While it's no Rock Band or Guitar Hero, Nintendo's Wii based music offering is still pretty fun. The game drops today and should provide hours of clean musical fun for you all. Below is the official press release. For detailed info on this game, see Wii Music on PPN Studio.

NINTENDO'S WII MUSIC LETS PLAYERS UNLEASH THEIR INNER MAESTROS

Unique Music Game for Wii Focuses on Improvisation, Creativity and Fun

REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 20, 2008 - The sound of trumpets, the clash of cymbals and the thunder of drums herald today's launch of Wii Music™. Just as Wii Sports™ attracted millions of new players to the world of video games and Wii Fit™ showed people that fitness could be fun, Wii Music creates a whole new genre in video games, one that lets players have fun experimenting with music as they strive to produce fun, masterful arrangements.

"Music is a universal language that inspires and moves people," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Wii Music provides a fun way for people to play together and be entertained while building a fundamental understanding of musical themes and rhythms. Wii Music can motivate people to learn real instruments or enhance their appreciation of musical performances."

Wii Music brings more than 60 instruments to your living room, where you're free to experiment with them in a variety of different ways. Unlike other music video games, Wii Music lets you put your own spin on songs. It's all about improvisation, creativity and fun. The goal is to explore your inner musician to find creative and interesting new blends of instruments, tempos and styles.

To play each instrument, you use the motion-sensing abilities of the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ controllers to mimic the real-life motions of instruments: bow a violin, strike a vibraphone or pluck a sitar. The controllers know if you're playing fast or slow, hitting the notes gently or really jamming. Musical novices can understand how to play and start carrying a tune instantly, while people who are really into music will have fun creating mixes, rearranging tunes and sharing them with friends.

Songs in the Wii Music catalog can be rearranged with different instruments for a virtually endless variety of sounds. Imagine putting a reggae spin on Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" or turning pop favorites like "Every Breath You Take" or "Please Mr. Postman" into heavy metal tunes. The song list contains everything from American classics like "The Entertainer" to international favorites like "La Cucaracha." Video game fans will find several Nintendo favorites, like the themes from Super Mario Bros. ™, The Legend of Zelda™ and even Wii Sports.

Wii Music builds on the social gaming trend that Nintendo has pioneered. Not only can up to four musicians jam together on the same song, but once you've created your masterpiece, you can send it electronically to friends and family members who have Wii Music so that they can bask in your musical mastery. After they've had a listen, they can take your arrangement and add their own flavor to it with new instruments or a different tempo and send it back to you. This allows you to jam together even if you are miles apart.

Finally, Wii Music includes a variety of mini-games that let players create music videos, conduct an orchestra, play in a handbell choir, test their musical ears or even rock out on a virtual drum set. Drum Mode lets you use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers as drumsticks to play like you have a real-life drum set. Drummers who purchase Wii Fit separately also can use the Wii Balance Board™ accessory as virtual pedals for the bass drum and the hi-hat cymbal. But the basic Wii Music experience does not require any extra accessories. All 60+ instruments and 50+ songs are included at an MSRP of just $49.99.

Remember that the Wii™ console features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other Wii features, visit Wii.com.

For more information about Wii Music, visit www.wiimusic.com.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.7 billion video games and more than 470 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii and Nintendo DS, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™ and Nintendo GameCube™. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web site at www.nintendo.com.

ON OCT. 20, NINTENDO'S WII MUSIC MAKES MAESTROS OF EVERYONE

Wii Sports™ introduced new players to the world of video games. Wii Fit™ got even more people interested in fun and fitness.

Now Wii Music™ builds on that inclusive legacy by letting people turn their living rooms into fun concert halls. It brings the experience of performing music to people who think learning an instrument is too difficult. Wii Music launches exclusively for the Wii™ console on Oct. 20, 2008 and aims to bring a deeper love and appreciation of music to everyone.

Players can improvise jams on the fly with more than 60 instruments. You will find rock favorites like the electric guitar; orchestra standards like trumpet, saxophone and clarinet; and even international instruments like steel drums, marimba and sitar. Players simply select their instruments, and then move their Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ controllers as though they were playing the real thing. Wii Music turns players' movements into great music, even if you've never picked up an instrument before.

Budding musicians can play along to the beat of a diverse array of more than 50 songs from a variety of genres including popular, licensed, classical and Nintendo songs. Or players can improvise by adding new beats or creative twists to the songs. The combinations are endless, and it's all for the joy of creating fun new tunes.

Once players have their song the way they like it, they can forward it to friends who are also playing Wii Music via the Wii Message Board. Those friends can then put their own spin on the tune and send it back – or pass it along to their friends.

For more information about Wii Music, please visit www.WiiMusic.com.