Line6 was doing this 10-15 years ago and it wasn't that cool then. Eventide has some tools for it today tool, there's also the Owl, various teensy projects, and of course Kemper.
I've had a Line 6 Guitar Port for about 20 years. It was $99, and emulates amps, cabinets, pedals, console channels, rack effects, etc., admittedly offloading the work into a computer that (at the time) cost about a grand.
Are they perfect emulations? No. Did anyone notice that in my music? No. Would I take that rig on stage? Also no.
It did help me find sounds I liked though, and over the years I've bought hardware equivalents of some of my favorite emulations, and I've bought hardware that goes beyond anything Line 6 can do.
As to whether Line 6 is cool or not, NIN/Trent Reznor toured with Line 6 rigs to sold out arenas 20 years ago, and today the live rigs are managed by the FOH using software emulations that can be automated or managed from on-stage controllers. Maybe you don't think that's cool, but the important takeaway is that you should use the tool that's right for you.
I think it's good to see people tinkering with new ways to reduce the cost around modulating audio signals in interesting ways.
