Oh, and Sony. Whoever made the call on the inclusion of Who Wants To Live Forever...thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Full tracklist follows.

The packs - available right now - include the following:

Ultimate Queen 1:

Bohemian Rhapsody
One Vision
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Breakthru
Bicycle Race

Ultimate Queen 2:

We Will Rock You
Another One Bites The Dust
Who Wants To Live Forever
I Want It All
We Are The Champions

This is a significant step in expanding Atari’s online game development capability. Paulina is one of the industry’s most respected creative leaders with an outstanding track-record of commercial and creative success and I’m delighted that she will bring her unique vision, consumer insight and proven ability for creating amazing entertainment experiences to Atari.

Hit the jump for the press release.

INFOGRAMES ANNOUNCES THE APPOINTMENT OF PAULINA BOZEK AS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR OF NEW ONLINE GAME STUDIO

- Award-Winning Game Director Of $500 Million, 15 Million Unit-Selling SingStar® Franchise to Lead New Online Game Development Team at Atari, Based In London -

LONDON, UK – 8 September 2008 – Infogrames Entertainment, under its consumer brand Atari, today announces the formation of a new in-house game development studio under the creative and production leadership of Paulina Bozek, one of the games industry’s most pioneering and successful producers. At Atari, Paulina will apply her outstanding production and development skills to establish a new game development team and studio based in London. The new studio will focus on innovating and developing mass-market consumer games and services for online-enabled devices including Personal Computers and game consoles.

“This is a significant step in expanding Atari’s online game development capability,” said Phil Harrison, President of Infogrames. “Paulina is one of the industry’s most respected creative leaders with an outstanding track-record of commercial and creative success and I’m delighted that she will bring her unique vision, consumer insight and proven ability for creating amazing entertainment experiences to Atari.”

“I am very excited to be joining Atari at this pivotal time for both the company and the industry,” said Paulina Bozek. “There is a huge opportunity as gaming platforms become more ubiquitous, more connected and attract more mainstream audiences. Atari has a great vision for the future and I can’t wait to start realising that vision in new products and services.”

For the past 6 years Paulina has been Executive Producer and Game Director of the multi-award winning SingStar franchise on PlayStation®2 and PLAYSTATION®3 at Sony Computer Entertainment’s London Studio. SingStar has achieved combined sales of over 15 Million units and life-time revenue of approximately $500M (measured at retail and online worldwide). The most recent version of SingStar on PLAYSTATION 3 incorporates a variety of online innovations including integrated commerce, community and user-generated content services.

The new Atari studio will initially be located in Hammersmith, west London and will recruit industry-leading technical, creative and production resources, both as in-house employees and externally contracted resources.

About Paulina Bozek:

Paulina started her career in games in 1999 at Ubisoft in Montreal, Canada where she worked with a small team to launch and project manage GameLoft.com, Ubisoft’s then online portal of game services and communities. In 2003, she joined Sony’s London Studio and was appointed as the Producer of SingStar shortly afterwards, over-seeing the production and creative direction of the Franchise. Since its release, the SingStar Franchise has been instrumental in establishing games as popular entertainment for mainstream audiences.

Paulina is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the first ever BAFTA Interactive New Talent Award in 2004. In 2007, she was listed in the Top 10 rising stars of the Media field on the ‘Courvoisier Future 500 List.’ And in 2008 Mangagement Today listed Paulina in its annual list of top ’35 women under 35’ in British Business. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Studies and an MSc in Media & Communications from the London School of Economics.

About Infogrames Entertainment and Atari:
The Infogrames group, including the Atari brand, is a global producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software for all market segments and all interactive game platforms including consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony, advanced smartphones, Personal Computers, web and online. Its games are sold in more than 60 countries through an international distribution network and direct to consumers via www.atari.com.

Atari’s extensive catalogue of popular games is based on original franchises (Alone in the Dark, Test Drive, V-Rally, My Horse & Me, Backyard Sports franchise, Total Annihilation, Outcast etc.), publishing properties (The Witcher, Legendary, Race Pro etc.), international licenses (Dragon Ball Z, Dungeons & Dragons, Jamie Oliver etc.) and classic games covering the entire history of the video game industry (Pong, Missile Command, Asteroids etc).

Paulina Bozek leaves Sony to join Atari [VG247] [Pic]

The announcement of SingStar: Queen at Games Convention had some of us immediately and excitedly wondering online, what's on this thing anyway? And is "Who Wants To Live Forever" going to be included? Sorry, Luke, we still don't know. We do know however, that Queen classics "Don't Stop Me Now", "Radio GaGa", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "A Kind of Magic", "Breakthru", and "The Show Must Go On" will definitely be included, going by the screen shots and trailer provided by SCEE. If you want to gorge on low res shots of Freddie Mercury's face, do so in the gallery below.

Over 2.2m songs downloaded via SingStore [GI.biz]

Step into a world of music, magic and family fun with SingStar® Singalong With Disney on PlayStation®2.

Make it a fairytale Holiday sing along with Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella and other Disney animated movies this Autumn

Leipzig Games Convention, 20th August 2008: The music of Disney classic animated movies is about to be brought to life on PlayStation®2 when Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) releases SingStar® Singalong With Disney exclusively for PAL territories this Autumn.

The wonderful magic of Disney comes from its timeless music as much as its spellbinding animation, from The Little Mermaid to Peter Pan, to Aladdin and Toy Story. With Disney fans of all ages in mind, SingStar Singalong With Disney proves that no one is ever too old for fairytales, and mum will be keen to join in with the kids to show off her singing skills. Tracks from Disney classics old and new ensure that every member of the family will find a favourite on the track list. The game features classic SingStar options allowing players to sing in solo, duet, or battle.

