Lips (video game)

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Lips
Lips Video Game Cover.JPG
Developer(s) iNiS
Publisher(s) Microsoft Game Studios
Designer(s) Keiichi Yano
Platform(s) Xbox 360
Release
  • NA: November 18, 2008
  • EU: November 21, 2008
  • AU: November 27, 2008
Genre(s) Music / Rhythm
Mode(s) Single-player, Multi-player

Lips is a 2008 karaoke video game for the Xbox 360. Lips was developed by iNiS and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game features the use of motion sensitive wireless microphones and supports the use of songs already owned through a Zune or iPod. [1] [2] [3] Lips has spawned three sequels: Lips: Number One Hits , Lips: Party Classics , and Lips: I Love the 80's . Localized versions of the game and sequels have been released in several countries, including Lips: Canta en Español (Lips: Sing in Spanish), and Deutsche Partyknaller (Lips: German Party Hits).

Contents

The Lips' microphones are compatible with Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: Metallica due to a patch that was released in summer 2009.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Lips is similar to the gameplay of SingStar and Karaoke Revolution . In addition to supporting single-player, the game allows two players to sing duets or play competitively in various multiplayer modes including "Time Bomb", "Kiss", and "Vocal Fighters". Unlike most other music games, players cannot fail out of a song if they sing badly (or even if they don't sing at all). [4] The game does not have a difficulty setting but rewards players for their singing in six categories including rhythm, pitch, and vibrato. [5]

Players can connect a digital music player (such as an iPod or Zune), or use a USB flash drive, to sing along to their own music. The game will perform vocal reduction and score player like the included songs, except that the game will not display song lyrics. [3] Players can also connect their Xbox 360 to a computer running a compatible media sharing service, such as Windows Media Connect 2.0, Windows Media Center, Zune PC software with sharing, or PVConnect to access their own music from a network share within the game.

Lips is bundled with two motion-sensitive wireless microphones (one white, one black). A second player can seamlessly join in the currently playing song by picking up the microphone and shaking it. [3] The microphones can also be used to perform gestures dictated by the game, plus the standard game controllers can also be used to add overlays such as hand-claps and crowd noise.

In February 2009, Microsoft released a title update for Lips. This patch addressed most of the issues with the game, namely, it introduced a new algorithm for voice recognition and vibrato pick-up, claiming that the game was 'too easy' before, and the ability to synchronise the microphone timing, a cause of regular negative feedback. This update also introduced the use of global leaderboards to track high scores. Minor tweaks were also made to the user interface.

Additionally, following the April 2009 title update, song packs were also introduced for purchase, offering bundles of songs for a discounted price.

As of October 2014, the store and server for Lips had been shut down.

Wireless Microphone compatibility list

The games listed below support the Xbox 360 Wireless Microphones.

Reception

Lips received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. [6] Reviewers praised the wireless microphones and multiplayer experience but criticized the single-player modes and the song import feature which many people had issues with. In addition, the import feature does not support lyric downloads but the game does make an attempt to reduce the real singer's voice volume while playing in this mode.

The A.V. Club gave the game a B+ and called it "a self-esteem booster for your tone-deaf friend, though the introduction of more content should help make it stay fun for everyone else". [15] 411Mania gave it a score of seven out of ten, saying that it was "a mixed bag, but by far it is not a bad game. It's a decent game that is missing some of the key components that other games in this genre have". [17] In contrast, Variety gave it a mixed review, saying that "though it will quickly bore vocalists acclimated to the challenge of Rock Band, Lips excels as home karaoke, bringing style and pizzazz to a crowded genre. However, Lips is also exceedingly shallow, with a small number of songs and a broken system for importing new ones, meaning living room crooners will likely stick with Sony's deeper SingStar franchise for the time being". [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<i>Guitar Hero II</i> 2006 video game

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<i>UltraStar</i> 2023 video game

UltraStar is a clone of SingStar, a music video game by Polish developer Patryk "Covus5" Cebula. UltraStar lets one or several players score points by singing along to a song or music video and match the pitch of the original song. UltraStar displays lyrics as well as the correct notes similar to a piano roll. On top of the correct notes UltraStar displays the pitch recorded from the players. UltraStar allows several people to play simultaneously by connecting several microphones possibly to several sound cards. To add a song to UltraStar, a file with notes and lyrics is required, together with an audio file. Optionally a cover image, a backdrop image and a video may be added to each song. UltraStar comes preloaded with a short sample from Nine Inch Nails hit "Discipline" from The Slip album.

