Karaoke Revolution: Wife Wins. News at 11.

[digitalpress]

My wife and I have been looking for something a little different to play together so we picked up Karaoke Revolution for PS2 at *gasp* full price yesterday. Luckily I had the headset already from the last little fascination, Champions of Norrath, so I did manage to avoid SOME costs.

Now I knew this would be fun because Liz sings a LOT in the privacy of our own home. She's got a pretty good voice - nothing that's gonna win any competitions, but she's always in tune and has some pretty good range. On the other hand, my singing just flat out sucks, I can stay on tune but have no upper range whatsoever.

Looking over the songs it was clear that Liz had ANOTHER advantage. I didn't know half of the songs on the disc. She assures me these are all fairly popular tunes but I could only spot a few obvious ones, "Like A Virgin", "The End of The World As We Know It", "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", and about a half-dozen more. You get a preview when you highlight a title you're planning on playing which really helped because another half dozen are songs I know that I didn't recognize the title of.

Though she had no hesitation in playing, I had to go first. My first choice was the only song I REALLY knew on the whole game, "Bizarre Love Triangle".

The mic works great with the game, in that you can set it up to be as much karaoke as you'd like. Want your voice to totally drown out the vocals? You can do that. Want to crank the actual song and let your voice just play along in the background? No problem. The default is an even mixture, we stuck with that. The game plays like most rhythm games in that the words fly across the screen right to left and as they hit the bar on the left side of the screen, you are measured by how close your voice is to the actual note. It's AMAZINGLY accurate, and you can even set the judging to easy, which allows you a little more deviation from the track. On hard, you have to be perfect and you can't miss words.

We had some fun with the words - the game doesn't recognize if you're singing the *right* word, just that you're singing*a* word in the right place. So we created our own versions of a few of the songs. No way was I going to sing "Kiss Me" with the real lyrics, but altering them to "Kill Me" or "Rape Me"... those will do just fine with my voice :)

As the headline reads, Liz' skills are pretty evident in the game. It was fun just watching her belt a few of them out as the crowd meter rose and the cheers got louder (also very cool). I'm not a good singer and thus not a very good player at Karaoke Revolution. I can get by without getting booed off the stage in the easy level, that's about it for me. You can unlock more songs and even some video content, the first one we found was Barenaked Ladies' "One Week" and a video montage of people playing the game with this song, fun stuff!

I'm looking forward to our next NJ Classic game night/party. This is clearly a game best played with a group of people. If you're into singing along, karaoke, or looking for something very different and fun for a group, check this one out!

[RJ]

From favorable reviews & what I've seen, this has good potential as the next big party craze.

Too bad my circle of friends would NEVER give it a try. We could use something like it to pep up our get-togethers. Everyone usually falls asleep in front of the TV. Pitiful.

Any Guns & Roses songs on there? How about posting a list of available tunes?

[brykasch]

I love this game, I *gasp* broke down and paid FULL price for it. most I have spent on a game in years. Anyways, its a blast, and if those epansion paks come out it will be even more fun. My wife and I love playing it. You do kinda have to adjust you voice a little, and some songs are damn hard to sing. But amazingly I kick much ass at REM's End of the world.

[maxlords]

By the way...who sings "The End of The World As We Know It"?

[digitalpress]

By the way...who sings "The End of The World As We Know It"?

R.E.M.

[kainemaxwell]

Sounds like a fun way to butcher songs (Not that I don't do it and all)!

[AB Positive]

It's a pretty good time, I borrowed it for a while and had a blast. Make sure you unlock "One Week" just so you have the second hardest song for anyone to sing on there.


Hardest? Power of Love.

-AG

[Drexel923]

I'm looking forward to our next NJ Classic game night/party. This is clearly a game best played with a group of people. If you're into singing along, karaoke, or looking for something very different and fun for a group, check this one out!

:eek 2: Maybe I won't make it to the next NJ Classic...


It's a pretty good time, I borrowed it for a while and had a blast. Make sure you unlock "One Week" just so you have the second hardest song for anyone to sing on there.


Hardest? Power of Love.

...or maybe I will 8-)

[kainemaxwell]

Either way someone has to videotape this! LOL

[portnoyd]

JOE GOT PWNED

[Queen Of The Felines]

Quick question....are the songs on there sung by the original artists or some cheap knock-off? Hell, if they're the original artists I might buy it just to LISTEN to it.

Please bring it to CGE and make a contest out if it if you can. :D

Kristine

[tonyvortex]

my best friend is obsessed with this game.noone i know can handle the rem song,it goes way too fast.

[scooterb23]

Hardest? Power of Love.

Huey Lewis or Laura Branigan / Celine Dion version?? Or another variation I don't know about??


Quick question....are the songs on there sung by the original artists or some cheap knock-off?

I'm under the impression that they are knock-offs, but for the most part sound close to the originals...

[Cmosfm]

QotF....knock offs, but there done REALLY well. I'm surprised at that.

