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[Manager]

I saw this thread on the official Singstar forums:

Any chance of a Singstar patch to support the Lips wireless mics

:lol

Also I haven't seen any impressions yet - Microsoft shipped it to stores on Tuesday (a bit late), meaning they get it soon.

 

[decal]

Eurogamer says it was under embargo until 5 PM GMT, so expect the reviews to pop up soon.

 

[CrunchinJelly]

My copy's been sent so I should have it tomorrow.

 

[chase]

So what happens when you add your own songs? What do you "play" if there are no lyrics? Want to find this out because this feature is what made my wife interested in the game, the first game she's ever shown any interest in.

 

[Linkified]

So what happens when you add your own songs? What do you "play" if there are no lyrics? Want to find this out because this feature is what made my wife interested in the game, the first game she's ever shown any interest in.

if I understnad it has some way of working out the singers voice and puts a bar which you hit toget the points, but doesn't display lyrics.

 

[chase]

if I understnad it has some way of working out the singers voice and puts a bar which you hit toget the points, but doesn't display lyrics.

ok thanks

 

[borghe]

if I understnad it has some way of working out the singers voice and puts a bar which you hit toget the points, but doesn't display lyrics.

it uses a similar algorithm to what Sony uses in SingStar PS3 to remove vocals, only in this case to create a pitch bar for you to play against. I haven't seen it in practice yet, but in theory I can already think of a number of instances where this could be annoying (though in the case of many instrumentals it could be truly epic at parties as well!!!)

 

[Manager]

Eurogamer says it was under embargo until 5 PM GMT, so expect the reviews to pop up soon.

Apparently they published it earlier today, but then it was quickly taken off. :lol
Don't know if someone saw t he score though...

One hour to go!

 

[Gomu Gomu]

:lol

but then I saw :

so, I :lol'ed more

 

[Tntnnbltn]

Eurogamer review: 5/10

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=309023

SingStar, anyone? Judging by more than 15 million sales and more than 2.2 million song downloads, the answer is yes. Microsoft wants in on the action, just as it does with EyeToy (You're in the Movies) and Buzz (Scene It?), and so it has enlisted respected Japanese music game developer iNiS to create an alternative that matches the Sony game almost word for word and hopefully builds on it.

The result is a karaoke experience fundamentally indivisible from Sony's vision of how it should work - right down to an outright refusal to use the 'k' word anywhere near it. Players of Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band will recognise the formula too; your singing is rated according to pitch and timing rather than exact notes. However, Lips also aims to outdo the competition by celebrating and rewarding vibrato, rather than punishing it as deviation, and although it often denies you points for brief and low starting points, the way you react to sudden changes in a song's pitch is marked with greater sympathy.

Lips also has solid, flashy and - most crucially - wireless microphones, which none of its competitors has. Each is powered by a pair of double-A batteries concealed by a removable mic head, and some of that acid fires up lights that change colour to show you which on-screen lyrics the mic is waiting to hear. As you sing, you also build up a Star Stream bar above the music, and once it's maxed out you're invited to strike a pose with the microphone, which is motion-sensitive as well, to enter a period of star-earning and points-multiplying. Shaking is also used to activate microphone number two mid-song, and to extend short versions of songs if you want to keep going for the duration.

Much has also been made - not least by us - of iNiS's music game credentials, and the result is three multiplayer modes that go beyond the traditional versus and duet options that are the defaults. Kiss involves coordinating mic gesture timing to get a couple of on-screen silhouettes to embrace, Time Bomb is about using gestures to pour water on a burning fuse, and Vocal Fighters is versus mode with points scored when one player builds a sufficient lead over the other.

Less to do with iNiS, and more to do with the Microsoft Game Studios personnel who occupy twice as many of the credits in the manual, is the line-up of songs. There are 40 in total and there are some classics among them - "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen, "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash, "Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead and perhaps "Yellow" by Coldplay - that lend themselves well to karaoke. Around half, though, left little impression. (We've posted the full UK track-list on the Editor's blog so you can draw your own conclusions).

