Wii Music
Nintendo has just announced the launch of Wii Music in October of this year. They are hoping that “blue Ocean” lightning strikes thrice after the successful Wii Sports and Wii Fit llaunches. According to the press release this game hopes to bring music to the “not good at guitar hero” set. The game will feature more than 60 instruments and more than 50 (bad) songs.
I do not see how this can be successful. I may stand to be corrected, but this simply cannot compete with the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I think that demographic is already maxed out on the music making games… Perhaps this will find a way into the old folks homes and even possibly into music therapy circles. That could be a very interesting proposition… digital Orff instruments. I have definitely heard of weirder things. Perhaps my friends over at Mustech.net will be able to comment on the actual use-ability of this product within the realm of music education… Now that would be an interesting thesis.
Musical Gaming’s Hall of Shame: Some other lesser-known games that attempted to bring music to the masses.
Randy…
I remember SimTunes…it was awful. I am going to be getting Wii Music and you can bet I’ll be writing about it! I think one of the more interesting phenomena related to video is just how many composers are being employed by the video game industry… It’s the singe largest, fastest growing paradigm for new famous composer wannabies. Have you heard any of the music from Jeremy Soule?
http://www.jeremysoule.com/index2.html
His compositions rival any other contemporary composers’ I’ve heard, including those that write for screen and play.
~J. Pisano -MusTech.net
Comment by J. Pisano — October 6, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Randy,
Wow, I just got your voice mail! I’m going to email you about all the confusion with the domain, but I’m safe (wasn’t really my fault)! At mid-west you get two frosty cold beverages of your choice for alerting me to the issue!
Joe
Comment by J. Pisano — October 10, 2008 @ 11:14 am
Joe,
I acually had a great talk with Jeremy Soule the other day… I will look forward to drinking your beers…
Comment by Randall — October 21, 2008 @ 8:40 pm