I will get it too

Thus far, only the 1UP reviewer - perhaps not coincidentally, the only one of the bunch who admits to being an actual musician - seems to really "get it." Asking a non-musician to review Wii Music is just as silly as asking, say, someone who knows absolutely nothing about football to review the latest Madden iteration. Of course they'll hate it, because they don't get what it's supposed to represent.

The IGN review, for example, is just terrible. The reviewer approaches it as though it were a "rhythm game" a la Guitar Hero, and soon the review lapses into a tirade of "lol Midi," "lol non-gamers," and "lol kiddy."

Gaming journalism sucks.

So then do you think that the only people that should buy the game are those who are musicians? Because if I had to guess, at least some of the people that end up buying it won't happen to be musicians, and then wouldn't they represent the people that should read IGN's review?

If Nintendo made a game only fun to Musical theory majors then yay for them, that's their prerogative, but I see no issue with having non musicians rating it unless the box warns people that unless they are musicians they should not buy the game.

Buying != reviewing. You can buy, read, and even enjoy, say, Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, but if you had someone who's not well-versed in post-modern literary analysis review it, how valuable do you think their review would be?

I'm going to buy it, but not for myself. I have a bunch of nephews that I think will enjoy it immensely.

but will that Post-modern literary analysis tell any random person how much they'll enjoy reading the book or just other people well-versed in post-modern literary analysis?  Because that is the basis of Video Game reviewing is trying to help people get a handle on how much they'll enjoy it and whether it is worth their purchase.  And for that end, I see no issue with someone reviewing the game that isn't well-versed in music theory, because not every customer will be.  And if your prior knowledge of music is a factor in how much you enjoy the game and how easy it is to get into then potential buyers should be told as such.

It's fine for non-musicians to review Wii Music. Nintendo didn't intend to cater only to them, and if non-musicians end up hating it, they failed in what they set out to do.

The IGN review, however, isn't just a non-musician issue. The guy obviously hates what Wii Music stands for, and compares it to things he "prefers" (GH/RB), even though they're completely different games. He's allowed to give whatever rating he feels Wii Music deserves, but the way he went about it was still childish - I mean, making a video designed to make the game look as bad as possible? His expressed desire to give the game a bad review before it came out didn't exactly help.

So far I've liked Gamespy's review the most. Seemed the best to me as I think the other ones were too extreme. 7.0 is a good review score for it and I liked what they said about it.

I think I'll hold off on Wii Music until it drops in price in 2009 for now.

That makes sense then.  If the IGN review should be ignored for reasons other than his lack of musical talent then alright.  I just think that people shoudn't take 1up's as the end all be all because she's a musician, I would agree though that IGN's was probably biased based on what was written, but I see no issue with the 7 review.

 coming from the master baiter.....

Lol, just had too... Just playing.