THE NEXT LEVEL: The small studio behind "Power Gig: Rise of the SixString" hopes to compete with the bigwigs behind "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" by having players strum real string, not buttons, to play.

THE CHALLENGE: The music video game genre, though popular, faltered last year in part because accessories are expensive.

THE BASICS: The game will launch in the fall for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. No specific pricing has been announced.