What's the deal with EA's new Wii game "Boogie"? Read about my session in today's Multiplayer entry. Honestly, you've got to see it to really get it, but I did my best to paint the picture in nouns and verbs.

A sampling of my article, for the too-lazy-to-click crowd:

[Lead designer Vander] Caballero had the Wii running and took the remote and nunchuck controllers in his hands. Then he paused. He was into the party spirit. In fact, I'm still not sure if the guy whose beer he then grabbed and sipped from was a friend or not. Now he was ready to "Boogie."

All partying aside, the game is a family product. Caballero showed us a portly alien in a leisure suit standing on a dance floor ready to perform for a crowd. The song "That's the Way (I Like It)" by KC & the Sunshine Band started up, and Caballero started loosening up. He explained that most rhythm games primarily require players to press buttons or step in patterns that follow a routine. The games are programmed to reward a right way of hitting each note and dock points for trying to play any other way. What Caballero and his team are interested in, however, is a rhythm game that lets people dance with a sense of style, that doesn't just leave room but rewards improvisation.

To demonstrate the style theory, Caballero started shaking his nunchuck hand in small circles -- not with the frantic reel-in-the-fish move required by some other Wii games, but more slowly, like he was feeling the music. As he moved his hand, the fat alien danced. Onscreen cues required Caballero to do other types of shakes and rolls that triggered different dance moves.

The style part really came in with the way Caballero used the Wii remote. The nunchuck moved the alien's body, but the remote moved its head. The remote had to be pointed at the screen, the point of focus showing up as an icon of two eyes. Wherever those eyes landed on the screen was where the alien looked. Spinning those eyes got its head twirling. Moving them up and down forced a cool nod. As he and the alien got into it, the crowd cheered and lights flashed. A good time was being had by all.

There is more at the link above. Of course there is! I can't give it all away here.

(If you're reading this entry after the week I posted it, you'll have to flip through the multiplayer.mtv.com site back to the March 22 entry)