Recently released in Europe and Australia, SingStar Vol. 2 will take the stage in North America sometime in October, no doubt letting armchair harmonizers looking for the next in Sony's karaoke series breathe a sigh of relief -- preferably not directly into the mic.

This latest expansion will add 30 new sing-along tracks, as well as support for Trophies, presumably used to club off-tune rockers over the head for butchering radio favorites. However, given the advent of the SingStore, the need for regular discs seems trivial, especially once our arms tire from all that disc swapping. Plus, we'd rather cherry pick songs we know we'll like rather than buy in bulk and hope for the best. That's just how we roll.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Sony announced today at the Leipzig Games Convention 2008 that over 2.2 million SingStar songs have been downloaded via the aptly titled SingStore, which launched less than a year ago. Additionally, the company also unveiled SingStar Singalong with Disney for PlayStation 2, which as you might have guessed is a collection of Disney songs you can sing along to. Singalong with Disney is coming this Fall "exclusively for PAL territories." And hey, don't forget it'll be compatible with SingStar PS3.

Source – SingStar Singalong With Disney on PlayStation 2
Source – Over 2.2m songs downloaded via SingStore

No sooner does Variety all-but-confirm that Microsoft's somewhat mysterious Lips karaoke project will be shown at E3 then Gamekyo gets their hands on some apparent promotional shots of the game's wireless microphones (above) and box art. No screenshots of the gameplay yet, but the photo dump does include two pictures of people standing around with microphones near their mouths (you know, in case you were wondering what karaoke looked like).

Actually, these singing shots do show one interesting feature: the "lights on the shaft of the microphone that pulse to the rhythm of your voice," that were hinted at in last month's leaked Intellivoice Intellisponse survey. According to the pictures, this feature takes the form of two rings of light near the base and tip of the microphone, bathing the singers' hands in an ethereal blue or red glow. We'll let you know if the feature comes off as trippy or tacky when we inevitably get some hands-on time with the game next week.

[Update: Corrected the name of the Intellisponse survey. Not to be confused with Intellivoice. Whoops!]

We've got more rumors about next week's E3 announcements, but this one seems a bit more plausible. Variety reports that "somebody involved in promoting it" has revealed to the outlet that Microsoft will be showing off a brand new music/singing game. Our first instinct is to scream "Lips!" (naturally, using our lips in the process), the leaked karaoke game that Elite Beat Agents developer iNiS may or may not be working on.

We've got our ears to ground and our noses to the grindstone between now and Microsoft's Monday press conference.

While the thread on this rumor is pretty thin, we wanted to share it with you anyways, being clear about its origins. After yesterday's rumor-splosion gave us some more potentially accurate info on Lips – the Xbox 360's answer to PS3's SingStar – we received an unverified tip which appeared to originate from within Microsoft, which told us that the Microsoft Game Studios-published title was being developed by iNiS, the Japanese dev best known for its Elite Beat Agents and Ouendan Nintendo DS games.

So, to recap: Microsoft is working on a karaoke game codenamed "Lips" – that's a rumor. The developer working on the game is iNiS – also a rumor. That iNiS has a long history of making music and rhythm games and that it's co-founder Keiichi Yano confirmed that the developer was in fact working on an unnamed Xbox 360 game – those are both facts. We'll (hopefully) put the rest of the puzzle together four weeks from today when Microsoft holds their E3 press conference. If you've got any more information, we're all ears about Lips.

Sounds like rumors pointing to the Microsoft's leaked "Lips" project were only half-right: according to the very same survey that gave us such hits as Microsoft's Xbox 360 "avatar" service, Lips is a "music and singing game" featuring not only two wireless microphones (that's the hardware part) but also thirty tracks, an online store, and "the ability to use and sing your own music." If this sounds like Xbox's answer to Singstar then, well ... your hearing is pretty good.

In order to take things to the next level, the Xbox crew has added a couple distinguishing features. First: the Lips microphones will be "interactive" with "lights on the shaft of the microphone that pulse to the rhythm of your voice, and motion sensors that allow you to dance, move or swing to score points." Second: you can use songs from a CD (how do you get them into the game?) or from an iPod – apparently the game will magically "reduce the vocals so you can sing along and be heard." Don't know the lyrics by heart? You can add those in as well.

As Microsoft continues to focus on the mainstream consumer, a karaoke game is a natural fit. Expect to hear more about Lips (like maybe a real title!) at E3 next month.

Unidentified man posing just after singing the second verse of Divinyls' "I touch myself" on Singstar the Sony press lounge. He was the first of many to embarrass show off his vocal skills. Actually, he was one of three to do so, just before it was halted for the Buzz! Charity post. Shine on you crazy diamond.

As if VH1's I Love the '90s and The Simpsons' recent '90s-stalgia episode weren't bad enough, Sony is helping us feel incredibly old with the announcement of Singstar '90s. The new karaoke collection, which goes on sales March 12 for the PS2, features Boyz 2 Men, New Kids on the Block, Spin Doctors and other artists that were popular in a decade that only ended eight years ago for goodness sakes.

Speaking of old age, we've been approaching it rapidly as we wait for the oft-delayed PS3 edition of Singstar, which an IGN interview reveals is now set for a May release in the U.S. That same interview also reveals the existence of Singstar Pop, Vol. 2, also coming in May for the PS2. We just hope our new dentures don't adversely affect our singing voices by then.

