Good acoustic guitars can be had from Musiciansfriend.com^^^ for under 100 bucks, I believe.

Also, be sure you're playing what you like. Pick up some chords and learn to strum and sing your favorite songs, as almost every song can be broken down into a basic chord structure. From there your chops will develop. I personally never took it too seriously...always kept it fun. I think real lessons are kinda pointless unless you want to play Bach and whatnot. You can become a great guitar player without any formal instruction...just ask Slash.

As far as guitar hero goes...I've played guitar for six years and I cannot play that game for the life of me...so don't feel bad.

In any case, you can get free chord sheets and such at Ultimate-guitar.com. Also, start a band or some sort of music project if you have time. You'll pick it up faster and you'll probably very much enjoy writing songs. Good luck man!! Guitar is an awesome instrument.