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Though SingStar may not possess the massive community base of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Sony recently unveiled a PS3 application which offers a great deal of social networking capabilities to the karaoke game's players. Titled SingStar Viewer, the app (which appears under the Games folder of the XMB) allows users to browse and purchase songs from the SingStore, as well as view and vote on videos, photos and profiles uploaded by members of the MySingStarOnline community. This impressive functionality is totally free, and accessible even when the SingStar disc is absent from the PS3's drive.

The PlayStation.Blog post, which announced the software, didn't give a firm release date for the app, but suggested you "check the PlayStation Store over the coming weeks." Check out the video after the jump to get a brief demo of the services offered by the application. Then wonder if you're confident enough in your karaoke chops to place videos of you and your friends singing in front of the cruel, cruel internet.

You gotta hand it to this kid's parents, who managed to turn up their boring old Christmas lights to 11 and into quite the Guitar Hero homage. It's not the first time we've seen Activision's franchise mix it up with some Christmas lights, but it's certainly the most unique and inspired. We've embedded the video past the break so put on your favorite Rudolph sweater (the good one with the blinking nose you keep in the back of the closet), pour yourself a hot cup of cocoa and give it a watch.

Update: We've closed the comments and will contact a winner this week. Check the email tied to your commenter name, folks!

For this week's not-quite-the-holidays-yet giveaway, we've got a Band Hero prize pack for the Nintendo Wii and DS lined up for one lucky winner. That's right! Not just Band Hero for your silly old home console, but also for your handheld (that is, unless you have a Nintendo DSi or XXL -- sorry!). Prepare to be embraced by friends and relatives as a genuine American (or Canadian, excluding Quebec) hero while playing along to your favorite Taylor Swift song.

In honor of last night's Video Game Awards (and the subsequent flood of news and trailers), we're asking you to tell us what your favorite trailer or news was from the World Premiere-stravaganza. We'll pick one winner at random this week, so as always, be sure to keep an eye on the inbox!

• Leave a comment telling us what your favorite trailer or news was from last night's World Premiere-stravaganza (the VGAs).
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec -- likely because of The Kids in the Hall).
• Limit 1 entry per person per day
• This entry period ends at 7:31PM ET on Monday, December 13
  
• At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive one copy of Band Hero for Nintendo DS ($50 ARV) and one copy of Band Hero for Nintendo Wii ($50 ARV).
• For a list of complete rules, click here

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What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. For more info on our policy, click here.

One of the least surprising "World Exclusive" reveals during last night's Video Game Awards show was the unveiling of Harmonix's next single-band opus, Green Day: Rock Band. In case you missed out on the late-to-the-party announcement, you can check out the debut trailer after the jump. If you don't feel like watching a streaming video at the moment, we'll summarize: It looks a heck of a lot like when you play those Green Day DLC songs on Rock Band 2.

The MTV Games press release that landed in our inbox shortly after the trailer aired contained one particularly interesting piece of news -- unlike The Beatles: Rock Band, all of the tracks in Green Day's outing will be exportable to the core Rock Band games. In addition, all the Green Day DLC released so far for the music platform, as well as the three 21st Century Breakdown tracks that will hit this Tuesday, will be compatible with Green Day: Rock Band. No release date has been given thus far, but the presser specifies that its coming to the Wii, PS3 and 360.

Last month, the extremely certain pop-rock outfit No Doubt sued Activision for allowing their likenesses to be used in Band Hero, where players could perform the game's entire catalog of songs as the Stefani-fronted group. According to the complaint, this feature turned the band's appearance in the game into a "virtual karaoke circus act." Earlier this week, The Hollywood Reporter dug up a countersuit filed against the band by Activision, who claimed No Doubt was in breach of a contract between the two parties, and had reaped unjust enrichment as a result.

Activision's main response to No Doubt's claim is that that the band requested their likenesses be limited to perform the band's own songs in-game -- however, it made this request "only after the Band Hero programming was finalized." Activision seeks an unspecified amount of damages and interest from the band, as well as court and attorney fees, and a return of all payments dispersed to the band for their initial involvement. Jeez, Activision. Might as well go ahead and ask for the kitchen sink while you're at it.

[Via GamePolitics]

What's the only thing more satisfying than aligning colorful blocks on a rectangular grid while simultaneously recreating pleasant ambient tunes from musical artists such as Moby? Simple -- doing so while simultaneously donating to charity. That's the package that OneBigGame and Zoe Mode will offer on XBLA at some point this winter, when their music/puzzle game Chime lands on the XBLA.

Though we've known about this non-profit puzzler for a month now, we've yet to see the title in action. Fortunately, OneBigGame dropped a gameplay demonstration video earlier today, which we've posted above. Yeah, sure, it's got a few aesthetic similarities to Lumines, but considering all the proceeds from the game go to Save the Children and Starlight Children's foundation, we're not going to raise a stink about it. We think saving children is like, the coolest thing you can possibly do.

If you've been sitting around on your fat stacks of cash, waiting to pick up an extra DJ Hero controller then now is the time, friend. Activision sent along a press release stating that the turntable controllers are now in stock at the Guitar Hero Store for $70 a pop, $40 cheaper than the regular, game-packing bundle.

With a weak showing on October's NPD charts and UK retailers slashing prices, we can't say we fully understand Activision's decision to charge so much for the turntables. From our vantage point, it looks like this: if Activision came down on the price a bit, more people would buy a second controller and have their friends try the game. Then, maybe those people would go out and buy their own set-up. Isn't that a novel idea?