"If you're looking for another game to whittle away the hours perfecting guitar parts by yourself, Rock Band likely won't live up to your expectations." (2) "Rock Band's singing and guitar campaigns aren't as developed ... as standalone games like SingStar or Guitar Hero." (8) The game "isn't great if you're playing by yourself. ... it's not nearly as compelling going through songs with a single instrument." (3) "There just isn't as big of a sense of accomplishment as you climb the ranks without all the little animations and feedback you got on Guitar Hero 3." (5) Yes, "the Solo Tours lack the animations and story elements of Guitar Hero's solo campaign, which make them slightly less interesting to play by yourself." (8) "Expect more than a few awkward silences if you're by yourself." (3) "Guitar Hero is better if you're playing alone." (5)

"The actual online play, honestly, isn't quite as crucial a component as you'd think." (3) "One omission is online cooperative play." (7) "For the full co-op career mode, you have to play offline. That's disappointing." (9) Yup, "you can't do co-op career online - a major disappointment." (1) That's right, "the Band World Tour mode is not available online, and that's a shame." (5) What's more, "you may hear some out-of-sync bleed through the headset ... and the singer's signal won't be transmitted due to lag: the other players will hear the pre-recorded vocal track." (1)

As if there wasn't enough worthless gibberish on the internet already, EA has seen fit to stick the gobbledygook speaking Sims down one of the internet's most popular tubes, YouTube. The Sims On Stage is essentially a Sims-branded (you might say Sim-ian) YouTube, with the added dangers of karaoke, video poetry and of course, The Sims content. You can thank / blame EA's acquisition of SingShot Media back in February if you want.

Of the many make-your-own-video features the beta site offers, encouraging users to squeal their way through "thousands" of available karaoke songs and upload the recorded results is by far the most terrifying. EA's press release assures us that it's all for the sake of expressing "creativity," a term we feel may have been confused with one meaning "penchant for torturing complete strangers." It's a penchant we share, since we've embedded one of the first obnoxiously loud creations to be spawned by the site after the break.

So, tell us what you want, what you really, really, want to see on this compilation if you notice anything missing from the '90s? Maybe they'll add it in the PS3 SingStar download service. There's always the debate between which is tougher: SingStar or Karaoke Revolution? Well, if you missed it the first time, our intrepid Kyle Orland reported on this a few months ago. Checka checka check it out!



[Via PALGN]

The most pleasant surprise at this week's Nintendo Media Summit was the EA-developed rhythm/singing game, Boogie. I was pretty skeptical of the game from just the early screenshots that I had seen, and judging from the deserted EA booth, a lot of other people felt the same way. You'll understand then that I was surprised to find myself actually enjoying Boogie, not only for the gameplay but also the attractive and pleasant graphics. For those of you unfamiliar with the game, Boogie is one EA's attempts to cash in on two current crazes at the same time -- rhythm/music games and the Wii. It combines a rhythm-based dance game with karaoke (via an included microphone) and a host of likeable, wacky characters and they pull it off surprisingly well.

Probably what impressed me the most about Boogie was the graphics; it had a really nice cel-shaded look to it, fantastic stages, and good animation. It was by far and away the best looking game at the show, with no other game except maybe Mario Strikers Charged coming anywhere close. The five different characters are attractively designed in a cartoonish way, and they're all well animated -- a key detail for a dancing game. The stages themselves were fairly small, but the backgrounds were huge and detailed. The forest stage in the below screenshots is probably my particular favorite. And the game gets extra points for being less aliased than any other title shown by Nintendo that day -- a huge plus for people bothered by the chainsaw-like jaggies on some other Wii titles (like me).

The surface differences between SingStar and Karaoke Revolution are obvious. One uses the official versions of songs, the other uses covers. One has full music videos in the background, the other has animated 3D singers and environments. One has remained blessedly license-free, the other gave us the image of an uncanny-valleyified Simon Cowell that can never be erased from our minds.

But the surface differences don't really matter in the end. What really matters is how well each game judges your vocal performances. After all, this judging is what separates the karaoke video game from the weekly "talentless hack night" at your local bar. When we noticed that SingStar Pop and Karaoke Revolution Vol. 2 both shared the Britney Spears hit "...Baby one more time," we knew we had a definitive test on our hands.

That's right: two systems, two games, two microphones, one performance. Which game would be more lenient on our awful singing? Continue reading to find out.

Previously: Joystiq Video: Karaoke Revolution Country

EA today announced its acquisition of SingStar SingShot Media, bringing founders Ranah Edelin and Niranjan Nagar into the fold as company VPs. SingShot, an online karaoke community, is operated by a five-person team, which now joins the EA Sims division.

The user-generated technology will be applied to several community-based projects in development within EA, suggesting that some implementation of the service could extend beyond the PC platform and be offered through console networks (e.g., Xbox Live). The widespread appeal of SingShot could help EA further expand the already broad Sims-consuming demographic.

Prior to SingShot, Edelin and Nagar created Rhapsody, a digital music subscription service that was eventually sold to RealNetworks.

The latest Wii rumor, which speculates that the Wiimote has a built-in mic, is starting to heat up with news that Nintendo has registered the 'wiikaraoke.com' domain. Currently, the address redirects browsers to the Nintendo homepage, but we have to assume that this will all change, in time. Of course, Nintendo hasn't confirmed a thing, so the domain could end up remaining dead space or used for other purposes, like a contest.

Still, we can't help but point out that the Wiimote makes for a perfect impromptu microphone.