Wii-Music
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Metareview -- Wii Music
We haven't had a lot of nice things to say about Wii Music, largely because, to this point, it's brought nothing but sadness into our lives. First there was Ravi Drums, then it made us watch Shiggy play the saxafaux, then there was that absolutely bizarre track list. Now, some major review hubs are weighing in on the game(?) and we're just as perplexed as ever. 1UP (A-): "Wii Music may have a hard time winning over the skeptics who just want to laugh at it, but give the game the chance it deserves. You just might realize it's pretty damn fun being in on the joke." Kombo (50/100): "Initially, there's an element of novelty to Wii Music. Admittedly, it's kind of fun to motion the controller as if you're playing a real instrument -- especially when playing with something like a violin, which simply feels good to play in the game -- but the enjoyment quickly dissipates." Gamespy (70/100): "Now that we've spent a good deal of time with Wii Music ourselves, we're confident in saying the following: If you have young children, buy this game and enjoy it with them. ... However, it's very safe to say that gamers who prefer the likes of Rock Band, first-person shooters and Solid Snake's espionage antics will not care about Wii Music in the slightest." GamePro (70/100): "Playing almost any instrument in the game requires a bit more practice than say, swinging a bat bowling a ball in Wii Sports, which mires the game in a muddy territory between pick-up-and-play casual and memorizing and practicing hardcore. When you're able to successfully balance the two and create wonderful music, Wii Music can provide an experience you've never felt before. Not in a music game, not in any other Wii game."
Miyamoto talks to Channel 4 about gaming and the current financial crisis
If you were to tell us that Shigeru Miyamoto could see into the future and fire rainbows from his fingertips, we'd totally believe you. We just love the guy so much that we believe he's not even human and some kind of freakish evolutionary leap for our species, as his mind churns out these amazing things on a regular basis. So, it's no wonder that Channel 4 in the UK interviewed him out of all of the prominent figures in gaming about the current financial woes and if they'll have an impact on gaming. He plugs Wii Music a bit, but, for the most part, tells us how Nintendo has and always will make gaming affordable.%Gallery-27713%[Via CVG]
It's official: Wii Music has most random track list ever
Imagine someone planted a bomb in the heart of Championship Vinyl, blowing record fragments across several blocks of downtown Chicago. If you went along and picked up 50-odd pieces of those shattered albums and then glued them together, what you compiled would still not be as random as the Japanese track list for Wii Music, which you can read right here. Here are a few examples: "Do-Re-Mi" by Rodgers and Hammerstein (from The Sound of Music) "La Cucaracha"" the Spanish folk song "The Entertainer" by Billy Joel ...and so on. We thought maybe we had just gotten an odd slice, but no. They're all that bizarre. Not bad, mind you. Just really, really out of left field. The kicker is, we still can't tell if this makes us more or less excited for the game.
Retail and download releases for the week of October 20th
It's a pretty big week for releases. On top of plenty of games available at retail, there's a couple of imports available on the Virtual Console, as well as one awaited WiiWare release (can you guess what it is?). Head past the break and start thinking about cracking open that piggy bank.%Gallery-18122%
Wii Music shifts 50k on day one in Japan
Don't they look happy? That's because they all bought Wii Music, along with 49,996 others. Yup, you read that right: the Wii Music day one sales data from Japan is in, and according to Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, the magical figure is 50,000 units sold. How does that compare to the Japanese launches of other large first-party Wii games? Not that well, as it happens; hit the break to see for yourself.%Gallery-27713%
Show tunes: Wii Music licensed tracks revealed
Finally! A rhythm game track list built exclusively for grown folks: 60s pop? Check! Motown hits? You betcha! Show tunes? Groovy! Inspirational motion picture themes? Far out! George Michael? Oh hells yeah! While Nintendo has yet to release the complete track list for Wii Music, expected to feature some 50 tunes, Variety simply popped open the game manual and plucked out a list of credited, licensed music. (All 14 tracks are listed after the break.) It might not "rock," but hey, props to Nintendo for almost getting a Beatles song in the game -- John Lennon's ode to Yoko is close enough, right?