More disappointing than that, however, is the paucity of online options - something we're not used to saying about Xbox Live. You can post challenges to your friends, which they then have to acknowledge to initiate, but you can't record your singing in video or audio, which has been a standard feature in SingStar since the beginning. Our experience with SingStar's online features has been mixed - the shop sometimes hangs, and we can't always get online - but it works most of the time, and when it does it's hilarious: a vast timesink full of bizarre video that helps fuel a thriving online community via PlayStation Network and the official website. SingStar also has over 350 downloadable songs.

One thing you can do with Lips, at least, is import songs from your iPod or other compatible devices, but our luck with iPods was mixed. Our iPod Touch didn't work and our iPod Video crashed the Xbox 360 outright a number of times. When we finally got it to work, with an old iPod Nano, we duly transferred a few songs across - except it doesn't transfer them, and demands the device be reattached again if you ever want to access them again. There are no lyrics or music videos to back the action, of course, so when you select the songs they're simply played back with the microphones live, and you can adjust mic volume up and down as you can for any of the regular songs. Still, if you can tolerate giving personal usage data away, you can report what you import to Microsoft so the Redmond DLC machine can make decisions about what to license.

Having to buy your songs again later (thanks to the horrendous music industry) is of course stupid, but it's the norm for music games. The reason people do it is for things like the note charts and collaborative elements, in the cases of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and for the competitive and community elements - whether locally or online - for SingStar. The problem that Lips is going to have is that it has no community features worth talking about, and that the competitive elements are fundamentally flawed.

Play through a few songs, and it becomes clear that Lips is easier than any of the other singing games, and with no adjustable difficulty level. Play through a few dozen, and you encounter glitches and hilarious shortcuts to success that neuter the online challenge aspect as well. Beware people who challenge you to rap songs, for example, because they can simply hum a monotone to hit every single note perfectly. For singing, Lips seems to focus on when you're wrong rather than right, and sometimes just gives up and pretends you're wicked, like when you're dragging the mic head back and forth on the carpet during Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" and it reckons you're hitting every note and doing vibrato on the long ones. At one point, player one's mic claimed to be receiving a brilliant but slightly imperfect rendition of every song we queued up, despite nobody making any noise and the TV having been muted. Only after we reset the 360 did it behave properly.

With such a wildly positive - if not simply wild - reward system, it's also debatable whether the gestures affect the outcome drastically. You may benefit from timing the use of Star Stream, but your opponent may simply score higher due to bugs or craftily rubbing the microphone against his leg. The motion sensitivity is hardly perfect, either, and this also spoils the tambourine, which lags behind your microphone shakes. As for tapping away with buttons on the regular 360 controllers, it's a fleeting novelty that allows you to earn additional medals and Achievements.

On a cost basis, at least, Lips ought to be ahead of SingStar, since they're both 40 quid and Lips has more songs and nicer microphones. But when you consider what else SingStar has over Lips, it's harder to make the argument. Thanks to DLC in particular, music games often defy what's-in-the-box reviewing; in the same way that World of Warcraft improves with Blizzard's ongoing support, music games become more attractive as their creators offer a broader range of downloadable music, and it's only fair to reward it once the potential has been realised. It has for SingStar, but it won't be for a while with Lips.

But the saddest thing about Lips is that it suffers in comparison to SingStar's gameplay. We've long moaned about legacy issues with SingStar - that it can't cope with vibrato, punishes you for tailing off at the right time, and has a bit of lag in audio playback - but despite Lips' fancy mics and superficial improvements, it's too easy, too isolated from other players, and too buggy. The irony is that SingStar has glitches as well, now and then, and casual gamers seem to put up with this, whereas Microsoft - architect of the Red Rings - has little goodwill left to cash in on that front. Casual or not, though, you should only buy this if you can't get SingStar.

