Wii-Music
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Wii Music goes old school with the shamisen
You know that instrument you always hear during those awesome kung fu movies? Yup, it's a shamisen. You can check it out in Wii Music above, courtesy of the Today's Instrument marketing plan from Nintendo. It, uh, pretty much sounds like it should: a string being plucked. We're sure there are more subtle nuances to the instrument, but we're game bloggers, not music buffs.%Gallery-27713% Looking for more on Wii Music? Check out the E3 trailer by clicking here, read up on our time with the game here, and learn how to play the harmonica, cello, harpsichord, cheerleader, saxophone, sitar, cowbell, electric bass, drums, dog, accordion, taiko, clarinet, conga, electric guitar, harp, flute, marching drum, violin, piano, guitar, and marimba.
Nobody knows the troubles Wii Music has seen
We're starting to look forward to that pleasantly bouncy Wii Music "Today's Instrument" intro music every day. The actual music played by the instrument of the day doesn't really stick with us. Maybe that says something about the music in the game, or (more likely) the theme has been drilled into our heads by repetition.Today's instrument is the harmonica, an instrument well-known for its proliferation in movie prison scenes and John Popper's vest. Playing the harmonica in Wii Music is like eating a virtual corn cob -- which, for the curious, can be experienced in Major League Eating: The Game. When Nintendo's engineers were designing the Wii Remote, do you think they had holding it up to your face in mind?%Gallery-27713% Looking for more on Wii Music? Check out the E3 trailer by clicking here, read up on our time with the game here, and learn how to play the cello, the harpsichord, cheerleader, saxophone, sitar, cowbell, electric bass, drums, dog, accordion, taiko, clarinet, conga, electric guitar, harp, flute, marching drum, violin, piano, guitar, and marimba.
Wii Music dated for North America
Grab the nearest (invisible) instrument and make some noise, because Nintendo has confirmed that Wii Music will launch in North America on October 20th. Woohoo! According to the press release in front of us, the game will "bring the experience of performing music to people who think learning an instrument is too difficult," a promise that should effortlessly placate the frothing hordes of internet cynics.So what does everybody predict? Unstoppable massmarket sales juggernaut, or confusing non-game due to be overlooked by everybody in the rush for other music titles? We're opting for the former.%Gallery-27713%[Via press release]
Wii Music release announced for October 20
Nintendo has announced that Wii Music – which "turns players' movements into great music, even if you've never picked up an instrument before" – will be released in North America on October 20. If you had a copy of Wii Music, and it had one of those sad party blowers that never really work as an instrument, you could "blow" it right now by, um, waving the Wiimote. Or maybe a slide whistle would be more apropos.Remember: exercise caution when driving to the store right now to pre-order Wii Music. There's no need to drive all crazy; the streets will probably be jammed with people doing just that. Why wouldn't they be?
Wii Music introduces the cello
Another day, another Wii Music instrument to talk about. Today's instrument is none other than the cello. And, in the video above, you can see it in action. What we'd like to know is whether or not her left hand affects the game? You see how she keeps pressing the two shoulder buttons on the Nunchuk? Is that for show or will that actually affect the music in the game? %Gallery-27713% Looking for more on Wii Music? Check out the E3 trailer by clicking here, read up on our time with the game here, and learn how to play the harpsichord, cheerleader, saxophone, sitar, cowbell, electric bass, drums, dog, accordion, taiko, clarinet, conga, electric guitar, harp, flute, marching drum, violin, piano, guitar, and marimba.
Rocking the harpsichord in Wii Music
Wii Music's today's instrument campaign has just hit 21 and its latest instrument, the harpsichord, doesn't look all that bad. Forget all of the negativity surrounding the game, because the harpsichord actually looks like an instrument you can have an impact on. The way the model is moving the Wiimote and Nunchuk around, it makes it look like you can have an honest impact on what note you're playing. Hit up the video above to check it out, then brush up on some of the instruments that have already been shown below.%Gallery-27713% Looking for more on Wii Music? Check out the E3 trailer by clicking here, read up on our time with the game here, and learn how to play the cheerleader, saxophone, sitar, cowbell, electric bass, drums, dog, accordion, taiko, clarinet, conga, electric guitar, harp, flute, marching drum, violin, piano, guitar, and marimba.
