SingStar

SingStar is a competitive music video game series for PlayStation consoles, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Dozens of installments were released for the PlayStation 2, and several more for the PlayStation 3. The games have also undergone a number of non-English releases in various European countries.

SingStar games are distributed either as the software alone, or bundled with a pair of USB microphones – one red, one blue; wireless microphones are also available. The games are compatible with the EyeToy and PlayStation Eye cameras, allowing players to see themselves singing.

Overview

Gameplay

SingStar games require players to sing along with music in order to score points. Players interface with their console via SingStar microphones while a music video plays in the background. The pitch players are required to sing is displayed as horizontal grey bars, which function similar to a musical stave, with corresponding lyrics displayed at the bottom of the screen. The game analyses a player's pitch and compares it to the original track, with players scoring points based on how accurate their singing is. Different modes of SingStar may vary this basic pattern, but the principle is similar throughout.

SingStar (PlayStation 3)

SingStar is a competitive karaoke game for the PlayStation 3, and is a follow-up to the PlayStation 2 SingStar series. SingStar is developed by SCE London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. This is the first SingStar game for the PS3.

Features

Unlike most previous SingStar games, SingStar for the PlayStation 3 features the ability to remove vocals. The songs feature the original music artist, and can be adapted from a single track master as with previous versions. SingStar then attempts to digitally remove the vocals from the track. The game will also allow users to fade out the vocal track once it detects the user singing, and return it if the user stops. The technology is unable to work on some songs due to the way they were mixed during recording.

The game shipped with 30 songs on disc, with the ability to download more songs from the online SingStore. The SingStore initially launched with 41 songs, including selected songs from the PS2 back catalogue, with more songs to be added regularly. The downloads feature the entire music video, and are in high definition where available.

List of songs in SingStar games (PlayStation 2)

SingStar is a competitive music video game series, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles. SingStar allows 1-2 people to sing karaoke via microphone peripherals in time with on-screen music. The first game in the series, SingStar, was released in Europe and Oceania in 2004. As of 2008, over seventy titles in the SingStar series have been released PAL region territories, in addition to a small number of releases in North America.

The main difference between each SingStar title is the game's track list. Each edition of the game includes up to thirty songs on disc, with PlayStation 3 versions of the game allowing additional songs to be purchased from an online service. Players can remove a game disc from the console during gameplay and insert a new disc, giving them access to a new selection of songs. Most SingStar titles are loosely based upon musical genres, such as rock or pop music (SingStar Rocks! and SingStar Pop respectively). SingStar games are sometimes localised for release in different regions, with customised track lists to suit foreign markets and territories. The first artist-specific SingStar game (SingStar Die Toten Hosen) was released in Germany in 2007, with ABBA, Queen, Take That, Mecano and Vasco Rossi receiving similar releases in subsequent years.