Guitar Hero: On Tour - Gimmick? Or Genius?

It's not entirely news, but people still aren't quite aware that the beloved Guitar Hero franchise is transferring over to the DS as Guitar Hero: On Tour. I know it's been in the corner of everyone's mind, and there's been countless of attempts to mobilize the Guitar Hero concept (such as Tap Tap Revolution for the iPhone/iPod Touch), though here, we see the first official attempt at a mobile Guitar Hero game, absurdity aside.

Vicarious Visions has managed to develop something that both tickles my interest and my funny bone. At first glance, what does this (see image) appear to be? A gimmick? A good idea? A brilliant idea? Or are you just entirely confused about the whole situation? If so, might I walk you through this strange compilation so that maybe you'll extract some informed opinions...

The largest compromise is clearly the lack of a guitar for Guitar Hero, so to make up for that, a black GBA-slotted fret...thing called the "Guitar Grip" has been implemented. Holding the DS with your hand of choice, the other hand is used to strum the bottom half of the DS screens, while your other hand taps the corresponding fret buttons on the upper half of the DS screen; just like traditional Guitar Hero (again, minus the whole guitar thing...). How does this look? See for yourself.

Not many details have been released, but for the most part, it's been established that you'll be seeing this on the shelves in the coming summer. But I, along with several other members of the gaming community, am still on the fence about it. Is it really going to be worth the money? Or should we all stay with our trusty consoles to provide a true taste of what real plastic guitar playin' is all about.

[via IGN]