Karaoke Revolution will feature "I'll Be There" and "ABC" on the disc at launch as well as Jackson 5 pics and themes. But which game is going to get groovy Jacksons' songs like "Blame It On The Boogie" or "Shake Your Body"? Somebody license those and pronto.

Update: Konami says five Jackson 5 songs will be available on Karaoke Revolution.

Konami secures Jackson 5 tracks for Karaoke Revolution [Destructoid]

Flying in the face of games like Microsoft's Lips and Sony's SingStar, the new Karaoke Revolution for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii seeks to single itself out by including more game play than your average singing video game. This includes a career mode for the solo artists, and team-based multiplayer. The game also features fourteen different customizable venues, with players of the 360 and PS3 able to use the consoles' respective camera peripherals to record themselves, playing the footage back on screens within the environments.

As for music, Karaoke Revolution will ship with fifty different master recordings, with the PS3 and Xbox 360 promised more by way of downloadable content. Unfortunately the announcement didn't reveal any of the actual song titles, so we're pretty much in the dark for the time being, aside for a few hints offered by the screenshots on the official website. I'm seeing lyrics from Elton John's "Rocket Man" and Coldplay's "Speed of Sound".

I can certainly see the angle Konami is taking here. Where Lips and SingStar don't offer much more than singing along to music videos, Konami is trying to add a little more game play to the mix. I just think the other titles are far too entrenched on their consoles to be toppled by another game, returning favorite or not.

Still, one has to admire the guts of the company, releasing another Revolution title after their last attempted coup fizzled and died.

Karaoke Revolution is due out in the fourth quarter of 2009 on the PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii.

Rigopulos talks about "the part before that", the dark time for Harmonix, when their original rhythm games Frequency and Amplitude were released. Despite great playtester impressions, positive reviews and many design awards, both games sold, in his words, "mouse nuts."

Rigopulos also discussed the the pros and cons the team pondered while debating whether to take on the Guitar Hero project. They were, in hilarious reverse order...

...punctuating that slide with "Fuck yeah, we wanna do Guitar Hero!"

Rigopulos then teased the crowd with talk of their post-Guitar Hero games "We have really big ideas about where we'd like to take this genre next. The projects we have underway are big, gnarly, challenging. And we need to devote all of our resources to these projects." However, he curbed any hope of new product announcements with "Sorry. We're not quite ready to talk about what we've got in the works." Michael McWhertor

"That is the absolute worst singing I have ever heard. Not only should you never perform again, but I've arranged to have your vocal chords removed and replaced with one of those electronic cancer boxes generally reserved for the heavy smoker - because you have nowhere to go but up."

Think you have what it takes to become the next American Idol...wannabe? Hit the jump to find out if the game is worth the sacrifice of $40, alongside most of your pride (like you had any to begin with).

IGN
"This game lives and dies by just how well these judges have been recreated within the game ...Instead of recording a few phrases and calling it a day, the verdicts given by the judges are truly helpful in improving your skills...Rarely does a franchise truly add value to a videogame beyond its name value, but here that is most definitely the case."

MW: The judges speak quite a few phrases, but their specificity isn't THAT helpful. There is no vocal coaching going on here, be the comments generally accurate. Also, the critiques don't ever acknowledge when you are in the final show. They just keep talking about next week, like you won't be busy recording your fifth Christmas album.


Official Playstation Magazine (print)
"This is the same Karaoke Revolution look and feel that's been around since the first game - the only difference is the addition of virtual Randy, Simon and 'Laura,' the as-close-they-could-get-without-crossing-over-a-legal-line clone..."

MW: Ironically, while we lack Paula's judging, the game does feature some of her original music. Which still rocks, btw.

Rocky Mountain News
"While the game will certainly be a big hit for American Idol and Karaoke Revolution fans alike, it's really just the same game with a new, hip set of songs and a fresh coat of paint... the franchise is starting to show its age. The crowd graphics are appalling and the decision not to tweak gameplay even slightly seems odd."

MW: I don't mind the gameplay staying the same because, just like with DDR, I'm mostly looking for a new songlist. But I do understand the craving for something more. The game is streamlined to the max, so maybe some vocal minigames or a few hummers in the backseats of Mercedes could add to the single player experience.

GameZone
"Simon and Randy's character models look great until they open their mouths. Facial expressions - a key part of Simon's criticism - are barely noticeable...[but] no matter how you look at it, Karaoke Revolution is a good time. The Idol edition doesn't offer any mind-blowing additions... [but]the game rocks, whether you love Idol or not."

