Perhaps you may have heard of a little game called Wii Music. If you haven't, you have been living under a rock since that disaster of an E3 presentation by Nintendo. Since then, the tone has been set for this game and the Internet has rallied against it, doing everything short of marching on Nintendo's Kyoto headquarters in search of Iwata and Miyamoto's blood. Crap, I may have just given them idea ...

The tone has been that this game is nothing but a waggle fest, where you swing the Wiimote around and randomly make music based off songs you heard as a child. It has been the reasoning behind some people even calling for Miyamoto to retire or quit Nintendo, because "he's lost his touch" or "gone insane."

Yes, I've seen all of this in the past few weeks, and it's agreed by all: Wii Music is quite possibly the worst game ever. Well, I can tell you that I have recently learned something about Wii Music; it's not as bad as the media made it out to be at E3.



... Put the gun down. We don't need to resort to that.

Yes, I'm talking about it because I played the damn thing at PAX. Everyone who was there had the chance to play it if they wanted to. If you didn't, that's your decision and I respect it. But if you didn't and you want to talk about it like you did, then I respectfully would like to request that you stop talking about it just because you saw some E3 game play videos. I saw those, too, and when I played the game, I had low expectations. I left with a bit better sense of what Nintendo was trying to do with this game and perhaps an interest in renting it some time in the future, depending on how much was added to the game.



Let me start this whole thing off with one simple phrase that will answer a lot of your questions, concerns, etc., and it goes a little something like this:



It's not for you, core gamers. It NEVER was.

Now that we have that out of the way, let's get onto the bigger issue. For the most part, the media and Internet community has approached Wii Music from the perspective that the game is supposed to be some kind of offering to the core market, or that the game will not sell because core gamers will never buy it. That kind of view is the wrong kind of view we should be taking about Wii Music. Instead, we ought to be taking off our "hardcore" hats and looking at it from the perspective of the new gamer. People have tried, but it's still that hardcore mentality as projected onto the new gamer mentality; that if we won't buy it, neither will they.

"But all the songs are public domain!!!"

From what we've seen so far. Nintendo has released 5 out of some 50 songs to the public. I expect the full list is going to look more like what we saw with Donkey Konga - a mix of public domain, Nintendo tunes, and modern pop songs, all in MIDI form.

"But there's a barking dog-"

And plenty of other instruments. No one is making you play as the damn dog if you don't want to. Yes, the controls for some of the instruments are very questionable, but controls for others feel okay.

"WTF, THERE'S NO NOTE CHARTS!!!!"

Yes, there are. They don't require you to play on beat as in Rock Band or Guitar Hero, but they are certainly there in the game.



All of these are common complaints I've heard, and they all highlight a common issue with the Internet community: most of you have never played the game. You are only repeating what the media tells you, and most of the pro-Nintendo guys at sites like IGN are so pissed off about E3 and Wii Music (see: Casamassina, Matt), that they take every chance to slam the game because they don't have Metroid Prime 4 to orgasm over. But there are some good things I found out about Wii Music.

First off, you'll be able to record your performances and send them to friends, who can then tweak your performances by changing instrumentation, style or tempo. It's a small thing in the scope of things, but it's a nice little addition that adds a bit of value to the game. There will also be the already-revealed drum set mode (and several similar modes for other instruments), the conductor mini-game we all saw way back in the day, and a few things Nintendo probably has not even show off yet... or may be adding to the game as we speak (remember, it's still awhile until the game's final release). I have no idea what these could be and I won't pretend like I know what they are. Just don't get your hopes up too high on seeing something like Guitar Hero: World Tour secretly thrown in at the last second.

On top of that, after much in-depth thought about just why Wii Music was being made, and after doing some actual research into the issue, I realized exactly why this game is being made, and no, whatever you're thinking at this point is probably wrong. The Wii is a double-edged sword - what attracts people are the easy to pick up and play games with simple controls. The problem is that, like those Flash games that birthed the new gamer surge, people move on quickly, and Nintendo must continually keep their attention with more of these kinds of titles.



Wii Music was made specifically for that purpose. It exists not so much because the world demanded it, but it exists to keep the same people who bought the Wii for Wii Sports and Wii Fit from losing interest in their console as they work on more games for both core and new gamers alike. For the most part, we as core gamers shun these games for being ridiculously easy, but this strategy worked for Nintendo on the DS. The core games eventually came and everyone was pleased, but without the likes of Brain Age and Nintendogs, the DS would have never taken off and Nintendo would be looking at the face of bankruptcy right now. And a bankrupt Nintendo means no more Marios, Zeldas, Metroids, F-Zeros, Star Foxes or their like, because they have stated several times that they will take those titles to the grave rather than sell them off to rivals Microsoft and Sony.

Don't believe me? Think Shiggy is just making it to fuck with your little minds? Have a look at the following list of games:

November 2006: Wii Sports
February 2007: Wii Play
June 2007: Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
November 2007: Link's Crossbow Training
January 2008 (Europe): Wii Chess
May 2008: Wii Fit
Holiday season 2008: Wii Music
Spring 2009: Wii Sports Resort

So, according to the schedule of releases, especially in Europe, we get a new "casual" Nintendo game every few months, usually bundled with a peripheral to entice new gamers that they are getting a deal. Just enough time for the novelty of the old title to start wearing off. It's not coincidence: it's strategy. Nintendo is supplying a constant stream of games for new gamers to keep them interested in the Wii. And now, we're starting to see those "bridge" titles appear, like Animal Crossing: City Folk, that can draw new gamers more into the gaming world.There is a method to this madness that a lot of people aren't seeing, and honestly, I'm starting to understand it. I'm still unhappy about core gamers have been treated by The Big N, but they do have a sensible plan on the new gamer side that will continue to expand their market. And eventually, when those people start graduating towards games with more of a challenge - not all of them will, but some of them, especially the younger ones, will - Nintendo can roll out the games they want. They are, in a sense, building a future user base, much like they did during the days of the NES and Super NES when they had relatively simpler games alongside extremely difficult ones for veteran gamers.



I'm not trying to defend this as some great game. It's average at the extremely best. For songs and actual difficulty, yes, Rock Band and Guitar Hero will blow it out of the water. But there are a lot of people who still don't have Guitar Hero or Rock Band or anything of the sort, as much as that might shock you. Wii Music will sell okay, and in time, it'll all pass when you have Star Fox or Metroid or something else to drool over. This game is more like Electroplankton - an experiment in music, perhaps one geared towards new gamers, but a game about exploring music, not emulating it. The sooner we all realize these things and either accept that this is what Wii Music is going to be or decide we don't want to play it and just ignore it, the better off we're all going to be. And the sooner this whole ridiculous bitchfest can be put to rest.