 

[FFChris]

Eurogamer review: 5/10

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=309023

Wow, and to think the initial previews actually sounded good. :lol

So I read the review:

They didn't like the song list.
The game was much to easy.
There wasn't much online integration, or any real community side to the game.
Microphone/game was registering notes when there was no sound. Lots of other bugs too.

Overall, they said by Singstar over this.

 

[pr0cs]

hooh, that Eurogamer review was scathing.
What a shame, they had a good template to build on (look at Singstar) and they still managed to create something inferior.

 

[Manager]

Play through a few songs, and it becomes clear that Lips is easier than any of the other singing games, and with no adjustable difficulty level.

This sucks, sure you can get extra points from singing well, but not everyone can take notes perfectly. There should be several difficulties too.

Play through a few dozen, and you encounter glitches and hilarious shortcuts to success that neuter the online challenge aspect as well. Beware people who challenge you to rap songs, for example, because they can simply hum a monotone to hit every single note perfectly. For singing, Lips seems to focus on when you're wrong rather than right, and sometimes just gives up and pretends you're wicked, like when you're dragging the mic head back and forth on the carpet during Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" and it reckons you're hitting every note and doing vibrato on the long ones.

Well geez, seems like the bonus points doesn't even work. So basically you have one difficulty and rest doesn't work?

Now, back to Singstar Abba

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Depressing.

 

[parasight]

That's a shame. I had really high hopes for an iNiS project.

 

[FrankT]

http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/lips/review.html

8/10 from Videogamer.com

 

[Tntnnbltn]

Wow, and to think the initial previews actually sounded good. :lol

Rob Fahley's hands-on preview last week seemed far more positive. In his words, "Lips, in many ways, is the game we've wanted Sony to develop SingStar into."

Will be interesting to see what the subsequent reviews are like.

 

[Phife Dawg]

I don't know, but who plays Karaoke games online and competitively? I'm far more worried about glitches than the online/community aspect not delivering or the game being too "easy". I wish they would've gone more in-depth on the multiplayer modes - these sound interesting.

 

[Oxymoron]

Eurogamer's criticism of the online mode I really don't care about, but I am very worried about the glitchiness. Hopefully, they had a review copy with bugs that eventually got fixed.

I'm also mystified by the complete radio silence on DLC. Hopefully that doesn't forebode negative things. I really, really want to love Lips.

 

[GarthVaderUK]

Kikizo: 8/10
http://games.kikizo.com/reviews/xbox360/lips-p1.asp

 

[pr0cs]

I'm also mystified by the complete radio silence on DLC. Hopefully that doesn't forebode negative things. I really, really want to love Lips.

This is a pretty big issue. They touted lots of DLC for SceneIt and when it didn't sell like gangbusters they fucking abandoned it. I expect the same thing for Lips, which is really stupid imo. Keep supporting it and the product can get better and be worthy of a buy, even if initially it starts out weak.

I really hate that Microsoft doesn't support their own products better on the Marketplace.

 

[CrunchinJelly]

DLC is coming starting Friday. The first stuff will be up then.

It says so on Microsoft's launch PR for Lips on Gamerscoreblog.com/press

Not only can everyone sing along, but “Lips” is the first and only music video game that comes with two wireless motion-sensitive microphones, setting the stage for the ultimate performance. The exclusive and stylish microphones feature interactive motion sensors and lights, and respond to your actions with more than 30 different performance-enhancing gestures. With “Lips,” busting a move or striking a pose not only gets you bonus points, but can also trigger power bonuses and medals. Additionally, beginning this Friday, the first of many new songs will be available online to add more music you love to the game.

Additionally, beginning this Friday, the first of many new songs will be available online to add more music you love to the game.

Additionally, beginning this Friday, the first of many new songs will be available online to add more music you love to the game.

 

[Oxymoron]

DLC is coming starting Friday. The first stuff will be up then.

