Karaoke Revolution
Karaoke meets MySpace with insanely addictive results in Sony's PS3 SingStar outing.
Published: August 5, 2007
Though it hasn't really caught on here in the same way that it has assaulted Europe (and particularly the UK), SingStar has already managed to establish itself as one of the best -- if not the best -- karaoke games on the market thanks to a combination of real songs and music videos, a grading system that rewards singing not just in tune but on time, and some EyeToy features that are unmatched for revealing just how much liquid courage that shot of Jack Daniels really gives you.
With the PlayStation 3 version, however, Sony is taking the game to its next proper evolution. An online store with hundreds of songs and videos (some of which will be in high definition) available the same day the game is. The ability to share videos of yourself and your friends getting hammered and screaming along to that My Chemical Romance song (admit it, you like 'em), and then have people vote on the "performances." A complete profile with pictures, videos, statistical information, location and more that you can customize as you see fit, adding buddies and showing comments on. Yes, it's safe to say that SingStar is embracing this whole silly "Game 3.0" concept whole-heartedly.
Even with all the advancements that have been made to the online portion of the game (and they are extensive, make no mistake, though Sony is intentionally being extremely coy about how certain parts of the online experience will actually shape up, in particular all that social networking business), the core offline experience is still more or less what you've come to expect from the series, and it'll still ship with 30 songs on the disc, half of which we can finally reveal to you. They are:
"Monster" -- The Automatic
"Toxic" -- Britney Spears
"Lets Dance" -- David Bowie
"Do You Want To" -- Franz Ferdinand
"Mr. Brightside" -- The Killers
"So Sick" -- Ne-Yo
"Hey Ya" -- Outkast
"Here Comes Your Man" -- The Pixies
"Go With The Flow" -- Queens of the Stone Age
"No Surprises" -- Radiohead
"Losing my Religion" -- R.E.M.
"I Don't Feel Like Dancin" -- The Scissor Sisters
"Beautiful Day" -- U2
"Buddy Holly" -- Weezer
"Love Train" -- Wolfmother
Not bad, considering it's only half of the lineup. We took a few of the songs through their paces (including a great alcohol-fueled death metal rendition of "Toxic" that managed to score us "Lead Singer" status), and discovered that not much has changed aside from the interface; the background has been cleaned up and the game obviously uses the full widescreen space for the UI. Now, the background is a little clearer, allowing you to see more of the video in the background, while the scoring and lyrics elements have been pushed off more to the sides.
At its core, though, SingStar is still, well, SingStar, meaning a ton of good songs (and if you don't like 'em, you can always customize your playlist -- the SingStore allows for background downloading too) and the perfect tools for a great nice of drinking and screaming. Just like Christmas back home.
With the PlayStation 3 version, however, Sony is taking the game to its next proper evolution. An online store with hundreds of songs and videos (some of which will be in high definition) available the same day the game is. The ability to share videos of yourself and your friends getting hammered and screaming along to that My Chemical Romance song (admit it, you like 'em), and then have people vote on the "performances." A complete profile with pictures, videos, statistical information, location and more that you can customize as you see fit, adding buddies and showing comments on. Yes, it's safe to say that SingStar is embracing this whole silly "Game 3.0" concept whole-heartedly.
Even with all the advancements that have been made to the online portion of the game (and they are extensive, make no mistake, though Sony is intentionally being extremely coy about how certain parts of the online experience will actually shape up, in particular all that social networking business), the core offline experience is still more or less what you've come to expect from the series, and it'll still ship with 30 songs on the disc, half of which we can finally reveal to you. They are:
"Monster" -- The Automatic
"Toxic" -- Britney Spears
"Lets Dance" -- David Bowie
"Do You Want To" -- Franz Ferdinand
"Mr. Brightside" -- The Killers
"So Sick" -- Ne-Yo
"Hey Ya" -- Outkast
"Here Comes Your Man" -- The Pixies
"Go With The Flow" -- Queens of the Stone Age
"No Surprises" -- Radiohead
"Losing my Religion" -- R.E.M.
"I Don't Feel Like Dancin" -- The Scissor Sisters
"Beautiful Day" -- U2
"Buddy Holly" -- Weezer
"Love Train" -- Wolfmother
Not bad, considering it's only half of the lineup. We took a few of the songs through their paces (including a great alcohol-fueled death metal rendition of "Toxic" that managed to score us "Lead Singer" status), and discovered that not much has changed aside from the interface; the background has been cleaned up and the game obviously uses the full widescreen space for the UI. Now, the background is a little clearer, allowing you to see more of the video in the background, while the scoring and lyrics elements have been pushed off more to the sides.
At its core, though, SingStar is still, well, SingStar, meaning a ton of good songs (and if you don't like 'em, you can always customize your playlist -- the SingStore allows for background downloading too) and the perfect tools for a great nice of drinking and screaming. Just like Christmas back home.