Wii Music: Disappointed preview talks features, songs
With Wii Music very nearly out, we're starting to see, if not reviews, final pre-review previews. IGN's Matt Casamassina, who often seems quite motivated to stump for Nintendo, may be expected to provide the most glowing of writeups after his hands-on with the toy. That is not what happened. Despite the fact that it's not a review, Wii Music gets evaluated pretty harshly.But in the process of mentioning that he still doesn't like Wii Music, Casamassina offers a few gameplay details we didn't know. For example, you can randomize the song and lineup for a "quick jam," allowing you to experiment even more freely than your brain allows.Casamassina also lists some more songs found in the game, including (MIDI versions of) classics "Chariots of Fire, Daydream Believer, I'll Be There, Every Breath You Take, I've Never Been Me, Material Girl, Please Mr. Postman, September, Sukiyaki, The Loco-Motion, Woman, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Jingle Bell Rock."%Gallery-27713%
Musicians rock out with Wii Music
The Nintendo Channel updated today with some new videos for upcoming games, like Away: Shuffle Dungeon, Art Style: Cubello, World of Goo and, as seen above and past the break, Wii Music. Above, you can see rapper Cee-Lo rocking out with Wii Music's beatbox instrument. After checking out that video, cruise past the break for some footage of funkadelic artist G. Love enjoying some gameplay.%Gallery-27713%
Miyamoto shows the kids Wii Music
Since we all know Wii Music is not a game, but a toy, the target audience has to be the really young. Why else would Miyamoto be at a Japanese preschool, showing off the title? But, hey, we have to give it up to Shiggy and Nintendo. If there's a great way to gather interest in a title, it's with a dozen or so cute, smiling children. %Gallery-27713%[Via Wiiblog]
Playing invisible instruments more complex than you think
That's according to Reggie Fils-Aime, at least. The Nintendo bossman thinks that his company did Wii Music a big disservice when it was displayed at E3, and feels the game is a lot more complex than people realize.In fact, Reggie believes that Wii Music, like all the best music games, will be simple to pick up, but a tricky beast to master. "We may have done that title an injustice at E3 by showing something that looked so easy," stated Fils-Aime to technology and media site Venturebeat. "Now we're showing the tremendous variety of instruments and tones and how challenging it is to make music that sounds good." Reggie also revealed that Nintendo expects Wii Music to become one of the "top sellers" on the system. We can totally believe that, but "challenging"? Really? We don't want to jump conclusions without a few major Wii Music sessions, but these assertions do seem to go against the evidence we've seen so far.%Gallery-27713%[Via Eurogamer]
Wii Music 'games' within the 'game' detailed
On Friday we had our final hands-on session with Wii Music before its October 20 release. Our feelings about it remain more or less unchanged from our time with it at E3. It's not a "gamer's game;" it's not even really a game in the traditional sense. Its novel mechanics will be best appreciated by young children or groups of non-gamers. Nintendo itself has said as much.Still, we wanted to finally see the "games" of Wii Music – the three modes where players are actually scored. The first is conducting with the Wiimote as a baton, which was demo'd by Nintendo back at the system's unveiling. The gist of this game is staying true to the tempo of the original work. How close you maintain the flow determines your score. There's also a choir bell game for up to four players, which involves "ringing" your two bells as ones matching their colors scroll past. Finally, there's the most simple of the games, which tests you ability to hear different pitches. There are 10 "levels," where you are asked to place the Mii that's producing a specific tone onto a platform – match and win.Simple stuff indeed.%Gallery-33788%
From The Conduit to Call of Duty: New screenshots from Nintendo's media summit
click to embiggen While we can't talk about what we played at today's Nintendo fall media summit in San Francisco (embargoes lift Monday), we were able to snap plenty of pictures from the event, including The Conduit, Dead Rising, Call of Duty: World at War and Animal Crossing. More galleries after the break.%Gallery-33462%
Wii Music keeps on trucking
You know that intro movie in Rock Band, where all of the rocking types are jamming out on top of a speeding car, all XTREME-like (click here to jog your memory)? We guess this is Nintendo's take on the thing, as Wii Music's truck-riding, world-rocking ensemble very much resembles that, at least in our mind. Just, you know, Nintendo's take is a bit more pleasant and a lot less full of leather-clad individuals rocking the desert. For a more traditional trailer of the gang rocking out an honest-to-goodness venue, cruise past the break.%Gallery-27713%
Wii Music reflects on Nintendo's past with playable Famicom
Nintendo has been happy to think outside the box when selecting Wii Music's line-up of instruments, and over the weekend, the company revealed another unconventional choice: the Famicom. This isn't as weird as the dog suit -- there is, after all, a whole scene dedicated to making music from old game sounds (and even household names have dabbled) -- but is an interesting and fun addition nonetheless.The other recently unveiled instrument, the Timbales (there's a video after the break), is less interesting as a result, though Wikipedia (yes, we call this "journalism" -- Pulitzer, here we come) taught us that "Timbales" doubles up as a Spanish euphemism for, well, a rude word. Expect much childish giggling in Spanish-speaking households later this year, then.%Gallery-27713%
