Wii Music is "more interesting than a videogame", says Miyamoto

By Ellie Gibson Published 17 July, 2008

It's a "musical toy", don't you know.

Legendary Nintendo developer Shigeru Miyamoto has said he agrees with those who say WIi Music isn't a proper videogame - adding that he reckons it's even better.

Miyamoto was speaking in a Q&A session at an E3 roundtable hosted by Nintendo. One journalist observed that many traditional videogame elements, such as high scores and defined achievements, don't appear to feature in Wii Music. Therefore, he said, isn't it more like a musical toy than a game?

"Yes, that's right," replied Miyamoto. "And that's why it's more interesting than a videogame." And that's all he had to say on the matter.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Charlie_Miso #1 4 years ago

    It's the end!!!!!

    Run for the hills!!

  • gaselite #2 4 years ago

    No it's not.

    (re: the more interesting than videogames comment in the article, not the it's the end comment)
    Edited by 1 at 17/07/08 @ 07:20

  • Steroyd #3 4 years ago

    Yes it's more interesting than a videogame to those who aren't interested in videogames. i.e not me

  • anomagnus #4 4 years ago

    in my opinion, they've given up on games. sure, smash bros, galaxy etc float around, but things like like wii fit, and this tripe wii music tells me they're about to leave the games industry and move into some no mans land of interactive bullshit toys

  • Ranger101 #5 4 years ago

    Electroplankton was awesome. I still 'play' it.

    Bringz0rs it onz sirz! y0!



    Normal games are boring if you've been playing them for about 20 years or so.

  • LOLLERS #6 4 years ago

    "Electroplankton was awesome. I still 'play' it. "

    I came here to post the same thing, except with a lot more sarcasm.

  • IronCladChicken #7 4 years ago

    @ToonMonkey
    Nope, it's for 33 year old lifetime gamers like me :)
    Edited by 1 at 17/07/08 @ 10:13

  • Snidesworth #8 4 years ago

    Nintendo knows where the money's at. Unfortunately it's not around these parts.

  • bitesize #9 4 years ago


    was really disappointed with the look of this. was hoping for a big expanded electroplankton type musical instrument wierdness, and all i get is playing the saxamaphone by holding the wiimote up to your lips and pressing random buttons in time to mario tunes. load of arse.

    that said, we hopefully haven't seen everything it does, maybe they'll include some kind of abstract plankton-like oddities in there as well...

  • chrisjm #10 4 years ago

    "No it's not."

    what he said

  • Farzlepot #11 4 years ago

    Given Nintendo's remarkable turnaround and their success in marketing products for the Wii (and the DS) that barely qualify as games, I don't think we should criticise the direction they are taking - it's clearly earning them money. They've outsold both the 360 and the PS3, *and* they make a profit on the damn things.

    But for them to market it as a games console? That begs some scrutiny, methinks.

  • gingerlink #12 4 years ago

    I hope people realise that mario song in the conference wasn't pre-set, it was all to do with what they were doing, think they did a rather good job, even if they messed up a couple of bits. You could get a group together and play whatever the heck you want...

    This is going to be another 'game' that's going to be awesome with friends, but probabbly fall short on your own...

    ahhhhh, I see where people's problems lie now ;)

    Edited to add quotation marks around game
    Edited by 1 at 17/07/08 @ 11:02

  • Zomoniac #13 4 years ago

    There's a drumming demo video here. I'm vaguely impressed technically, but rolls will be impossible, and doing anything fast with no rebound to control will seriously fuck your wrists. And without a 'game' in there, I struggle to see any point whatsoever.

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #14 4 years ago

    /doesn't care whether something is a game or not, just cares whether it's fun to play or not
    /not convinced by this yet

  • bitesize #15 4 years ago

    I hope people realise that mario song in the conference wasn't pre-set, it was all to do with what they were doing

    not sure what you mean by this - the melodies were all pre-set surely, how do play a saxophone-like instrument with only 2 buttons to press? it's just the rhythm of the notes that play that you're controlling, surely, like most other rhythm action games...

  • sneetch #16 4 years ago

    @IronCladChicken

    Woah! Now that's one narrow target market they've there; it's not for 34 year old gamers like me either. ;)

  • Dan234 #17 4 years ago

    The melodies are pre-set, according to the description here...

    Link

    Leaving the players just to keep banging the rocks together.

    Not convinced it's got any lasting appeal.

    Edit: Just looked at the drum demo, Nintendo haven't done what I thought would be obvious for a Wiimote (split the space infront of you into different zones and you choose different drums/cymbals depending on which zone you hit) instead you have to press buttons to choose the drum/cymbals and hit the air anywhere in front of you.

    Perhaps they should wait until they get Motion+ out...?
    Edited by 1 at 17/07/08 @ 12:32

  • gingerlink #18 4 years ago

    @Dan234

    yeah, i made a mistake there. I obviously misunderstood what was going on.

    If they've done that with the drums, then it seems a really wierd thing to do. Why has everyone playing them always linged their arms off in crazy directions, strange...

    I would probabbly say other things, but I believe I may need to do some more research on this game...

  • Markusdragon #19 4 years ago

    You're dead to me, Miyamoto!