Each track is accompanied by clips from the original Disney movies, which means that your favourite characters appear on screen as you sing along. There is no longer any need to wait; every Disney fan’s dream comes true in Autumn 2008 when SingStar Singalong With Disney is released on PlayStation 2.

SingStar Singalong With Disney will include the following tracks, with more to be confirmed very soon.

Aladdin A Whole New World

The Jungle Book The Bare Necessities

Toy Story You Got A Friend In Me

The Little Mermaid Under The Sea

Pinocchio When You Wish Upon A Star

Songs will be made available in local languages across PAL territories.

That means the PlayStation 3 will play your forthcoming SingStar: Singalong With Disney tracks just fine. Go on, pick it up. You know you want to.

UPDATE - Sony have clarified that the firmware update will actually allow you to "hot swap" your PS2 discs into your PS3 while playing the PS3 version of Singstar, giving you access to that disc's content in the PS3 version. So no ripping, but it's the next best thing. And before you ask, yes, this will work even in PS3's that aren't backwards compatible.

Before we start, note they caught only part of the rehearsal, not the whole thing. So there's plenty of room for a major announcement or two. But here's what they did see:

Heavy Rain: a new trailer was shown, revealing in-game footage for the first time.

LittleBigPlanet : a new trailer, with producer Pete Smith coming on-stage to give us all a final public walkthrough of the game ahead of its release.

SingStar: there's a major focus on SingStar in Sony's conference, unsurprising considering the popularity of the series in Europe. Interestingly, Gamekyo say the focus will be on a "new" SingStar for the PS3, which ties in with SCEE boss David Reeve's promise to unveil a "next generation" version of the game at Leipzig. What this means for the existing "next generation" SingStar is anybody's guess.

Heavy Rain for PS3 at Sony Conference tomorrow ? [Gamekyo]

Also featured at the festival is The PlayStation “Take the Stage” Tent, which will give visitors an opportunity to strut their stuff in Rock Band and SingStar, with CSS, Jamie Lidell, Kid Sister, Krista and Tiny Master of Today stopping by off an on to challenge players with the highest scores. I can barely contain my own excitement, so I'll just leave it at that.

Next-gen SingStar at Leipzig [Eurogamer]

Turboneger kan bli kongene av musikkspill [Dagbladet]

BioWare product manager Karen Clark; Sony's Paulina Bozek, director of SingStar, research director Dr. Sara de Freitas of the Serious Games institute, Karen Brennan of MIT's Media Lab, and Microsoft technical evangelist Eileen Brown will all be headlining the event.

That's Bozek in the photo, by the way, holding the BAFTA award she won for her role in SingStar.

The full schedule has yet to be determined, as the event organizers are still accepting submissions for talks. Further info after the jump.

Women in Games Conference

University of Warwick, UK

10-12th September 2008

Keynotes announced and Speaker Submission Deadline Extended

The Women In Games conference encourages research and seeks to promote careers for women within the games industry. If games are to become a true sibling medium to music and cinema, the industry needs greater balance in its audience and its workforce. The Women In Games conference welcomes participants from both industry and academia, providing a forum for presentation and discussion of issues relating to all aspects of women's involvement in games, including game development, game playing and women as portrayed within games.

Although this conference is concerned with women and games please note that men are also very welcome to participate! The industry needs a meaningful dialogue between the sexes as it moves forward.

This year’s conference is co-organised by games company Rare Ltd (www.rare.co.uk) and the Computer Science Department at the University of Warwick (www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk)

Further details of the conference and this year's themes are available at the conference website: www.womeningames.com

The Speaker Submission deadline has moved to Monday 23rd June 2008

Thinking of submitting a talk, or offering to participate in a panel, but thought you were too late? Think again! We have extended the deadline to Monday 23rd June to allow you some more time.

We are keen to have more offers on the themes, “Dressing up Programming” and “Technology in Schools” in particular, but submissions on any of the themes still welcome.

For more details on how to submit, please check out www.womeningames.com

Keynotes Announced

I am pleased to announce our Keynote speakers for this year’s Women In Games conference:-

Karen Brennan (Scratch, MIT)

Sara de Freitus (Serious Games)

Eileen Brown (Microsoft)

Karen Clark (Bioware)

Paulina Bozek (Sony)

SCEA's U.S. debut on PS3 features songs and videos from the likes of The Killers, U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead and Britney Spears. The release is bundled with a pair of USB microphones; SingStar PS2 fans can also use their old ones. This is the kind of thing you want to close your window shades for, lest anyone peek in and see you singing Britney Spears songs with a fake microphone.

Posting yourself looking foolish online is always okay, though — players can use the PlayStation Eye to record and share their performances via SingStar Online, where they can also view and rate others' videos. SCEA also says the UK players have been making good use of SingStar Online, registering 140,000 users with some 20,000 videos all told.

This actually sounds a little bit awesome. If you are into shameless, exhibitionist karaoke. 'Cause, y'know, I'm not. Yeah. I mean, no.

Full release follows the jump.

Multi-Million Selling Global Singing Franchise Grows Worldwide Next Generation Community with North American Debut of SingStar(TM) on PLAYSTATION(R)3

SingStar PS3 Elevates Social Gaming with Personalization and Community Functionality

FOSTER CITY, Calif., May 20 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) announced today the North American release of SingStar(TM) exclusively for PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)) computer entertainment system. Developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's Worldwide Studios, London Studio, SingStar PS3 takes the successful interactive singing experience established with the popular PlayStation(R)2 franchise to the next level by giving players access to purchase hundreds of songs and videos across multiple genres, build and customize party playlists and build a community of user-created performances.

