BY DANA LINTON wpix.com

1:48 p.m. EDT, August 31, 2009
NEW YORK (WPIX)—
Imagine being able to earn college credit while rocking out to "Guitar Hero." Well this fall, 16 lucky New York University undergraduates have enrolled in a class that allows them to do just that.

The course is called "Guitar Heroes (and Heroines): Music, Video Games and the Nature of Human Cognition" and it aims to tackle the topic of why human beings invest so much time into playing video games, according to the New York Post.

The class, which according to its instructor will focus primarily on the effect of video games and human cognition, proved to be so popular it reportedly already has a waiting list for upcoming semesters.

"I would totally sign up for the course," NYU sophomore Kelli Monakov told PIX News. "My brother and boyfriend are both gamers and spend so much time and money on video games. I would love to understand why. Plus, it sounds like fun."

The "Guitar Hero" course is just one of many new off-beat courses being offered to NYU students - who by the way shell out $50,000 a year to attend the ritzy private school - this fall.

Other courses include "Can Exercise Change Your Brain?," where students go through an hour-long high-impact aerobic class every session and "The Poetics of Television," for those who are TV addicts willing to discuss the characters and plotting of selected programs.