Go! Cool! Pretty! Wii Music's cheerleader in action
Nintendo is at it again, stretching the definition of "instrument" to breaking point. Today's Wii Music instrument is the Cheerleader, though it could just as easily be called Excitable Human Being. It works by punching the air with your Wiimote and Nunchuk, and creates the kind of sounds last heard from the mouth of our favorite intergalactic news reporter. Oh, and before you start mocking this, don't forget that some companies are building entire games around this one "instrument."%Gallery-27713% Looking for more on Wii Music? Check out the E3 trailer by clicking here, read up on our time with the game here, and learn how to play the saxophone, sitar, cowbell, electric bass, drums, dog, accordion, taiko, clarinet, conga, electric guitar, harp, flute, marching drum, violin, piano, guitar, and marimba.
Wii Music: sitar-studded instrument roundup!
Once again, Nintendo dutifully spent the weekend uploading Today's Instrument videos, and we have returned to scoop them up and use them to attract your scorn (or the interest that you're secretly cultivating). We're presenting them in reverse chronological order, so the latest one, from today, is above. In this video, we see Wii Music's sitar, the playing of which is apparently a very serious, somber occasion. After the break, we have video demonstrations of the saxamaphone, and an instrument forever scarred by one unavoidable joke that we're not going to make. We're not! %Gallery-27713%
Wii Music gets funky with the electric bass
Another day, another instrument gets showcased for Nintendo's upcoming music toy, Wii Music. Most songs benefit from a thumping bass line, with its deep tones helping to drive the tune right into your ear hole so that it can gently stroke the pleasure center of your brain squirrel. It's good stuff, and it looks like the electric bass is going to be recreated fairly well. Hit up the video above to catch a demonstration of the instrument from none other than robotic-instrument-showcasing-lady.%Gallery-27713% Looking for more on Wii Music? Check out the E3 trailer by clicking here, read up on our time with the game here, and learn how to play the drums, dog, accordion, taiko, clarinet, conga, electric guitar, harp, flute, marching drum, violin, piano, guitar, and marimba.
Wii Music gets boxart, slight date change
For all the, ahem, polite debate that Wii Music has encouraged, we can probably all agree that it has a nice-looking box. Clean, simple, and to the point: we like it when companies use clutter-free boxart, and Nintendo does this better than most. There's simply no way this could confuse Grandma.In other Wii Music news, Amazon and GameStop have now both updated their release dates for the game toy: previously, it was due November 3rd, but now both sites display October 20th. A stylish box and a sooner-than-expected launch date -- everybody at GameTrailers will be happy!%Gallery-27713%[Via Go Nintendo]
Wii Music's infamous drums
We've all seen a fairly spastic, embarrassing live demonstration of Wii Music's drum kit -- or at least the GIF version. Honestly, it seemed pretty cool from inside the theatre, with the strobe lights flashing and the volume turned way up. It was only after arriving home and seeing Ravi Drums' performance through the filter of the Internet that face hit palm. We knew that it was confusing to play, but we didn't know until then how confusing it was to see.This latest Wii Music "Today's Instrument" video doesn't include the Balance Board bass drum, but the same flailing is on display here. Not pictured: being unable to figure out which direction on the D-pad corresponds to which drum.%Gallery-27713%
Wii Music whips out the ukelele
Another day, another fake instrument to play. Today's spotlighted instrument for Wii Music is the ukelele. And, much like the real instrument, it can produce some soothing sounds. For as much as we all harp on the toy that is Wii Music, playing the ukelele doesn't look half bad. What do you all think?%Gallery-27713% Looking for more on Wii Music? Check out the E3 trailer by clicking here, read up on our time with the game here, and learn how to play the dog, accordion, taiko, clarinet, conga, electric guitar, harp, flute, marching drum, violin, piano, guitar, and marimba.
Wii Music teaches the world how to play the dog
It's a bit like the drums, apparently.The dog suit, easily the most non-instrumental of all Wii Music's instruments, is the subject of the latest "Today's Instrument" video. Even though the novelty would probably wear thin quickly, we found this video to be quite cute and funny. Not that we'd share such a view with any of the commentors at GameTrailers, whose responses to this are both wonderfully over-the-top and angsty. "I... HATE... THIS... SO... MUCH..." writes jaymichigan, quivering with rage. "I've lost the will to live," proclaims sarahshrew2, not at all dramatically. "Nintendo... My vision of you has now forever been changed from the KING of video games, to WORTHLESS IDIOTS," bawls robsco.You get the idea.%Gallery-27713% Looking for more on Wii Music? Check out the E3 trailer by clicking here, read up on our time with the game here, and learn how to play the accordion, taiko, clarinet, conga, electric guitar, harp, flute, marching drum, violin, piano, guitar, and marimba.
