What Is It?
Bit.Trip Void is the fall-scheduled downloadable Wii follow-up to Bit.Trip Beat and Bit.Trip Core. All developed by Gaijin Games, the three titles feature a common focus on pattern-matching music gaming, using abstract retro gaming visuals and soundtracks contributed or inspired by Chiptunes musicians. Each game has utilized a single input element of the Wii's control scheme. The first involved rotating the Wii remote precisely. The second required well-timed presses on the d-pad. The new game is built around movement of the Wii Nunchuk's analog stick.

What We Saw
Like many other music games, the Bit.Trip titles' levels are comprised of individual songs. I tried one song level being demoed in Nintendo's booth at the Penny Arcade Expo. I didn't clear it, but I think I got pretty far — far enough to experience the series' signature and oh-so-clever patterns. The essential Bit.Tip experience is to see a swarm of dots to react to on the screen and have the following occur: Your brain tells you you can't correctly connect to them all; your hands try anyway and you pull it off; your ears, as a result, hear good music that, all along, had its beat match the patterns the game forced you to move in. It happened to me in Void multiple times in my short session and, as ever, was a pleasure.

How Far Along Is It?
Gaijin Games indicates that the game is set for a fall release, but it wasn't clear how many other song levels are as polished as the one I tried. My level, tricky as it was, felt feature-complete.

What Needs Improvement?
Not Much: The Bit.Trip games have had catchy electronic music and fun, if very challenging, gameplay. Each game has required the player to react to the movements of dots being shot through the screen. Players must either make proper contact with those dots to keep a song building and to gain points. Or they risk failing and having the audio and visuals of the game decay as a consequence. If the games have had a weakness it was that they became too difficult too soon. They required eye-watering concentration and were stingy with checkpointing or restarts. The press materials for the new game, Void, indicate that there will be mid-level checkpoints. So... problem solved?

What Should Stay The Same?
New Control Scheme: The controls of Void are the most comfortable in the series. The player uses the analog stick to move a black circle into the path of black dots that are being shot across the screen. The player wants to keep their circle out of the trajectory of white dots. Making contact with the black dots keeps the game's music going and builds a score multiplier. But those collisions also cause the controllable black circle to grow and therefore be more prone to contact with white dots, which cancels the score multiplier. That's the risk/reward to this game, encouraging near-miss movement of the growing circle as maximum points tally. By pressing a button, the player can expel their circle's added mass, cashing in their points and shrinking for better maneuverability. It was hard to hear at PAX, but I believe that the songs build primarily when you're cashing in points, but I'm not certain.

Graphics and Sound: This is another Bit.Trip game, and therefore another feast for eyes that can enjoy a modern riff on the graphic styles and fonts of the Atari 2600 age of gaming. And another soundtrack is here of pure game-driven electronic music, this time some of it (all?) provided by Chiptunes scene favorite Nullsleep.

Final Thoughts
With slightly easier controls and a more forgiving progression system, Bit.Trip Void could be the most gamer-friendly edition of Gaijin Games' music series. If the first two Bit.Trip games haven't satiated you, or if you were looking for a less daunting on-ramp, follow the progress of this one.

The first game, Bit.Trip: Beat came out in March 2009 and quickly established itself as a tough game with solid rhythm gameplay. Though Nintendo never releases sales figures for its WiiWare titles, it's safe to assume the title did pretty well for itself since we already have part two after only a 3-4 month wait. Oh, and it was awesome, too — even though the later levels got crazy-hard.

What Is It?
Bit.Trip: Core is a rhythm shooter in the same family as Rez and Everyday Shooter. Players control a fixed reticule in the center of the screen and shoot beams in one of four directions to tag "beats" that move across the screen in various patterns. As your score climbs, the music changes and you enter into Mega mode and eventually the new Super mode which award higher scoring multipliers. Mess up too much, though, and the screen turns black and white as the player goes into Nether mode, which is a few missed beats away from player death.

What We Saw
I spent an hour with the game at Nintendo's Redwood City office. First, I watched developer Gaijin Games' CEO and lead designer, Alex Neuse, take on level 2 and then joined him for co-op in level 2 before attempting level 1 two times on my own and dying horribly without his assistance.

How Far Along Is It?
Final. The game is due out on WiiWare Monday, July 6 — the day after my birthday.

What Needs Improvement?
Should Come With a Do Not Disturb Sign: You cannot play this game and carry on a conversation. The beat of the music is so crucial and the timing so unforgiving that you need total focus just to survive the first two levels — never mind the crazy-hard last level.

