What’s in it? A PS2 console, two SingStar mics and your choice of any SingStar game. All for $199, saving you a decent amount if you’d bought them separately.

Be quick though, the deal ends tomorrow.

And yes, I realise guys play SingStar as well. But Sony’s marketing tells me otherwise.

Meet The Beatles: Rock Band: SingStar, for the PS3. It’s a mouthful, we know, but it’s also real, and constitutes one of the strangest franchise couplings we’ve ever seen, what with the two franchises being competitors and all.

It includes a copy of The Beatles: Rock Band and a pair of wired microphones, all the while carrying the branding of both music franchises. You want extra instruments? You go get them yourself.

It’s out later this month, is definitely targeted at the older crowd who are more likely to sing than hold a plastic guitar, and is most likely for PAL regions only.

Harmonix’s Sean Baptiste has issued a short, blunt statement on the matter, saying “This isn’t true, just a misheard rumour. I’ll have more details later in the day about whatever it is they misheard.”

The game was rumoured to be a “port” of The Beatles: Rock Band, but Baptiste’s comment casts some serious doubt on that. Incidentally, no details were provided on just what it was MCV “misheard”, so colour us intrigued on just what is going down here.

[Rock Band]

The game is quite a unique beast, as according to MCV it’s not a competitor to Beatles: Rock Band. Rather, it’s a “port” of sorts, and will be the same game as we’re expecting with Beatles: Rock Band, only…without instruments.

It’s still being published by MTV Games, and like Rock Band will still be distributed by EA. MCV say it’ll be out “within days” the the September 9 release of The Beatles: Rock Band.

SingStar: Beatles on the way [MCV]

Why? Because it’s Queen. As far as strutting, pour-your-heart-out rock goes, it doesn’t get much bigger than Queen. Which means when your girlfriend/lady friend/wife/sister says “oh go on, have a go”, your usual excuse of “nah, this is all girly tripe” just won’t cut it. Why? Because it’s Queen. You’re just going to have to man up.

LOVED
Variety: A big part of not just Queen’s popularity, but also their longevity, is that the band’s catalogue is so wildly eclectic. Pop, ballads, hard rock, most people’s genre of choice will be covered, which for a party game is crucial. Indeed, in my humble opinion, the SingStar Queen tracklist is more varied – and more enjoyable – than the remainder of the SingStore itself can manage.

Princes of the Universe: The whole point of these music games is that they should make you feel big. Like a rock star. SingStar Queen nails this. Sure, that has more to do with the fact it’s Queen than with the game itself, but if you don’t break into a massive grin after singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” there’s something inhuman about you.

Wireless Mics: My copy of the game arrived with some wireless microphones in tow, and they’ve been worth the wait. They’re well-built, have a good weight to them, and there weren’t any lag or feedback issues I could pick up.

Greatest Hits: OK, yes, I am a massive Queen fan. Which is why I’m so happy with the tracklist for this game. Sure, as I said above, it’s got a bit of everything, but Sony’s London Studio went the extra mile and included some classics that are skewed more towards appeasing Queen fans than providing songs that would be good for SingStar’s gameplay. Like “Who Wants To Live Forever”, a teary trainwreck of a song that not only has intolerable instrumental sections, but is from the Highlander soundtrack. Both of which make it awesome, and which also seem to have me standing to lose a gentleman’s agreement…

HATED
Inequality: The game is available on both PS2 and PS3. The PS3 version contains 25 songs, but the PS2 version only has 20. This is no doubt down to size restrictions, as other SingStar titles available on both platforms have featured the same discrepancy, but still. It’s a little unfair on PS2 owners, who are no doubt still the most numerous purchasers of the series.

Under Pressure: This one isn’t really the game’s fault either, but you can’t help playing through SingStar Queen’s tracklist and wishing it was Rock Band: Queen’s tracklist instead.

Being the umpteenth release of a well-worn, successful franchise, there’s really not much more to say. This is SingStar, only instead of corny pop songs, it’s a collection of classic rock tracks. Your mileage on this will depend entirely on how comfortable you are singing in public, and how much you enjoy Queen.

SingStar Queen for the PS2 and PS3 was released in March 2009 in Australia and retails for around AUD$49.95.

If, to feel safe and secure, you depend upon the image of the U.S. fighting man as 200 pounds of rompin’ stompin’ shitkickin’ dynamite, this might not be the video for you to watch.

If, on the other hand, you take a certain sociopathic pleasure in tough guys caught unawares, or you have serious Department of Navy/Air Force loyalties and want a laugh, have a gander at this Army guy crooning falsetto about loving dangerously. Best part, the YouTube caption says he was singing Pussycat Dolls before this. What is up with the guy in boxing gloves? Also.

I clock out after about 30 seconds of this. How long can you last? He gets busted at the end, but it’s not much of a reaction.

Kryck Singing Toxic by Britney Spears on SingStar for PS3 [YouTube, via vgpop.com, blame reader Chris for this]

So every time a Briton downloaded a single in Rock Band, Guitar Hero, SingStar or the like, that sale would count towards the song’s performance on the charts.

These figures would be included in the “Download” charts, lumped in with music picked up from iTunes, Amazon, etc.

Omar Maskatiya, chart director at the Official Chart Company, says:

We have been in discussion with record labels and the various games companies that host games which allow users to download master recording versions of artist tracks. In theory they could be eligible to be combined with downloads of the same tracks that take place from the wide range of digital retailing services that currently make up our chart panel.

All that’s left is to nut out a deal with publishers and platform holders as to how the figures would be tallied.

Music charts to add games [MCV]

The figure comes courtesy of market research firm Interpret, who can also tell us some other fun facts about music game players, like:

- People who play music games buy 67% more CDs than the Average Joe

- They’re twice as likely to legally download a song

- Music game players are more likely to watch music videos online than the Average Joe (29% vs 15%)

- They’re also more likely to listen to music via a social network than Average Joe (45% vs 32%)

So, there you have it! Music game players like music.

25 million US gamers played music games in April [GI.biz]

I remember, in my previous life, working at EB Games the day the game first arrived in an unassuming crate from Sony. And thinking, “Man, this is stupid. Karaoke? On the PS2? Whatever”.

And that, kids, is why I’m not in product management.

The series has already been released across a staggering 70 individual titles (you can thank European-language editions and variations between American, British and Australian versions for the inflated figure), and has in that time amassed combined sales of over 16 million units.

Imagine how many it would have sold if it was even remotely popular outside of Europe and Australasia!

SingStar: The Stats [GI.biz]

Remember when we told you SingStar was being patched last week? We lied. It’s patched now though, with trophy support, voice control, and a newly redesigned SingStore eagerly awaiting your dulcet tones.

It seemed rather silly to release a trophy patch one week and a functionality patch the next. Perhaps that’s why the new global patch for SingStar got pushed back until today. Now players can win various trophies by singing their hearts out, sharing their videos, and not breaking all the glass in the house while trying to reach those high notes.

The patch also introduces a newly redesigned SingStore and My SingStar Online; quick song purchase functionality; and the promised voice control features that mean you never have to put your hands on that filthy controller that for some reason shipped with your $400 to $600 karaoke machine.

Check out the official post over at the PlayStation blog to see a teaser trailer for the upcoming SingStar Queen.

SingStar Global Patch Adds Voice Control, Trophies and More [PlayStation.Blog]