Wii Music Comments by Ellie Gibson
Out of tune.
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What a fucking disgrace. Much as I try to keep the faith with Nintendo, who got me into gaming in the first place and have always been there with the goods... this is just shabby. They're doing more to destroy their reputation as one of the finest software developers in the world than any number of bigoted internet fanboys could.
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kangarootoo
12/11/08 @ 15:17
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Good review, but I have to raise a few music related points re some of Jake's comments.
"most of music writing is happy accidents" Well, not really. The best composers out there apply method to their work. That isn't to say they produce souless music, but they know how to expand on small musical cells and that informs their work. If someone got into music by way of throwing together existing loops, I can see how it might appear to be more random. "I do have a personal hatred of that whole midi sound" MIDI is not a sound! Its a method of control, and a very complex method of control at that. It is far too often used to control shite samples in a very basic way, which results in what people perceive to be "that midi sound", but MIDI controlled music can sound very good indeed if the samples are good and the control parameters are detailed. I know this a mainstream music product, but there is still value in not making incorrect (or factually suspect) statements about music in general. Anyway, I'm done. I hear my saucer of milk being poured. |
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@Zomoniac - "This game seems to be getting scored up across the board for no reason I can grasp. Just because I guess nobody feels they can give a Miyamoto game a 2. I watched the GameTrailers video review and I have never heard them lay into anything so badly. 5 minutes of incessant, pissed off ranting about how it was the worst game EVER (and it looked it), and still had a 6.8 or something at the end of it. Just weird."
I really enjoy watching GTTV's video reviews and they do a great job of summing up a game's good and bad points. But... they're absolutely f**king useless at assigning scores to many of those games. For example, one review I watched for an Xbox 360 game (I can't remember which, I think it was some shooter) had the reviewer heavily criticising it yet it still managed to score 7 point something. Seems to me that GameTrailers' think 7/10 is an average score, which is obviously silly because it isn't. |
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illusiondance
12/11/08 @ 15:36
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heh heh, that was quite a surprising review, what was less than surprising was the response from the embittered (self proclaimed) hardcore gamers.
They certainly proved "lol" is the mark of the retarded. The real irony is that the last "lol" will be on them as nintendo continues its unabated ransacking of all regions this Christmas (yup, despite incredible recent releases like gears, little planets, fable, fallout etc) and rake in about 50% of japans GDP. The charts already look set for another wii flavoured Christmas. All the angry ex-nintendophiles should just either give up on their old obsession or pray to the heavens that nintendo gives up its hubris of socially aware game design and makes compromises to traditional principles of... collecting stuff and killing things. Stop being so angry all the time, you'll get ulcers. at least crispyduckman had something useful to say. (p.s. suddenly lots of ps3 gamers love ellie? how convenient) |
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Good review, will stay away from this.
But I already decided to after I saw this (beats any review of Wii music any day): http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/... Sums it up pretty nicely.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 12/11/08 @ 15:41
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Eighthours
12/11/08 @ 15:47
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Brilliant review, Ellie. By far the best piece of writing I've seen on this game. Kinda damning you with faint praise, but still.
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andywilkie35
12/11/08 @ 15:52
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baaaaaaahahahahahahahaha I knew this was shit, can't believe this tripe even got 5!
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@Goffee
"I'll get this for my four year-old boy - and he'll love it! I don't think most of the posters here are the target market." I'm sure he'll love it...but for how long?! 1 hour? Maybe 2? This whole Wii Music thing sounds like the "must have" action figures from my childhood - the novelty wore off very quickly. Of course those action figures were never even half as expensive as a Wii game... As somebody who's playing their "real" games for many years it's kinda frustrating to see them pumping resources into half arsed experiments like this.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 12/11/08 @ 15:53
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Mentalist(air)
12/11/08 @ 15:55
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I really hate the proliferation of "reads like an X" comments in response to EG reviews, but for a review that goes to great lengths to utterly condemn Wii Music as a waste of time and money, then score it within a point of Disater Day of Crisis (which its review implied was quite good) seems very incongruous to me.
I thought (cringe) It read like a 1 or a zero. |
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@illusiondance - Spin it how you like but while the Xbox 360 has games like Fable 2, Gears of War 2 and Banjo-Kazooie: N&B (oh how the Wii would love that game!) and the PS3 has LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and Resistance 2, among others like Fallout 3, Wii-only owners can rest content knowing that they have quality games to look forward to this Christmas like Wii Music and... erm... erm... :P
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kinky_mong
12/11/08 @ 16:11
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This is the best review I've read of this absolute turkey. It was a very good idea to get the opinions of trained musicians to rip this apart.
And I'd also like to echo the sentiment that this is the first Christmas since 1991 that I will not be receiving a Nintendo game. Actually that might be a lie because I'm sure there's a period around 2000 or 2001 where I went off of computer games and got decks for Christmas but lets gloss over that for the purpose of a bold statement. |
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Triggerhappytel
12/11/08 @ 16:13
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This is an odd review. After a superb opening it's written as though its below average in every way (a 4 at very most) and still gets 5.
Furthermore, why didn't the review just get passed to Jake, since he comments so much here? No offence Ellie, but I don't really want to read the review with quotes from two people who are obviously considered more knowledgeable in this field – it makes it read more like an interview. I genuinely hope it sells poorly worldwide and Nintendo realise that the casual gamer is fickle and they need their core audience more than they realise. EDIT - also, I don't think there are any excuses for producing poor sound quality in a game such as this. If the storage memory is too small then that's Nintendo's fault, and they shouldn't be excused over it. It seems like a glaring failing in a music game, for fuck's sake.
