But Nintendo is not expressing concern yet.

"You'll see in [the NPD sales] that it did about somewhere [like] 65 or 66,000 based on our internal numbers for the two weeks that was reported," Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo's executive vice president of sales and marketing, told Multiplayer in an interview at the New York Grand Hyatt yesterday.

By comparison, NPD reported that "Wii Fit" sold more than 687,000 copies in its first month of sale.

These aren't blockbuster numbers, but Dunaway offered an explanation for the game's performance:

"We're predicting that it's going to be an evergreen title. And if you look at titles like 'Brain Age,' it's about the same as what 'Brain Age' did during it's first few weeks and went on to sell 2.5 million copies. 'Wii Fit' certainly had a larger launch than that. But I think that people are starting to understand 'Wii Music.'"

"We're predicting that it's going to be an evergreen title."

In general, Nintendo hardware and software is hot. The Wii sold more than 800,000 units in October. "Wii Play" sold 282,000 copies, according to NPD. "Mario Kart Wii" sold 290,000. And "Wii Fit" tallied another 487,000 units that month. Those games do have legs, having each been on the market for months. (The new "Guitar Hero" for Wii also performed well, selling more than 183,000 units and easily outselling "Wii Music" despite coming out two weeks later.)

"Wii Music," which has received harsher reviews from critics from the average Nintendo title, could just be a harder sell. "People have a box in their head of what music genre games are all about," Dunaway said. "And we're doing something that is a complete departure from that. As people start to experience that and tell other people about it, I have no doubt that 'Wii Music' is going to be a long-selling, top-selling game for us."

Dunaway expressed a personal goal for selling the game: "I feel as EVP of sales and marketing, [it is] both a responsibility and a real opportunity and privilege to take this game that is so unique and so much from the heart of Mr. [Shigeru] Miyamoto, and make sure that people are exposed to it and understand it." To that end, Dunaway said Nintendo has been showcasing "Wii Music" with local musicians around the country and is working with schools and an organization representing 100,000 music educators in America to integrate the game into a music education curriculum.

So if anyone compares "Wii Fit" launch sales to "Wii Music" sales and deem the latter a failure, they'd be wrong? "They'd be off-base to say that," Dunaway said. "Very few of our titles are launch-and-move-on these days. Certainly something like 'Wii Music,' we have a long-term commitment to."

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One-On-One With Shigeru Miyamoto: From ‘Wii Music’ To Bowser To… MotionPlus?

I'm now presenting my hour-long interview with Nintendo's chief game designer Shigeru Miyamoto from last week in three parts instead of two, since the final third of our interview went in a very unexpected direction. It would have been too distracting to run today. (Trust me!)

Yesterday, in Part 1, we dove deep on Miyamoto's development process for the unabashedly radical "Wii Music."

Today, here's the middle part, in which we discuss the possibility of "Wii Music" DLC and IGN's Matt Casamassina reaches a new level of Nintendo relevance as Miyamoto name-checks him while discussing his harsh review of the game. And more good stuff...

The following interview was conducted in person at Nintendo’s Redwood City offices. Miyamoto’s answered were translated by Nintendo’s Bill Trinen. Most of my questions, however, required no translation. Miyamoto responded to most of them without consulting Trinen but replied only in Japanese. I’ve lightly copy-edited it for readability.

Multiplayer: I read that initially the development team was going to have 10 songs in "Wii Music" -- classical songs. You asked them to have as many as 100 songs and encouraged them to use different genres. The game ships with about 50 songs. Other music games support the ability for people to download extra songs. I know people can trade their compositions over Wii Connect 24, but is this game also set up so that people will be able to download new songs that Nintendo offers in the future?

"Creating a ['Wii Music' DLC] system like that is obviously something that's do-able."

Miyamoto: It's not something that's possible with this particular version of the game. But creating a system like that is obviously something that's do-able. And, of course, to do that, Nintendo itself would have to create the servers and the system for purchasing and downloading music, for example. So it's not something that would happen, for example, next month. But it would be possible for us to do something in the future like that.

For now, what we would really like is for people to be able to get a look at "Wii Music" and kind of see the joy of creating music as well. [We also want people to see that] you can have competition between people in terms of how good of an arrangement you can create, creating different arrangements of all the songs. And then we'll see where we go from there.

Multiplayer: How do you feel about the look of "Wii Music" and the graphics of the Wii games that Nintendo has been creating over the last couple of years? You guys don't talk about the graphics that much, but what do you think of the visual style of this game? What do you like about what you've accomplished, or what do you see is still possible for you guys to accomplish with the visuals of the games that we're playing from Nintendo on the Wii?

Miyamoto: The graphics for "Wii Music" were done by some of our very talented graphic designers, some of whom have worked on the "Zelda" series and things like that. They were the ones who chose the overall direction for the graphics and art style for "Wii Music." What I think is very important for "Wii Music" and maybe you don't get a very good flavor for it here on this particular Wii [gesturing to Wii next to him], that you would get on the Wii you use at home or the Wii that you use most regularly that has a lot of Miis in it, is the implementation of Miis in the game. It really changes the flavor of the game and the experience you get when, not only are you using your own Mii to perform the songs, but you're seeing all of the Miis that are on your system appear in your audience and seeing all of the ways those Miis interact with one another. And so, because of the integral nature of Miis within "Wii Music," it was very important for us to find a graphical style that would be able to balance the Miis with the other elements of the game. I feel like the design team has done a very good job of balancing that and coming up with a very smooth and clean and attractive graphical style for this game.

