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[radioheadrule83]

Irrelevant off topic story

I went out last night.

First I went for a drink near where I live. I walked into the place, got to the bar, ordered a drink and started humming. Then I realised someone had put "The Heat Is On" from Beverly Hills Cop on the jukebox. This is a song that in critique among friends, I would probably proclaim a load of plain old bollocks. But put enough drink in me and its the fucking mutts nuts. I get really excited... It doesn't compare to something like "Living on a Prayer" for communal effect, but its still pretty good. I got a taxi to take me and my friends into the city and it came on the radio -- a freaky coincidence to be sure. I never deliberately expose my ears to this stuff, but already I've heard it twice now. I'm sitting there trying to not enjoy it, but my secret shame at this point is that I've got a thirst for it. Deep down I knew. I had not yet had my fill of air guitars and I was questioning whether it could really be qualified as a good night unless I ended up with my tie around my head. I had not heard enough robot-dance or body-pop inspiring cheese.

My more musically sober friends were distraught when some of us conspired to have us enter a club called Reflex in Liverpool and stay there for the better part of the night... why would they care? Its a dive. Shitty aesthetics, no class, some guy bothers you in the toilets for money (I don't even know if you're allowed to wash your own hands with him there doing it for you. He also offers you an assortment of aftershaves he calls "pussy magnet"), you come out reeking of smoke (or pussy magnet... or both) -- the gender ratio isnt the best either.

Shit though... I fucking love the place. The heat was indeed, on...
I mean -- look at this shit! Space Invader sequence lights, a big rubiks cube instead of a disco ball (although of course they had those too)...

They had fucking Pacman and Galaga... Mr T and David Hasselhoff paintings on the walls... me and my friends were wearing suits. I've never secretly craved shoulder pads more in my life.

Okay so given that you now know about my regrettable taste, imagine my pant shitting joy when I saw that this was on sale right NOW:

Singstar 80s

Official Site: http://www.singstargame.com/
Tracklist:

Alice Cooper Poison
Belinda Carlisle Heaven Is A Place On Earth
Billy Joel Uptown Girl
Blondie Atomic
Culture Club Karma Chameleon
Dexy's Midnight Runners Come On Eileen
Dolly Parton Nine To Five
Duran Duran Rio
Erasure A Little Respect
Europe The Final Countdown
Fairground Attraction Perfect
Foreigner I Want To Know What Love Is
Frankie Goes To Hollywood The Power Of Love
Kate Bush Running Up That Hill
Katrina And The Waves Walking On Sunshine
Madness Our House
Madonna Material Girl
Marillion Kayleigh
Nena 99 Red Balloons
Run DMC It's Tricky
Simple Minds Don't You (Forget About Me)
Soft Cell Tainted Love
Starship We Built This City
Survivor Eye Of The Tiger
Tears For Fears Everybody Wants To Rule The World
The Cure Just Like Heaven
The Pretenders Brass In Pocket
Tina Turner Simply The Best
Vanilla Ice Ice Ice Baby
Wham! Wake Me Up Before You Go Go


It could do with more hard rock and metal, but its not a bad mix really.

Can you imagine a room full of drunken degenerates like myself drinking and playing this game? The music videos are included too! Imagine. Just close your eyes, relax and try to see the poor makeup and big hair flying about on a 42" plasma, or even try and get a feel for the noise we'd be making... resist the urge to gouge out your eyes and stuff them in your ears. Thats only natural, but its wrong. This might be the best videogame ever!

~£18 without the microphone on Play.com
~£30 with it

For the love of God, someone give me thirty quid!

 

[Izzy]

Seriously, this is a lovely thread, Scouser.

Buuut, 'Ice Ice Baby' was released in 1990, and 'Brass in Pocket' in 1979. But it doesn't matter - Singstar '80s rocks!

 

[Amir0x]

HOLY FUCK, the music videos are included too? I didn't know that!

Why the great good lord isn't this coming to the US?

