Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.
Traditionally, consoles have had to carry over hardware from previous generations in order to offer backward compatibility. This can be thought of as a burden, as the costs of including that hardware might be better used increasing the specs and features of the system for the benefit of new games.
This generation marks a change in the method of operations in providing backward compatibility. The Xbox 360, Playstation 3 (in select models and territories), and Wii use a process known as software emulation to provide backward compatibility with their predecessors, so that they don't have to include that old hardware. What emulation does is allow one set of hardware to mimic the functions of another set of hardware. Emulation isn't a new technique, and it isn't exclusive to consoles. In fact, many people have been using it for years to play games on hardware other than for which it was developed.
No, not the simple-yet-catchy Sleater-Kinney song, but in this instance, it's how you'll be using your Wii in the near future. Whether you want to dance, sing, or thrash, there's something on the Wii for all you musically-inclined gamers. And think -- this is only the beginning. By this time next year, how will the music-themed game scene look? We can only assume Guitar Hero love will expand tenfold when it 