Multiplayer: I wanted to ask you about the reception that "Wii Music" has had. And you alluded, before, to the fact that this is a bit of a different kind of game to present to people. You said you mention to the [public relations] team to describe this as a musical instrument. Obviously, there's a challenge in presenting "Wii Music." If you don't get to play it yourself, it can be confusing as to what it is. It's reached a point where, coming out of E3, talking to other gamers who were there, and talking to other gaming reporters who were there, that I got the sense there are people who used to love everything that you made. And some of those people now have a tough time getting excited about a "Wii Music." IGN, which is a hugely popular website in the United States, they've seemingly loved every game that you've been involved in. Very high review scores. And on their 10-point scale, they gave "Wii Music" a five.

I'm wondering to what extent you are aware that there do seem to be some Miyamoto fans who are having this trouble getting as excited about your work as they used to? And how does that affect you and the work that you're doing?

"The ideas behind 'Wii Music' simply didn't resonate with that individual."

Miyamoto: There's two ways I can talk about that. One is, I think -- you point out the IGN review in particular. And my guess is that rather than it being an instance that the individual who wrote that -- I'm not sure if it was Matt [Casamassina, IGN's Wii editor] or not -- but whoever wrote that review, I think that the perception is because they're a core gamer they don't like "Wii Music." And, in fact, what I think is that the ideas behind "Wii Music" simply didn't resonate with that individual. [Note from Stephen: Casamassina did indeed write the review.] I don't think it was a case of: because they like games, they don't like "Wii Music." That person simply didn't like what we presented in "Wii Music."

I think the other thing to us that's very important is there's two things. Number one is that we continue to work on the same types of games that we have made for many, many years. Beyond that, we have branched out and we are creating additional products aside from those that, like "Wii Music" and like "Wii Fit" are very different in tyle and have a very broad appeal. The way that our teams work, as I mentioned earlier, is that a lot of the team members, let's say for example from a "Mario" or a "Zelda" team, will swap in and out among different teams. And so I think internally for us, the ability to have people who have been working on the same game for many, many years and to be able to take a break from it and work on a product like "Wii Music," where they're able to look at design from a different perspective and broaden their own perspective in terms of the types of things that you can do in interactive entertainment [is good.]. Then, I think, when they go back and take that experience with them back to the other teams, back to, say the "Zelda" team or the "Mario" team, when they're working on those franchises, they're going to be able to draw on that experience to create experiences that not only are broader-appealing for those franchises but also are bringing in new ideas that are going to appeal to people who have been very familiar with those franchises for a long time.

***

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One-On-One With Shigeru Miyamoto: From ‘Wii Music’ To Bowser To… MotionPlus?

Earlier this year the game designer did the rounds to discuss "Wii Fit." Then in July he talked up E3. Last week in San Francisco, he took a break from sitting near me at a charity dinner, to talk to reporters about "Wii Music."

To be honest, I was beginning to feel like Miyamoto interviews were becoming a little too familiar, like you knew what he'd say before you ever read one.

Then I wound up sitting with him for an hour at Nintendo's Redwood City offices last week. The result was the most interesting conversation he and I have had since I first talked to him in May 2004.

What follows is the first half of a full transcript of the interview, with the latter half running tomorrow. A shortened version of part one is live on MTVNews.com. This first half of the mammoth interview covers much of the "Wii Music" part of our conversation, which branched far beyond what you may have already heard about that game, covering:

• Why he wishes the game came out before "Guitar Hero"
• His biggest failure
• The game's radical dismissal of things like high scores
• How the design of "Mario" and "Zelda" influenced the project
• What he thinks of the game's graphics
• How Wii MotionPlus could change the game
• And much, much more.

The following interview was conducted in person at Nintendo's Redwood City offices. Miyamoto's answered were translated by Nintendo's Bill Trinen. Most of my questions, however, required no translation. Miyamoto responded to most of them without consulting Trinen but replied only in Japanese. I've lightly copy-edited it for readability.

Multiplayer: Thanks for talking to us again, this time about "Wii Music." I had an opportunity to see "Wii Music" at E3. I played it then. And I've been following a lot of the discussion about "Wii Music." I've read the interview series that you did with [Nintendo president] Satoru Iwata. And then, a week ago, I got the game. I've been playing it a bit at home. So I'm very familiar with it. I find it very interesting.

One of the things that really stood out to me in the interview you did with Mr. Iwata is a phrase in there in which you said "Wii Music" might be your "life's work." [Miyamoto laughs.] I think about all the things you've done in video games: "Mario" and "Zelda" and "Donkey Kong." And I don't know what to make of the fact that you would be calling "Wii Music" your life's work. I'm wondering why you feel that way.

"When we set out this time around to make 'Wii Music,' we didn't really have a vision of what it was going to be."

Shigeru Miyamoto: Well I think that "Wii Music" is very different from all the other games that I have made in one particular sense. And that [difference is] that, whether I was making the original "Mario Brothers" game or a "Zelda" game, or even more recently, a game like "Wii Fit," those were all games where, when we set out in development, we had an idea of what we wanted to create and where development was going. "Wii Music" was very different.

For 30 long years I've been a musician and I've been making games, and that whole time, I've always thought, "I want to make a game about music." But along the way, all I ever really was able to do was look at it and say, "Well that wouldn't make a good music game, and that wouldn't be a good music game." So when we set out this time around to make "Wii Music," we didn't really have a vision of what it was going to be. So that's, I think, one way it's very different from the other games we've built.

So, of course, when we first started work on "Wii Music," … the core idea was that music is going to be an important element for Wii, which goes back to our goal of having the Wii in the living room and having it relate to everybody -- and the role that music plays in people's eyes. The original concept was that there needed to be some type of music game for Wii. And, of course, we looked at the Wii remote and thought, originally, "Well, if we're going to make a music game for Wii, we really need it to be something where you're using the remote to perform or to conduct an orchestra. Those were the basic starting point and the original ideas.

"That's why, in one sense, it feels like, perhaps, it could be my life's work."

Multiplayer: Some of the things that struck me as I was playing it is that I thought I was seeing connections to previous games that you've worked on. I don't know if I was imagining those things or not. But there are a couple of things I wanted to mention, because I'm curious about what, if anything, has been influential in your work on a "Mario" game or in a "Zelda" game that may have played a role in "Wii Music."

