If you’ve been keeping up with Ripten’s E3 coverage, you may have come across the majority opinion on Wii Music…

Range: no rhythm, no tone, weren’t following each other, didn’t know if you were on pace

Chad: mass mayhem

Andrew: wasn’t working, sounded like a mess, all over the place, sort of hitting the buttons whenever he [Miyamoto] felt like it

Jon: could’ve given you all sticks and been like, “Have a great time…”

Those were quotes from the day 2 podcast following Nintendo’s press conference. Ever since that time, I’ve been meaning to introduce a second opinion. I’ve put in my demo time and come up with not complete and utter adulation, but at least a different understanding and a sense of where the fun lies. Hit the jump for these thoughts AND a Youtube of Miyamoto’s presentation.

First I’d like to tackle the negativity surrounding what you just saw in that video, by which I mean all the criticism of the end performance making no sense. Keep in mind that you’re hearing this from people who may or may not have much musical experience at all, and also, that it looks like a lot of fun (as I believe Andrew pointed out in the podcast).

The opening is, in fact, totally recognizable as the Super Mario Brothers theme. You have lead trumpet, second (harmony) trumpet, harmony marimba, and Miyamoto on the cowbell (or what sounded like a wood block most of the time.) Nothing was prerecorded (as opposed to what was speculated in the podcast), although they did have the drummer in a totally separate mode of the game, the drum kit, to demonstrate that aspect. I don’t think you’ll actually be able to use the kit like that to lay down a track in the Jam session, but there are plenty of other drum options.

I can tell this presentation was rehearsed, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. It’s a cool thing. They showed what a group of people can do who have organized themselves as a band. One of the other oft repeated criticisms I heard throughout the week, especially from Andrew (”Turkey in the m***f*** straw!”) was that the songs are all super old, which somehow means boring.

Knowing the song, though, really helps with the creativity part of this whole thing. You can’t improvise on a track you don’t know. The press conference showed that this band knew what they were doing (even if they aren’t actual musicians, or even Guitar Heroes) because they clearly marked off sections of the song as marimba and trumpet solos, and came back together for the finish. The second trumpet part, in particular, seemed very well thought out most of the time. The marimba and woodblock were a little less so, admittedly, but that doesn’t lead me to call this presentation a dud.

Now, onto my hands-on experience– and maybe this is a good time to get my less than enthusiastic opinion of the drum kit out of the way. I didn’t like it much at all. It’s a cool idea, especially using the balance board as foot pedals, but the way you have to hold different buttons or directions on the remote and nunchuck to get different drums just makes the whole thing prohibitively complicated. I don’t see the hardcore drummer set putting away Rock Band to take up this system, and it’s probably way too much for the casual audience to want to deal with. I could be wrong, since maybe the lessons work you up to it, but when I jumped on I just felt uncomfortably overwhelmed and wanted to get back to the jam session.

The first time I jammed I played lead Marimba on the show floor, to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I had so much fun with that, that I asked to play another song, and this time did lead trumpet on Yankee Doodle–I would’ve tried out harmony or percussion except, for whatever reason, I was having trouble getting the sensor bar to register me pointing in those directions.

Anyways, lead is probably the easiest and most fun (as you might expect) part to play. Carry the melody, but carry it however you like! The most important thing to know about Wii Music, I think, is that those little light up, square characters in the lower right corner of the screen are not telling you when to strum, shake, or press a button–they are simply a tempo guideline (which in the final version, will be customizable).

What happens is that you know how the melody goes, so you can just play on the beats (or off-beats) that make the melody happen, but if you choose to embellish, the game automatically assigns notes that make sense. I.e. I sounded like a total pro on Yankee Doodle, because it’s a song I know and I had an idea what sort of “fills” would work. In fact, playing a jam session is a lot like playing fills on Rock Band drums. You are left to your own devices, to a certain extent, but that is why it’s exciting. You can design the tracks how you like.

The challenge to this “game” is making something that sounds like a song and not just some noodling around. It will involve layering your tracks from the bottom up: coming up with a good percussion beat first, some harmony parts that nicely complement the melody, and then setting the lead over that. Not everyone can be the soloist all the time, or the song will sound like crap, so it’ll also involve some team-based planning and turn-taking.

I’m excited to get more time with Wii Music. When people say it’s more toy than game, they are probably right–in the same way that Electroplankton was more toy than game. From what I’ve seen it will be pretty fun, and I especially look forward to the feature that lets you collaborate with friends by sending songs so they can add or edit tracks. There is definitely a lot more potential here than some are giving it credit for.

Tags: defense, E3 08, miyamoto, Nintendo, second opinion, wii music

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