Guitar Hero is a series of music rhythm game video games first released in 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead, bass, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Players match notes that scroll on-screen to colored fret buttons on the controller, strumming the controller in time to the music in order to score points, and keep the virtual audience excited. The games attempt to mimic many features of playing a real guitar, including the use of fast-fingering hammer-ons and pull-offs and the use of the whammy bar to alter the pitch of notes. Most games support single player modes, typically a Career mode to play through all the songs in the game, as well as competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes. With the introduction of Guitar Hero World Tour in 2008, the game includes support for a four-player band including vocals and drums. The series initially used mostly cover versions of songs created by WaveGroup Sound, but most recent titles feature soundtracks that are fully master recordings, and in some cases, special re-recordings, of the songs. Later titles in the series feature support for downloadable content in the form of new songs.

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<i>Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock</i> 2007 video game

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the third main installment in the Guitar Hero series, following Guitar Hero II. It is the first game in the series to be developed by Neversoft after Activision's acquisition of RedOctane and MTV Games' purchase of Harmonix, the previous development studio for the series. The game was released worldwide for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 in October 2007, with Budcat Creations assisting Neversoft on developing the PlayStation 2 port and Vicarious Visions solely developing on the Wii port respectively. Aspyr published the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X versions of the game, releasing them later in 2007.

<i>Guitar Hero World Tour</i> 2008 video game

Guitar Hero World Tour is a 2008 music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the fourth main installment in the Guitar Hero series. The game was launched in North America in October 2008 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 consoles, and a month later for Europe and Australia. A version of World Tour for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X was later released by Aspyr.

<i>Guitar Hero: Aerosmith</i> 2008 video game

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a 2008 music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It was released on the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 consoles, with Budcat Creations solely developing the PlayStation 2 port, Vicarious Visions solely developing the Wii port, and Aspyr solely publishing the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X ports. The game was released on June 29, 2008 in North America, on July 27, 2008 in Europe, on August 6, 2008 in Australia and October 9, 2008 in Japan. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith sold as both a bundle with a specially designed guitar controller as well as a game-only package.

<i>Rock Revolution</i> 2008 video game

Rock Revolution is a music video game developed by Zoë Mode and HB Studios and published by Konami. The game was released on 15 October 2008 for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. As with similar titles, the game uses various controllers to simulate the performance of rock music, primarily using guitar and drum controllers on its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions.

<i>Rock Band 2</i> 2008 music video game

Rock Band 2 is a 2008 music video game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to Rock Band and is the second title in the series. The game allows up to four players to simulate the performance of popular songs by playing with controllers modeled after musical instruments. Players can play the lead guitar, bass guitar, and drums parts to songs with "instrument controllers", as well as sing through a USB microphone. Players are scored on their ability to match scrolling musical "notes" while playing instruments, or by their ability to match the singer's pitch on vocals.

<i>Guitar Hero: Metallica</i> 2009 video game

Guitar Hero: Metallica is a 2009 music rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. The game was released in North America on the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 on March 29, 2009, and on PlayStation 2 on April 14, 2009, with an Australian and European release in May 2009. It is the first game in the Guitar Hero series to focus on the career and songs of heavy metal band, Metallica, following Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.

<i>Rock Band</i> Series of music video games

Rock Band is a series of rhythm games developed by Harmonix, principally for home video game consoles. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero series, the main Rock Band games has players use game controllers modeled after musical instruments and microphones to perform the lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, drums and vocal parts of numerous licensed songs across a wide range of genres though mostly focusing on rock music by matching scrolling musical notes patterns shown on screen. Certain games support the use of "Pro" instruments that require special controllers that more closely mimic the playing of real instruments, providing a higher challenge to players. Players score points for hitting notes successfully, but may fail a song if they miss too many notes. The series has featured numerous game modes, and supports both local and online multiplayer modes where up to four players in most modes can perform together.

