Hopefully, game developers Harmonix and Traveller's Tales will take careful notice of recent release, Fret Nice. The title allows players to use a simulated six-string to guide a protagonist through its hop-and-bop, horizontally scrolling realm. While the platformer isn't faultless (Sadly, the game controls better with a conventional controller) it does illustrate that plastic instruments don't have to restricted to rigid music-mimicking confines.
After today’s leak, Microsoft just confirmed via Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb that a bunch of new games are going to be compatible starting today with Xbox One’s backward compatibility feature.
Fret Nice might make your arm fall off. The game began its life as a college project, and like a lot of ideas borne from unrestrained youth, it's centered around a crazy concept: it's meant to be controlled with a plastic guitar peripheral. You move right or left by holding down different frets. You kill nebulous enemies by furiously strumming the flipper. And you jump, well... you jump by jerking the guitar upwards and activating its tilt-sensor. Since this is a platformer – one where all attacks must be performed airborne – you'll have to yank that instrument's neck more than you ever did playing Guitar Hero.
Do not use the guitar. While Fret Nice had always been hyped as a game that was designed with the guitar in mind, it just doesn't work very well, and we imagine this could be why it contains full support for the pad. It's not even like you're particularly making music with the peripheral, instead you're simply holding down any of the chords in accordance with how many 'parts' (eyes, antennas etc.) are on enemies, and strumming madly until they're dead.