Last year we applauded Microsoft's entry into the music genre with Lips. Unique LED and motion sensitive microphones, plus a packed song list with plenty of co-op options made for a great party. Lips is back with the first sequel, called Lips #1 Hits. But is it worth your money?

There's five co-op releases this week, highlighted by the monster that is Borderlands.  On the opposite end of the spectrum we have two family friendly titles and a karaoke game that's sure to make anyone's next party a blast.  All the games release today and are available from Amazon.

Borderlands on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 features 4 player online co-op with drop in and drop out support, as well as 2 player local co-op.

Lips #1 Hits on the Xbox 360 features 2 player local co-op for duet singing in special songs, as well as alternating singing in all songs.  There's even co-op specific leaderboards.

Marvel Super Hero Squad is the kid friendly answer to Ultimate Alliance 2 on the Wii and PS2.  The action game boasts over 200 playable characters from the Marvel universe with 2 player local co-op.  Take that DLC!

Astro Boy is the game based on the movie based on the cartoon.  It supports two player local co-op through the game's single player mode and is out on the PS2 and the Wii.

Also the PSP version of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars releases today with it's survival co-op mode.  It's got two player local wireless play, social aspects like items trading as well as brand new graphics.  

If there was one thing holding Rock Band 2 back from being the perfect music game, it would have to be the lack of support for wireless microphones.  A patch has just been released that fixes this problem, allowing rockers to use the Lips microphones (also recently released seperately) in a fully wireless environment.  We're pleased with the addition of this feature, but curious as to why it took so long.  After all, wireless mic support was announced last year!

The patch also includes several other fixes, incorporating some of the tweaks from The Beatles Rock Band.  The change most relevant to gameplay is improved hammer-on and pull-offs for chords.  For those who download a lot of music (raises hand), you no longer have to wait for a song to download, and can just queue as many songs up as you like while you play.  There are a few other minor features as well.  Nice to see the support still going strong for a year old game!

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Few people in the world have heard the beautiful and melodic sounds that resonate from my vocal chords while shaking a brightly colored LED microphone and singing Umbrella by Rihanna.

Now there's a new calling to test my vocal prowess.  And its name is Barbie Girl, and it's featured on the Lips Number One Hits track list.  Only in Lips Number One Hits can you mix the greats like Roy Orbinson, Mariah Carrey and MC Hammer.  And mix I will.  

What greats will you mix up at your next party?  There's over 40 tracks to choose from.

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Sorry, kiddos: this one isn't compatible with Halo 3, so you're going to just have to keep singing your squeaky renditions of Kryptonite into your Halo edition boom mics. Meantime, the real crooners can get down with the new Xbox 360 Wireless Microphone, the first peripheral microphone supported by at least one music game from each series.

Lips, Lips: Number One Hits, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Rock Band 2, The Beatles: Rock Band, and yes -- Disney's Sing It: High School Musical 3: Senior Year are compatible with the new wireless mic. Now your vocal domination can truly begin.

The mic will retail for $49.99 in the U.S. -- no details yet on a release outside of the States.

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Earlier this week Microsoft held an event to showcase some upcoming holiday products including Windows 7, Zune HD, and numerous Xbox 360 titles.  We've already written up some extensive coverage of Halo 3: ODST, which if you haven't already, you should go check out.  Despite ODST being a highlight of sorts, there were other interesting things worth mentioning

It's time to dig out the parachute pants and eat some California Raisins.  The recently rumored sequel to co-op karaoke game Lips has officially been announced.  Titled Lips: Number One Hits, the game will include only songs that reached #1 on the charts.  Not much has been said about gameplay changes, making Number One Hits sound more like an expansion, and not a true sequel. 

A few songs from the game have been revealed already.  MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" will be an embarassing pleasure of mine.  "Karma Chameleon" represents early 80s pop quite nicely.  Extreme's "More Than Words", Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", and "Pretty Woman" by the awesome Roy Orbison are obvious inclusions.  There's also some band named Coldplay, too, I'm sure all you whippersnappers recognize them.  Now get off my lawn!

No word yet as to whether the DLC from the first title will be compatible, but I'd predict it will be.  Hopefully they'll pull a Rock Band 2 and let you export all the songs on the Lips disc!  Lips: Number One Hits is headed to your Xbox 360 this October, but in the meantime, check out the announcement trailer.

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Now let's see some JAZZ HANDS!

So you have all these awesome plastic instruments laying around, and you've upgraded them all to be wireless.  Tired of that ugly corded microphone for Rock Band or Guitar Hero?  Wouldn't it be cool if those sexy new wireless microphones for Lips worked with the full band games?

The announcement that Lips microphones would be patched to work with Rock Band 2 came last year, but has yet to happen.  Now, it looks like another game will get compatibility with those mikes first, and that game is:

GUITAR HERO METALLICA.  

*crickets chirping*

Not a joke, folks.  Nothing says "I'm an awesome heavy metal god" like sparkly, color changing, wireless microphones, right?  Maybe you can pretend the sparkles are fire, lightning, or explosions, eh?

Source: Link

 
Bust it!  

Lips fans have been singing their heads off for the past few months now, but they may have noticed a few issues with their game.  Perhaps no matter how hard they tried they simply couldn't match the little note bar on the screen, their timing just seemed off.  And no matter how hard you and your partnered belted the I Got You Babe duet your score just never matched up to your energy.  

Microsoft hears your cries and pleas for a fix, and thankfully in a new update coming soon you'll be getting a calibration tool and much more.

The update will contain online leaderboards for all the game modes as well as a news ticker showing off the latest DLC in game.  Now you can watch it endlessly until The Purple People Eater is available to download.

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You might have noticed something a bit unusual about the songs recently released for Lips, the Xbox 360's answer to the Singstar series.  It appears that some songs are just a bit more expensive than others.  Here's an example:

“When I Grow Up” by The Pussycat Dolls (160 MP)
“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” by The Righteous Brothers (180 MP)
“Erase/Rewind” by The Cardigans (160 MP)

I'm reminded of that old Sesame Street skit: "one of these things is not like the other, one of these thing is not the same..."  It looks like a blatant money grab for the more popular song, doesn't it?  The MTV Multiplayer Blog asked Microsoft about it, and here is the cryptic and rather unsatisfying reply.

“While we aren’t able to comment on the details of pricing decision,” said a Microsoft representative over e-mail this afternoon, “Microsoft is committed to providing a great value with Lips DLC by offering fun and popular songs and music videos that extend the ‘Lips’ party experience.”

Personally, I'd say the Righteous Brothers are worth a quarter more than the Pussycat Dolls, but that's just my opinion.  Let's hope other music games don't follow suit, or we might be laying out the big bucks for Rick Astley's greatest hits.  (You know you want it.)

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