our thumbs, we catch something of what it might be like to fly a fighter plane a few feet above the ocean, to tilt a Ferrari around the Nürburgring's lingering corners, to miss a penalty for England, to shoot Hitler in the balls or, in the case of Shenmue, to work a fork lift shift down at the local docks. More often than not, video games attempt to approximate real-world activities that would otherwise be too perilous, expensive, physically demanding or scarce for us to enjoy.