Details on Lips: microphone, your songs, its songs

by Christopher Grant { Jul 17th 2008 at 5:44PM }

We got a chance to sit down with Keiichi Yano – chief creative officer of Lips developer iNiS – for a walkthrough of their upcoming Xbox 360 karaoke game. We'll get around to writing up some of our impressions later, but first we wanted to share some answers to our biggest questions about the game.

The microphone

The wireless microphone will bind with the Xbox 360, no dongle required.
It's unclear if it will work with other music games. When asked about Rock Band or Guitar Hero World Tour, Keiichi Yano told us, "That's a great idea. We would love to do that." Alas, it's up to those third-party devs to implement support for this peripheral.
A second player can shake the microphone to instantly "jump in" to the song, no menus needed.
They use 2 AA batteries, just like the Xbox 360 controller. Yanno said that, despite the motion-sensitivity and the lights, the battery life is pretty impressive already, on prototype hardware.
Lips will be bundled with a black and a white controller

Your music

Though they were only showing off the streaming functionality through a Zune, they assured us it would work just as simply through an iPod. When asked why they couldn't use one now, Yano responded, "Trust me. It works." We then crossed our arms and fell backwards into his waiting arms ...
DRM'd songs can't be used, regardless of the DRM scheme used. So no Zune or iTunes songs.
Lips will perform "vocal reduction" on your own songs, though they weren't showing the functionality off.
You can be scored on your own songs.
Audio from a Zune or iPod is streamed only, not downloaded, so you'll need to keep it nearby
After telling us that they "actually don't know" if Lips will be able to read directly from your streaming media library (think iTunes) the way the Xbox 360 can, Yano said they'd like to implement the feature, which he followed up by saying "hint hint, wink wink, say no more." We asked him to repeat that in a British accent and he was all too happy to oblige.
When asked if you would see your Avatar singing on the screen in the absence of a music video, they said they weren't talking about Avatars now.
No word on how they'll implement lyrics or a beat chart for the songs, though Yanno promised it would be "very, very compelling."

Its music

There are only three confirmed songs: "Mercy" by Duffy; "Young Folk" by Peter, Bjorn & John; and "Bust a Move" by Young MC
All songs will be master tracks and will include the original music videos
Rap songs work a little differently, it's not just about rhythm.

Tags: INIS, Lips, microphone

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Doc @ Jul 17th 2008 5:55PM

For $20 it would be fun for parties since you could use a lot of different songs, and not be limited to the song list from the game itself. For $60...no thanks

Jakka @ Jul 17th 2008 5:57PM

I'm actually buying a copy for my mum.

Superstar90 @ Jul 17th 2008 5:59PM

That's cool, I really like Karaoke. Besides, my party guests always fail at Guitar Hero and Rock Band...

Doc @ Jul 17th 2008 6:05PM

I feel you on that.. Glad to know that the new RB has a can't fail mode for parties or just breaking in friends.

Benny @ Jul 17th 2008 6:01PM

I have to say: Young Folks is a fantastic song, and I think using it in the PR campaign is great. Those who missed it the first time out will get a shot at redress.

EMaster @ Jul 17th 2008 6:12PM

Black & white Mics? Perfect for a duet of "Ebony & Ivory". Awesome.

killian @ Jul 17th 2008 6:18PM

Sorry but the name is horrible i have images of a singing Vagina

Saria the Cat @ Jul 17th 2008 6:20PM

...I'm with you on that one. Who dropped the ball on that title brainstorm meeting?

blah @ Jul 17th 2008 9:37PM

Same, each time i read or hear the name i just think; what were they thinking?

Shroomsday @ Jul 18th 2008 9:07PM

Vibration is set to -ON-

Saria the Cat @ Jul 17th 2008 6:18PM

Okay, I know I am being really immature here, but when I just scrolled down and glanced at this picture, I thought the mic was something completely different and completely naughty.

Brett from Atlanta @ Jul 17th 2008 6:49PM

I like where your head's at. Wanna go out sometime lol.

Jhongerkong @ Jul 17th 2008 7:03PM

If they have a track where you yell OUUUUUENNNNDDDDDDAAAAANNNNNN for 5 minutes, then im getting this.

