We got a fresh look at this urban karaoke experience and battled 4mm Games president Jamie King for bragging rights.

Gazing around your local games store, you’ll notice that there’s certainly no shortage of rhythm or karaoke games. SingStar, Lips, Guitar Hero World Tour, Rock Band, and Karaoke Revolution seem to have karaoke gameplay pretty well covered, but developers 4mm Games is banking on the power of hip-hop, a partnership with Def Jam Recordings, and some unique features to swing the balance in its favour. We took a closer look at this infectious title at GamesCom 2009, in Cologne, Germany.

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Konami’s sing-along franchise is back!

Karaoke Revolution returns without its American Idol-license this year, but a few new features have been added to refresh this year’s installment. Revolution has always had a degree of cover artists, however, for the first time, Revolution has included master tracks for every song on disc. There are 50 songs and accompanying music videos in total, and with an eclectic mix of genres, there should be something for every karaoke fan. Konami is planning to release more than 200 DLC tracks for Revolution, and it will also be backwards-compatible with existing songs. Additionally, it will support a range of microphone peripherals, with Guitar Hero and Rock Band confirmed. However, we expect SingStar and Lips’ mics should also work.

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We get on the mic and unleash the flow, hot songs, and social networking like whoa!

Though there may be a proliferation of music games on store shelves these days, there is a distinct shortage of games that predominantly feature hip-hop. Enter developer Terminal Reality and the newly formed development studio 4mm Games. These feisty fellows have got it into their heads to give both hip-hop music and the hip-hop community the game they deserve. To accomplish the former, they’ve paired up with Def Jam Interactive to get the industry connections they need to secure a huge song list that reaches from coast to coast and includes classics as well as modern hits. For the latter, they are designing an online hub where players can post their performance videos, compete in tournaments, and showcase their skills to the world. We visited 4mm Games to take a look at Def Jam Rapstar, check out the community hub, and grab the mic for a one-on-one battle with the company president.

4mm Games’ President Jamie King talks in-depth about Def Jam Rapstar, and a rap battle ensues.

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Activision takes the wraps off its long-rumored skateboard-peripheral-based game, to be fully revealed at E3 June 2; Robomodo and Buzz Monkey developing.

Last June, the now-infamous Intellisponse leak took the wraps off the now-revealed Xbox Live Avatars, karaoke game Lips, and Guitar Hero World Tour neck slide. Now, yet another game accidentally unmasked by the market-research firm has been officially announced.

This morning, the Tony Hawk Ride Web site–http://thride.com/–went live, revealing the title, platforms, and developer of the long-awaited relaunch of Activision’s Tony Hawk series. As predicted by the aforementioned leak and subsequent reports, the game will use a skateboard controller and will be released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. As can be seen in the shot of the game, the peripheral will be a wireless full-sized skate dek, and it will have the buttons located along one side.

Not revealed in the Intellisponse leak was that Tony Hawk Ride will also be coming to the Wii, nor the indentity of its developers. Upstart shop Robomodo–which rose from the ashes of EA Chicago–is one of the shops working on the project, as had been suspected since Neversoft revealed it was no longer involved with the Tony Hawk series. Also present on the site is the logo for Portland, Oregon-based Buzz Monkey–which worked on Tomb Raider: Underworld (but not as the primary developer).

The game’s official site promises more information on June 2–the first day of the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo, which GameSpot will be covering live from Los Angeles.

Check out the source at GameSpot

Get in touch with your inner Disney star with this upcoming karaoke game for a younger audience.

Let’s face it, you’ve always wanted to be a Disney Channel celebrity. You may not have realized it yet, but at some point down the line that sudden desire will hit you like a bag of bricks. When that moment in life comes, where will you turn for release? The answer may just lie in Disney Sing It: Pop Hits. This upcoming karaoke game for the Wii and PlayStation 3 features a roster of Disney artists to go along with a tween-friendly look and feel. We recently had the opportunity to belt our hearts out in a hands-on session with Pop Hits at a Disney press event.

The basics of Disney Sing It: Pop Hits should feel familiar to anyone who’s played a game like Sing Star or picked up a microphone in Rock Band. You pick a song, you sing the provided lyrics, and the game judges how well you’re matching the pitch of the melody with live feedback. At the end of the song, you’re given an overall accuracy score in addition to a few other stats, such as spoken words hit and highest note achieved. The core doesn’t deviate much from what you’d expect from a karaoke game, though we will say that it does an abnormally good job with friendly feedback. We had the chance to sing Colbie Caillat’s megahit “Bubbly,” and despite a final score that could be generously described as lackluster, the game made sure to throw a “Good Job!” our way at the end.

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