So two things: While I was using the Wii remote and the nunchuk to control various musical instruments [in "Wii Music,"] I thought back to "The Legend of Zelda; The Ocarina of Time" and how the N64 controller was almost shaped like an ocarina. I put my fingers on the buttons and Link is putting his fingers on the holes, and I thought, "Okay, the controller feels kind of like the instrument." The other thing I thought was that in the other N64 "Zelda," "Majora's Mask," there's a side mission where you go into the Milk Bar and you turn into another character. You play one instrument. Then you turn into another character. And you join in that band that you're already playing as. You're essentially doing what you wind up doing in "Wii Music," where you're overdubbing your own performance. Eventually you have four band members performing one ensemble set. That felt very much like "Wii Music" as well.

Are those things -- or are there other specifics that you could point to -- where you may have dabbled in earlier games that you've worked on that you feel may have paved the way for getting to "Wii Music"?

"You would be experiencing the joy of creating music that normally people won't experience, unless they're able to understand music and are able to play an instrument."

Miyamoto: That's actually where I have that mysterious feeling that I have about this game comes from. Taking the example of "Majora's Mask," and "Ocarina of Time," in those games we were looking at creating video games, and within the story, the adventure, and the world that character explores, we felt "Is there a way that we can have music be a part of this experience?" And so, in that sense, we were looking at creating a musical experience within the context of that game that made sense.

Whereas, with "Wii Music," really, we had a starting point, but we didn't know what we wanted to create and. What we ended up with was this idea that you would be performing, and through that performance you would be experiencing the joy of creating music that normally people won't experience unless they're able to understand music and are able to play an instrument.

So rather than necessarily relying on what we did in the past, we instead tried to take a complete break and look at it from a fresh perspective, trying to create something without knowing where we were going. In my mind, I think that's why we were able to make this big leap from what we have seen in music games up until now to "Wii Music," which gives you a great deal more freedom.

I think I'm the kind of person who feels that nothing in life goes to waste. And what I mean by that is that no matter how much I might try something, and no matter how much I might fail at it, there's always something I'm able to learn from that and find a way to take that experience and apply it to something else that I'm doing. The one area of my life where I felt like for a long time I had failed to do that was in playing an instrument. I had practiced and played instruments for many, many years, but despite all of my years of practice, I was never any good at playing instruments. For a long time it puzzled me, and I worried, "Why have I spent so much time on this? And in fact I still am not a good banjo player. But then we finished "Wii Music " and I look at it and I feel like, finally, all of those years of practice are really what allowed me to create "Wii Music."

"I was never any good at playing instruments. For a long time it puzzled me, and I worried, 'Why have I spent so much time on this?'"

Multiplayer: You described it in the interview with Mr. Iwata as if you felt you could almost say that with "Wii Music" you've created a new musical instrument, right?

Miyamoto: Yeah, when our sales teams and our [public relations] people are asking, "How do we promote 'Wii Music?'" I told them, "Think of it as a new instrument you buy and bring home to play." Now, if you think of the standard musical instrument, if you were to buy that and bring it into a house, there would probably be interest in it at first, and people would probably touch it and try to play it. Ultimately they would be able to get it to make sound. But they wouldn't be able to create music with it unless they are already musically trained or already know how to play that instrument.

Whereas, with "Wii Music," you can take "Wii Music" and bring it into a house. Not only can everybody pick up the Wii remote and nunchuck and play "Wii Music" -- play the instrument -- but it's been designed in a way so that they can immediately make music. So in that sense, I think it's like this new instrument that doesn't have the hurdle, really, of learning the instrument so much as it immediately gives you the ability to be musically creative with it.

Multiplayer: In the process of making "Wii Music," did you try "Guitar Hero" or "Rock Band" or any of the other popular music games? And, if so, what influence did they have on you?

Miyamoto: Obviously, Nintendo has made music games in the past. I personally was involved in the "Donkey Konga" project. And, of course, we've released games like "Rhythm Heaven" and "Band Brothers," but I look at those as being more in the same genre as kind of the standard music or rhythm game that we've seen in the past. So, in looking at those experiences and games that we've created, I was really looking at them from almost a completely different perspective, because my attitude all along was that, if I was going to create a music game, it was going to be something very different from the rhythm games we've seen so far.

"I really wish I made this before ['Guitar Hero' and 'Rock Band'] were popular."

In fact, what I think was one of my biggest challenges with "Wii Music" is that when we had the product nearly complete and we took it to E3 just this year to show off, and in interviewing with people I had many people ask me, "Did you decide to make a music game because games like 'Guitar Hero' and 'Rock Band' are so popular?" And then I felt a little bit disappointed and I felt like, you know, I really wish I made this before those other games were popular because I really want people to be able to look at it from the perspective that I looked at it from.

So, yeah, I think in terms of timing-wise, my feeling is that we created "Wii Music" to be a part of the Wii experience. And the only reason that "Wii Music" is launching at the same time as "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" are very popular is because it just so happens that that is the period of time when Wii has been released into the market.

On the other hand, we have a very large development team at Nintendo. And a lot of the members of our team play a lot of popular and more recent games. When they do that, they have a tendency to look at similar games that are out there and then they start to focus on: What can we do to make sure that our games are as good as those other games in a similar style? Whereas I feel that my job is actually to stop them and say, "That's not the line of thinking we need to have." Because, that results in us creating something that is more and more like those other types of games. My role becomes to put the brakes on and say, "We need to change our direction and way of thinking." That's the only way we're going to be able to create something that's unique and different.