Wii Music weekend instrument roundup!
Over the weekend, Nintendo continued posting new videos of new Wii Music instruments. Above, the accordion, which is like Thor's hammer Mjolnir, but for Weird Al. Only the worthy can pick up the accordion, but those who can wield it are transformed instantly into Weird Al Yankovic. Due to technical and licensing constraints, only the sound-producing capabilities of the accordion are reproduced in Wii Music.After the break, videos featuring simulated taiko, clarinet, and conga drums. We think that of all the instruments, the ones involving drumming look silliest when there's no actual instruments. The model just kind of punches the air like one of those action figures whose arms swing out when you squeeze their legs. But we must admit that Wii Music's taiko sounds pretty cool.%Gallery-27713%
Wii Music's air guitar
The eighth in the "Today's Instrument" series of Wii Music demonstration videos is one of the most iconic, recognizable instruments, and one that is the source of a lot of people's issues with Wii Music: the electric guitar. As we all know, in Guitar Hero you push buttons on a plastic guitar controller in time with musical cues. In Wii Music, you do this.Perhaps if this one instrument weren't in the game, people wouldn't be as inclined to compare the two and judge Wii Music so harshly, since aside from the musical theme and the idea of simulating instruments, they're extremely different things? More likely they'd complain about the lack of electric guitar. [Video uploaded by Balance Board Blog]
Harping on Wii Music
The latest Wii Music "Today's Instrument" video features a musical instrument most of us are quite unlikely to have at home, due to bigness, cost, and complicated upkeep: the harp. Of course, you won't have to worry about taking care of your Wii Music harp, because it doesn't exist! You also won't have to worry about retuning it because the temperature has changed since you played it. Or knowing how to play the harp.Playing the harp as it appears in Wii Music is easy: all you do is perform Ocelot's signature hand gesture from Metal Gear Solid 3! You can make beautiful, otherworldly-sounding music and taunt Big Boss simultaneously!%Gallery-27713%
Wii Music: A dancing robot plays the flute
The latest in Nintendo's "Today's Instrument" series of Wii Music demonstration videos features an e-flautist playing the game's virtual flute. Like every other non-made-up instrument in Wii Music, if you know what someone looks like playing the real thing, you have a good idea of what it looks like in the game. To play the flute, you pretty much hold the thing out and jam on the 1 and 2 buttons.As it turns out, holding your hands out in front of you like that and occasionally bending a little at the waist bears an uncanny resemblance to the average attempt at the Robot. She's a dance-dance dance-dance dancin' machine, inadvertently!%Gallery-27713%
Wii Music offers new opportunities for 'This one time, at band camp' stories
Wii Music won't only help you re-imagine yourself in a rock band; it will also enable you to live out your dream of playing in a marching band! Remember how you used to envy all the geeks performing during half-time shows at high school football games? Now you, too, can be one of them! Nintendo also introduced two instruments with demonstration videos over the holiday weekend -- the violin, piano, and guitar. Unfortunately, it's hard to relate any of those music devices to band camp. Still, you can check out videos for them past the post break! See also: Nintendo introduces Wii Music's instruments one at a time%Gallery-27713%
Nintendo introduces Wii Music's instruments one at a time
On the Japanese Wii Music website, Nintendo has begun a series of videos called "Today's Musical Instrument," which depicts an instrument both in its for-real form and as it will appear in Wii Music. The first video features the marimba: after some introductory text, we're treated to footage of a model pretending to use the Wiimote and Nunchuk as mallets playing an invisible instrument. This is followed by Wii Music footage of the same instrument. It's a cute video and a happy little tune.Like a lot of gestural Wii games, this is going to involve some playing-along on the player's part. You could just shake the controllers wildly and achieve pretty much the same results as making instrument-appropriate motions, but that sort of defeats the purpose of having different instruments in there.%Gallery-27713%[Via Inside-Games]
Wii Music dated for US?
Yesterday, NCSX opened preorders for Japanese copies of Wii Music, which is officially coming out October 16. We haven't gotten an official US date beyond 'Holiday 2008,' but two retailers seem to have agreed upon a potential date: November 3. Both Amazon and GameStop are taking preorders for the multiplayer musical toy thing, to ship (as of now, anyway) on that projected release date. Gamefly says October 29, which is very strange: Gamefly's release dates tend to be behind the real date, not ahead of it.With the holiday season rapidly approaching, we're sure Nintendo will date or delay Wii Music soon, but for now, we can look forward to the shortages kicking off on November 3.%Gallery-27713%[Via OMGNintendo]