With more than 12 million franchise units sold worldwide on the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, SingStar makes its US PS3 debut with a Blu-ray Disc(TM) containing 30 chart topping singles and videos from today's hottest artists and legends including The Killers, U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Outkast, R.E.M., Radiohead, Britney Spears and The Pussycat Dolls. In addition to the new songs available on the disc, SingStar PS3 provides players with access to a catalog of hundreds of downloadable songs featuring the real artists and videos, via the PS3 online SingStore(TM). Available at $1.49 for each individual track, players can choose from songs and videos across multiple genres to create their own personalized party playlists. Over 200 downloadable songs will be available within the North American SingStore on day one with the goal of adding approximately 25 to 50 new songs each month.

Bringing social networking and user-generated content to the forefront of social gaming, through utilizing the PLAYSTATION(R)Eye camera, players can become global stars with My SingStar Online(TM) where they can share their personal SingStar performances with the online worldwide SingStar community via captured video, audio and photos. Players also will be able to view and rate videos created by others, as well as check out the community's top performers with the newly added feature of weekly highest-rated videos. My SingStar Online already has proven to be a top destination for SingStar fans abroad following the game's European release this past holiday, attracting 140,000 registered users who, combined with visitors to http://www.singstargame.com, have shared over 20,000 videos of their SingStar performances that have been watched a total of 2.5 million times.

"The worldwide success of SingStar continues to spread across North America due in large part to its casual-friendly, social gameplay," said Jeff Reese, director, software marketing, SCEA. "PS3 has allowed us to evolve the SingStar experience, growing beyond simply expanding the library with new tracks. Adding new next-generation features such as the SingStore and My SingStar Online, SingStar PS3 is the complete party package with an

ever-growing downloadable catalog, global community-driven content and innovative, social networking features."

In addition to the inclusion of the weekly highest-rated video feature, a number of other enhancements were added to the game today via a free patch for North America. New features include enhanced harmony duets, separate Battle mode difficulty selections, a lag calibration feature for different TV types, and PSP Remote Play. The new Harmony Duet mode allows for scoring of melodies with specifically selected duet tracks, while the Battle mode difficulty selection lets players choose their own individual difficulty rating when in Battle or Duet mode. For those on-the-go wanting to have their playlist ready when they arrive home, they can now access the SingStore and My SingStar Online with PSP Remote Play. With Remote Play, players can browse, stream and remotely launch downloads from the SingStore, as well as check out their profile on My SingStar Online.

SingStar PS3 will be available both as a stand-alone disc and as a bundle packaged with two high-quality USB microphones. Fans who own microphones from the SingStar PS2 library can put them to use with SingStar PS3. Since the franchise launched on PlayStation 2, the North American SingStar catalogue has grown to 150 songs and includes a mixture of genres from 90's to pop.

The independent Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has rated SingStar "T" for Teen. For more information about the ESRB visit http://www.esrb.org.

English

* Avril Lavigne - Complicated
* Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack - Tonight I Celebrate My Love
* Good Charlotte - I Just Wanna Live
* The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
* Shocking Blue - Venus
* Golden Earring - Radar Love
* The Hives - Hate To Say I Told You So
* Hard-Fi - Hard To Beat
* Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending
* Erik Faber - Not Over
* Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died In Your Arms
* R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts
* Wilson Phillips - Hold On
* Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You shouldn't've)?
* Alphabeat - Fantastic 6
* The Vines - Get Free
* Roy Orbison - Only The Lonely (Know The Way I Feel)
* Westlife - Queen Of My Heart
* The Hoosiers - Cops N Robbers
* Coldplay - Shiver
* Coldplay - The Scientist
* Duran Duran - The Reflex
* Moloko - Sing It Back
* Aslan - This Is

Dutch

* Het Goede Doel - Belgie
* Kadanz - Intimiteit

French

* K-Maro - Histoires De Luv
* Luke - La sentinelle

Norwegian

* Tine - Vil ha deg

Portuguese

* André Sardet - Foi feitiço
* Clã - Tira A Teima
* Humanos - Maria Albertina
* Três Tristes Tigres - O Mundo A Meus Pés

Spanish

* El Arrebato - Búscate Un Hombre Que Te Quiera

More songs for PS3 SingStore [Eurogamer] [Pic]

'My SingStar Online will hit the web this year,' says Bozek [PS3 Fanboy]

In English:

* Ace of Base "Life Is A Flower"
* Alcazar "Not A Sinner, Nor A Saint"
* Ash "Oh Yeah"
* Blue Öyster Cult "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
* Boston "More Than A Feeling"
* Burhan G "Who Is He?"
* Culture Club "Karma Chameleon"
* Cyndi Lauper "She Bop"
* David Lee Roth "Just A Gigolo - I Ain't Got Nobody"
* HIM "Right Here In My Arms"
* Natasha Bedingfield "Single"
* R.E.M. "Stand"
* Radiohead "High And Dry"
* Richard Hawley "Tonight The Streets Are Ours"
* Suede "Beautiful Ones"
* Survivor "Eye Of The Tiger"
* Terence Trent D'Arby "Sign Your Name"
* The Magic Numbers "This Is A Song"
* The Monroes "Sunday People"
* The Poodles "Night Of Passion"
* The Rasmus "In The Shadows"
* Toto "Hold The Line"
* Westlife "Flying Without Wings"

In Danish:

* Rollo & King "Der Står Et Billed Af Dig På Mit Bord"