Multiplayer: Right. Innovate rather than imitate. In playing the game, it felt so different to me than playing any other game that I've played that you've been involved in. I tried to put my finger on what felt different. And what I think is so different about it, in my mind, is that in any other game that I've played that you've been involved in -- or really any other game that I've played -- I have one of three goals: I'm trying to get a higher score, or I'm trying to get to the end -- I want to see what's next; I want to save the princess or whatever -- or I'm in a multiplayer game and I'm competing and I want to beat somebody. And none of those are goals in "Wii Music," not in the main mode. There are no points, right? No real storyline progression. And not really even competition against other people, nothing where I feel like "I won and you lost."

Instead, it struck me, that it fees like the drive to continue to play "Wii Music" -- why you would play it a second time and a third time -- is for aesthetics. It's to make it sound better. "Oh, I want my 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' rendition to sound better than my previous one. That seems like a radically different drive that you're looking for in your players of this game than what you've expected is driving them in any other game that you've made.

Do you agree with that? And does it feel that different to you in what you're asking of players than everything else that you worked on?

Miyamoto: I think that's a good way of looking at it. The one thing that I've noticed recently is that there seem to be almost two groups of people out there. One is the people for whom, [when] their goal is not defined, they find it very difficult to understand what to do. But the other group of people are people who are able to create their own goal. And for those people in particular, I think they're finding tremendous satisfaction in "Wii Music."

"[The freedom for players to] dillydally and do their own thing … [is] an important part of entertainment itself."

But on the other hand, I feel like even in the games likes "Super Mario Brothers," and all of the other games that I've made, while we have given kind of a superficial goal within those games, the one thing that we've always tried to focus on is to give the player the freedom, within the structure of the game, to find their own objectives, or really their own type of gameplay that they want to pursue. So if you take, for example, "Super Mario Brothers," obviously at the end of each of the eight worlds, you see Bowser there, and you have this idea that you need to progress through the levels and clear the levels and get to Bowser and beat Bowser. All throughout those levels, we've created many different hidden areas where you can go and play around and are free to kind of have fun there. And I think that's something we've tried to nurture throughout our teams over the years as we continue to develop games, is to encourage them to give the player the freedom within the context of the theme we're providing the player, for the player to then evaluate that theme and decide whether or not they want to pursue the particular objective we've given them or whether or not they want to go off and maybe dillydally and do their own thing. And I think that's an important part of entertainment itself.

Multiplayer: Do you think that going as far as you've gone with "Wii Music" in taking away, say a scoring system can embolden you, when you work on more traditional genres, to do away with some of those expected goals and allow the goals to be more things the players create for themselves? In other words, does the design of "Wii Music" show you potential for different ways you could be designing different games in other genres, since you've done away with some of the rules that had been followed for so long?

Miyamoto: I think that, not necessarily in other franchises, it is a possibility for other potential forms of entertainment. To be honest, I think "Mario Paint" was another example of the kind of game that doesn't present you with a defined objective but does give you a great degree of freedom to go around and allows you to define your own goal within that. And that was a game that I think we did a very good job of taking that idea and presenting it to people in a way that they understood. And "Wii Music" is another one that, maybe just by chance, we've managed to take that idea and kind of do the same kind of thing within the music genre.

There's actually one more coming out, that we've talked about briefly, it's coming out in Japan in November or December, a little bit later this year. It's an application for DSi. It's tentatively called the "Moving Memo Pad." But what it is, it's almost like a tool that allows you to create little flipbook animations.

Multiplayer: Oh yes, I've seen that.

"I think, of course, that style of user-generated content is something that's going to continue to be more popular."

Miyamoto: The thing about that that's really great is that even people who can't draw pictures are able to use the DSi camera and use that to create animations themselves. So I think that's another example of how we take the idea of something that's more of a creation tool but present it in a way that instead of feeling like [the program they're using is] a tool and more like entertainment, they're able to do things they've never done before.

I think, of course, that style of user-generated content is something that's going to continue to be more popular. The "Mii Contest Channel," I think, is kind of another idea of how people can contribute their own creations to kind of a larger pool that collects all their creations of the users. I think that's going to continue on Wii and on PC and across a variety of different devices.

Multiplayer: I wanted to talk to you about motion control. I can't imagine "Wii Music" without the Wii controllers. The Wii's been out for two years. When it was first introduced, it was very much about the controller. I think people were assuming that the Wii software would be defined by motion control. And "Wii Sports" was defined by motion control. I was surprised, actually, that some of the games afterward, be they "Super Mario Galaxy," "Mario Kart Wii," "Super Smash Brothers Brawl," either had a little bit of motion control or -- as in the case with "Smash Brothers" -- didn't have any. And then you had a game like "Wii Fit" that wasn't about motion control in the way we think about it, and I began to wonder if I was wrong and if motion control really was not as integral to the Wii as I and other people had thought it was. Then I see a game like "Wii Music" and I can't imagine it without those controllers.

And so I'm wondering, two years in, how meaningful is motion control to the design of the games on the Wii? How meaningful is it to your thought process in terms of creating software that is engaging to the Wii audience?

"[Developers have] gotten to a point where it's hard for them to think outside the context for [the traditional] controller and to come up with ideas and designs that broke away from that."

Miyamoto: What I think was more important to Wii itself was a simple and intuitive interface, and that's where I think the Wii remote was very important.

And, of course, with "Wii Music" I think we have done, in my estimation a very good job of implementing motion controls. We looked at it from two perspectives. First of all, the very first time people play, they have to be able to -- just by moving, just by shaking the Wii remote and nunchuk -- be able to play the game and create music. But then we also said, beyond that, there needs to be depth to the control. It can't just be the shaking. And that's where we added in the additional functionality you can get by pressing buttons while playing with different instruments to adjust the sound and get better depth out of the sound of the instruments. And so that was a very key focus for us.

The other side of it is, of course, you have a very large number of developers who have been developing games with the typical controller that we've had for many generations now in mind. And I think they've gotten to a point where it's hard for them to think outside the context for that controller and to come up with ideas and designs that broke away from that.