 

[Hooker]

Importing this from the UK - all the localised versions have songs from that specific country in them. But instead of adding them, they exchanged them :/



Fuck Dutch songs, I want English ones

 

[MadFuzzy]

It's probably the best version so far. And gets extra marks from me for making you sing all the "do do do do"s to the whole of the intro of The Final Countdown.

 

[neopokekun]

all the localised versions have songs from that specific country in them. But instead of adding them, they exchanged them :/

Yeah, here is the Swedish list:

Ratata & Frida - Så Länge Vi Har Varann
Freestylel - Fantasi
Di Leva - Vem skall jag tro på?
The Creeps - OOH I LIKE IT!
Chattanooga - Hallå hela pressen
Janne Lucas - Växeln hallå
Factory - Efter plugget
Christer Sandelin - Det Hon Vill Ha
Erasure - A little respect
Culture Club - Karma Chameleon
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Simple Minds - Don't You Forget (About Me)
Frankie Goes To Hollwood - Power of Love
Foreigner - I want to know what love is
Blondie - Atomic
Europe - The Final Countdown
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You go go
Billy Joel - Uptown Girl
Fairground Attraction - Perfect
Duran Duran - Rio
Starship - We built this city
Katrina and the Waves - Walking On Sunshine
Tina Turner - Simply the best
Madonna - Material Girl
Alice Cooper - Poison
Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger
Pretenders - Brass in pocket
Dolly Parton - Nine to Five

 

[johnjohnson]

Just a few more days and amazon will send out my German version of Singstar 80'. It has the best selection out of the English version (well, ok... I'd love to have Alice Cooper on the german one too) and adds a shitload of great songs.

The list:

1 NENA - 99 Luftballons 1983
2 NINO DE ANGELO - Jenseits Von Eden 1983
3 HUBERT KAH - Sternenhimmel 1982
4 CYNDI LAUPER - She Bop 1984
5 LIMAHL - Neverending Story 1984
6 OPUS - Live Is Life 1985
7 JOACHIM WITT - Goldener Reiter 1981
8 WESTERNHAGEN - Sexy 1989
9 IXI - Der Knutschfleck 1983
10 TRIO RIO - New York, Rio, Tokyo 1986
11 MÜNCHENER FREIHEIT - Ohne Dich (Schlaf Ich Heut Nacht Nicht Ein) 1986
12 MODERN TALKING - Cheri Cheri Lady 1985
13 GEIER STURZFLUG - Bruttosozialprodukt 1983
14 MARIETTA - Fire & Ice 1986
15 EUROPE - The Final Countdown?1986
16 SOFT CELL - Tainted Love?1981
17 WHAM! - Wake Me Up Before You Go Go 1984
18 KATRINA & THE WAVES - Walking On Sunshine 1985
19 BLONDIE - Atomic 1980
20 SURVIVOR - Eye Of The Tiger 1982
21 CULTURE CLUB - Karma Chameleon 1983
22 DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS - Come On Eileen 1982
23 TEARS FOR FEARS - Everybody Wants To Rule The World 1985
24 SIMPLE MINDS - Don't You Forget (About Me) 1985
25 MARILLION - Kayleigh 1985
26 FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD - Power Of Love 1984
27 FOREIGNER - I Want To Know What Love Is 1984
28 BILLY JOEL - Uptown Girl 1983
29 STARSHIP - We Built This City 1985
30 TINA TURNER - The Best 1989

 

[Mofo]

Why cant Sony bring this out here?! Damn, damn, damn.

 

[Kroole]

No Queen love?

 

[johnjohnson]

Why cant Sony bring this out here?! Damn, damn, damn.

I heard it was because of a deal with Konami, but Konami releases their Karaoke games in Europe too, so I don't know if this is the correct reason.

Fact is that you Americans miss the greatest game series Sony ever created.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

WTF? German edition has Neverending Story? Must have!

 

[elostyle]

Just a few more days and amazon will send out my German version of Singstar 80'. It has the best selection out of the English version (well, ok... I'd love to have Alice Cooper on the german one too) and adds a shitload of great songs.