It says so on Microsoft's launch PR for Lips on Gamerscoreblog.com/press

That's all well and fucking good, but we have no idea what the DLC will be, how much it'll cost, how frequent it'll be, and how comitted Microsoft is to providing new content.

(The expletive was added because your post was unbelievably smug)

 

[Vito]

I'm curious, any pictures/videos of the interface?

 

[soco]

That's all well and fucking good, but we have no idea what the DLC will be, how much it'll cost, how frequent it'll be, and how comitted Microsoft is to providing new content.

it's not hard to guess. when MS prices this stuff it's almost always inline with everyone else so expect singstar prices, and they'll start telling you all the time, just like rockband. how long it lasts is going to depend upon how many people buy it. that's also pretty much a given.

 

[Tntnnbltn]

Kikizo: 8/10
http://games.kikizo.com/reviews/xbox360/lips-p1.asp

While it is understandable that some digitally protected music will not work, the system Lips uses does seem rather sporadically successful. While on the whole most music used to test was compatible, releases, for example, by very small bands like Defiance Ohio who release music for free over the internet and thus require legal downloading through Bit Torrent failed to work. The scoring in this mode also seems unrelated to who sings the best, and instead gives points to who sings the most. Finally, longer tunes, such as Meat Loaf's eight-and-a-half minute masterpiece Paradise By The Dashboard Light, appeared to outlive the automatic shut-down of the game controller, pausing the song just as the big man gets to full speed.

Guess that answers that question then.

 

[Oxymoron]

it's not hard to guess. when MS prices this stuff it's almost always inline with everyone else so expect singstar prices, and they'll start telling you all the time, just like rockband. how long it lasts is going to depend upon how many people buy it. that's also pretty much a given.

Why should we have to guess? It wouldn't be hard for MS to tell us, say, "Song will be 160 points, released bimonthly, with the first wave including all the great songs you're missing out from the other regions' versions" or whatever.

 

[parasight]

The positive reviews are giving me some hope. I'm still not sure whether or not I'm going to pick it up myself, I'd much rather watch someone stream it or someone's first-hand impressions on here.

EDIT: I found the achievements; it looks like Microsoft is investing quite a lot of effort in DLC. One achievement says: "Added 300 songs to Lips from external sources"

http://www.achieve360points.com/game/lips

Achievements

Unlockable How to Unlock
100x Medalist (30) Awarded 100 total medals
500x Medalist (40) Awarded 500 total medals
Battle Tested (10) Played VS mode 10 times in different songs
Been to Get Music (5) Entered Get Music for the first time
Big Name in Lips (40) Achieved a Grand Ranking of "Hit Maker"
Call Me Superstar (40) Achieved a Grand Ranking of "Superstar"
Clap Your Hands Everybody (25) Noisemakers were perfectly in sync (Awarded to all signed in players)
Defending Champion (25) Got 20 challenge wins
Fan Service (35) Participated in a Vocal Fighters game with a 4 point difference (Except in Freestyle mode)
Fight for the first time (5) Sent a song challenge to a friend for the first time
Figure 8 (25) Got 8 medals total in one song (Awarded to all signed in players)
First Kiss (35) Participated in 2P Kiss game ranked as "Match Made in Heaven" (Except in Freestyle mode)
Full Medal Panic! (40) Got 12 medals total in one song (Awarded to all signed in players)
Gotta Have More Cowbell (30) Used the cowbell 50 times (Awarded to all signed in players)
Ham Star (30) Awarded 30 Performance medals
I Got You Babe (5) Participated in Co-op mode for the first time
I'm full of stars (40) Gained 50,000 total stars
I'm Kind Of A Big Deal (40) Achieved the rank of "Infinity"
In Synch (25) Scored 1,000,000 pts in Co-op mode (Awarded to all signed in players)
Let's Get This Party Started (10) Activated Jukebox mode. Will be awarded to all players who are signed in
Life of the Party (30) Awarded 30 Party medals
Like A Rock (30) Awarded 30 Stability medals
Lips Anthology (30) Sang 40 different songs
Nice Duds (35) Successfully stopped the bomb from exploding in Time Bomb (Except in Freestyle or Short mode)
One Giant Leap for Mankind (10) Added 20 songs to Lips from external sources
One Hit Wonder (5) Sang 1 song in short or full
One Small Step For Man (5) Added a song to Lips from external sources
Perfect Pitch (30) Awarded 30 Pitch medals
Platinum Artist (25) Sang 10 different songs
Rebirth of Cool (30) Got "Cool" 10 times in a row
Rising Star (40) Achieved a Grand Ranking of "Lounge Act"
Superstar! (40) Gained 100,000 total stars
Technician (30) Awarded 30 Technique medals
This is madness! (20) Added 300 songs to Lips from external sources
Throw Your Hands Up (5) Triggered a gesture in the Virtual Music Video
Time Machine (30) Awarded 30 Rhythm medals
Try Freestyle Mode Out (5) Played Freestyle mode for the first time
Welcome to My Lips (5) Entered My Lips for the first time
What's Cooler Than Being Cool? (30) Got "Cool" in every page
Wishing on a Star (30) Gained 5,000 total stars