And so one thing that Nintendo tries to do, when we introduce a new console, is we try to give developers new tools that they can use that will allow them to bring, perhaps, ideas that they've had that they haven't been able to realize until now to life. And, in that sense, we're trying to support them by providing them the motion control of the Wii remote and nunchuck and [showing] how that could be the impetus for them to come up with ideas we haven't seen before.

I think "Wii Music" is a good example of how that new controller can allow something like "Wii Music" to be made, because as you point out, it is a game that without motion control would be very difficult to do. And I think if we were still working within the confines of a typical game controller I don't think we would have ever created something like "Wii Music." Because, really, the idea started with [us] looking at the Wii remote and we said, "Oh, you could conduct an orchestra." And then after we created that experiment, we thought, "You can conduct an orchestra, but you can also use this to play different instruments." Whereas if what we were stuck with was the standard controller, I don't think we ever would have had either one of those ideas.

Multiplayer: Has this game been programmed to take advantage of the MotionPlus attachment that's coming next year?

Miyamoto: One of the key ideas behind "Wii Music" this time was that we wanted it to be a game that you essentially perform with, with three other people. So you would have bands of four people playing together. So because of that, for this particular installment of "Wii Music," we didn't want to have a requirement that would, say, prevent people from playing together if they didn't have enough peripheral devices.

But I would think, going forward, once we have an installed base for Wii Motion Plus that's large enough, then we would look at potentially doing a version of "Wii Music" that includes other instruments where, if you do have one or maybe two Wii Motion Plus devices, then you would have much greater ability to -- it would be an instrument that would take great advantage of what Wii Motion Plus could do to allow you to perform music.

"In an instance like that ... we might perhaps be looking at what we can do with Wii MotionPlus to create those instruments that are a lot more difficult and challenging to play."

One example is that the instruments in "Wii Music," of course, are, in terms of the sound they produce, the sound is very well-defined. You don't see anything like a slide guitar in "Wii Music." The reason for that is that the feeling is we had to create a game where the instruments are very easy to pick up and play and immediately grasp and understand how to perform.

Whereas, something where the musical output of the instrument is less clearly defined on a note-by-note basis and instead you have greater control over the scale and the sliding nature of the sound -- as you would with a slide guitar -- that's something that you would be able to do after you have developed a certain level of skill.

So for example, if "Wii Music" were out in the market for awhile and people had gotten good at "Wii Music" [might say], "Okay, I've played 'Wii Music' and now what I'm looking for is the next level of challenge in using the Wii remote and nunchuk to perform music and to do it in a way in which I have greater control of the sound I'm creating." In an instance like that then we might, perhaps, be looking at what we can do with Wii Motion Plus to create those instruments that are a lot more difficult and challenging to play, but give the player perhaps greater satisfaction because they have more direct control of the sounds they are creating. We could even perhaps start experimenting with that relatively soon.

***

Tomorrow: In the second half of the interview, Miyamoto and I dicuss possible "Wii Music" DLC, one negative review of the game, and in a twist, he starts asking me questions. And we wind up talking about "Portal." Check back Tuesday!

It's not "Rock Band" or "Guitar Hero" -- it's something entirely different. Given the accessibility of "Wii Music," however, it seems especially designed to engage the younger crowd.

A few weeks ago, I was speaking with Nintendo Treehouse employee JC Rodrigo, who was demoing "Wii Music" all day. He'd recently attended the Austin City Limits music festival in Texas and spent several hours with kids checking out "Wii Music."

What kind of music did kids create with their Wiimotes?

"We had a lot of kids come in with the artists," said Rodrigo. "When their kids came in, I started playing with their kids. They would play simple stuff, like they would be able to recognize and associate what a piano sounds like and how to play the piano because of the tactile response you get from shaking your hands up and down as if you're hitting keys. [It clicked because of the] imaginary idea that gets transcribed into actual sound and a result on screen that they can visually see and hear."

Rodrigo said kids were a little apprehensive at first, simply because they didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. "Wii Music" wasn't like the other music games they'd played. There were no colored buttons.

"Some kids kept asking me, 'What do I have to do'? And then I asked them in return, 'What do you want to do?'"

"Some kids kept asking me, 'What do I have to do?'" he explained. "And then I asked them in return, 'What do you want to do?' And then they said, 'I want to play this!' Then they started playing and I'm like 'yeah, go ahead, let's go!' And I was playing with them. So kids would [be] very easily playing with adults and they could contribute on this ridiculously even level."

Even though the kids often drifted to instruments with the most immediate feedback at first-- like the piano -- they quickly adapted to everything else "Wii Music" offered. As he played with the kids, Rodrigo saw something very special in these moments.

"Their contributions to the song are just as important as mine or anybody else's contributions," he said. "Being able to put me and these kids together and anyone else, any adult, any child and be able to contribute to the gift of music is just unheard of."

"It was pretty astonishing," he concluded. "Kids are bright."

Anyone here have kids? Do you think they'll like "Wii Music"?

Related Posts
I Think I Finally Get It - How 'Wii Music' Works As A (Hard) Game
Watch Four MTV Employees (Including Me) Play 'Wii Music'
Miyamoto: 'Wii Music' Is 'More Interesting Than A Video Game'

"Fable II: Limited Collector's Edition" (Xbox 360)
What the Box Tells Us: When you first receive the box for the collector's edition of "Fable II," you'll see the protagonist crouching on a gray-white background. But then open it up and remove the cardboard...
Pros: And it's like a whole new cover! The box art is sideways and features the good guy on the front and the bad guy on the back. Kind of like a mullet.
Cons: The cool sideways box art is hidden under the boring cardboard cover.
Love It or Leave It: Love it.