Anyways, I picked up one with the microphone the other day simply because it was 19.90 and I cant pass up a price like that. And to my surprise this game kicks ass! being the shy type I only play it when no one else is in the house so finding time to play it is hard. :embarrassed:

[Chunky]

i know Bizzare Love Triangle song's lyrics were changed. It used to go "Shot down like a Bolt of Pooh"(and i don't get that even)...to something else in that game....what was it?

but yeah add this game to the list of
pop n music
DDR
samba de amigo
space channel 1 or 2

and others that my Girl just kicks the shit outta me on.

[davidbrit2]

They're covers, yeah, but you'll probably have the vocal track turned off anyway, so what's it matter? ;-)

Now, all you people that love this game, go out and buy DDR Max 2 with the mat. Heh. And Frequency or Amplitude while you're at it.

[brykasch]

I don't know if they are all covers or not. Usually you can tell, I think REM was legit, but listen carefully and you can tell, but either way they are great.

[RJ]

@ Cmosfm: it's your duty to inform us where you found a $60 game for $19.90!!!

(please?) :D

[digitalpress]

I'm pretty sure ALL of the songs are covers but it's really hard to tell, especially, as Davebrit mentioned, when you're singing :)

I would imagine that you can't just pop this into a CD player and listen - with the separate controls of vocal and musical volumes in the game my guess is they're not true "playable" audio files.

[punkoffgirl]

It's a pretty good time, I borrowed it for a while and had a blast. Make sure you unlock "One Week" just so you have the second hardest song for anyone to sing on there.


Hardest? Power of Love.

-AG

The Huey Lewis song?

[TheSmirk]

It's a pretty good time, I borrowed it for a while and had a blast. Make sure you unlock "One Week" just so you have the second hardest song for anyone to sing on there.


Hardest? Power of Love.

-AG

X_x not the Dee-Lite song, is it??!?!?!? @_@ :D

[NE146]

I bought TWO of these games at full price *gasp*.. One I gave to my brother for Christmas.. But the other? I made the mistake of not opening it up right away... and all of a sudden the wife needed an emergency gift for her brother in law. Guess what it turned out to be :(

So I gotta buy another one of these if I ever want to try it. I used to be quite the karaoke lounge guy in the 90's believe it or not. It helped that they were all swanky get drunk bars where you sing in relative obscurity and could pick up some slutty asian chicks.. but hey. I still sang :P

[Kejoriv]

I am waiting for the price on the game to drop before I buy it.

[Lady Jaye]

Hmm, Kejoriv, from my information at work, that game is discontinued. If you find a new copy at low prices, good for you, but I wouldn't wait too long if I were you (unless you prefer going the eBay way). At least, that's the game's status in Canada, but I don't think that Konami has any Canadian offices.

I should be getting Karaoke Revolution on Thursday, if I'm lucky enough for my employer to still have any copies by then. The problem is, I can't pay for purchases at work with my CC, so I really have to wait for payday.

All this while not having a PS2 yet... I'm waiting till E3 in case Sony announces another price drop. Regardless of whether there is one or not, I'm getting a PS2 in May.

[Keir]

i know Bizzare Love Triangle song's lyrics were changed. It used to go "Shot down like a Bolt of Pooh"(and i don't get that even)...to something else in that game....what was it?
I noticed the lyrics were changed a bit on Simple Plan - "Addicted" too. They cut out the part where he says "I'm a dick". But you can sing it anyway.

[dsullo]

I have been wanting to pick this one up since it was released, I was hoping it would go down in price like some of you. I guess from watching American Idol , I really have the fever to belt out a few tunes. I finally found the game at a good price 15.99 at a pawn shop.

If you hear glass breaking and dogs howling in NJ tonight, you'll know why

Dustin

[Lady Jaye]

Just bought it today in the bundle format (*phew! that was the last copy at work!*)

Now, I need a PS2...

[autobotracing]

I have that xbox music mixer with the mic .I just sing my own words ie instead of jungle bells its jingle whores



O what fun it is to skull f*** in a one horse open sleigh
jingle whores,jingle whores
I could go all day.......


yes Im a tard 8-) LOL :angry:


When I "sing" it sound like screams from the dead combined with you steping on a cats tail and nail on chalkboard

Otherwise I cant sing to save my life .I cant dance either.I should make a shirt that says BEWARE!!! WHITE BOY WITH NO RHYTHM PLEASE STAY BACK 5 FEET TO AVOID INJURY for when I go to clubs. x_x :hmm: :evil: :D 8-) LOL :) :-P

[Lady Jaye]

Has anyone tried singing different lyrics (per example, singing Weird Al's "Like a Surgeon" over "Like a Virgin")? I suppose it still works if you keep in tune?

[davidbrit2]

I have that xbox music mixer with the mic .

Make sure you pay attention to the cancer related warning sticker on the bottom of the package. (Yes, I'm serious.)

What the hell is in that thing, anyway?

[Keir]

Has anyone tried singing different lyrics (per example, singing Weird Al's "Like a Surgeon" over "Like a Virgin")? I suppose it still works if you keep in tune?
Yup. I was playing with my brother and he did "One Week" and sang gibberish on everything but the chorus. Scored a gold!