The list:

1 NENA - 99 Luftballons 1983
2 NINO DE ANGELO - Jenseits Von Eden 1983
3 HUBERT KAH - Sternenhimmel 1982
4 CYNDI LAUPER - She Bop 1984
5 LIMAHL - Neverending Story 1984
6 OPUS - Live Is Life 1985
7 JOACHIM WITT - Goldener Reiter 1981
8 WESTERNHAGEN - Sexy 1989
9 IXI - Der Knutschfleck 1983
10 TRIO RIO - New York, Rio, Tokyo 1986
11 MÜNCHENER FREIHEIT - Ohne Dich (Schlaf Ich Heut Nacht Nicht Ein) 1986
12 MODERN TALKING - Cheri Cheri Lady 1985
13 GEIER STURZFLUG - Bruttosozialprodukt 1983
14 MARIETTA - Fire & Ice 1986
15 EUROPE - The Final Countdown?1986
16 SOFT CELL - Tainted Love?1981
17 WHAM! - Wake Me Up Before You Go Go 1984
18 KATRINA & THE WAVES - Walking On Sunshine 1985
19 BLONDIE - Atomic 1980
20 SURVIVOR - Eye Of The Tiger 1982
21 CULTURE CLUB - Karma Chameleon 1983
22 DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS - Come On Eileen 1982
23 TEARS FOR FEARS - Everybody Wants To Rule The World 1985
24 SIMPLE MINDS - Don't You Forget (About Me) 1985
25 MARILLION - Kayleigh 1985
26 FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD - Power Of Love 1984
27 FOREIGNER - I Want To Know What Love Is 1984
28 BILLY JOEL - Uptown Girl 1983
29 STARSHIP - We Built This City 1985
30 TINA TURNER - The Best 1989

I'm so going out to buy this right now.

 

[johnjohnson]

The street date of the german version is Nov. 9th, next wednesday.

 

[AndreasNystrom]

I LOVE SINGSTAR!. One of the best games ever!.

 

[Kiriku]

I tried Singstar recently, and it's cool...presentation's really slick and all, nice with real artists and music videos in the background. But I don't like how you can't mute the lead singer in songs, or adjust the volume balance in the game more. Sometimes it's hard to hear yourself even with mic volume set to max, because the song/original lead singer is too loud.

 

[DSFan1970]

I want to import this. I want the Brit Version or German Version. Now what do I do? I tried looking for that thread the other day where you can play imports w/o modifying? What was that device?


Thanks!

 

[8bit]

The street date of the german version is Nov. 9th, next wednesday.

Ahh, that explains why I couldn't find it in Media Markt today.

 

[D2M15]

WTF? German edition has Neverending Story? Must have!

And the real version of 99 Luftballons!

 

[Argyle]

I tried Singstar recently, and it's cool...presentation's really slick and all, nice with real artists and music videos in the background. But I don't like how you can't mute the lead singer in songs, or adjust the volume balance in the game more. Sometimes it's hard to hear yourself even with mic volume set to max, because the song/original lead singer is too loud.

You can mute the original vocal track completely if you want...I don't usually try to do it in game so I don't know if you can do it on the fly, but you can definitely do it in the options menu.

My copy is on its way (UK version) - hopefully it'll make it to me sometime next week Had to order a copy with new microphones since my blue microphone died a couple of months ago at a party

Edit: you know, now that I think about it, if I did want the German version, does anyone know of an online store that would sell it to me and ship to the US? I couldn't find any when I went looking for the German version of the original SingStar (it has Rock Me Amadeus on it right? ) a while ago...

 

[Kiriku]

You can mute the original vocal track completely if you want...I don't usually try to do it in game so I don't know if you can do it on the fly, but you can definitely do it in the options menu.

My copy is on its way (UK version) - hopefully it'll make it to me sometime next week Had to order a copy with new microphones since my blue microphone died a couple of months ago at a party

You can? We looked EVERYWHERE for such a function, both in the options and the manual. Couldn't find it (had it been in the options menu, we sure would've seen it as the game isn't exactly filled with options). Maybe it's because it's the Swedish hits version? Weird that they would remove such a function though.

