Posted Oct 22nd 2008 2:00PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Today, Microsoft pulled back the karaoke curtain on the E3 announced Lips, revealing all of the game's licensed tracks, confirming the game's release month and detailing some game specifics.
According to today's Lips news reveal, we'll be seeing the game on retailer shelves sometime in mid-November with a retail price tag of $69.99 (including both microphones.) All original music videos will be included in the game and the list of music (viewable after the break) is varied, spanning different genres in hopes of catering to everyone's musical tastes. Mad props to MS for licensing Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" and Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire". Make the jump over to Joystiq to read about the game's unique features, how it stacks up against Sony's SingStar and learn about Lips' special pre-order offer. Our Lips interest is piqued, but can it deliver?
Posted Jul 22nd 2008 2:15PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
(click to embiggen)
Searching through some new'ish Microsoft provided press assets, we came across the official box art, packaging, bundle thingy for upcoming karaoke game Lips. Complete with two stylish microphones (we're partial to the white one) flanking the retail disc and a convenient harrying handle, the Lips bundle is a pretty well designed package. Check it out for yourself by clicking the pic above to view an embiggened version.
Posted Jul 19th 2008 6:15PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
In a sit down discussion with developer iNiS's Keiichi Yano, the chief creative officer for karaoke game Lips, Joystiq learned quite the factual load of Lips information. Informative highlights including mention that Lips will support both the Zune and iPod but will not use DRM'ed music, the microphone is in fact dongle'less, every song included will be a master track and feature the original music video and game scoring will be enabled with all custom tracks. You can jump towards the break to view Joystiq's compiled Lips information fact sheet. Lips'tastic!
You can't blame the day for progressing a little slowly on the news front considering the 'OMG' moments that we brought you yesterday. But there are a few things to discuss.
Two of the titles announced yesterday have a strong focus on the casual market. Lips and Scene It! Box Office Smash may not be directed toward our audience but as party titles they both look interesting. Scene It! Lights, Camera, Action doesn't get enough love for how well made it was and with online play Scene It!2 should be a riot. Until you catch a glimpse of your friend checking IMDB.com through his Xbox Live Vision camera, that is. Lips is a singing game. Not much we can do with that on the 'funny' front. Here are the first official screenshots of each.
Update:Lips ships this holiday season with mics that light up and utilize motion control (an example used was shaking the controller as a tambourine) and lets players connect any of their music devices to play their own music. The rumors were true. According to the, now deleted, Gamerscore Blog video press release Microsoft will announce that the rumored Lips music game is a reality. The karaoke game, developed by Elite Beat Agents dev iNiS, will feature motion-sensitive wireless microphones. The "franchise" is expected to hit Xbox 360 this holiday season. Motion controlled mics? Yeah, we're confused too.
With the Microsoft press conference starting in less than half an hour, it seems that Gamerscore blog has updated via a Microsoft Media Alert in their Video Podcast that showcases the announcements that are going to be made during the conference.
Two player local and Xbox LIVE co-op for Fable 2. (Coming Oct. 2008)
Gears of War 2 campaign level unveiled and Horde mode (5 player co-op multiplayer)
Guitar Hero: World Tour – eight player Battle of the Bands, redesigned guitar, drums, microphone, and studio music creator
Rock Band 2 will play all your old music and exclusive on Xbox 360 – new online and instrument options
Lips karaoke game with motion-sensitive microphones
New avatar system
Uno Rush – includes brand new avatar system
New Xbox experience (dashboard?)
Portal: Still Alive coming in 2008!
And more (not announced in the video)
We should have more details on all that and more as the press conference begins and continues on.
They've become so common with Microsoft that pre-E3 rumors and leaks are often thought to be absolute fact. While most of the other rumors about Lips had some sort of thread tying them to Microsoft, this one seemed to just come out of left field. From over at Gamekyo come not only the pics, but also the confirmation that the developer of the game is iNiS, the devs behind Elite Beat Agents. But honestly, no matter the pedigree of the rumored developer, this looks so cheesy that we actually kinda don't want it to be real. The mics do look good, but if this is accurate they really need to change the art. Ugh.
Geekpulp reports that some interesting things have come up during their attempts to schedule Microsoft appointments for E3 (note to self: schedule Microsoft appointments for E3). According to Geekpulp, Microsoft's appointment list is headed up by two slots for "Surprise Games" and a third slot listed simply as "Surprise Thing." We have to admit, we're really not sure what these surprise games are. We'd like to thing one could be Alan Wake -- it certainly would be a surprise to see it come out of hiding -- but we get the feeling they will be unannounced titles (Lips perhaps?). As for the surprise thing, that could be Avatars, Microsoft's answer to Nintendo's Miis.
The article also mentions an EGM rumor that Microsoft will soon begin allowing third parties to manufacture 360 hardware. In other words, companies other than Microsoft could cram 360 hardware into their products. Similar rumors were swirling around late last year, saying that a new "standard chassis system" had been created that would allow 360 hardware to be added to HDTVs. Could Microsoft be shooting for the Trojan Horse strategy of the PS3, getting consumers to buy their game console because it's built into another piece of desirable hardware (in the PS3's case, a Blu-Ray player)? Gasp! is that where the Blu-Ray 360 rumors keep coming from, a Blu-Ray player that just happens to play 360 games, too? The head reels at all the possibilities. Whatever Microsoft's new "thing" is, we're definitely intrigued.
