Nintendo shipped Wii Music today, the latest attempt to bring more “casual gamers” into the Wii fold, this time by letting them play trumpets, cymbals, drums and guitar, among other instruments.
Wii Music includes more than 60 instruments, each of which is played using the motion-sensing abilities of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, not an actual peripheral. Players simply use the controllers to mimic the real-life motions of the instrument (bowing a violin, striking the air like a drum or strumming an air guitar). Songs in Wii Music can be rearranged with different instruments, and the song list contains everything from American classics like “The Entertainer” to international favorites like “La Cucaracha” to Nintendo theme songs from Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.
However, the game doesn’t really have gamers “playing” anything, as the music goes on without any true interaction from players. So, even though four musicians can jam together on the same song, you really just end up looking foolish together.
We’ll have a full review of Wii Music in the days ahead.