[autobotracing]

I have that xbox music mixer with the mic .

Make sure you pay attention to the cancer related warning sticker on the bottom of the package. (Yes, I'm serious.)

What the hell is in that thing, anyway?



I didnt see the cancer warning ,guess I should have looked


IT's a really neat item but a bit pricey at $40


you can send pics and music from your pc to the xbox and make slide shows and stuff .

It also has karaoke songs built in and you can download new karaoke packs at a price

[punkoffgirl]

Got this tonight w/the packed-in microphone at EB as a birthday present :). Thank goodness they had the package. Not only was it $10 cheaper than buying the game & headset separately, but it meant I got a SEALED game instead of those stupid opened ones.. Can't wait to try it out! Joe, do you have to use 2 mics for 2 people?

[dsullo]

My wife and I just went a few rounds. She scored big on Like a Virgin and my strong song is She Talks To Angels. Its alot of fun/ great party game.

[dsullo]

My wife and I just went a few rounds. She scored big on Like a Virgin and my strong song is She Talks To Angels. Its alot of fun/ great party game.

[Lady Jaye]

According to the manual, you only need one headset (it uses the USB jack) as well as one controller for starting, selecting etc.

BTW, to answer the question about The Power of Love: it's the Huey Lewis version (as in Back to the Future).

Now, my turn to have a question: Red Red Wine. Is it the original version or the better known reggae cover? The lyrics in the manual cover only the main song, not the reggae part.

[punkoffgirl]

Sooooo much fun :) I swear, tho, the "easy" judging mode must be pretty damn lenient for me to make it all the way to the Enormobowl and win.

[Lady Jaye]

BTW, you should go to the Konami's website (http://www.konami.com/karaokerevolution/) and click on "launch official site" (for Karaoke Revolution). There, you'll be able to send out your suggestions of songs for upcoming expansion packs.

I hope that Konami will release thematic expansion packs (you know, like "the 80s", "party on!", "top 20 pop stars", etc.) rather than the general mumble-jumble of the main game. I like variety, but only when they mostly match my taste in music.

Only thing that makes me wonder: since Karaoke Revolution will be required to play the expansions, does that mean that Konami will re-release KR or that they'll simply release new packs based on overall numbers of sold units of the main game?

[Lady Jaye]

BTW, you should go to the Konami's website (http://www.konami.com/karaokerevolution/) and click on "launch official site" (for Karaoke Revolution). There, you'll be able to send out your suggestions of songs for upcoming expansion packs.

I hope that Konami will release thematic expansion packs (you know, like "the 80s", "party on!", "top 20 pop stars", etc.) rather than the general mumble-jumble of the main game. I like variety, but only when they mostly match my taste in music.

Only thing that makes me wonder: since Karaoke Revolution will be required to play the expansions, does that mean that Konami will re-release KR or that they'll simply release new packs based on overall numbers of sold units of the main game?

[petewhitley]

I hope that Konami will release thematic expansion packs (you know, like "the 80s", "party on!", "top 20 pop stars", etc.) rather than the general mumble-jumble of the main game. I like variety, but only when they mostly match my taste in music.

Only thing that makes me wonder: since Karaoke Revolution will be required to play the expansions, does that mean that Konami will re-release KR or that they'll simply release new packs based on overall numbers of sold units of the main game?

I read an interview with a developer, can't remember where (possibly some net site). Thematic expansion packs are exactly what they have in mind, but at the time of the interview (around the game's release), said developer wasn't even sure if they would release expansions or not! Pending sales of course, but I'm crossing my fingers. To answer your earlier question, "Red Red Wine" is indeed in the style of the UB40 cover version. And ALL of the songs in the game are covers, not a one is sung by the original artist. But they did a damn good job of replicating the originals, especially considering that many of the remakes were performed by the same few singers (watch the bonus videos, you'll see outtakes from development).

[digitalpress]

We got Karaoke Revolution volume 2 today.

Looking over the song list, I can see the edge the Mrs. had in the first disk has disappeared. This one's got lots of tunes that are in my wheelhouse. Now if the judges in "normal mode" haven't gotten any tougher (easy mode was a breeze for both of us, really), I might actually challenge her this time around.

To be continued, tomorrow.

[ianoid]

You know, I tried the REM song End of the World... and it's just way too long. Really, all Karaoke songs should be mixed to 3 minutes not 5 minutes of repetitive blathering mumbling and exhaustion.

This game is alot of fun, although the onscreen characters are just plain disturbing.

I'd still like to see a dance pad or other interactive controller (not regular controller) with the style and excitement of Space channel 5. I mean, I did reach a rapid plataeu of 'Chu's' but I never tired of Oolala. Those senseless out of sync DDR characters are about as graphically exciting as a Kraftwerk video, and we can do better than that. Boing! Boomcheck!

[zmweasel]

You know, I tried the REM song End of the World... and it's just way too long. Really, all Karaoke songs should be mixed to 3 minutes not 5 minutes of repetitive blathering mumbling and exhaustion.

Karaoke V2 has a new "short song" mode that's just what you want.

-- Z.