A recent press release has informed us that with the release of today's Rock Band 2 DLC pack, Harmonix has met its goal of having over 1,000 songs on the platform before the holidays. According to the presser, these tracks represent the work of 390 musical artists. The rhythm gaming community has downloaded over 60 million songs from the Rock Band Music Store, which Harmonix has kept alive and kicking with new musical additions for 105 consecutive weeks.

To put this achievement in chronological terms, we'd estimate that the average length of these songs is, oh, about four minutes. By our calculations, a full playthrough of the Rock Band catalog would take you two days, 18 hours and 40 minutes. Not accounting for the number of times you'll inevitably fail out on "Painkiller," of course.

Congratulations, Harmonix, on this rocking accomplishment! Now, get back to work. That Paul Simon track pack isn't going to program itself.

The Beatles: Rock Band will get a hot DLC injection tomorrow when Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band releases as downloadable content. In preparation for the arrival of these new tracks, MTV has passed along the above trailer which offers a brief sample of new tracks in the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club album mixed together with some found on the disc. In the end, the video saves us all precious time we would've had to use sampling tracks on YouTube and, inevitably, watching Pomplamoose videos.

Dave Ranyard, the Game Director for SingStar, recently announced a fairly huge patch for the karaoke-infused rhythm title on the European PlayStation Blog. See, it would have to pretty large in order to completely encompass the game's previous patch, which apparently broke a lot of things.

The game's last patch, software update 4.20, is apparently capable of deleting purchased songs off the system's hard drive, crashing the game in the middle of those songs or generally corrupting your media files. Fortunately, SingStar v4.30 is currently undergoing QA testing, and is targeted for a December 1 release. Just in time for the holidays, SingStar owners will receive the gift of not having their stuff deleted any more. Or, as we like to call it, the gift that keeps on giving.

Though the Zune HD-owning community (whose names are Michael, Alan and Michelle) are now able to play the entrancing Audiosurf: Tilt on their beloved media device, iPhone and iPod Touch owners are still forced to go without. Many were hopeful that the iPhone Firmware Update 3.0, which opened up the device's music library to third-party developers, would allow the game's creator, Dylan Fitterer, to bring the game to the popular media player. Unfortunately, in a brief interview with gaming news site Charge Shot, Fitterer explained that the update "didn't bring enough access."

We contacted Fitterer to find out exactly what he meant by this -- he explained, "Apps can play songs, but they can't get at a song's bits (needed to analyze it and build a matching rollercoaster + traffic pattern)." He added that there were workarounds -- for instance, a player could upload a song to the App or through a central server, which would create a level for them. However, he said that system felt inconvenient, and that he doesn't "want to put Audiosurf on iPhone until it can really let you ride your music - all of it."

There's still a chance the game could end up on an Apple product -- though Fitterer negotiated directly with Microsoft to get his game on the Zune HD platform, the two parties came to no form of exclusivity agreement. "I'm ready for Apple to call," Fitterer joked.

In a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune, Dhani Harrison, The Beatles: Rock Band contributor (and son of the late, great George Harrison), spoke about his involvement in future iterations of the popular rhythm franchise. "I'm working on Rock Band 3 and making the controllers more real so people can actually learn how to play music while playing the game," Harrison explained toward the end of the interview. "Give me a couple years, it's going to happen."

We wish Harrison and the entire Harmonix crew the best of luck in this endeavor, if only so they can finally stymie the infinitely deplorable "why don't you learn how to play a real instrument" contingency. Man, we hate those guys.

Even though John, Paul, George and Ringo have been rocking the disc tray of your favorite console with The Beatles: Rock Band, its expectation-exceeding sales haven't helped boost overall Rock Band sales. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman told USA Today the "economics of our Rock Band franchise are improving, though not as quickly as we'd like." There's still hope that Rock Band could at least break even or show a small profit, though Viacom CFO Tom Dooley said that will depend entirely on the franchise's performance this holiday season.

Despite tanking sales, the music genre still remains one of the best in the industry and The Beatles: Rock Band shows us that the right approach could still determine financial success in the space. Its September debut was very fortuitous and it even managed to best Guitar Hero 5 in the US -- which not only came with a free game, but is also one of the most recognizable brands to the mainstream.

Source - USA Today
Source - Viacom earnings report

From the second our feet left the comfort of our bed in favor of the harsh, cold ground this morning, we knew it was going to be a terrible day. What we expected were little accumulative annoyances -- stubbed toes, traffic, cold coffee and the like. What we got was a report from supererogatory pointing us to a terror-inducing trademark filing, which permits "Margaritaville" to be used for video game software purposes.

As we see it, there's an infinite number of ways that Jimmy Buffett's tropically-tinted tune could manifest itself in video game form:

• A near-endless RPG: The Quest for the Lost Shaker of Salt
• A sailing simulator: Son of a Son of a Sailing Simulator
• A smooth rhythm game, which is sadly what it probably will be
• A smooth rhythm game/sailing simulator, which ... which might be kind of magical

If there's one wonderful thing we can say about movie game trailers, it's that they keep us on top of what's happening with the kids these days. Take for instance Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel -- we didn't even know there was a second film coming out!

What we can glean from the trailer above is that there will be some form of illicit chipmunk love affair angle to the film that will play into the game's story. Also, it may or may not be music-rhythm game of some form. As you can imagine, we were so entranced by the slurry of colors and sounds that it was hard to discern any clear information. We did discover, however, that the game will be coming to the Nintendo Wii and DS on December 1.