 

[DeadGzuz]

I don't get it, you can score well by singing random stuff or not singing at all, what is the point of having a score? Imaging if Guitar Hero just let you randomly push the button and win, would it get a 8/10?

 

[parasight]

"You're about to use a song from your own music library. Do you want to send data about this song along with an ID associated with your Gamertag to Microsoft? By doing so you'll cast a vote for the creation of additional content such as videos and lyrics for your favourite songs. Providing this information will also let us notify you when new content for songs in your collection is available."

So clearly Microsoft is looking at providing officially licensed music videos and lyrics for the most popular imported songs, which, I reckon, would be magic. As my better half quipped when we first tried to sing a song from her iPod: "I wish the words would come up." When it comes down to it, how many songs do you know the words to off by heart? For me it's not that many.

- from the VideoGamer review

That sounds very encouraging if Microsoft can do something like this (hopefully free of charge).

 

[Tntnnbltn]

EDIT: I found the achievements; it looks like Microsoft is investing quite a lot of effort in DLC. One achievement says: "Added 300 songs to Lips from external sources"

That's not DLC.

 

[parasight]

That's not DLC.

Hmm, so you can Add songs from your music devices? I thought you could only stream them while the device was plugged in.

 

[Tntnnbltn]

Hmm, so you can Add songs from your music devices? I thought you could only stream them while the device was plugged in.

When we finally got it to work, with an old iPod Nano, we duly transferred a few songs across - except it doesn't transfer them, and demands the device be reattached again if you ever want to access them again.

From what they said, it sounds like it adds it to the library, but when you go to play it you'll be prompted to plug in the storage medium.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Eurogamer review was sort of brutal, but the others weren't so bad.

Anyone pick this up yet?

 

[WrikaWrek]

I don't get it, you can score well by singing random stuff or not singing at all, what is the point of having a score? Imaging if Guitar Hero just let you randomly push the button and win, would it get a 8/10?

Do you like, spend your days thinking and bitching about reviews?

 

[soco]

Why should we have to guess? It wouldn't be hard for MS to tell us, say, "Song will be 160 points, released bimonthly, with the first wave including all the great songs you're missing out from the other regions' versions" or whatever.

they're going to tell you pretty much everything but the release schedule. it's not like they're trying to keep this some secret or anything.

they didn't even initially do that for any of the other music titles either at their launch. it always starts out slow and as more interest builds and more people buy them, they ramp up.

 

[Pachimari]

Have been playing the game for a little time now. You can just blow into the microphone to get more points than your competitor who's singing with words. But I expected that as I hadn't read any impressions or previews before trying it out today. Oh, the microphones are awesome.

