Guitar Praise is the upcoming music/rhythm game being released this month from Christian game developers Digital Praise. The announcement of the game was featured in many videogame news outlets including Kotaku, Shacknews, and Wired’s Game|Life blog. We e-mailed the company a few questions about the game and company president Tom Bean and marketing consultant Diana James-Cairns were kind enough to answer them for us. Check it out after the jump!What led to the decision to create your own music/rhythm game?
Guitar Praise was developed in response to repeated requests from current Digital Praise customers for more family-oriented guitar skill game. Customers asked us for music with positive lyrics, less provocative characters and graphics

Will there be DLC (downloadable content) available after the game releases?
We don’t announce future plans, but it’s likely.

Were the Christian music labels enthusiastic about licensing the songs for the game? Were there any artists or songs you were unable to get for some reason?
We enjoy our relationships with the music labels, and they are enthusiastic about the game. We have band management from other bands contacting us to be on future versions now!

Are the songs all master tracks?
Yes

Who did you partner with to create the guitar peripheral?
Our partners in China have been a great asset to Digital Praise.

It’s been stated that the game is not compatible with the wired Guitar Hero or Rock Band guitar controller. What is the reason for this?
Our goal is to always make the best, highest-quality games we can, with original features and appeal. To do that, for now we have had to test only the Guitar Praise guitar controllers.

The responses in the gaming press have ranged from a strong defense from Penny Arcade to barely veiled scorn from MTV. How have you felt about the various reactions?
Digital Praise is a company devoted to serving families, schools and churches who seek wholesome, positive and educational family entertainment. Guitar Praise was created after repeated requests from our customers for a guitar controller game that featured the best Christian rock artists, combined with less provocative graphics. Our goal is always to do our very best to meet or exceed the production and play quality found in most PC games, and we believe we have achieved that with Guitar Praise.

Various outlets and commenters to the news posts about the game have wondered if there are copyright infringement issues with the game so closely mimicking the gameplay of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Are you concerned that the makers of Guitar Hero and/or Rock Band will take issue with your game for these reasons?
We have created our own game with unique features and game play.

Are there any plans to bring Guitar Praise to consoles?
Not at this time.

We’d like to thank Tom Bean and Diana James-Cairns again for taking the time to answer these questions for us.

While not definite, the prospect of new tracks for the game is a promising one, and will hopefully address the issues that some had about the style of music in the game. Not seeing the game on consoles is disappointing, but unsurprising. The amount of money and work involved in getting a game on the major consoles may simply be too much for such a small developer.

We’re looking forward to trying the game out for ourselves, and we’ll soon have a full review of the game letting you know whether it’s worth your time and money.