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most recently on 12/11/08 @ 16:16
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designerheadache
12/11/08 @ 16:30
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it will score crap (as it did here) but sell well, because the "casuals" are already brainwashed in to brain training et all.
Unfortunately it will take quite a few more Wii Music quality games before the masses catch on,and by that time Ninty will be moving on to the next way to fleece them... |
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kangarootoo
12/11/08 @ 16:33
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"It was a very good idea to get the opinions of trained musicians to rip this apart."
I actually think that balance is important in that respext, and I didn't see any quotes from non-musician sources. This game is clearly not aimed at musicians, and whilst their comments on the theory it attempts to convey is valuable, it might have also been useful to get the opinions of people who can't play a note. The game seems confused as to whether its job is to teach any amount of musicality, or cover up holes in that knowledge and allow anybody at all to have fun. I guess the issue is that it didn't do either job particularly well, but then it had set itself a steep challenge as games based on making music always rely on replacing learned ability with faked novelty (which by its very nature is shirt lasting). Sounds like there are some nice ideas in there, but it should never have been built up into a full priced title. |
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kangarootoo
12/11/08 @ 16:35
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"it will score crap (as it did here) but sell well, because the "casuals" are already brainwashed in to brain training et all."
It may well sell well, but talk of "casuals" is just elitist nonsense. Its one step away from referring to people as "real gamers", which is just as ridiculous. |
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This is why I don't like the Wii. Why I sold mine. I've never been a huge fan, but always respected the effort they seemed to make and the quality games the took time to develop.
Like the hugely popular PS2 there is an absolute shed load of crap games, some I've never heard of until I see them on the shop shelf. This I expected. Unlike the PS2 (I'm comparing the Wii to the PS2 because it sold in huge numbers also) it has only a handful of good games. It seem to me that for the most part third party developers can't be arsed and Nintedo are more than happy to abandon the fans that have kept them afloat through the N64 and GameCube years. I know, their a business, they are out to make money, but that doesn't mean releasing shite like this. I'm really quite surprised this has come from the same developer that game us Mario, Zelda and Samus. They only had one intention with this game, and it wasn't producing a quality product. They know their new market very well I guess. |
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cyber_nicco
12/11/08 @ 16:47
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I can probably think of 50 games that scored worse on EG that I'd rather play. Actually, just add up ALL the games that scored worse, and that would be the number...
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sheesh .. another wii thread full of 360 loving retards telling everyone that they sold their wii to get something grown up or something equally dumb based on one game... who'd have thunk it?
This review pretty much sums up my distaste for modern reviews though - as it completely misses the point. Yes the hardcore gears of war loving market will hate it, but then - they're bound to hate anything which isnt a carbon copy dull repetitive shooter with pretty visuals. This is a game for 6 year olds to make noise with, and I have LOTS of friends whose kids LOVE it (my nephew does too!). Problem is, this game is being judged from a "grown up" perspective by someone who probably likes lots of "normal" games. And is totally missing the point. You dont see movie reviews doing this, where a hard core action fan is given the task of reviewing the latest "barbie" (or whatever) movie do you? Thus proving yet again that games journalism needs to "grow up" (erm, pun intended). The problem with websites as this, is that they're sites created by fanboys for fanboys. The people who make them usually have no journalistic training - all they are, are fanboys of games. And of course that means they're gonna be fanboys of certain genres too. Sure in the case of eurogamer, taking into account their average audience - this review is probably pretty much spot on. But some parent might read this and decide not to get it for their kid because of that - and that'd be a shame as i can gaurantee their kid would love it. And from a kids point of view, it's still not perfect, but it's a good 7 or 8 score. I dunno what to suggest to improve things. But it seems that if you're a "hardcore" (i.e. pretty visuals, good story, no gameplay) shooter, the reviewer starts with a 10 score in mind (before actually playing), and subtracts if they find anything wrong. A kids game starts with a 6 in mind before playing, and gets adjusted according to whether there's good or bad points. So we REALLY need to come up with a better way of doing things Rant over Cue lots of 360 hugging twats jumping in, missing the point of what i've said and calling me a "nintendo appologist" or something equally moronic.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 12/11/08 @ 16:51
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It may well sell well, but talk of "casuals" is just elitist nonsense. Its one step away from referring to people as "real gamers", which is just as ridiculous.
There is a difference though. Like the difference between someone that only listens to chart music or the huge bands that fill stadiums, and someone that had a huge collectiono of music, most of which many people havent heared of and goes to gigs every weekend. Or between someone that only goes to see blockbuster movies and someone else that goes to the small independant cinema to see the latest independant movie or can name that 10 films that any actor was in. The music and movie buffs I guess you could call them. The same can be said for games, although perhaps not in the way most people think. A game like Halo or Gears of War could also be seen as a casual game.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 12/11/08 @ 16:54
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Mentalist(air)
12/11/08 @ 17:01
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But music is an interesting one too.. You wouldnt get an indie music lover to review the latest britney spears (or insert latest pop act here ) album would you?
Indeed, and if you were a gaming web site you might have someone who usually reviews games in a similar genre to review something like Wii Music. |
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