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GAMING FEATURE

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LOOKING BACK AFTER 20 YEARS

20 years ago, a new sensation launched on the PlayStation 2. Called SingStar , it brought competitive singing into homes all over Australia. Just don’t call it karaoke… Words Amy Flower 2004 A (Sing)Star is born onlookers amused - those participating could play with or against each other initially, and over time further modes were added to up the party fun.

The other innovation brought by the PS3’s connectivity, and the more ubiquitous nature of the internet by this time, was My SingStar Online. This allowed those equipped with the PS3

On the technical side, SingStar gauged both a singer’s pitch and timing, as they tried to mimic the original version of the song via an online musical stave with bars that filled up as the accompanying lyrics were sung. It ranged from an easy setting that was very forgiving, to a hard mode that was quite the opposite – we reckon some of the original singers would have struggled to score well. Taking off quickly in its initial release areas of Europe and Australia, new compilations - often themed around genres such as pop, rock, ballads, and more – started appearing on store shelves regularly. A key feature was that once you had a SingStar disc up and running, you could swap in other titles to access their songs without leaving the game. 2007 Going online with the PS3 The arrival of the PlayStation 3 saw new options open up arena. The SingStore was launched, allowing people to choose singular songs, pay for them, and download them to be integrated into the carousel of the PS3 version of SingStar when run. While it launched with just a handful of tracks, over time upwards of 1,000 were made available, some of which had been released on previous disc editions, but many that were entirely new to the game. for SingStar, in particular within the online

camera to upload and share their performances around the world, for better and definitely often for worse. PS3-specific SingStar song compilations were released, but interest seemed to be waning rather than increasing. One of the savviest moves that London Studio had yet made happened a while after launch when PS2 disc compatibility was introduced. Now PS3 players could disc swap PS2 SingStar titles, giving life back to those compilations that had been gathering dust on shelves like old mix tapes. Yet for all the new tech at play, we still used those old school wired USB microphones… 2008 How Swede it is! The first artist-specific edition of SingStar launched in style, with the arrival (see what we did there?) of SingStar ABBA . As you’d expect, it was wall-to-wall Swedish pop sensation, featuring all of their biggest hits. Queen and Take That also got their own Australian releases eventually, while artists

SingStar ’s developers, Sony’s London Studio, tended to get rather grumpy if you called their baby a karaoke game. Their argument was that the Asian-born pastime was a passive affair, whereas they had brought western-style competitivity to the form. Either way, SingStar gave wannabe warblers the perfect outlet, and it became an instant party hit that appealed way beyond the typical gamer demographic. The formula was deliciously simple. Take a bunch of classic (and some not so) songs and create a slick framework around them with which the proprietary SingStar microphones could be used to sing into – bringing both a certain realistic air to proceedings, as well as including those folk who would be deterred by having to use a dedicated game controller. As the official music video played - keeping

46 JUNE 2024

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