Topic: Miyamoto reafirms Wii Music is still coming along

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Ian is against diversity, you should know that by now.

[Kairon]

I think that music choice can prove a MAJOR asset or hindrance to this game. Playing the familiar and jazzy Mario theme is PERFECT for the game, but... as in my impressions, playing a complex, unknown melody, maybe even a classical one, can be absolutely disastrous.

Your calling Dvořák New World Symphony unknown?  It's one of the most famous symphonies of all time.

Which... isn't saying much really once you get out into the general populace, isn't it?

Actually, I'm really sad that you can't change the tempo in Wii Music (as far as I know). That would definitely have upped its game for improvisation and real "play" with the music.

[Mario]

I'm the opposite of Ian, because I play real instruments I like to go to the complete other end of the scale and experiment when it comes to videogames. Rock Band / Guitar Hero are just weak versions of the same thing I do, replacing creativity with sticky pants. Wii Music seems different. Also why I like Electroplankton, gives a fresh perspective.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Jeremy Parish a former Wii Music hater turned to a Wii Music lover

Here is what won him over:

But Nintendo has a slightly more fleshed-out version of the game on display this weekend at Penny Arcade Expo, and despite this version sporting only a few modest tweaks, I think it has won me over. The difference: A sense of purpose. While the game's primary mode remains the same -- a group of faux musicians jamming together and playing individual notes or beats of a predefined music track -- the single-player mode now has added depth. Rather than simply pantomiming music with a phantom backing band, you can record their own personal renditions of each tune's six tracks, including melody, harmony, rhythm and percussion. You can save performances, then splice them into the standard rhythm tracks, allowing you to effectively create a complete custom performance of each track. This also works for group performances, although it has more impact with a single performer.

I'm 90% sure Nintendo said you could do that at E3 even though it wasn't part of the demo.  Is the real news here that so-called game journalists suffer from cognitive dysfunctions?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

It's.................SCIENCE?

[Kairon]

Jeremy Parish a former Wii Music hater turned to a Wii Music lover

Here is what won him over:

But Nintendo has a slightly more fleshed-out version of the game on display this weekend at Penny Arcade Expo, and despite this version sporting only a few modest tweaks, I think it has won me over. The difference: A sense of purpose. While the game's primary mode remains the same -- a group of faux musicians jamming together and playing individual notes or beats of a predefined music track -- the single-player mode now has added depth. Rather than simply pantomiming music with a phantom backing band, you can record their own personal renditions of each tune's six tracks, including melody, harmony, rhythm and percussion. You can save performances, then splice them into the standard rhythm tracks, allowing you to effectively create a complete custom performance of each track. This also works for group performances, although it has more impact with a single performer.

I'm 90% sure Nintendo said you could do that at E3 even though it wasn't part of the demo.  Is the real news here that so-called game journalists suffer from cognitive dysfunctions?

You can't expect games journalists to give impressions on modes of a game they haven't played can you? T_T

[Ian Sane]

I personally applaud Nintendo for making a music game that doesn't require a 100 - 200 dollar bundle.

Parappa the Rapper
Frequency
Amplitude

It's been done and in a way where there was a clearly a solid game behind it.

I just dislike the hate that Wii Music is getting because it doesn't follow the mold of standard music games

I think people wanted more.  It sounds too simplistic.  No real challenge or game to it yet not a robust music creation tool either.  The sad thing is Nintendo probably COULD do WAY better if they just made the best music game they could and didn't feel the need to specifically target it at non-gamers.  Deep down it's not just Wii Music but rather the attitude from Nintendo that Wii Music represents.

[Kairon]

Actually, I'd pay a good $40 for a Wii Conducting "software toy." No other modes necessary, just give me Mad Maestro with the Wii Remote, the ability to direct your actions at particular orchestra sections, NO DYING, and you can take my money.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I'm so gonna mix around Killer7/No More Heroes music in Wii Music. if i had talent

Really, I'll leave the arcadey scoring games to the music games I don't care for.

[Flames_of_chaos]

I personally applaud Nintendo for making a music game that doesn't require a 100 - 200 dollar bundle.

Parappa the Rapper
Frequency
Amplitude

It's been done and in a way where there was a clearly a solid game behind it.

