Originally Posted by mr dave

personally i found playing guitar hero and rockband on expert mode with a pick far more entertaining (and ultimately beneficial) than sitting with a metronome and scales. you still need to develop alternate picking methods and different strumming patterns to succeed and you're still moving your hands in tandem to a mechanical click.

it's no replacement for the real thing and not something i'd suggest if you're trying to build up chops from nothing but if you've already got the ability to play and just need a way to hold yourself over it's great.