In Dutch:

* Circus Custers "Verliefd"
* Hans de Booy "Alle Vrouwen"
* Heideroosjes "Iedereen Is Gek"
* Johan Verminnen "Mooie Dagen"

In Finnish:

* Aki Sirkesalo "Naispaholainen"
* Anssi Kela "Milla"
* Don Huonot "Riidankylväjä"
* Neljä Ruusua "Juppihippipunkkari"
* Pelle Miljoona Oy "Moottoritie On Kuuma"
* PMMP "Pikkuveli"

In German:

* 2raumwohnung "36grad"
* 2raumwohnung "Wir Trafen Uns In Einem Garten"
* De Randfichten "Lebt Denn Dr Alte Holzmichl Noch...?"
* Dieter Thomas Kuhn "Es War Sommer (Die Wahre Geschichte)"
* Freundeskreis "A-N-N-A"
* Revolverheld "Generation Rock"
* Wir Sind Helden "Wenn Es Passiert"

In Portuguese:

* Anjos "Eu Estou Aqui (Yo soy aquél)"
* Da Weasel "Dúia"
* D'ZRT "Verão Azul"
* EZ Special "Sei Que Sabes Que Sim"

In Spanish:

* Burning "¿Qué Hace Una Chica Como Tú..?"
* Hombres G "Lo Noto"
* Hombres G "No Te Escaparás"

"It's an exclusive deal for this game," Aerosmith publicist Marcee Rondon told Harris. We confirmed this with Tim Riley, Activision's vice president of music affairs, who told us through Activision PR that "I can say that we do have the band exclusively, and their catalogue should be exclusive to us beyond the one or two tracks they had licensed out to Rock Band before we made our deal." (According to MTV's Rhythm Game Track Finder, it's one song: "Train Kept a Rollin'.")

Hit the link for N'gai's take on the info he uncovered and why it was both inevitable and, likely, will not be the last time this happens in the increasingly broad genre of rhythm games.

The Guitar Heroes at Red Octane Lock Up Aerosmith With An Exclusive Arrangement, Leaving Harmonix and Rock Band to Dream On [Newsweek]

Last night famously famous folks like Carmen Electra, Paris Hilton, Benjia Madden and Danny Masterson descended on the T-Mobile Sidekick Tone-Def After Party during the Coacehella Festival in Southern California to drink (a lot) and play SingStar on the Playstation 3 (a little). The place was, I'd bet, pressure washed afterwards with a mix of bleach and acid. Still won't do any good, but they do try.

Amy Winehouse
Back To Black

Beck
Loser

Blind Melon
No Rain

Blink-182
All The Small Things

Britney Spears
Toxic

Coldplay
Clocks

Corinne Bailey Rae
Put Your Records On

Dave Matthews Band
Crash Into Me

David Bowie
Let's Dance

Faith No More
Epic

Franz Ferdinand
Do You Want To ?

Jane's Addiction
Been Caught Stealing

New Found Glory
My Friends Over You

Ne-Yo
So Sick

OutKast
Hey Ya !

Pixies
Here Comes Your Man

R.E.M.
Losing My Religion

Radiohead
No Surprises

Scissor Sisters
I Don't Feel Like Dancin'

The Automatic Automatic
Monster

The Cardigans
Lovefool

The Killers
Mr. Brightside

The Pussycat Dolls
Beep

The Ramones
I Wanna Be Sedated

The Rolling Stones
Sympathy For The Devil

The Smashing Pumpkins
Today

U2
Beautiful Day

Warrant
Cherry Pie

Weezer
Buddy Holly

Wolfmother
Love Train

The US SingStar launch line-up [PS3 Fanboy]

London, 26 April 2008: With 12 million units sold across PAL to date - 5 million of them in the Fiscal Year of 2007 (April 07 - March 08) alone - and the brand now branching further into digital business via SingStore™ on PLAYSTATION®3　(PS3™), SingStar® is going from strength to strength.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) released the first SingStar title on PlayStation®2 in 2004, changing the way people interacted with the PlayStation brand. Audiences who hadn't been traditionally interested in gaming could use PlayStation as a source of entertainment. Since its launch, SingStar has turned singing into a competitive game and has amassed fans of all ages across the world.

December 2007 saw the franchise move onto the next-generation PS3 platform, breaking into a new business model of downloadable extra content in which players have the option of purchasing individual tracks by downloading from SingStore. SingStar PS3 is also supported by several online features within the game, notably My SingStar Online™, an arena where fans can share their recorded performances with the worldwide SingStar community.

The SingStar community has embraced the new online elements within the brand. In SingStore's first four months of trading, one million tracks were downloaded across the PAL region. My SingStar Online has also proved to be a popular place for SingStar fans, attracting 140,000 registered users who, combined with visitors to www.singstargame.com, have shared over 20,000 videos of their SingStar performances that have been watched a total of 2.5 million times.

Mark Hardy, Director of Product Marketing of SCEE said:

"The term 'social gaming' is widely recognised in 2008 - however, it was relatively new when we launched the first SingStar title in 2004. That game entered the charts at number one in many countries, allowing us to pioneer the social gaming category and a new market of consumers who might not have bought games before. We really are teaching the world to sing with SingStar - and business for 2008 is looking excellent."

Paulina Bozek, executive producer of SingStar said:

"SingStar's success is built upon simple and entertaining game play. Historically we have added new music tracks to keep the experience fresh but the arrival of PS3 has allowed us to think differently. We can now take advantage of the next-generation features to take the next step forward in the SingStar experience. The launch of SingStore and My SingStar Online is the realisation of this and the experience is now more user-focused, personalised and interactive."

