Just want to chime in here and say I played the game with four people yesterday to test out the multiplay. Wii Music is an odd sort of thing. Its interface is adorable and polished and full of options, but the game -- well, you don't really get it at first. Jamming and creating something that sounds pleasant is not easy and there's an overwhelming number of instruments and options. The tutorials and minigames are a necessary first step.
We immediately clicked with the bell game, probably because -- as someone noted -- it's the most like Guitar Hero or Rock Band. No doubt: The bells rock. I could play them all weekend, especially on complex mode with the 'wait for player' turned on (the music stops until the player with the bell hits the note; it's unnerving and not good and you don't want to be the one holding 'Do Re Mi' up). Jamming's a different story altogether. Took about an hour for us to 'get it,' and before long we'd been playing the game for two and half hours without even thinking about it. These were four adults playing the game, people you probably know or have heard of. These were four adults who could not stop having fun, and there were no babies in tow.
Wii Music is fun and different. It's joyful. It's collaborative. It's also very, very competitive and slick as hell. You can tell the game's got depth and long-term playability. You can tell Nintendo and Miyamoto have put everything into it. You can also tell, almost immediately, situated as it is between Wii Sports and Wii Fit, that the game is going be monster huge. It wasn't on my radar before yesterday, but now the 21st can't come soon enough.
