Games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band are hugely popular with gamers who own Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles. Although tapping buttons on a plastic guitar can't truly take the place of the real thing, the mechanics and gameplay of such games are quite appealing to a wide audience.

Jada Toys is taking the "dumbed down" approach to playing the guitar to the extreme with the release of the $29.99 Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker which is banking heavily on the popular Guitar Hero franchise.

Air guitarists who choose to look absolutely ridicuous simply hook a mini-amplifier to their waist and use included belt buckle and guitar pics to jam like the rock greats. By simply strumming the pic in front of the belt buckler, air guitarists can change the tempo of the song being played.

The game, which is a completely seperate entity from Guitar Hero for the aforementioned consoles, includes songs from Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Motorhead, Van Halen and Boston -- Jada also includes five original tunes developed specifically for Air Guitar Rocker.

Jada will introduce new buckles and additional cartridges following the initial launch so that air guitarists can enjoy additional tunes (for an additional price of course).

"Jada has a stellar reputation of delivering high quality, trend-setting toys," said Charles Huang, Activision/RedOctane's VP of business development. "The Air Guitar Rocker is a unique product that captures the attitude of the Guitar Hero franchise perfectly, allowing rock fans and air guitar enthusiasts the opportunity to jam at will to some of the greatest guitar riffs of all-time."

Despite the seemingly silly nature of the gaming device, Jada had a huge gathering of show-goers with glazed eyes watching the on-stage "band" rocking out in an overly animated fashion.

"Jada's motto is 'Keeping It Real' and we're confident we did just that with the Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker," said Jada CEO Jack Li. "Our innovative product pays homage to the great Guitar Hero brand by extending the fantasy of being a rock star to an exciting new format."

Jada says that it wants to "keep it real;" hopefully for Jada's sake, consumers don't just respond with "keep it!"