SingStar was the catalyst for a new area of the gaming industry that's now attracting mainstream audiences and taking the social phenomena to new and exciting experiences. Over the past four years the titles added to the SingStar catalogue have included a mixture of genre and themes including: musical decades (SingStar '80s SingStar '90s), musical genres (SingStar Rocks, SingStar R&B, SingStar Pop, SingStar Pop Hits) and musical themes (SingStar Legends, SingStar Party SingStar Summer Party). All of these titles have continued to deliver sales as SingStar collectors seek out the entire back catalogue.

As well as the international titles above, country-specific titles have also been big sellers, with titles such as SingStar Deutsch Rock Pop (Available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and SingStar Latino (Available in Spain and Portugal) delivering strong sales locally. SingStar's commitment to localisation has been the key to its success - titles are available with localised tracklists for French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Polish and Croatian Speaking Countries.

Adele - Chasing Pavements
Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry On Their Own
Blondie - The Tide is High
Blur - Girls & Boys
Booty - Luv Shine
Chesney Hawkes - The One & Only
David Bowie - Let's Dance
Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out
Dirty Pretty Things - Bang Bang You're Dead
Dodgy - Good Enough
Elton John - I'm Still Standing
Five Star - System Addict
Girls Aloud - Call The Shots
Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot
Klaxons - It's Not Over Yet
KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See
Lou Bega - Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...)
Madness - House of Fun
Mel & Kim - Respectable
Mika - Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)
Peter Andre - Mysterious Girl
Plain White Ts - Hey There Delilah
Pulp - Disco 2000
Razorlight - In The Morning
Rihanna - Umbrella
Sugababes - Red Dress
Texas - Summer Son
Toto - Hold The Line
Wham! - Club Tropicana
Yazz - The Only Way Is Up

Duran Duran: Union Of The Snake
A-ha: Hunting High & Low
Ash: Shining Light
Ash: Girl From Mars
Ash: Kung Fu
Bananarama: Venus
Billy Joel: We Didn't Start The Fire
Daniel Lindstrom: Coming True
Darin: Money For Nothing
Divinyls: I Touch Myself
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince: Summertime
Don Mclean: American Pie
Duran Duran: Is There Something I Should Know
Faith No More: Easy
Kine: In The Air Tonight
Maximo Park: The Coast Is Always Changing
Maximo Park: I Want You To Stay
Mel & Kim: Respectable
Mr Big: To Be With You
Placebo: Pure Morning
Robyn: Show Me Love
Scouting For Girls: She's So Lovely
Scounting For Girls: Elvis Ain't Dead
The Creeps: Ooh I Like It

New Batch Of SingStar Tunes Announced [Three Speech]

Pity, that. Was really hoping for something new, and if not new, then at least varied. Ah well. Better luck next time, eh Sony?

Aha: The Sun Always Shines On TV
Alice Cooper: Poison
Big Brovaz: Nu-Flow
Billy Joel: Uptown Girl
Blu Cantrell: Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)
Blur: End of a Century
Britney Spears: Baby One More Time
Coldplay: Speed Of Sound
Crash Test Dummies: Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
David Bowie: Heroes
Dragon: April Sun In Cuba
Elvira Nickolaisen: Egypt Song
End Of Fashion: Oh Yeah
Fairground Attraction: Perfect
Feeder: Buck Rogers
Five: Keep On Movin'
Jamelia: Superstar
Jamelia: Stop
Joy Division: Love Will Tear Us Apart
Lemar: It's Not That Easy
Lordi: Hard Rock Hallelujah
Maria Mena: My Lullaby
Maxïmo Park: Graffiti
Maxïmo Park: Going Missing
Natalie Imbruglia: Torn
opus X: loving you girl
Paddy Casey: Saints and Sinners
Paddy Casey: Whatever Gets You True
Reamonn: Supergirl
Roachford: Only To Be With You
Rooster: Come Get Some
Roxy Music: Love Is The Drug
Shannon Noll: What About Me
Spice Girls: Wannabe
Spice Girls: Who Do You Think You Are?
Steps: Deeper Shade of Blue
Stereophonics: Dakota
Stereophonics: The Bartender And The Thief
The Darkness: I Believe In A Thing Called Love
The Hoosiers: Goodbye Mr A
The Screaming Jets: Better
The Thrills: One Horse Town
The Thrills: Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)
The Undertones: Teenage Kicks
Trio Rio: New York, Rio, Tokyo
Whitney Houston: I Want To Dance With Somebody
Clueso: Kein Bock Zu Geh'n
Die Fantastischen Vier: Geboren
Laith Al-Deen: Leb Den Tag
Laith Al-Deen: Bilder von Dir
MIA.: Tanz Der Moleküle
Pur: Abenteuerland
Revolverheld: Ich werd' die Welt verändern
Revolverheld: Mit Dir Chilln
Alexia: Egoista
Alexia: Da Grande
Daniele Silvestri: Salirò
Fiorello: Viviere A Color
Litfiba: El Diablo
Loredana Berte: Il Mare D'Inverno
Luca Di Risio: Calma e sanguefreddo
Paola & Chiara: Blu
Jan Eggum: På'an igjen
Kaptein Sabeltann: Vi seiler vår egen sjø
Philip and Sandra: Sommerflørt
Gloria Estefan: Hoy
Pereza: Pienso En Aquella Tarde

March 7th SingStore Update [Three Speech]

Details were light on the change, but beyond a coat of paint, word was that navigation would change to a series of icons running along the bottom of the interface. We don't have official confirmation on this one yet, so consider it rumor for now.