Nintendo: Wii Music assists musical education
In what is now a time-honored tradition for Nintendo's first-party releases, Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto came together over a cup of tea and a Jammie Dodger* to have a chinwag about Wii Music. Neither man fell about laughing hysterically at any point in the interview, so we assume the game is actually going ahead.As usual, Shiggy came up with some corking soundbytes, in between reflecting on the ukelele he received as a youngster and other trivial details. These included the shocking revelation that he had never been so excited while making a game as when making Wii Music -- not even when he was crafting Super Mario Bros. In an even more controversial twist, the conversation then turned to how Wii Music could (in Iwata's words) "raise people's basic level of music education." Not surprisingly, Miyamoto agreed, adding, "I've even thought it would it would be great if kindergartens or elementary schools got Wii Music and began kid's music education with that ..."So there you go: according to Nintendo's top men, Wii Music could kickstart basic music skills in kids ... by making them play invisible instruments. Eh?* Awaiting confirmation on this.%Gallery-27713%[Via Kotaku]
Wii Music accommodates our de facto banjo theme
It's totally a banjo kind of week. We were just talking about Banjo-Kazooie (and its apparent banishment from Virtual Console), and now Nintendo presents a Wii Music video demonstrating that game's interpretation of the instrument of the same name. It's air banjo! Like air guitar, but folksier. While holding the nunchuk aloft, whipping downward with the Wiimote will approximate a single pluck, or a strum, depending on the song. Maybe tomorrow the featured instrument will be the kazoo. Wouldn't that be an odd coincidence?All this banjo talk makes us want to watch Space Ghost Coast To Coast. BANJOOOOOO!%Gallery-27713% Looking for more on Wii Music? You can catch an E3 trailer here, read about our time with the game here, and learn how to play the steel drum, handbell, trumpet, timpani, acoustic bass, shamisen, 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.
Wii Music: UK date, minigames, and the daily instrument
The biggest Wii Music news today is that it's been dated for the UK. Nintendo has announced that the game will be in stores on November 14. Of course, being a day, there's also a "Today's Instrument" video! Today's featured Wii Music instrument is one that is, in our estimation, almost universally associated with fun: the steel drum. Most people hear the sound of a steel drum and think of beach vacations, and of time spent relaxing in some resort. We think of Super Mario World. Either way, the sound makes people happy. On an even more basic level, it's a big bowl that you hit with hammers! Neat! Of course, as usual, the model is too cool to let any of our hu-man emotions show through.Also, it may be a bit confusing, but two Wii Music websites have updated with new content. The nintendo.co.jp Wii Music site features, in addition to basic info about the game, descriptions of three minigames contained in Wii Music: Narikiri Orchestra (something like "Becoming an Orchestra"), Awasete Handbell ("Connect Handbells"), and a very weird tone-matching minigame, all with video. The wii.com Wii Music website now has an Iwata/Miyamoto Creator's Voice interview, which we expect to see in English soon, and a series of seven commercials.%Gallery-27713% Looking for more on Wii Music? You can catch an E3 trailer here, read about our time with the game here, and learn how to play the handbell, trumpet, timpani, acoustic bass, shamisen, 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.
Wii Music captures the handbell lovers demographic
The handbell, an instrument that is surely only one grade of difficulty up from the triangle, is the focus of the latest Today's Instrument video. It comes across as cheery and Christmassy, an ap-peal-ing sound which contrasts sharply with the model's gloomy-as-a-wet-Monday expression. Not that we're complaining; such solemnity is infinitely preferable to fake enjoyment.%Gallery-27713% Looking for more on Wii Music? You can catch an E3 trailer here, read about our time with the game here, and learn how to play the trumpet, timpani, acoustic bass, shamisen, 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.
Wii Music breaks out the trumpet
Another day, another playable instrument for Wii Music is revealed. Today is none other than the trumpet, that instrument that is the scorn of so many soldiers lives. Other than rousing soldiers from their sleep, the thing is able to produce some sweet sounds, as evidenced in the video above. And you don't even need to be Louis Armstrong, either!%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 timpani, acoustic bass, shamisen, 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.
Wii Music's drum and bass
The Wii Music "Today's Instrument" videos from the last two days feature instruments which produce sounds on the low end -- the kind of instruments that are so dedicated to producing bass noise, one of them is called the bass. Yesterday's video demonstrates the timpani, which is apparently especially fun, because it managed to pull a smile out of the stone-faced Wii Music model.Today's video, after the break, features the stand-up bass, for which the model adopts the more stoic look to which we've become accustomed. %Gallery-27713%