MW: And that is the key. You don't need to be an Idol fan to love the game, because let's face it, we are all fans of the Concept. Everyone wants to be famous, sell out, shake their ass for 14-year-old girls and have Simon give them a pat on the head at the end of the day. The classic Karaoke Revolution gameplay makes the game good; the clich American Idol formula makes it gratifying. Mark Wilson

I have to admit, ever since I remodeled our basement and put in a big-ass HD television, I've spent a bulk of my gaming time playing on the 360, mostly because it's the only one with high-def support. (Yes, I know about the GameCube, shut it!)

I mostly played on the PS2, Xbox and GameCube when I was reviewing a game or when I had an itch for a particular title, like Guitar Hero.

But the thing is, on the big screen I really suck on Guitar Hero. That isn't to say I'm normally any good, but I don't usually suck. It's been driving me nuts. Then last weekend I plopped in Karaoke Revolution and came voice to voice with my problem. The damn sound system was adding a tiny delay, like half a second, to the audio. No wonder.

The delay was sort of throwing off my Guitar Hero playing, but it totally wrecked my KR experience.

I tried tinkering with the receiver and TV to no avail. How many other HD owners have this problem? If it's widespread does it mean that music games are on their way out? I;m certainly jumping the gun here, because a lot of people don't have HD, but as more next-gen systems hit pushing high-def more people are going to adopt. And then what? Please tell me they figure out a work around for Guitar Hero 2. Brian Crecente

Soon, Mario Party and Karaoke Revolution will replace those dusty old board games we were forced to play as children. You damn kids! You don't know how good you got it!

Passing the joystick to a new generation [Philadelphia Inquirer]

By Brian Crecente

Last month I was working on a story for Playboy Magazine about all the cool music games that have come out lately with neat controllers. I was playing all of the games back-to-back when I noticed that both Guitar Hero for the PlayStation 2 and Karaoke Revolution Party for the Xbox have the song "I Love Rock and Roll" on them. Thus, a really bad idea was born.

The idea of trying to play both games at the same time has been in the back of my head since, but I didn't have the time or alcohol to test the theory. I call this a how-to article, but it's almost too impractical to be worth doing almost.

First you have to make sure you have the equipment. You'll need:

Playstation 2
Xbox
Xbox Headset
Guitar Hero Guitar
Guitar Hero for the PS2
Karaoke Revolution Party for the Xbox
Two televisions
A forgiving wife
Plenty of free time

(Hit the More for the Video)

Once you've assembled the necessary goodies and distracted said loved one, it's fairly simple to play both games at the same time.

I used a 12-inch television and a 32-inch television. I set the small television on top of the entertainment center, which houses my 32-incher. I decided to hook Guitar Hero up to the top one because I figured it would be better to have the screen showing the timing for the guitar at eye-level.

One of the minor annoyances during set-up was my realization that I had to have the Xbox controller at about waist level, mostly so I could start the game, but also because the damn cord to my headset didn't reach the floor.

Once I figured out all of the gear, I tried starting both games to see just how hard this was going to be. Fortunately, both games seemed to use songs that were played at almost the exact same tempo. Even though I was going to play the same song, the tune was played by different cover bands, so even a slight difference could cause issues.

Watching the intro for both games a couple of times, I realized that while Karaoke Revolution Party jumps straight into the guitar intro for the song, Guitar Hero has a lot of screwing around before the song and the guitar starts — 13 seconds to be exact. Actually, it's not exact; it was more like 12 and 9/10s of a second.

On my first attempt I started up Guitar Hero with my stopwatch going and then waited 13 seconds to press the start button for Karaoke Revolution Party. I flubbed it a few times, but even when I pushed the button right on 13 seconds it was still a hair off. And there's nothing worse in music than trying to play a guitar a half beat behind the tempo, especially when you're trying to sing.

It took about a dozen attempts before I got it nearly dead-on.

It was amazing to (try and) sing through "I Love Rock and Roll" while playing the guitar. At first I had some trouble doing both at the same time, mostly because I had just a casual acquaintance with the lyrics (as in just the chorus). But once I got past that it was really neat. Certainly something that anyone could do with a little practice.

Really, I'm surprised that Harmonix isn't already working on this obvious cross-over title.

My favorite bits were churning through the sweet solo while singing and cranking out the power chords. My least favorite bits were the parts that involved singing. I kid. I can't sing, but that's more the problem of everyone else in my house than my issue.

As the ultimate sign of my faith in you, our readers, I give you now the totally awesome video of me totally wailing away on Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution Party at the very same time without the influence of alcohol or a single singing lesson.

Luke tells me that I should warn readers not to be imbibing any form of liquid or chewing food while watching said video of my musical sucktitude. Now enjoy, or something.

Oh, one word of warning about the video, besides the fact that it features my atrocious singing, I started this little project when it was light out. Unfortunately, dusk had firmly set in by the time I landed the timing. Kinda dark, sorry about that.