Co-op Might Cause Break-Ups: The co-op gives the reticule two beams for players to control to hit the beats which both go toward a common score. Smart partners will communicate before the level starts to determine which parts of the screen each is responsible for. Not-so-smart partners will probably shoot at the same things at the same time; but this can still work out because having two beams firing in the same direction at the same time in effect extends the time that the beam appears on screen. This gives you a tiny bit of leeway to be off in the timing. But ultimately, unless you're in perfect sync with your partner all of the time or you can laugh at yourself when you lose for the bazillion-th time, you are going to want to garrote your idiot partner with the Wiimote-Nunchuck cable whenever they mess up. And that, kids, is what they call a relationship breaker.

What Should Stay The Same?
Amazing Music: Gaijin Games outsourced the music to a place called Petrified Productions and I really dig what they did with the soundtrack.

Listen To The Rhythm Flow: When you can get yourself into that Zen state where nobody is talking to you and you're completely in tune with the music, Bit.Trip: Core feels amazing. It's like a form of meditation with an awesome soundtrack.

It's Like Rez For The Wii: What's not to like?

Final Thoughts
I really hope that Gaijin Games does two things: one, that they create a compilation of all six parts once they come out and two, that they create a DSi version. Neuse says there are no immediate plans to do either at the moment, but if the Bit.Trip games continue to do well on WiiWare, he says there's no reason they wouldn't look into it. Rock on.

While Bit.Trip Beat was beautifully low-res in its presentation, the follow up to that game looks like it may be a bit (no pun intended) more detailed. Of course, teaser images are teaser images, not necessarily indicative of what the game will look like—or even what platform it may appear on.

Clearly we have little to go on, but given the quality of the first entry, we look forward to what Gaijin has planned for the future.

Bit.Trip Beat is an upcoming WiiWare title that takes the age-old concept of a paddle and balls and mixes in some of the latest Chiptune music in order to create a game that looks, from the trailer on their website, like it would be an absolute blast to play.

“The Gaijin Games team wanted to make a game that used the tools of today to inspire the fun of yesterday. Our goal was to make a game that was as simple in gameplay as the games of the early 80s and equally as fun—even though gamers' tastes have changed over the years,” continues Alex Neuse, Designer of Gaijin Games. “And let's face it, sometimes a really good video game is just awesome. We hope you enjoy BIT.TRIP BEAT.”

Before you comment, be sure to head over to http://aksysgames.com/bittripbeat to check out the tiny trailer they've got running on the front page. That right there is a game I could see myself playing for a good long time. No fancy graphics, no orchestral soundtrack. Just me, some colored blocks, and a scoreboard.

Well, unless of course I have some friends around, seeing as the title will support multiplayer. It just sounded much cooler that way.

AKSYS GAMES ANNOUNCES BIT.TRIP BEAT
Once again, getting the high score is all that matters in life

Torrance, CA (January 13, 2009) - Aksys Games, a publisher of interactive entertainment software, is pleased to unveil BIT.TRIP BEAT exclusively for WiiWare™! Developed by Gaijin Games, BIT.TRIP BEAT marks the first adventure of Commander Video. Using the Wii Remote™, players will test their twitch skills as they battle through a retro-esque universe, familiar to the old generation and yet reinvented for the new.

BIT.TRIP BEAT STORY
Everything comes from something. We were before we became. From life comes rhythm, and from rhythm comes life. We are beings of information. Everything is a conduit for learning. We communicate in bits and bytes. And we will return to something once we become nothing; after our BIT.TRIP is complete. “BIT.TRIP BEAT is a crazy mix of 80s aesthetics and modern game design,” states Michael Manzanares, Producer of Aksys Games. “It's challenging, yet fair, and completely addicting."

“The Gaijin Games team wanted to make a game that used the tools of today to inspire the fun of yesterday. Our goal was to make a game that was as simple in gameplay as the games of the early 80s and equally as fun—even though gamers' tastes have changed over the years,” continues Alex Neuse, Designer of Gaijin Games. “And let's face it, sometimes a really good videogame is just awesome. We hope you enjoy BIT.TRIP BEAT.”

Key Features: · Bring Back That Loving Feeling BIT.TRIP BEAT brings back the classic arcade-style gameplay where getting the high score matters!

· Pixel Blocks For The Win Keeping the arcade-style gameplay isn't enough, BIT.TRIP BEAT sports a unique retro-inspired art style that will stimulate your senses.

· Old School Tunes Who said old-school 8-bit music was out? BIT.TRIP BEAT bumps the latest chiptune music to keep the action fresh!

· Friends Can Play Too! Can't beat a level? No problem, BIT.TRIP BEAT allows 2 to 4 player co-op mode! But don't think that makes it any easier…

BIT.TRIP BEAT has not been rated by the ESRB. More information about Aksys Games and BIT.TRIP BEAT can be found at www.aksysgames.com/bittripbeat . Nintendo trademarks used under license. WIiWare is avaialble through the Wii console.