I picked it up for the toys r us buy two get one free sale, and then put it away and didn’t give it a second thought.

Until last night.

Wow.It’s amazing.  Maybe it’s the PS3 Eye integration, I don’t know.  But for a karaoke game, it just does everything right.  You can pick the song you want right away.  No ridiculous unlocking of songs, if you just want to sing, you can sing.  It’s just that easy.  The game uses the original videos and tracks of the original artists.  Which, themselves are also funny, especially if you’ve picked up the 80s and 90s SingStar packs.  With the latest patch, you can actually put in the PS2 versions of SingStar and play the tracks from those volumes.

What makes SingStar excellent is that the developers of SingStar have taken the Karaoke experience and changed it into a great party game.  The interface never gets in the way of singing songs.  This is important.  Additionally, it gives you the option to pick a short or long version of the song you want to sing.

I highly recommend short versions, which are about a minute and a half long.  If that sounds short, keep in mind that four minutes holding a microphone and singing is an interminably long time, if you are waiting on your turn to sing.  The short versions allow more people to get time on the mic.  If you are fortunate to also own a PlayStation Eye, you will want as many people having a turn on the microphone because SingStar actually records a part of the performance.

This is a major selling point for the game, and honestly, one of the best parts about SingStar itself.  If you have a PS3 Eye, it takes a quick snippet of video to review after the song.  If you so choose, you can save to the hard drive for later viewing.

Watching the videos afterward is recommended.  I believe that I saved every snippet from that evening.

I only wish that the videos themselves weren’t hidden away in the walled garden of the SingStar Store.

How would you know? Well, just peruse the song list.

All my ex’s live in Texas. . .
And that’s whyyyyyy I hang my hat—in Tenesseeeeeeee!

Karaoke Revolution for the PS2.

and Xbox Music Mixer for the, uh, Xbox.

Both games are bundled with microphones.

The PS2 offering is an actual game, where a “real time interactive audience” will react to pitch and rhythm. It’s virtual American Idol.

However, the Xbox offering actually allows you to choose your songs, purchase them online, and then use your PC to transfer them over to your Xbox. If you’ve already got an Xbox, and want a karaoke player, then it’s your best bet. The only downfall is paying $2 a song. But, having listened to the samples, they are using fairly good bootlegs of the original artist recordings. The catalog has over 20,000 songs, and when you download it, it’s a 1.03 MB text file.

It seems like the Xbox software is a little more exciting, considering you can pick what you want. Without a hard drive, the PS2 is left to its selection of songs on the disc.

I’d like to thank everyone that made it to malaysian food and karaoke. Despite my best efforts, I managed to relax and have a fantastic time.

And damn if those mango martinis weren’t smooth.

4AM: Stop Karaoke
5AM: Arrive at home
9AM: Get up for work.
11AM: Arrive at work.
2PM: Leave work. Head to Farthest end of Metro system from where I am currently to help friends move.
3PM: Arrive at Chipmunk’s house. Play with three month old daughter and three year old daughter for nine hours.
1AM: Arrive at home and hopefully fall asleep.

Chipmunk: “Oh, and these are pictures from when I was a dancer at Masquerade.”
A short silence is observed as pictures Chipmunk dressed as the “innocent one” in white stockings, garter belt, bustier and heels are perused. Chipmunk beams.
Krasota: “Look at her shoes, they’re beautiful!”

PraxisLoki: “There are shoes?!”

I smell like baby. Not that that’s a bad thing. I find it interesting that I actually enjoyed myself–not a surprise, since I’m usually good with children that aren’t mine. (Like I’ve had any.) They’re much easier to deal with when you can just give them back. I had to tell the guinea pig story tonight, at Krasota’s insistence. Ask me about it sometime. It’s actually somewhat amusing.

Thursday: Pump It Up night at Dave and Buster’s in White Flint
Come home at midnight. Sleep at four.

Friday: Anime
Come home at two in the morning. Sleep at four.

Saturday: Pump It Up (again.)
Come home at yadda yadda yadda yadda. Sleep at four.

Day 1: Shot firearms for the first time. Found an uncanny knack for target shooting. I may go again. I’ll be posting up my targets later.

Day 2: Saw a sneak preview of Kiss of the Dragon, and was introduced to the owner of a new Malaysian restaurant in Bethesda, MD. Will return. Maybe I’ll have a party there, the food was quite excellent, actually.

Day 3: Saw A.I. Witnessed an interesting fender bender in Georgetown involving a guy named “Bob” not watching where he was going because he was too busy checking out ass.

Day 4: Went to Karaoke in a “gay friendly” club in Alexandria. Found that I really, really need to practice the songs that I want to sing on stage. Good atmosphere, very non threatening, although the karaoke on stage appears to be run by regulars. It’s a good hangout, though. Although “gay friendly” apparently means six, large rainbow flags prominently displayed in the front of the bar, and interior design inspired by the Malibu Barbie Beach House. Oh, and gay people.

Day 5: After crashing at Enrico’s house, I figured I’d get some laundry done.

What?

A man’s gotta get laundry done.