"Rock Band" Videogame -- The Future of Music?

From today's Penny Arcade comic and blog, I found a link to this article, Harmonix, MTV, EA To Bring Us Rock Band. That's right, MTV and the makers of the video game hit Guitar Hero have finally done what they've been threatening to -- create a game where you can play in a virtual band online.

Now, let's just take a moment for this to sink in. These folks are not playing real instruments. They're just simulating real instruments to a lesser degree. They're also mostly just "playing along with" real songs from real artists. So, in one sense, they're not really "playing" music.

However, this is just the beginning. That's just the "solo play" mode of the game. What seems more compelling, and at some level, a little disturbing, is that when playing over the Internet, you can create your own songs, play your own music. Moreover, you can play with people at different locations, in different timezones, on different continents, all at the same time!

Will this supplant the jam session? Will mashing buttons to approximate music replace real music training? Will real instruments become unnecessary? Will these more abstract controls replace our old-school frets, strings, and picks?

And most importantly, what is the real impact of this? Will it mean more people playing music -- good, or no one learning real music anymore, just everyone mashing buttons -- bad?

All in all, I know I'm going to have to try this game out. I've played Guitar Hero a couple of times and was amazed by how fun it was. Of course, it doesn't beat strumming a real guitar, but I might be in the minority on that one. Mashing buttons is a lot easier to learn.