 

[elostyle]

The street date of the german version is Nov. 9th, next wednesday.

I noticed once I stood in front of the ps2 shelf :-/

 

[Izzy]

And the real version of 99 Luftballons!

Bur sadly no 'Das Modell'.


Let's sing together:

Sie ist ein Modell und sie sieht gut aus
Ich nehme sie heut' gerne mit zu mir nach Haus
Sie wirkt so kühl, and sie kommt niemand 'ran
Doch vor der Kamera da zeigt sie was sie kannSie trinkt im Nachtklub immer Sekt (korr-ekt!)
Und hat hier alle Männer abgecheckt
Im Scheinwerferlicht ihr junges Lächeln strahlt
Sie sieht gut aus und Schönheit wird bezahlt
Sie stellt sich zu Schau für das Konsumprodukt
Und wird von millionen Augen angeguckt
Ihr neues Titelbild ist einfach Fabelhaft
Ich muss sie wiedersehen, ich weiss sie hat's geschaft

 

[radioheadrule83]

I want to import this. I want the Brit Version or German Version. Now what do I do? I tried looking for that thread the other day where you can play imports w/o modifying? What was that device?


Thanks!

Swap magic

 

[Argyle]

I want to import this. I want the Brit Version or German Version. Now what do I do? I tried looking for that thread the other day where you can play imports w/o modifying? What was that device?


Thanks!

Where do you live?

If you live in the US and have an NTSC television, even if you get the game to boot via Swap Magic* you still have to deal with the fact that the game runs in PAL video mode, which won't work on most US television sets.

I had to jump through hoops (http://www.ga-forum.com/showpost.php?p=1532706&postcount=8 ) to get it to be playable on an NTSC television. See if your set is capable before you make the plunge, patching the disc is not an option (video and audio will drift out of sync!)...


*I have no idea if it works with Swap Magic, btw, even if it did I would imagine the in-game swap doesn't work...they update the rules every game and you can swap in older game discs to play the songs on those discs with the new rules...

 

[DSFan1970]

Where do you live?

If you live in the US and have an NTSC television, even if you get the game to boot via Swap Magic* you still have to deal with the fact that the game runs in PAL video mode, which won't work on most US television sets.

I had to jump through hoops (http://www.ga-forum.com/showpost.php?p=1532706&postcount=8 ) to get it to be playable on an NTSC television. See if your set is capable before you make the plunge, patching the disc is not an option (video and audio will drift out of sync!)...


*I have no idea if it works with Swap Magic, btw, even if it did I would imagine the in-game swap doesn't work...they update the rules every game and you can swap in older game discs to play the songs on those discs with the new rules...

Well thanks for that information. I was just going to purchase it off of e-Bay in anticiapation of me getting my PS2 modded. Well that stinks. I have an early model PS2, with the auto-tray, not the flip top. I have a Samsung HDTV so I guess it is not PAL compatible. There is such a market for these types of games. I guess I will just have to stick to Kareoke Revolution party (vol4) when it comes out this week. (Nov 9). KR is a great game, alot of hard work goes into this game. Truly talented artists and programmers. However, it can get stale over time without frequent updates. I have had 3 Halloween Partys over the past 3 years, with KR1 at the first, KR2 at the 2nd one and KR3 this past Halloween. Huge hit. Though I suspect Singstar would be even better in terms of songs and a great compliment to Kareoke Revolution. I have actually written to Harmonix about the how we need updates at least twice a year, even a few songs. But a producer responded saying that the cost would be too high. So, after seeing the Singstar song lists I am sort of crushed!

Is the German one also PAL? (My partner is a HUGE Nena fan. All of her albums)

Edit: German = PAL. Damn. Would this work if I buy a PS2 from the UK?

