Forget playing air guitar, Konami has done it again. The company that had Travolta wannabees queuing up in video arcade centers to stomp on the Dance Dance Revolution platform has launched a new game for guitar freaks everywhere.
First you strap on a life-size guitar, then attempt to play along with your selected music by pressing buttons on the guitar fret board in sync with color-coordinated notes that flash up on the video screen in front of you. The machine grades your performance with exclamations from "bad" to "cool."
And if you manage to combine intermittent Bill and Ted-style riffs by cocking your guitar to the sky at the exact moment a tiny guitar icon appears on the screen, you gain a Wailing Bonus. This gets you canned applause and a few seconds extra to play along to the track. And time is key because this game is totally addictive. The machine wolfs down 100 yen coins, and the better you play, the longer you have to close your eyes and make like Jimi Hendrix or Courtney Love in a street in Shibuya.