Additional songs/videos will cost £0.99/€1.49 and will start flowing from the SingStore on December 17. Or 17 December, if that's your thing. Not an unreasonable price, I would think, as it's about $2 per a la carte track against the pathetic US Dollar. I might also think that many publishers would be wise to start thinking about lowering the prices of their downloadable content in the face of Rock Band's arrival, as my personal earmarking of DLC funds is tilting favorably in its direction.

I'm PlayStation Eye-less at this point, but fully plan on cobbling together sexy performances of "Hungry Like The Wolf", saturated with comely air-clawing motions, when SingStar finally ships.

The official PlayStation Blog provides a quick technical rundown of the microphone-equipped Eye, promising "upcoming games that integrate the Eye in really innovative ways." I'm hoping that developers take advantage of that 4-microphone array and explore new PlayStation Eye gameplay concepts that go beyond what the EyeToy offered.

PlayStation Eye, A Little More Info... [PlayStation.blog]

Sure, there's plenty of rhymes in Sony's PaRappa the Rapper and even SingStar flirts with a smattering of commercial hip hop. There are also no lack of video games starring mainstream rappers, as anything that starts with Def Jam features nothing but.

But what about the games that measure rhyming skill? The one's that do it better than Get On Da Mic? And turntabling?

Totilo unfortunately misses out on two games that do require some semblance of turntable skills, Sega's arcade game Crackin' DJ—successful enough to warrant a sequel—and Konami's Beatmania. While the latter may be strictly for the button-slapping Bemani set, you'd have a hard time denying Crackin' DJ's close approximation of real life turntable and fader dexterity. Both, however, are typically relegated to Japanese and extremely rare Western arcades.

Maybe some Western developer will be up to the challenge of tailoring Crackin' DJ's arcade experience for console gamer tastes, as Harmonix did with Konami's Guitar Freaks.

It's an interesting game design challenge and fascinating to hear accomplished developers speak on the subject. Online rap battles would certainly make for interesting gameplay, especially if digital DJs are involved.

At least we'll always have Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style.

Where's 'Hip-Hop Hero'? [MTV's GameFile]

Riding the wave of SingStar popularity in Europe, SCEA today announced a new limited edition SingStar Playstation 2 pack. The white PS2 comes with a copy of SingStar Pop and two SingStar USB microphones. The pack is set to hit North America for $150 in the U.S. and $160 in Canada.

Hit the jump for the details.

FOSTER CITY, Calif., August 29, 2007 - Sony Computer Entertainment America is bringing a whole new look to the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system this holiday, along with an exclusive way to enjoy social gaming with family and friends. The company today announced plans for a limited edition Ceramic White PlayStation 2 bundled with SingStar™ Pop, the second release in the multi-million selling SingStar™ franchise, along with two high-quality USB microphones. The new PlayStation 2 bundle will be available in North America in November for a suggested retail price of US$149.99/C$159.99.
The new limited edition Ceramic White PlayStation 2 features the same ultra-sleek design and functions of the current Charcoal Black and Satin Silver PlayStation 2 versions as well as the DVD and CD playback capabilities, digital surround sound, two memory card slots and an integrated Ethernet port for network gaming.
SingStar Pop puts friends and family center stage singing real songs from current chart-topping stars and pop legends including Alicia Keys, U2, Rihanna, Ashlee Simpson, The All-American Rejects and The Clash. With microphones in hand, aspiring pop stars can put on a concert in their living rooms by performing along with their favorite artists, singing duets and one-on-one battles, and even singing with up to eight players in a "Pass-the-Mic" social frenzy.
"With our expansive library of titles for PlayStation, led by social gaming experiences such as SingStar, and Buzz!, we have an incredible offering for first-time gaming families," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, SCEA. "At $149, the limited edition Ceramic White PlayStation 2, bundled with the family-friendly social gaming title, SingStar Pop, is an unbeatable value that will provide fun for everyone this holiday."
PlayStation 2 continues to be the best-selling gaming system on the market with an installed base of more than 117 million worldwide, 44 million in North America alone. A further 10 million PlayStation 2 units are expected to be sold worldwide by the end of March 2008. With more than 160 new games expected in North America throughout the holidays and by the end of March 2008, including Guitar Hero™ Encore: Rock the 80s™, Madden NFL 08, NBA '08, and Buzz™, as well as a back catalogue of over 1,400 games, the new limited edition Ceramic White PlayStation 2 system makes for an extremely attractive package for the entire family.

SingStar is HUGE in Germany, like, Hasselhoff huge. Rock Band, Guitar Hero III? People show up, they play with the games, but SingStar draws crowds and, occasionally, a Goth who just wants to smile. Watch as this young man, whose life, I can only imagine, has been dedicated to stern looks and not smiling, finally breaks down and jams to a little YMCA... only to be caught on video. You can almost see his inner child dying at the end there when the smile freezes on his face.

This concludes our great experiment.

Verdict: We rock.

—Mark Wilson

We've already secured a mini-bottle of the local poison (Jagermeister) with which to start our hall crawl, but the rest of the drinking (mostly beer, we suspect) will be done on the show floor itself. The rules are that any time we pass a beer stand, we drink.

We'll be posting progressive updates and expect that by the time we reach Hall 5, we'll be praising Pony Friends for its fresh take on the horse grooming genre. We may even take up the mic on the SingStar stage to belt out some Scissor Sisters.

