Lips on Xbox: Find your inner karaoke queen
THERE’S nothing worse than pub karaoke.
We’ve all been there – watching teams of sweaty, red-faced men screaming Wonderwall and slathering and spitting all over the communal microphone.
Which is why Xbox’s latest offering to the gaming world comes as a welcome relief.
High tech karaoke game Lips is designed especially for wannabe singers who are polite enough to spare the public and wail in the comfort of their own living rooms.
It comes with two wireless motion-sensitive microphones bejewelled with funky flashing lights and there’s not a swaying lager lout in sight.
If you tap the microphones against your hand they make drum noises – but this seems like a pretty pointless feature if you’ve got people queuing up to sing.
Likewise, if you tip the microphones, you score more points. The logic seems to be you deserve a higher score if you’re getting into the performance – but again it seems to be a redundant feature.
This is definitely one for the girls – ideal for a night in with a twist.
Karaoke is karaoke, however you try to jazz it up.
On the upside - you don’t just get highlighted words on a screen – you get the original music videos, lyrics and scoring too.
And there is also an impressive songlist that includes classics from Queen, Roxette and The Proclaimers as well chartbusters from Duffy, Rihanna and Leona Lewis.
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The 40-strong list is not as extensive as you’d expect from your average karaoke night but the upside is you can download more from Xbox LIVE Marketplace - for a fee of course.
You can also plug in your own MP3 player and sing along to your own music collection.
This is definitely one for the girls – ideal for a night in with a twist.
And it looks to be a significant threat rival Sony’s SingStar.
Lips, available exclusively on Xbox 360, will be hitting stores on Friday November 21 priced at £49.99.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM LIPS PLAYLIST
Chris Brown: With You
Yellow: Coldplay
It’s Raining Men: Geri Halliwell
Ring Of Fire: Johnny Cash
Bleeding Love: Leona Lewis
Umbrella: Rihanna
Listen To Your Heart: Roxette
ABC: Jackson G
Virtual Insanity: Jamiroquai
White Flag: Dido