I just dislike the hate that Wii Music is getting because it doesn't follow the mold of standard music games

I think people wanted more.  It sounds too simplistic.  No real challenge or game to it yet not a robust music creation tool either.  The sad thing is Nintendo probably COULD do WAY better if they just made the best music game they could and didn't feel the need to specifically target it at non-gamers.  Deep down it's not just Wii Music but rather the attitude from Nintendo that Wii Music represents.

Well it's true Ian but the current trend Guitar Hero and Rock Band brought made the 200 dollar music game popular. But it's good to see stuff like Wii Music, Samba De Amigo, Helix, Major Minor where all you need is a standard wii remote(s) or nunchuk to play.

Also Ian the challenge is hidden in Wii Music because the point of it is to learn proper timing without any onscreen markers, if you screw up it's your fault because you weren't in sync with the song not that you missed a note. Nintendo still has until November to finish up the game so you never know what else they could add between this and next month. So far you can make your own track of a song from 1 of 6 tracks and splice them in between and there's some kind of music sharing mode which is pretty cool.

[Kairon]

In fact, Wii Music could be an example of a more realistic free-form internal motivation challenge system. When people first start playing with musical sounds (remember, this game has been compared to a "My first music game" by Miyamoto), they don't follow notes or anything. They just hum whatever sounds nice, or tap out beats that sound sorta okay. To this day when I'm bored and fidgety I'll slap my thighs to some random rhythm that I develop on the spot without any guides.

I still feel that Wii Music misses several of the complex motivations and versatility that makes "musical play" captivating, but I'm not eager to accept today's "follow these explicit instructions" games as the be-all-and-end-all of music games. I have too much Mario Paint in me.

[NWR_Lindy]

The ideal would be to have both, not one or the other.  Have a game with goals, and then also have a Jam Session mode.

In other words, what Guitar Hero: World Tour has, but easy enough for your 5-year-old or Grandma to understand.

[Ian Sane]

The ideal would be to have both, not one or the other.

This one sentence pretty much sums up my objection with Nintendo's whole non-gamer focus.  There is no reason and there never has been one for Nintendo to intentionally limit, simplify or "dumb down" any of their games to attract a mass audience.  That's why there are things like difficulty settings and multiple game modes and options screens.  Guitar Hero totally has it right and it's no surprise that it and Rock Band are both very popular with, well, pretty much everybody.  A common complaint about Guitar Hero 3 is that it's too difficult on the higher settings.  So what?  Play on Easy.  You can still unlock every song that way and then play them in whatever difficulty you wish.  There is no requirement whatsoever to play the more difficult modes.  They're there only if you want a higher challenge.  Hell the superhard Dragon Force song doesn't even have to be completed to unlock it!

THAT is non-gamer friendly in a way that doesn't alienate anyone.  And as Silks pointed out World Tour is taking it even further by including Jam Session mode which like Wii Music doesn't require the extra controller cost.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I don't want an expensive peripheral based game just to have a "jam session".  Plus, I want orchestra mode.

[NWR_Lindy]

And I don't want a music game that's a jam session and nothing else.  Plus, I want an online mode.

[DAaaMan64]

LOL WTF do you want Online for? You can send your **** to other people already.

[NWR_Lindy]

LOL @ Silks.

Edit: Yeah, I know, asking for online play is CRAZY!

[DAaaMan64]

Play WHAT online?  Is what I'm asking.

[Kairon]

Online is a buzzword, that's why everyone asks for it.

But yeah, I'm with Daaman. I doubt this game would benefit much from online simultaneous gameplay.

[Ian Sane]

I don't want an expensive peripheral based game just to have a "jam session".

Guitar Hero is also sold without the peripheral at a normal price.  So if you just want to goof around with the remote you can just buy that version.

Since the drum mode in Wii Music requires the Wii Fit pad I could probably call it an expensive peripheral based game too.  To get full use out of either game you have to cough up some extra dough.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

"Guitar Hero is also sold without the peripheral at a normal price.  So if you just want to goof around with the remote you can just buy that version."

Are you really serious?  How the **** does that accomplish anything?

oh my gosh he IS serious.

[NWR_insanolord]

Ian likes to prove just how hardcore he is by beating Guitar Hero on Expert playing with the Classic Controller.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Yeah but he must be phenomenal after implying it can be done with just the Remote.

[EasyCure]

wiat wait wait... you can use the classic controller?

[Flames_of_chaos]

wiat wait wait... you can use the classic controller?

Nope if you play guitar hero 3 or GH aerosmith without the guitar you only do it with the wii remote using a weird configuration.