• SingStar and SingStore for PLAYSTATION 3 shown again with new features, including streaming song previews, custom user pages, video uploads of performances, and My SingStar community features.
• Super Rub A Dub shown. The PlayStation Network game, sure to be the subject of Monkey Ball comparisons, features SIXAXIS tilt control and will be available before the European PS3 launch.
• The sequel to the PSP game LocoRoco is playable, but platform and release date weren't given.
• The PLAYSTATION 3 online platform will continue to evolve "aggressively". Phil wouldn't specify timetables or feature sets.

If anyone has any questions, throw them in the comments. I'll try to answer when I can. Michael McWhertor

Let's go straight into it.

Some people were saying these questions were written in advance. Phil has never seen these questions. Phil thanks for doing this.

Thanks for indulging our little experiment here. Just backstage he said can you give me a little steer at the first question, and he just laughed at me. We can't talk about two things, I'm told. We can't talk about things that affect the stock price and we can't talk about my personal life. Which I found strange. No questions about my jail sentence or my stint in rehab.

In North America the price of the PS3 is $500 and $600, what kind of games will you have that will convince gamers to buy in at that price point?

Plenty is the short answer. Something that we've done in Europe is social aspect gaming, Singstar has sold over 7 million units and we're developing Singstar in PS3. I did bring a PS3 with a couple of game demos on it. If Ngai asked a bunch of boring questions, we could just play Motorstorm. We've got this concept of the Singstore, I can see a preview of the track, streamed off the server. Some of you will notice that we have background downloading now. [Applause]

You can save video performances.

[N'Gai points to the SingStar attract screen featuring a sunset.] Are those ducks flying by?

Yes, CELL rendered ducks. [Laughter.]

I can upload my video performance captured via a USB camera and other users can rate and review my performance. Thanks for letting me show this.

Do you have any examples of a users homepage?

You can see user info, themed weeks, who's the best Elvis singer this week. We call this "my SingStar", you can imagine this applying to a lot of products and services.

Do you think that kind of interface should be done on a game basis or on a higher level, like the friends section of the XMB?

This is I think the best integrated example we have. We do need to expose this to that layer of the XMB. We have some initiatives to move to that.

Many developers have said that Microsoft's support of development, from documentation to tools, has been better than Sony's. How does Sony plan to narrow this gap?

We can always provide better tools, documentation, service. I think its a myth that we provide documentation in Japanese. Many components were made all over the world. The CELL was made in Austin, Texas. We did in the past, in the PS1 days, work with Japanese documentation and translated docs from Japanese to English. We can always do better, its not something under my management, but we need to take those comments on board.

Programmers feel that while Sony platforms have more power, they feel that coding for them is generally a pain in the ass?

PlayStation One was the first platform to ship with an integrated OS, that integrated library, where we extracted the developer from the metal. They said, we want to work directly with the system. On PS2 we gave them access, they said no, we want the OS again! We want that abstraction. We are always struggling to get that right.

I think David Jaffe put it well, "You can have a development environment that does everything for you, but it will abstract you so much that you won't be able to get the full power of the machine."

The programmers that do the best work are the ones that like to get the deepest into the technology. That's why I think we have the right approach with the CELL design.

When Ken Kutaragi announced a PS3 worldwide release date in 06, why did Japanese developers still get special treatment in the form of dev kits?

That's not true. The first dev kits that were purely CELL based went to American developers.

I stand corrected.

EA also got a head start on dev kits. When is there going to be equal footing for all developers?

There was no preferential treatment. Some of the EA folks drove up from Redwood to get theirs from the office, so maybe they got them a little faster. [Phil defers to EA dev in the crowd for clarification.]

[Croal summarizes the audience member's comments] In his opinion he thinks the dev kits were equally distributed this time around.

The major distinction between PS2 and Xbox was that Xbox Live was superior than the roll your own approach Sony took with the online experience. Why didn't the PS3 online service match Xbox Live?

The day you buy the console is the start of a long term relationship that will evolve over time. The chipset stays the same, but the software will change over time. The features we have for delivering online content today, which are free of charge, are an open platform for developers to customize as they see fit. We'll add features over time.

My friends at Redmond say you can't offer the feature set because it's free.

No that's not true. While it may be free to the consumer, we know there are revenue streams for us to earn in other ways. We have a number of things that we'll announce shortly that will add clarity to that statement.

What do you see as the key features of Xbox Live and what is Sony's timetable for meeting those features?

PlayStation 3 shipped with content that delivered a pretty compelling online experience. Resistance 40-player multiplayer on day one was amazing. Thanks, Ted. Motorstorm is shipping in the next few weeks and someone has said that twelve player races in Motorstorm is as much fun as humans should be allowed to have with their clothes on.

What's the timetable for some of those features to the PSP?

We've got some interesting plans that we want to share at the right time.

Gabe Newell told Game Informer that "The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think It's really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted. 'd say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a 'do over'. Just say, 'This was a horrible disaster and we're sorry and we're going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it.'"

It's a great quote.

He isn't the only developer who wanted me to ask you this. Why wasn't the launch postponed until many of the launch issues could have been resolved?

I have deep respect for Gabe's output, not so much for his comments in the press. He and his company have made two of the best games I've ever played. I have to ask this, though. By what measure is the launch unsuccessful? We had people lined up in stores in three continents for days. We sold everything we shipped into the marketplace. We continued to supply week after week. We have supplied more products in Japan, Asia and the US, and more software than we did for the PS1 and PS2. "What's wrong with this picture" is my view? We can always sell more, have more software.

The European launch is on track for the 23rd of March. The supply is on its way from China to European ports as we speak.

I just hope the Suez Canal doesn't get closed, otherwise we're all screwed.

