Nintendo has released a batch of new screenshots from Wii Music, depicting several colorful performance venues from grassy meadows to basement clubs and TV stages. Mii avatars can also be seen playing a variety of instruments.

Wii Music sets a departure from mega-hit music games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero by making failure impossible. The Wii Remote-controlled game, the final step in Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto's original vision for the Wii, will jam its way into living rooms this holiday season.

Celebrated game designer Shigeru Miyamoto's original plans for the Nintendo's motion-oriented Wii will be entirely realized with the fall release of Wii Music, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed.

"Wii Music completes what Miyamoto wrote in his proposal when he came up with the idea for the Wii," Iwata told the Wall Street Journal. "He was saying that he needs to think up more ideas now."

Miyamoto's design scheme was presented at this year's Game Developer's Conference by Nintendo director Takao Sawano, who unveiled a conceptual diagram created by the designer as part of his proposal for the Wii console. The diagram showed numerous references to Wii Sports, Wii Fit and Wii Play.

Wii Music was also a part of this early design phase, and was one of the first titles demonstrated on the system, debuting at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show... Read more

Wii Music is probably not what you expect it to be.

It's definitely not a rhythm game—at least, not in the way that Rock Band and Guitar Hero are rhythm games. It's a consequence-free environment in which you and up to three other friends participate in jam sessions where the only goal is to... well, jam.

No scrolling note indicators, no notes. Just you, your Wii Remote and Nunchuk, and as much flailing about as you can handle.

"There are no mistakes," says Nintendo in its Wii Music press release. "Just playing for the pure joy of playing."

As the latest in Nintendo's Wii- line (Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Play), Wii Music is designed to appeal to a broad demographic, and part of that is reducing the experience down to its simplest, most basic elements. With over 60 instruments in tow, it's... Read more

Nintendo today announced the development of Wii Music, demonstrating the title at the company's E3 2008 press conference. The game is scheduled for release this coming holiday.

Wii Music allows multiple users to play in bands simultaneously. Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto demonstrated an in-game saxophone, holding the Wii Remote up as one would play such an instrument.

The company added that more than fifty instruments are planned for the title, including pianos, violins, electric guitars, marimbas. No additional peripherals beyond the Wii Remote are required for the game. Wii Music also appears to support... Read more