Jhongerkong @ Jul 17th 2008 7:04PM

Crap, didnt mean to reply

LightSpecter @ Jul 17th 2008 6:21PM

Didn't they already have this whole thing on Xbox 1? The "Xbox Music Mixer" included a mic and featured voice removal tech for karaoke.

j.howlett @ Jul 17th 2008 6:21PM

they almost had me with bust a move then i realised i don't need a game to sing along with songs.

okaysamurai @ Jul 17th 2008 6:25PM

$20 says the "very, very compelling" part will be user-transcribed beats/lyrics tied to songs in a central database. Less work for them.

B @ Jul 17th 2008 6:41PM

I wonder if ipod touches and iphones will be compatible... last i checked you couldn't play music from either

burgerbat @ Jul 17th 2008 6:42PM

It's funny that you asked him why they couldn't hook an iPod up to it. Has anyone been able to use their iPod on their Xbox 360 lately? My 5g iPod isn't recognized anymore when I hook the two up. Pretty sure it has to do with the iPod software update that I got almost a year ago, because since then it won't connect. I heard that Apple changed their file system and Xbox has yet to rectify it on their end. Is anyone else having that problem?

baby sea tuna @ Jul 18th 2008 10:29AM

I also have this problem. I was totally wondering about that. So, you think it was Apple that borked it and not MS? This game would be pretty much worthless unless they fix this disconnect.

aaron @ Jul 17th 2008 6:43PM

that may have answered one of my biggest questions about lips.... if it could read the existing streamed library on the 360 (through media player/zune). i would much rather just stream the music off my computer than worry about plugging a zune or ipod in every time.

NBA Kirkland @ Jul 17th 2008 6:43PM

"Lips will be bundled with a black and a white controller"
What does that mean? a black and white xbox controller? a black and white mic? a black mic and a white mic?

BananaBoat @ Jul 17th 2008 6:50PM

My rather expensive (by comparison) sound card can't even properly get rid of all the singing in a song without it sounding like garbage. I'm not sure how much faith I'd have in Lips doing it, considering.

Beyond that though, I can't use DRM music? Are they kidding? They are behind the Zune DRM, so why couldn't they make that work? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Meh, whatever, I'll stick to Rock Band for my karaoke (can't even spell it) needs.

mirage @ Jul 17th 2008 6:54PM

So what about all of the CD's I have ripped on my xbox 360? I hope it will play that music! I don't have a fancy Zune of Ipod.

Microswirl (MKWii:1676- 4270-3674) @ Jul 17th 2008 6:55PM

"DRM'd songs can't be used, regardless of the DRM scheme used. So no Zune or iTunes songs."

Sweeeeet! I definitely don't have any of those!

baby sea tuna @ Jul 18th 2008 10:29AM

Congratulations, your 1337 Coolguy merit badge is in the mail.

Microswirl (MKWii:1676- 4270-3674) @ Jul 18th 2008 3:18PM

Congratulations, baby sea tuna, you're a flaming douchebag. How was I trying to be "l33t"? I merely found it ironic that Microsoft is using non-DRM'd music, which is the exact opposite of what you'd expect from them. Overreact, much?

BrotherSimon @ Jul 17th 2008 7:05PM

My sisters christmas present is now found.

AlwaysOn @ Jul 17th 2008 7:09PM

Please correct me if I am wrong here, but if I understand your info correctly you can't use legally bought songs with DRM protection which services in both ipods and zunes mostly use. Instead you have to use illegal downloded songs? I amssume I am wrong here right? Because this is really confusing to me, please clarify this if you can.

BananaBoat @ Jul 17th 2008 7:38PM

Not all DRM-free music is illegal. For instance, if you rip a song from a CD you own, it won't have DRM. Also, some stores like the Amazon music store are selling DRM-free MP3's now (I think the Itunes store might be as well).

Ape2020 @ Jul 17th 2008 7:55PM

@Saria the Cat

Well if they added rumble...

@AlwaysOn

I Think the problem here is DRM is an indication the song is protected and not licensed to be played in their game. Similar to how RB and GH work. They need to license the song to add lyrics and a beat chart or use free access stuff, which by the way is out there legally, mostly form indie or start up artist. They just can't take say the Beatles and alter it so you can play it in the game. Yet the only way to know its some protected song if it had DRM.

-ape2020