Guitar Hero, age six, passed away yesterday, February 9, 2011.

The cause of death was “continued declines in the music genre,” according to a statement by its publisher, Activision.

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So the upcoming Rock Band 3 apparently has a “pro guitar mode,” which will feature a new toy guitar that requires players to actually make chords and hits notes and pluck strings and stuff. Made in conjunction with Fender, you’ll even be able to plug these things into amps and play ‘em that way.

In theory, this should quiet some of the rhythm game naysayers who claims that Rock Band, Guitar Hero and their ilk discourage players from picking up real instruments, as these new “guitars” will actually require users to learn about notes, chords, scales, etc., instead of just pressing colored buttons. The flip side, though, is that players still won’t have to learn about things like tuning, and it’s not hard to imagine an “instrument” like this becoming to guitar playing what auto-tune has become to singing: a shortcut and a cheat.

Check out the video previewing Rock Band‘s lastest creation below, and then weigh in with your thoughts in our comments section.

-AR

I’m not actually anti-Guitar Hero/rhythm games the way some people are, and this is only sorta kinda related to metal, but this satirical look into the making of Guitar Hero: The Beatles (not a real game, obviously) is too funny not to share.

-AR

[via CHUD]