 

[Argyle]

Well thanks for that information. I was just going to purchase it off of e-Bay in anticiapation of me getting my PS2 modded. Well that stinks. I have an early model PS2, with the auto-tray, not the flip top. I have a Samsung HDTV so I guess it is not PAL compatible. There is such a market for these types of games. I guess I will just have to stick to Kareoke Revolution party (vol4) when it comes out this week. (Nov 9). KR is a great game, alot of hard work goes into this game. Truly talented artists and programmers. However, it can get stale over time without frequent updates. I have had 3 Halloween Partys over the past 3 years, with KR1 at the first, KR2 at the 2nd one and KR3 this past Halloween. Huge hit. Though I suspect Singstar would be even better in terms of songs and a great compliment to Kareoke Revolution. I have actually written to Harmonix about the how we need updates at least twice a year, even a few songs. But a producer responded saying that the cost would be too high. So, after seeing the Singstar song lists I am sort of crushed!

Is the German one also PAL? (My partner is a HUGE Nena fan. All of her albums)

Edit: German = PAL. Damn. Would this work if I buy a PS2 from the UK?

Buying a PS2 from the UK would only solve the swapping problem (that is, the game would boot) but still be in PAL video mode.

Do you have a TV capture card for your PC? many of those can display PAL...at least you can play on a PC monitor with one of those...

Edit: I like Karaoke Revolution a lot and I'm getting the new one next week...but to be honest, I prefer SingStar. The videos and original recordings of the music add a lot to me...

 

[Argyle]

You can? We looked EVERYWHERE for such a function, both in the options and the manual. Couldn't find it (had it been in the options menu, we sure would've seen it as the game isn't exactly filled with options). Maybe it's because it's the Swedish hits version? Weird that they would remove such a function though.

Bump because I checked this out - you could do it on the first SingStar, but they removed it on all the new ones since I guess it was a pain in the ass to get the separate instrumental and vocal tracks for everything? I never noticed before because my friends have problems singing without a guide track at all, so we never turned it off...

 

[Guy LeDouche]

Europe The Final Countdown

haha, fuck that shit.

 

[FoneBone]

Fucking awesome song list -- too bad I doubt I'll ever play it.

 

[Argyle]

I just got my copy. OMG it's awesome

I'm playing it a different way now from in my previous posts, too...

Ingredients:

A PS2 that can play PAL games
Copy of SingStar + SingStar mics
Total overkill of a Shuttle XPC that was really intended to run MAME
Cheapo bt878 based capture card I had lying around (in my case, an AverMedia TV card)
ArcadeVGA card
Capcom Impress 29" arcade cabinet

Video quality is shockingly better than the USB capture device + laptop solution I was using before, and since the capture card is PCI, there's no frame lag anymore I can kinda see why people build HTPCs now, DScaler does a nice job of cleaning up the video.

And yes, the game is awesome. I can't wait to get a group of people together to play - this and Karaoke Revolution Party coming out this week is gonna be rad

 

[Templar Wizard]

The Final Countdown

haha, fuck that shit.

WRONG. dont you realise that you actually have to 'sing' the Dada DA daaaa, dada DA da da da's?????????????
its right on sooooooo many levels.

 

[Ghost]

My more musically sober friends were distraught when some of us conspired to have us enter a club called Reflex in Liverpool and stay there for the better part of the night... why would they care? Its a dive. Shitty aesthetics, no class, some guy bothers you in the toilets for money (I don't even know if you're allowed to wash your own hands with him there doing it for you. He also offers you an assortment of aftershaves he calls "pussy magnet"), you come out reeking of smoke (or pussy magnet... or both) -- the gender ratio isnt the best either.

Oh god i hate those guys, you feel like you have to pay them just to wash your hands, then he asks you "what fragrance would you like?" IM IN A CLUB IVE BEEN DRINKING FOR SIX HOURS YOU THINK I KNOW WHAT FRAGRANCE I WANT!!!, in the end he sprays you with something that smells like fox spunk and you leave the toilet smelling worse than the bodily fluids you left in there.



Anyway, on the gaming topic.

I wont buy Singstar until Midnight Train is on it.