<i>Lips: Number One Hits</i> 2009 video game

Lips: Number One Hits is a karaoke video game for the Xbox 360 console, and is the follow-up to the 2008 title Lips. Like its predecessor, the game was developed by iNiS and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released in 2009 and received generally average reviews. Spin-offs of the game have also been released, including Lips: Deutsche Partyknaller and Lips: Canta en Español.

<i>Karaoke Revolution</i> (2009 video game) 2009 video game

Karaoke Revolution is a video game for the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. It is developed by Blitz Games and published by Konami. A different version of the game, Karaoke Revolution Glee was released exclusively for the Wii and is based on the popular musical TV sitcom by 20th Century Fox.

<i>Lips: Party Classics</i> 2010 video game

Lips: Party Classics is a karaoke video game for the Xbox 360, and the second follow-up to the original Lips. The game was developed by iNiS and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game, like all the other titles in the main Lips series, features the use of motion sensitive wireless microphones and includes 40 upbeat songs from the past decades.

<i>Lips: I Love the 80s</i> 2010 video game

Lips: I Love the 80s is a karaoke game for the Xbox 360 games console, and the third follow-up to Lips. Like the other entries in the series, the game uses motion-sensitive wireless microphones, but like Lips: Party Classics it is compatible with USB microphones. It was only released in Europe.

Rhythm game accessories are often required to play rhythm games available for various consoles, such as the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360. These include dance pads, guitar controllers, drum controllers, microphones and turntable controllers. With the exception of microphones, these controllers can generally be used to control any game, but have limited inputs, making them impractical for most games.

<i>BandFuse: Rock Legends</i> 2013 video game

BandFuse: Rock Legends is a music video game produced by the American studio Realta Entertainment Group. It integrates musical instruments with video game consoles through a proprietary audio engine also developed by Realta. This audio engine supports up to 4 players, and connects to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles using electric guitars, basses, and microphones.

References

  1. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (July 14, 2008). "Take A Look At iNiS' Lips". Kotaku . Gizmodo Media Group. Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  2. ↑ Bramwell, Tom (July 16, 2008). "iNiS's Keiichi Yano quiet on Lips DLC pricing". Eurogamer . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Grant, Christopher (July 17, 2008). "Details on Lips: microphone, your songs, its songs". Engadget (Joystiq). Oath Inc. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  4. 1 2 Geddes, Ryan (November 20, 2008). "Lips Review". IGN . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  5. 1 2 Cocker, Guy (November 19, 2008). "Lips Review". GameSpot . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Lips for Xbox 360 Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on January 24, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  7. ↑ Walker, Torrey (November 21, 2008). "Lips Review". 1UP.com . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on February 28, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  8. ↑ Edge staff (January 2009). "Lips". Edge . No. 197. Future plc. p. 91.
  9. ↑ Bramwell, Tom (November 19, 2008). "Lips". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  10. ↑ Vore, Bryan (January 2009). "LIPS: A Solid First Effort at Karaoke Gaming from Microsoft". Game Informer . No. 189. GameStop. Archived from the original on December 23, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  11. ↑ McGarvey, Sterling (November 24, 2008). "GameSpy: Lips". GameSpy . IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on August 13, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  12. ↑ Sandoval, Angelina (December 9, 2008). "Lips - 360 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 26, 2008. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  13. ↑ Gerstmann, Jeff (December 12, 2008). "Lips Review". Giant Bomb . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Lips". Official Xbox Magazine . Future US. February 2009. p. 81.
  15. 1 2 Nelson, Samantha (December 29, 2008). "Lips". The A.V. Club . The Onion. Archived from the original on February 24, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  16. 1 2 Alexander, Leigh (December 1, 2008). "Lips". Variety . Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  17. ↑ Huston, Ty (February 1, 2009). "LIPS (Xbox 360) Review". 411Mania. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
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