Wii Music was originally supposed to be a launch title, and at E3 2006 we got a small sampling of its contents. Fast forward two years later to Tuesday’s Nintendo press conference when a live demo of the updated game was given by Shigeru “Game God” Miyamoto himself. As charming as the demo was with Miyamoto and a bunch of Nintendo execs pretending to play music, I couldn’t help but watch with skepticism. Aren’t they just pantomiming? I had to see for myself.

In Wii Music, you start by choosing your song. Although I wasn’t told how many songs will be in the game, I do know that there will be different kinds, including classical, jazz, and contemporary. The Super Mario Brothers theme (played at the press conference) is included, along with childhood classics like “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star”, both of which I played in the demo.

When you select a song, you then choose what section of the band you want to play – percussion, melody, harmony, chord, etc. Within each section you then pick your instrument. There are more than 60 available, including international ones such as bagpipes, sitar, and shamisen. For “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star” I choose the piano.

To “play” the piano, I had to flick the Wiimote and nunchuk in time with the notes. I could also press the A or B button if I wanted to change the notes. As the music started, I flicked dutifully and when I missed a few notes, nothing happened. Wii Music is essentially idiot-proof. No scores are kept, no sour notes are played if you miss a beat, and no skill is required. I was bored.