When we announced the Emotion Engine, people said it would be too hot, too large, that we could never make it in high volume. People said the CELL would be too hot, it could never be made in volume. But we're exceeding targets.

Why do you think there's so much amneisa or skepticism in publishers and developers if that's the history?

I don't know. It baffles me. We haven't done a good enough job in sharing the issues with our stakeholders. But having said that, the challenges we had when launch PS1 and PS2 were quickly forgotten. I think we'll be the same on PS3.

With all the PSPs features why do you think it's taking so long for developers to create great, unique PSP expereinces?

I think we can go deeper, we can explore more capabilities of the machine, rather than borrowing trends in TVs and consoles.

What are you playing that's not on your platform?

Personal or professional? I've looked at many for competitive analysis. I was recently playing Loco Roco's next version. There's plenty of content on the PS3 and PSP to keep me entertained. Actually I've been playing a lot of this...

[Phil fires up duck demo. Super Rub A Dub.]

People say I have an unhealthy like of ducks. This is a title played entirely with the SIXAXIS. It requires no buttons. It will be available in a few weeks from the PlayStation Store.

One of the most powerful things about the PS3 is the "Install Other OS" option. It won't be Vista. It'll be Linux.

Do you have plans to have homebrew on the PSP?

The system doesn't really lend itself to having a secondary OS.

[N'Gai moves to questions from the audience.]

With Renderware off the market, and UE3 the de facto standard, is there any kind of alarm at Sony that you really need to start providing more compartmentalized tool sets?

Linux is for the non-professional game community, its not for games that will ship on the PlayStation Network or Blu-ray. It clearly takes time for developers to get all the functions of PS3, but if you look at Motorstorm, these distributed architectures work. As far as the rendering pipeline is concerned, there are other solutions besides Unreal Engine. If developers and publishers, don't want to use Unreal, don't buy it.

Time runs out, and Phil and N'Gai leave the stage. Now to hunt down Phil and ask about Killzone! Michael McWhertor

I loved Singstar for the PS2, but I really didn't like the song selection, so I'm pretty psyched it's coming to the PS3 with downloadable songs. It looks like it's going to be a blast. Brian Crecente

The karaoke game comes packed with two microphones and a sleek interface that makes singing duets, solo and party songs a ton of fun.

Unfortunately, Rocks! is also packed with a song set that is more top 20 than sing-a-long. The neighborhood kids liked the song selection way more than my wife, I or our adult neighbors did. I wanted a little Steppenwolf, or more 80s rock, what I got was Fall Out Boy, Coldplay and Gwen Stefani.

So before you buy the game, make sure to check the 30-song setlist, because if you're not a fan the game is going to be lost on you. Brian Crecente

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment
America Inc. (SCEA) announced today the release of SingStar(TM) Rocks!,
available exclusively for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system.
Developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's London Studio, SingStar Rocks! is an innovative new title that invites players to step into the spotlight and exercise their vocal chords in an engaging, social experience that encourages even the shyest singer to unleash their inner rock star.
SingStar Rocks! is a hip, competitive singing game with a sophisticated interface featuring real songs and music videos from original artists.
SingStar Rocks! comes packed with two microphones that plug into PlayStation 2 via a special SingStar USB converter, offering an instant multi-player experience. Unlike any other singing game on the market, SingStar technology analyzes the player's vocal skills, based on their pitch, tone and rhythm and provides feedback based on how well or badly they have sung. The game is also compatible with the EyeToy(R) camera allowing players to actually see themselves singing within the game.
"Because SingStar Rocks! features actual songs and videos recorded by popular artists, it adds an element of realism never before seen in a singing game," said Sarah Stocker, Senior Producer, SCEA. "Couple that authenticity with the wide variety of songs and adjustable levels of difficulty in SingStar Rocks!, and you have the perfect party game for any get-together."
Whether hosting a girls night in, or meeting up after a night on the town, SingStar Rocks! serves as the perfect game to keep the party going, with an addictive multiplayer experience for up to eight players. Battle Mode enables two players to challenge each other and sing for the highest scores, while the Duet Mode calls for two players to each sing one vocal part of a duet, and then combines their scores into a total. "Pass The Mic" team games, featuring a variety of different singing challenges - solo rounds, combined duets,
medleys and surprise singer selections - ensure that everyone at the party has a chance to show off their superb singing skills.
SingStar Rocks! features 30 fully licensed music tracks from a wide
variety of artists and also includes footage of the original videos for each song. The songs span several genres from chart-topping rock, pop, hip-hop and legendary artists, including Fall Out Boy, Gwen Stefani, Coldplay, Jet, Scorpions, KT Tunstall, The Killers, Blur, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and many others. Players can save their favorite performances to Memory Card for future playback, and customize and enhance playback with numerous audio effects.

Warren Easton, a school established in 1845, was flooded with seven feet of water after Katrina hit and was the location of President Bush's speech on the first anniversary of the hurricane.

"Most of our students come from single parent homes. But the kids keep out of trouble. Events like this one with Sony help a lot," said Charter School Foundation President Billy Hatchett III. "So does their generous donation." I'm not a fan of big corporations generally, but I agree with Mr. Hatchett in this case. Here's where a giant company like Sony can do the most good.

VH1's Harold Goldberg was on hand to party with the kids as they played the karaoke game and danced to the music of Trombone Shorty and his Orleans Avenue Band. The kids apparently loved the game so much that they refused to stop playing when Duran Duran popped by to talk with them.

Poor Duran Duran, they need to go back to Second Life where its still the 80s and people love them. Brian Crecente

Sony's SingStar Rocks! Hits Big Easy School [VH1]