"Petz Rescue: Wildlife Vet" (Wii)
What the Box Tells Us: The player can take care of wild animals, such as baby elephants.
Pros: It's pretty clear what the game is about: a little girl taking care of wild animals.
Cons: But if you examine it more closely, it also looks like the pachyderm is about to choke on her stethoscope. It may be reaching out to her arm for dear life.
Love It or Leave It: Leave it.

"Far Cry 2" (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
What the Box Tells Us: There's a lot going on in "Far Cry 2." So much that it had to be split up into five different panels on the box.
Cons: The bright African sun and the blowtorch flame make for a near-monochromatic box cover.
Pros: According to the box, it's got money, guns, diamonds, jeeps, blowtorches. Really -- what else do you need?
Love It or Leave It: Love it.

"Spider-Man Web of Shadows" (multiple platforms)
What the Box Tells Us: It's Spider-Man with the game's artwork painted on his hands.
Pros: How do you make a Spider-Man title seem more interesting since the last few have been disappointing? Put Weapon X and Venom on the cover.
Cons: Where is this alleged web of shadows or shadowy webs? Why is the background white? And is there a better way to put Wolverine and Venom on the cover vs. painting them on Spidey's fists?
Love It or Leave It: Leave it.

"Wii Music"
What the Box Tells Us: It's a music game where your Miis can play instruments.
Pros: The orange note and the colored instruments stand out against the stark white background. It's certainly eye-catching.
Cons: There's not much to this. The Miis are so tiny, I can't really see what they're doing. The box also doesn't explain whether or not you'll actually need instruments -- important for consumers in the glut of peripheral-based music games.
Love It or Leave It: Leave it.

But you may have no idea what it's like to play the game. How is it structured? What actually happens when you boot the game up? How do you progress? The game comes out in just a few days and even I didn't know the answers to these questions until this week.

I've played my retail copy of "Wii Music" for a couple of hours over the last two days and can explain how this game really works.

I also think I've finally figured out the very unusual way the game is designed to appeal to you. Winning isn't an option in this game. There's something else...

"Wii Music" begins with a tutorial. You have to play this when the game boots (after it updates your firmware, that is). The tutorial is conducted by a composer character who teaches you the game's four primary control schemes: 1) two-handed drum-stick-shaking for percussion and keyboard; 2) one-handed Remote-only trumpet "blowing;" 3) two-handed violin-strumming and 4)  two-handed, Remote-strumming guitar.

If you start with the Jam option and see just those five songs available, you might think something's very wrong with this game.

Once you perform each of those actions a few times, you go to a menu screen that allows you to choose from four options. You can Jam, which means you'll be playing along to a song from the game's soundtrack with any of the instruments you've unlocked. At start you have about two dozen instruments and five songs to choose from. That's right, five songs. They are basic ones like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Do Re Mi." The most pop-oriented of those songs, at start, is the Monkees' "Daydream Believer."

If you start with the Jam option and see just those five songs available, you might think something's very wrong with this game. I did, at first. "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" don't start you with such an elementary -- read: juvenile -- list.

That five-song list turns out to be the first clue that "Wii Music" has a different agenda for its players than do those other rhythm games. On the first day I had the game, I played "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "Do Re Mi," starring in each performance as my own Mii avatar. I tried different instruments and very quickly started to improvise my part of the song, shaking new notes into the arrangement. "Wii Music" doesn't tell you if you did well. It dosn't give you a score. You can't even fail a song. Doing poorly involves playing in a way that makes the music sound bad. The judgment is purely an aesthetic one, and you make it.

The game isn't programmed to even care that you've finished playing a song. What you're urged to do is to turn your performance into a "music video," essentially a playback of your and your bandmates' performance. You design album art, using pre-set options. And you assign your own score, from 1-100 for the song. This is what matters to the game, because, by making videos, you start to unlock new songs to Jam to.

I wound up creating a six-piece arrangement of "Do Re Mi" in which I had played six different instruments, each recorded one at a time.

The object of "Wii Music"'s goal structure is making videos. Why? At first I didn't get it, but in-game characters chatter enough suggestions to you that it all comes together. Making music videos is the means to the game's purpose: getting it's players to improvise, to feel like they're not just playing music but making the music your own. You're encouraged to send your videos over the Wii's Internet connection to your friends. If you dig around, you also discover that you can load your video data for yourself. Whether your friend then loads your video or you load it back into your own game, you can then go into it and start changing the way the band in it played their song. This seems like the real point of the game: repeatedly tweaking your musical arrangements' and other people's.

To give a specific example, I played the melody part of "Do Re Mi" with a stand-up bass, as Wii-controlled characters backed me up on five other instruments. Then I re-loaded that session and took over the percussion role, playing a snare drum. While I played the snare, only four Wii-controlled characters backed me up because the version of me who played stand-up bass played that part just as I had. I repeated that process four more times and wound up creating a six-piece arrangement of "Do Re Mi" in which I had played six different instruments, each recorded one at a time. (Echoes of a musical side quest in "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask") In making such a complex performance, I could appreciate why "Wii Music" starts off with such ridiculously basic songs. Even with a simple song, I was challenged to put together a six-Mii rendition that sounded both unique and good.

At least I nailed the unique part.

Everything I described above is part of the Jam option on the "Wii Music" menu. The three other options are a Music Video area for managing videos, a Games section that consists of three mini-games, and a Lessons section. The Games section has a one-to-four-player handbell game that has everyone trying to shake their controllers at the proper time.  It has some mini-games that challenge players to match pitches that characters play (It's more interesting than it reads here).  And there's a classical music conducting game that requires a player to swingin the Wii remote to propel an orchestra through a symphonic piece. The handbell and conducting games each support five songs that are unlocked one at a time. Some of the songs become available in Jam mode. In fact, the easiest way to unlock a Nintendo-themed song (do you really want me to give away which one?) is to reach the fifth and final stage of the conducting game. These mini-games, by the way, do get scored for points.