 

[borsdy]

Oh, the microphones are awesome.

Please tell me they work for rock band

 

[Blue Geezer]

ok so its a score based game then. it seems you can get through the song by doing nothing but to get a good score you have to actually try...

im ok with that, its different to singstar but its trying to be.

 

[DeadGzuz]

Do you like, spend your days thinking and bitching about reviews?

Don't we all? I'm just wondering how they reviewed so high the game if it is fundamentally broke.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Please tell me they work for rock band

It's been confirmed for a while now that they will not.

iNiS said that it will be up to Harmonix and Activation to release a patch to support the mics.

*Edit* More details impressions people who have a copy! Is it fun? Worth the money? Is it a worthy competitor to SingStar? Etc...

 

[Syringe]

Played it for a couple of hour today with my girlfriend. I've played a lot of Singstar, and that still is a better game but not by far. This has so many good functions like the jukebox, being able to import songs, really good microphones and a nicer interface. I think all it's problem with bugs (that don't show up very often anyway) can be easily solved with an update. All in all, I'm quite impressed. I thought it was going to be worse.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Played it for a couple of hour today with my girlfriend. I've played a lot of Singstar, and that still is a better game but not by far. This has so many good functions like the jukebox, being able to import songs, really good microphones and a nicer interface. I think all it's problem with bugs (that don't show up very often anyway) can be easily solved with an update. All in all, I'm quite impressed. I thought it was going to be worse.

Do you mind elaborating on the bugs? Was it anything serious?

Also, I've read in the reviews that people have had some issues with iPod support for external songs. Does anyone here have a Zune and can try with that?

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Gamespot Review - 6.5/10

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sim/lips/review.html

If you're having a party with karaoke-loving friends, then Lips will offer an evening's worth of solid entertainment. The wireless microphones are convenient and innovative, and they make it difficult to go back to corded models afterwards. The song selection is also excellent, with 40 songs that are varied in style but united in anthemic quality. That said, the game's lack of camera support, vocal playback, and simple online functionality disappoint, especially given their proven success in Sony's SingStar series. Even worse, the nonexistent difficulty level means this is a game with practically no appeal for single players, aside from those who want to collect the easy achievement points. If you're looking for a game to entertain at social gatherings then it's worth checking out, but there is plenty more for Microsoft's series to do before it enters the hall of fame.

I hope MS is making sure Lips gets long-term support and adds new features (preferably as patches rather than buying a new disc).

 

[icecream]

Was hoping this game would turn out to be more the singing game than the casual party game. Guess I was wrong.

Looks like it's back to SingStar and RockBand.

 

[Pachimari]

ok so its a score based game then. it seems you can get through the song by doing nothing but to get a good score you have to actually try...

im ok with that, its different to singstar but its trying to be.

Nope. I played multiplayer duel. I actually tried and got 300.000 points while my competitor just na-na-na'ed through the song and got 1.2 million score. Broken in that fashion.

 

[clav]

Complaining about Apple support? Psh.

Bitch to Apple about it. They fucked up their 3rd party support software scheme for quite a while now.

 

[mj1108]

Will buy if someone provides a printable cover with the Over enthusiastic Lips guy put back on it.

Never forget!
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=326634

 

[M3wThr33]

Played it for a couple of hour today with my girlfriend. I've played a lot of Singstar, and that still is a better game but not by far. This has so many good functions like the jukebox, being able to import songs, really good microphones and a nicer interface. I think all it's problem with bugs (that don't show up very often anyway) can be easily solved with an update. All in all, I'm quite impressed. I thought it was going to be worse.

Hooray for low expectations!

 

[CrunchinJelly]

I got it this morning, and I love it. I've played 9 songs and already have quite a raft of achievements.

Me and the missus both managed to get all 6 medals on Yellow, we were thrilled!

Mirophones are really well built, as well, and have a nice weight to them.