The American SingStore will feature over 200 songs for the US launch. However, it will be slightly different than the European Store."It's because of different broadcasting standards," a SCEA producer told us. Some content that's appropriate in Europe may not be accepted here in the States. The plan is to update each month with 25-50 new songs.
An exciting direction for the US SingStore is a new focus on independent music. Indie bands can create videos for distribution in the SingStore, with Sony taking care of rights and clearance. The SingStore will also expand to include support for song packs in the future. Like Rock Band, song packs may include discounts. Full albums are being considered as well.
Unlike the SingStore, My SingStar Online will be a global affair. User-created videos can be uploaded and seen by the entire worldwide community. "If you want to see what the latest and greatest thing in Germany is, you can see it ... it's a really great Fanboy site," we were told.
My SingStore Online videos are limited to 30 seconds each. The community is user-moderated, and the moderation menu can be brought up quickly via the Select button. Incidents have been very few in Europe, but we have a feeling that the American audience may experience a bit of ... immaturity (look at Burnout Paradise, and Xbox Live, as examples).
Both My SingStar Online and SingStore will receive a few enhancements with the required launch-day patch. New "top 10" lists will inform the community about which songs are the most popular, and which user-generated videos are popular every week. Searches will be easier with the community, so players can narrow the searches by language, artist, etc.
We're very excited for the upcoming US release of SingStar. The presentation is incredibly sleek (look at the revised PLAYSTATION Store for an idea of what the menus look like), and the gameplay is still the best for passionate singers. The price for each song is rather reasonable, and the plans to expand the Store are quite ambitious. We already have our PS2 SingStar microphones -- at $40 for a brand new game, with access to My SingStar Online and the SingStore, this sounds like a great deal.
Stay tuned. We'll have the entire launch song list for you soon.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-27-2008 @ 8:08PM
matthew_neitzer said...
Sweet! I need monies! What a terrible time to have lost my job. :(
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4-27-2008 @ 8:37PM
Mp3 said...
Looks like a lot of fun and some nice d/l content. One thing I was hoping for was wireless mics - doesn't seem to be the case. I'll still probably pick it up - too bad for the neighbors!
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4-27-2008 @ 9:11PM
Hoffer said...
I've got the PS2 Singstar mics, even though I have no Singstar games. I may have to check out the PS3 version. Videos in HD would be very nice.
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4-27-2008 @ 9:30PM
linebeginstoblur said...
"My SingStore Online videos are limited to 30 seconds each."
Wait, I thought you uploaded videos of yourself singing the full songs? Is that not right? Aww... Oh well. Very much looking forward to SingStar.
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4-28-2008 @ 1:12AM
MRBlue said...
That kind of kills the whole idea of uploading a full performance. Strange. Maybe that'll get changed in the future as it's a direct contradiction of YouTube meets iTunes. You can upload more than 10 minutes on YT so 30 seconds on SingStar is a disgrace.
4-28-2008 @ 7:18AM
Eggy said...
lol you'd be hard pressed to find anything worth watching more than a few seconds.
4-27-2008 @ 10:16PM
lenny0487 said...
wait, its $60 for 2 mics and the game?
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4-27-2008 @ 10:56PM
Andrew Yoon said...
Yes. $40 if you don't want the 2 mics (because you have SingStar PS2).
4-28-2008 @ 2:00PM
Lars said...
Do they have proprietary mic's? Can't I just use whatever mic I want like Rock Band?
Yes, I have Rock Band AND I'm buying this, but that's because my girl wants Singstar. She only likes the singing portion of Rock Band. Does it have online leader boards like Rock Band too?
4-27-2008 @ 11:10PM
Nymo said...
hmm, I was hoping it to be $0.99 for downloadable content, but ah well.
Can't wait for it!
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4-28-2008 @ 11:33AM
mint400 said...
1,49 USD is 0,84 USD cheaper than the songs on the european store.
4-27-2008 @ 11:17PM
Game_playa said...
Yay!! I'm gonna buy the game for $60 and spend $300 on songs!! Yay!!!,
P.S I LOVE you Sony
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4-27-2008 @ 11:26PM
Daniel said...
anyone know if you can use bluetooth headsets with this game?
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4-27-2008 @ 11:27PM
kevin said...
no but you can use any usb mic a.k.a rockband mic
4-27-2008 @ 11:29PM
Daniel said...
Damn, that sucks...well I have an old PS2 USB mic and a USB mic I use for recording my music, guess I can use those. Would the PS Eye work?
4-28-2008 @ 12:18AM
Twist said...
I was really hoping that the US version would just be a downloadable game and maybe even a free downloadable game with no bundled songs. We have all the PS2 version (be nice if we could import the songs from them into the PS3 version, but that will never happen) that have been released here so far and swapping discs gets to be a pain. Hopefully they will just release this one disc here and focus on the SingStore content.
The video feature sounded pretty lame before I had heard that it is only 30 seconds long so no big loss there.
I did the math, it is cheaper to buy the discs with 30 songs on them than it is to buy 30 songs via SingStore, but at least getting them from the SingStore you don't have to put up with lame filler songs from bands you have never even heard of.
Lastly I wish Sony would hook us up with some wireless mics to go with this version. Since there is usually a ton of people and numerous beers involved when we break these games out the cords can cause some issues.
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4-28-2008 @ 12:26AM
Finn123 said...
I've enver played SingStar but I have a few of the Karaoke Revolution games for the PS2. How does SingStar compare? I know SS has the real videos but we've had a lot of fun with KR in the past.
Once I get a PS3 (June) I'd like to pick one series or the other since they both have DL content. KR has always received better reviews in the past but it sounds like SS will have better DLC.
Anyone play both?
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4-29-2008 @ 11:40AM
yyr said...
If you're used to Karaoke Revolution, you may be disappointed with SingStar at first. The engine just isn't as good.
Instead of the smoothly scrolling display that KR uses, SS uses a static display that only changes at the beginning of each line. So if you're singing something you're not familiar with, you're going blindly into each new line of the song. (You can play Rock Band's vocal portion this way if you want to see what it looks like.) It's irritating and not at all intuitive.
The other bummer is that SingStar only includes 30 songs, even on this new Blu-Ray version. Obviously on PS3 there's DLC, but the asking price of $1.49 is a bit expensive, considering that for just 50 cents more, you can buy a track for Rock Band that you can not only sing to, but also play guitar and drums on (12 different ways, if you count the bass, and the 4 different difficulty levels).
That said, SingStar is still a karaoke game, and if you liked KR you will like SS too. Just make sure you check the songlist before buying, because 30 songs is not that many.
4-28-2008 @ 1:10AM
MRBlue said...
25 to 50 songs per month? Yes! I was hoping that Sony would get this part right. Now if they can only live up to those standards and make sure that we get a fresh batch of songs each week. Even if it's just 25 per month that's about 5 songs per week. If it's 50 for that month that's about 12 songs per week.
And it'll be okay if they can only get 3 songs one week and then 10 the next so long as they keep the content coming.
It would be even better if they updated the SingStore on Tuesdays and leave the demos and other content for Thursdays?! Yes, normally new music debuts on Tuesday but that shouldn't stop Sony from lining up with the same calendar. It's quite possible that SingStar will become a place to debut music similar to Rock Band. Maybe not right away but after it builds a solid fan base.
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4-28-2008 @ 3:02AM
mnemo said...
Great. Europe gets screwed again. Titles are EUR 1.49 here that's USD 2.33 at the moment.
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