It wasn't long ago that I thought karaoke was a pastime practiced only by Yakuza gang members gripping their microphones with deadpan expressions while trying their darnedest to belt out "Blue Suede Shoes". Sometime after that, I changed that image to include a Japanese business man with a fondness for drinking in shady nightclubs, rumpled shirt and tie askew, while swinging hips and bursting ear drums nationwide with terrible renditions of popular 80's pop songs. A little later on and much closer to home, karaoke seemed the sole reserve of chicks wearing tight boobtubes and sequined denims screaming on stage while the blokes sat down the back drowning their collective misery. Then comes a neighbour's birthday a few years later where hubby surprises the ageing wife with a rented karaoke machine in the shape of an oversized VB beer can. Excluding those that enjoy pain on the odd occasion, at that point in history, nobody would consciously decide to sit down and watch someone make a fool of themselves on stage. However, even very small amounts of the rock and roll juice will cushion the blow, turning something quite ugly into a temporary spectacle of skill and delight. The tight act of drinks and karaoke seemed firmly entrenched in my mind.

Outkast get into the swing of things

That is, until the arrival of the original SingStar. Now you saw people of all ages, including young kids, singing along (albeit very out of tune), to songs released well before their time and still having an absolute ball. Suddenly, SingStar's potential is laid out like that bright light at the end of a tunnel. Gone are those awkward family reunions during the festive season where arguments were the order of the day. Gone was the requirement that to participate in karaoke was to have a drink in one hand and a microphone in the other. Saying goodbye to the liver abuse and hello to the grandmother singing Blur like a diva was a blast of fresh air. But that wasn't enough. After many years and millions of PS2 copies later, we finally have the next evolutionary step in karaoke with the title arriving onto the PS3.

SingStar for the PS3 should be familiar territory for all previous PS2 SingStar owners. Apart from some slick menu graphics and snappy background menu music to get you into the mood, the well designed interface provides you the same types of game formats; points are scored on pitch and timing while you either watch the particular video clip playing in the background or watch yourself prance about the floor like the legend you know you are via a Playstation Eye camera. Game modes are also the same with Solo, Duet, Practice, Battle and Pass the Mic (seven challenges with a maximum of eight players per side). For the short term you'll have to hold off doing those rock'n'roll knee slides as the promised wireless microphones aren't yet available due to an apparent Bluetooth problem. Plugging the older set of microphones into one of the four PS3's USB ports thankfully does the trick.

The biggest deficiency of PS2's SingStar was that you were limited to the tracks provided on each disc. Several releases covering a broad spectrum of genres certainly kept the passion (and the glory) going strong, for a short time only. Being forced to play the same songs however, regardless of whether you liked them or not, felt like what I'd imagine a talented singer in a cover band would feel like – restricted. So not surprisingly with this next-gen version, we have a downloadable pay-per-track system available called SingStore.

There are 30 tracks provided on the disc, with catchy numbers such as Blink-182's All The Small Things, U2's Beautiful Day, Coldplay's Fix You and the eternal crowd favourite, Twisted Sister's We're Not Going To Take It. Likewise you have the usual amount of suspect tracks existing more like an enticer to download better tracks as opposed to being worthwhile song options such as Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman's Something Stupid or Scissor Sisters I Don't Feel Like Dancing (me neither...). As well as a few older gems, it's a solid enough entry into the SingStar world for the first timers, but a tad disappointing for the SingStar diehards.


Hit the SingStore though and you'll be offered the chance to forever placate your good or bad taste in music with (correct at the time of writing) 62 tracks to download. $2.45 per track and roughly 70 megs per download, there's a number of categories to choose from: Pop, Rock, Indie/Alternative, Duet, Rap, RnB, Soundtrack and Other Genres, as well as the catchall New Songs, All Songs, and Song Packs. The price per track is a tad too high but considering that you're receiving both song and video clip, it's good enough to enjoy the occasional song download for years to come. Just don't be too surprised, in the midst of a karaoke party, to find those demanding friends empty your Playstation Wallet while you wander away for a tiny break...

Croon along with Franz Ferdinand

Eventually the singing will stop long enough for you to check out My SingStar, an extrovert's dream come true that's akin to popular social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace. If you happen to enjoy wasting away numerous hours on that type of online 'activity' and also happen to own a Playstation Eye camera, then expect to be uploading your best photos, videos or audio recordings for everyone's pleasure or despair. Interaction with other SingStarians involves leaving comments, rating other people's performances and adding those you think worthy to your friends list. Personally, I'd sleep easier in the knowledge that each of my SingStar performances is a one-off, unique and spectacular visual and audible performance (cue coughing fit), each forever seared into the minds of close friends and family only (poor sods).

My problems with the title are three-fold. Firstly, previous SingStar addicts who've purchased just about the entire library of disks for the PS2 don't have the means to permanently install the tracks on the PS3 hard drive, so making available the entire, already purchased back-catalogue. A cynic would suggest its Sony's method of forcing more songs to be purchased, even though you already have them via the older disks. Then again, the recent PS3 price drop saw an updated PS3 unit being sold which meant the end of backwards compatibility, so perhaps a moot point. Secondly, the timely availability of decent tracks on SingStore is like watching grass grow. At $2.45 for just a single song, you'd expect premium delivery but so far that isn't the case. Lastly and not much of a concern as the previous two is the limitation of only two microphones. Perhaps technically unfeasible, it would be an absolute blast to have four or even eight players (remember the available 4 USB slots) singing and dancing at the same time.

At the end of the day, SingStar for the PS3 is a game for the masses. Whether you sing well or not isn't the point. If it was all about extracting the most amount of fun for as long as possible with as many as possible, no other title comes closer. Even though this may send my soul into eternal damnation, I'd like to think even the Pope with his holy wine on New Year's Eve has been known to put his party pants on and croon to Sade's Smooth Operator. This may well explain those very badly sung tunes floating up and down the street come Christmas day - for those PS3 owners, this has got to be the perfect gift, one well suited for the whole family to enjoy.

Finally, as a tribute to the marvellous Japanese fellow who invented karaoke all the way back in the early 70's, let's raise our plastic glasses filled with Passion Pop and toast the phenomenon that's made each one of us legends in our own minds forever.