E3 06: Wii Music Orchestra Hands-On

LOS ANGELES--Who hasn't had the fantasy of being a famous conductor guiding a world-class symphony through some of the world's greatest classical music? Who, secretly in their hearts, hasn't yearned to mimic great conductors like Leonard Bernstein or Michael Tilson Thomas? Anyone? Anyone at all? Okay, for those of you that have, Wii Music Orchestrator might help you unlock you inner maestro. We played a demo version of the game at the Nintendo Wii booth, and it left us musically enriched and physically drained.

The demo, which uses the Wii remote as a conductor's baton, let you conduct a cute-looking orchestra of thimble-shaped musicians through two songs: the theme from the Legend of Zelda series and the theme to Bizet's Carmen. Once you calibrated the Wii remote, a hand holding a conductor's baton appeared on screen. After a few seconds, the hand began conducting at the tempo the song would be taken. To start the orchestra on their musical adventure, you had to tap out four beats at the required tempo.

Once the music began, it was up to us as the conductor to keep the collection of musicians on their musical path. The biggest responsibility was to keep the tempo moving by vigorously moving the Wii remote up and down. And when we say "vigorous" we mean it--no dainty conducting movements here; the quicker your movements, the louder and more enthusiastic the orchestra would play through the number. The coolest part of the demo was how the orchestra would react immediately to any shifts in your tempo, slowing down and speeding up in conjunction with your conducting movements. There wasn't much in the way of cueing of specific sections of the orchestra--such as the brass or violins--but perhaps that will make it into a final version of the game at a later date.

With cute visuals, a camera that seemed intelligent enough to focus on specific portions of the orchestra during the correct moments (such as the brass during a particularly bright trumpet flourish), and an interesting control scheme, Wii Music Orchestra seems to be yet another interesting use of the Wii remote. Our only complaint was how physically drained a single song left us; by the end of one tune, our arms were aching and we had to take a break. We'll keep you informed on how Wii Music Orchestra develops in the coming months.