I'm excited by the idea that the game could teach me to play Wii-style tunes in different musical styles like rock, reggae and jazz. I'm concerned that I may not have enough musical talent to complete the lessons.

The Lessons part of "Wii Music" is the title's most unexpected feature. Only the tutorial lesson is available at first, but after recording several videos, I was given the opportunity to take a rock-n-roll lesson. In it, I was shown how "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" could be turned into a rock song. First the game's characters did their rock rendition. Then I was assigned to play each part in a rock-like fashion. I had to play the drums with a rock beat. I was given a note pattern to follow, and only if I shook the Remote and Nunchuk with the proper note-timing did it let me then do my own rock version of the song -- for that instrument. Then I was assigned a second instrument, given a pattern to follow, required to match it, then encouraged to perform my own riff. The idea was that I would eventually have played all six parts of a band doing a rock version of "Twinkle, Twinkly." It was surprising and interesting to be taught how to turn a non-rock song into a rock song. What was less fun, however, was my inability to match the expected pattern for bass guitar and therefore fail the lesson. I'm excited by the idea that the game could teach me to play Wii-style tunes in different musical styles like rock, reggae and jazz. I'm concerned that I may not have enough musical talent to complete the lessons.

One of the most charming elements of the game is that your Miis show up everywhere in it. Your six-piece Jam band can be filled with your Miis. Your orchestra in the conducting game is stuffed with your Miis (see the image atop this post -- those are all my Miis, from Shigeru Miyamoto to Charlie Brown to Hulk Hogan). I've enjoyed that extra touch, because it makes the musical performances feel more personalized.

So how do you play "Wii Music"? How does it unfold? The mini-games are good for unlocking songs, and the drum trainer -- which I didn't even mention yet -- is probably a fun pasttime. But it looks like the core experience is Jamming, saving videos, sharing them and re-mixing them. That four-part process is  Nintendo's melodious version of that "Little Big Planet" mantra of Play Create Share.

This isn't the kind of game that I see myself playing to win. But I'm driven right now by an oddly distinct goal: to make what I play sound better, and to hope against hope that I have the musical skills to keep up. Otherwise, I may have to have to bail out.

I'll have more impressions as I play the game over the next few days and begin swapping songs with other Wii friends. As I said in a Game Diary earlier this week, this game is very "different." If, as a friend asked, that means it is "good different" or just "different different" is still hard for me to assess. You will have to like its unusual goals, that's for sure, and not mind not having a chance to win.

Related Posts:
Game Diary - October 16, 2008: ‘Wii Music’ Day 1 With Totilo, Keighley And Who?
Watch Four MTV Employees (Including Me) Play ‘Wii Music’

I played "Wii Music" on Monday morning with three other members of the MTV News team. We taped it and aired some of what ensued on TRL today. Check out the above segment to see how things went down. (Hint: we had fun.)

For more information about "Wii Music," check out the accompanying article I wrote to brief the MTV faithful on what this game (or non-game?) is all about: 'Wii Music' Encourages Creativity, But It Won't Let You Win

(Videos not viewable by users logging in from Canada or the U.K.)

Related Post:
Miyamoto: ‘Wii Music’ Is ‘More Interesting Than A Video Game’

It was not the mocked stage presentation of "Wii Music" that prompted my skepticism about Nintendo last week. It was something else, something less flashy but more pervasive.

Several times throughout the week, I witnessed the company, its most ardent fans and the E3 press fail to communicate with each other. These misunderstandings -- these wrong answers to right questions and right answers to wrong ones -- were not always Nintendo's fault. But the fissures are real and must certainly be a concern to company and fans alike.

First, though, no one should get too hung up on "Wii Music." It's not the problem.

Many a quality creation has debuted at E3 in silly ways. I played "Wii Music" at E3, and I believe it has potential as a platform for amusing performance. It seems certain to delight children the way "Wii Fit" delighted moms. Its biggest threat isn't the disdain of hardcore Nintendo fans but the magnetic pull of competitors "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" that will tug at parents who walk the toy aisles this holiday season with an empty shopping cart.

These are the problems of two parties speaking past each other.

The problem Nintendo and its fans face were evidenced in other ways, away from the Nintendo press conference stage. These are the problems of two parties speaking past each other:

At a Nintendo developer's conference, one reporter asked Nintendo developers if "Animal Crossing City Folk" for the Wii would avoid the programming problem of "Animal Crossing DS" and not disconnect a group of online friends just because one friend lost a connection. Another reporter asked if Wii "Animal Crossing" would reverse its seasons for players whose region-coded Wiis are located in the southern hemisphere.

No and no, the game's producer Katsuya Eguchi said.

And I wondered: Doesn't Nintendo listen to its world of fans? Are these not reasonable requests?

At the same conference, Nintendo's champion game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, replied to a journalist who doubted that "Wii Music" -- a piece of software built without adherence to rules of winning and losing, points and challenge -- deserves the description "video game," rather than "toy."

Said Miyamoto: “Yes, that’s right. And that’s why it’s more interesting than a video game.”

And I wondered: Is this the true sentiment at Nintendo headquarters, a frustration with a fervent fan-base that is so eager to be pleased with the familiar that it can't enjoy the challenge of appreciating the new?

Is this the true sentiment at Nintendo headquarters?

In these events I sensed the themes that underlie much of the growing tension between Nintendo and the hardcore. I saw the apparently distinct and sometimes competing interests of creators and consumers. There is Nintendo, frugal and wealthy, determined to produce machines and games that its own fans might be tempted to describe as cheap and dismissive of some legitimate and vocal gamer feedback. And there are Nintendo's fans -- a distinct subset of a larger group more appropriately called "Nintendo's customers" -- who appear to be frequently hostile and themselves dismissive, certain that they can always determine by sight rather than by trial whether Nintendo's next move is a brilliant breakthrough or a misstep.

Nintendo and its fans -- have been used to being totally right about each other's mistakes in the past.

