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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From Beatles Beats to the first two chapters of story mode, we’ve got the latest on the Fab Four’s Rock Band debut.

Attention Fab Four fans: You’ve got less than 30 days to wait for the release of The Beatles: Rock Band, the latest rhythm game from the folks at Harmonix. As its name implies, the game is completely focused on the music of The Beatles, and last month, Harmonix reps visited GameSpot offices to give us a hands-on look at the game. We reported on part of that visit during our last look at the game in August, but today, we’ve got the rest of the story.

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Last time, we gave you a look at the vocal trainer, which will help fledgling singers wrap their vocal chords around the complex harmonies from the 45 career-spanning songs found in the game. In addition, the game will have a drum trainer of sorts. Known as “Beatles Beats,” the mode will give you insight into the drumming style of Ringo Starr, with more than 80 beats and fills to practice that are inspired by the songs in the game. Beatles Beats is in addition to the game’s drum trainer mode, which will include 45 exercises designed to help you get your act together behind the set. If you complete the drum trainer and make your way through the many Beatles Beats exercises, you’ll be ready for practically anything Ringo (or many other drummers) throws at you.

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Here’s a trailer for Lego Rock Band for the Nintendo Wii… Enjoy!

We sub in as one of the Fab Four in our first hands-on look at the music game featuring the legendary Liverpool quartet.

If you could choose to jam out a song or two with the Beatles, which songs would you choose? You’ll be able to choose for yourself in Harmonix’s next major music game project, The Beatles: Rock Band. Announced several months ago, the game has had its proper debut here at E3 2009, including a raucous unveiling at Microsoft press conference (complete with appearances by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr) and an E3 demo premiering at Harmonix’s stage set up on the show floor, built as a convincing replica of the Abbey Road studios. We were first in line to check out the stage show, ask some questions of game developers, and play the game for ourselves.

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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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