Friday, August 20, 2010

Michael Jackson: The Experience on Nintendo Wii


Currently, this is the only screenshot Ubisoft provided for the Nintendo Wii version of Michael Jackson: The Experience.  This version is being developed with help from Ubisoft Paris, which just happens to be the Just Dance studio.  I'm sure their expertise will prove immensely valuable.  Frankly, I wouldn't trust anyone else to handle this game.  There are countless ways you can screw it up.

As you can see, the visual style follows the "iPod commercial" look of Just Dance, with running themes for all of the songs, reliving the famous music videos, yadda yadda.  I'm desperate to find some footage online to see how this looks (I'll have to email the Revogames site).  I expect it will be great.  Will it be as spectacular as Just Dance 2?  I certainly hope it compares favorably.

It appears to me that MJ: The Experience could establish the "hardcore" end of the dancing game genre.  Certainly, the promise is to perform all of Michael Jackson's immortal moves, and that's what we'll expect.  This should be aimed at the die-hard fans around the world who know all the moves in their sleep.  They will be the game's true audience, and they are the ones who will choose to make this game a blockbuster smash.

I can have a lot of fun just rolling my arms in Just Dance because, frankly, I have no coordination.  It's a miracle that I can even stand upright without tumbling down.  So I don't want the Michael Jackson dumbed down to my abilities.  I want to be able to learn to grow.  I want to be challenged.

Four players can join in, as is standard on Nintendo Wii.  This is going to become a major selling point against the Kinect, which, once again, appears to be a single-player experience.  That is an absolutely unforgivable oversight, and it's going to hurt Microsoft badly.  The videogames of the Social Games Era must be multiplayer, or it's no dice.

The Michael Jackson dance game should arrive in early November, just in time to hop on Just Dance 2's momentum.  The Wii version will certainly benefit the most.  Cross your fingers and hope for the best, kids.

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