Who is right and who is wrong? When the sides are this sharply divided it's usually safe to assume that each side's points have their merits. That's not necessarily the conclusion that anyone will draw in this case, though, because both parties -- Nintendo and its fans -- have been used to being totally right about each other's mistakes in the past.

Nintendo was right just a few years ago when facing down the skepticism that its mid-powered, non-DVD-playing Wii wasn't going to be its Dreamcast-ian downfall. The Nintendo fans were right that Nintendo's E3 message a couple of years before that, that connectivity between GameCube and Game Boy Advance was a winning idea, was wrong. Who was right about whether "Grand Theft Auto" was any good? About how "Zelda" should look? About making a game controller shaped like a remote? About highlighting an exercise game as the Next Big Thing? They've each been dead wrong about each other before.

This is the result: the estranged parties sitting at opposite ends of the couch, talking (but not to each other), doubtful the other side has a point.

This is where we are, at a failure to communicate.

Ultimately, at this E3, expectations did not match. The gaming press and Nintendo fans expected Nintendo to treat E3 as Sony and Microsoft did, to announce piles of new games, to comprehensively boast of past success, to run down the checklist of offerings and cue the demo reel. That does not appear to be what Nintendo thought E3 was for. Its approach was more narrowly targeted, its intended audience different. For proof, look not just at Nintendo's slender list of E3 announcements, its press kit empty of game mentions and stuffed with executive bios, its omission from its press conference of show-floor games like "Rhythm Heaven" or its entire WiiWare platform. Look instead at the Nintendo Channel, the online promotional page of videos and information accessible through the Wii, which still bears no mention of E3. Xbox Live and the PlayStation 3's online store are covered with references to the show.

Just booting up an Xbox 360 or PS3 last week notified gamers that E3 was happening. Booting up a Wii merely explained that last week was a week in July.

Just booting up an Xbox 360 or PS3 last week notified gamers that E3 was happening. Booting up a Wii merely explained that last week was a week in July. That's a hint of what E3 means to Nintendo and what Nintendo thinks E3 means to its console user base.

If you're neither Nintendo nor one of its fans, try either side's perspective and say who's right. I interviewed Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime last week and I heard the disbelief in his voice. He thought Nintendo fans were feeling good about Nintendo. If I were him, I'd say: How could you Nintendo fans dare to complain? Nintendo has supplied the new "Mario," "Zelda" and "Metroid" already. The ultimate Nintendo gamer's game -- "Smash Brothers" -- was just released a few months ago during a traditionally slow period. Your complaint should only be that Nintendo pleased your requests too swiftly.

But now put yourself in the shoes of a Nintendo fans and wonder: How could you Nintendo executives be so stingy? Last holiday season produced "Metroid," "Mario" and some second-tier Nintendo-published games, all supplementing the latest crossover attempt, the games of the Wii Zapper. The spring saw "Smash" and "Mario Kart" and some second-tier Nintendo-published games, all supplementing the latest crossover attempt, "Wii Fit." How does that momentum bring us to the end of 2008 with the weaker echo of that pattern to the tune of "Animal Crossing" plus "Mario Super Sluggers" plus "Wii Music" and little backing them up? Are these not, for fans, diminishing returns?

At the conclusion of my half-hour interview with Fils-Aime last week he volunteered this defense, a preemptive one given I hadn’t even articulated the analysis presented in this piece. Prompted to say any closing thoughts to an MTV audience he said, "There's one thing I do want to reinforce. I could almost put myself into the 'geeks and otaku' camp. I grew up playing all those great Nintendo games. And so for me I look at product like "Animal Crossing" and I get tremendously excited. I look at "Wario" and get tremendously excited. I look at "Sluggers" coming out and get tremendously excited. So this mentality that we have somehow lost our soul and [are not] speaking to our fanbase, there is nothing further from the truth. And if you talk to Mr. Miyamoto, you really understand that we really have the interest of our core fanbase right at the top of the list. The recognition is -- and I think this is really the point -- we're not going to tease you over 18 months or 24 months. We're going to show you something that'll make your jaw drop and make it available shortly thereafter."

There's a swarm of confusion about innovation and sequels and value [and] what it means to demand such things, to promise such things, to deliver such things.

Much of this wave of E3 batch of misunderstandings, like even the most breathless E3 hype, will blow away in the summer breeze. Nintendo need only explain its view of E3 better to fans and the press and much of the confusion of last week would be alleviated. And in its passing, the trifles gone, the more significant misunderstandings would be laid bare: Why are fan concerns, like the WiFi in "Animal Crossing," dismissed? From the other side -- why must Nintendo's latest showpiece software be considered and built like just another video game?

It's not the number of games that's the issue. It's not even the games themselves, I don't think. I sense the problem is something else: an unease about the current contract between creators and consumers, a possibility that parties on both sides have grown uncomfortable with the stance of the others, with the expectations, the demands, and the offerings. There's a swarm of confusion about innovation and sequels and value -- what it means to demand such things, to promise such things, to deliver such things -- that this past E3 did little to clarify.

It is on those topics that Nintendo, its fans and the press, all so thrown off by the events of last week and a stage performance of "Wii Music," have barely begun to communicate.

For now, though, chew on this:

At a Nintendo developer's roundtable event this evening in Los Angeles, a German journalist asked Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto if it would be more appropriate to call "Wii Music," which lacks goals and points, a "toy" rather than a "video game."

Miyamoto replied tersely: "Yes, that's right. And that's why it's more interesting than a video game."

I hadn't seen that side of Miyamoto before! Could it be -- in this case as in so many before -- that he's right? Are we too hung up on traditional video game constraints to appreciate something more free-form?

(Also: other blogs seem to have posted this already, but in case you missed it, he confirmed that a new "Pikmin" game is in development. "We are making 'Pikmin,'" he said. He did not elaborate.)