Source - Geekpulp: Two New Microsoft Titles (and more) to be Announced at E3
Source - 1UP: Will Microsoft allow other companies to make 360s?
'OMG Megaton' is a phrase often uttered by fanboys everywhere. Rarely, however, is it done with any sort of sincerity. After yesterday's massive leak of Intellisponse Survey info, we think it's safe to use the phrase with complete and utter confidence: OMG MEGATON!!!!111LOLZ1! Seriously, there is so much information being disseminated that people are actually starting to mock up fake survey pages in an attempt to grab the spotlight. Here we have gathered up all the rumors -- they are just that, by the way: rumors -- that we've posted so far as well as some that Joystiq posted while we foolishly slept.
Of particular interest, note the video above, which reportedly comes from an as yet unreleased Silicon Knights game entitled Crucible: The Evil Within. Looks like Too Human set in a more traditional fantasy realm, which is an idea we fully support.
While the "Lips" rumor has been circulating the tubes for some time now it was never really known exactly what the thing was. A game? A peripheral? A female fashion accessory? We just weren't sure. Now with Microsoft leakinglike asieve there are finally some details on the project.
Apparently Lips is the codename for a karaoke game that uses a specialized microphone with built-in lights and a limited motion detector. To go with the pair of mics that are included in the default package, the game itself will have 30 songs right out of the box and features the ability to import music from a CD or Ipod to sing along with. To help with that, the game somehow reduces the vocals of the imported songs, and includes a way to place the lyrics of the songs on-screen a la "normal" karaoke.
This is MS we're talking about here, so there is of course a healthy DLC component to the thing too. Lips is also going to have "hundreds of music videos" available for download to ensure that MS sees its fair share of continuing profits. However the likelihood of people paying for them, given the ability to import their own songs, is rather doubtful.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the interview, Kim spoke to the rumors about Microsoft's secret motion controller development. When asked directly about the rumors, Kim gave the typical no comment response, but also noted, "I do think that would be a mistake, if we just tried to come out and copy what Nintendo has done. What Nintendo has done has worked well for them, but we have to think about what our innovation aspect is going to be." Let's focus on the word "just" and the phrase "is going to be" for a moment. "Just" implies that Microsoft plans to do more than Nintendo has done with control methods, while "is going to be" implies that Microsoft is definitely up to something. Just what that is remains a mystery. Is it Lips, Newton, or something else?
Posted May 13th 2008 4:30PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Don't think we already forgot about those mysterious "Lips" that were supposed to be unveiled as part of today's Spring Showcase announcement. But, as you are well aware, there has been absolutely zero "Lip" talk coming from Microsoft's, erm ... lips. Is it a new game? Is it a new voice accessory? We aren't sure, but hopefully an explanation will still be coming sometime today. Though, as the minutes tick by, we're beginning to think that "Lips" is no longer a Gamer's Day announcement and may now be E3 talk.
The mystery of the "Lips" game (news that was leaked days early thanks to Microsoft's press site) is seeing another twist, with word that "Lips" really isn't a game. Instead, "Lips" is rumored to be the codename for a new Xbox 360 accessory.
8Bit Joystick is reporting that months ago they got a hold of insider documents from the Xbox 360 engineering team and came across mention of a new 360 voice accessory code named "Lips". No more information was detailed in the supposed insider documents, but 8Bit Joystick speculates that these "Lips" will either be a new way to communicate or will add voice recognition to games. We aren't sure if that makes much sense seeing that we have a perfectly functioning headset that does voice recognition, but we'll go with it seeing that "Lips" speculation is more fun when thinking about new accessories. So ... is tomorrow's news here yet?
Posted May 12th 2008 11:00AM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Ready for roundnumber three of the Microsoft Gamers Day 2008 leaks? Great! Thanks for being a sport. According to that same Microsoft press set that accidently posted all the MGD08 categories a bit early also posted two mysterious categories for games we haven't heard of. The two games in question are labeled as "Lips" and "Ninja Blade" ... so what could they be? No, really, we don't know. We're totally clueless and asking you your opinion on what they could be. Heck, we'll even start the guessing fun.
We guess that "Lips" will turn out being an XBLA game where players administer beauty enhancing lip injections to plump up the lips of insecure, wannabe actors. And for "Ninja Blade", it's a simulation game where you have a blade, named Ninja, who you treat like a pet dog. Now it's your turn to guess ... get to it!
In a sit down discussion with developer iNiS's Keiichi Yano, the chief creative officer for karaoke game 
Geekpulp reports that some interesting things have come up during their attempts to schedule Microsoft appointments for E3 (note to self: schedule Microsoft appointments for E3). According to Geekpulp, Microsoft's appointment list is headed up by two slots for "Surprise Games" and a third slot listed simply as "Surprise Thing." We have to admit, we're really not sure what these surprise games are. We'd like to thing one could be 
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