There was a time when anyone who came to my house had to pick up a PlayStation mic and belt along to the latest pop hit on karaoke game SingStar. There was no choice. Everyone had to play.
Several friends fewer later, I'm still impressed with the ability of the platform holder to convince a UK audience that karaoke is cool (although I still can't get anyone to come to Horatio's with me). But truth be told, I'm a little overwhelmed by their enthusiasm.
MCV reported last week that Sony plans to release another six singing titles in the next 12 months, on their PlayStation2 and PlayStation3 consoles, moving full-speed ahead in their approach to bludgeoning new audiences with social gaming.
Surely after the PS3 version they won't have to launch any more software? Early rumours list the SingStar downloadable content as one of the key online features of the new console. Sony have a vast back catalogue of tunes they can dip into, and a direct pipeline to the consumer. Why spend pennies on all that messy plastic?
What'll be really cool is when new bands can upload their own tunes and players can download their tunes for free. Talk about a marketing opportunity to rival MySpace.
