Karaoke Revolution vs. SingStar

[Unassuming Local Guy]

Our neighbors picked up Karaoke Revolution and - imagine this - my wife loves it. But, it's a little hard to find. On the other hand, SingStar is easily available and there's a new edition coming out next week, (conveniently right before her birthday.)

So CAGs, I need some opinions. I've read the reviews but they're horribly misguided - mostly commenting on the song list. (Seriously, I can make up my own opinion on that.)

So what are the pros and cons on each side of the fence?

[TimPV3]

I'm just going to say I love Singstar, the mics are great, it's awesome that it's the legit artists and not covers, and the video playing in the background is a big plus. If you get Singstars Rocks with the mics, you can get Pop for only $30, or the other way around. I'm not to into all of the music on them, but it's really fun to sing with friends and family as long as somebody enjoys them.

[Unassuming Local Guy]

Yeah. Licensed music sounds great. The covers in Karaoke Revolution were pretty awful.

[espy605]

I guess I'm in the minority here. I liked Karaoke Revolution more because you had the option of turning off the vocal track. While Singstar does have the official music, you can't silence the vocal track. While I do like having the original versions of songs, I want to sing, I don't want to sing along or sing duets.

Another gripe I have with Singstar is that there is no indication of your current pitch level or timing. KR has an active arrow that shows your pitch so you can adjust it accordingly, it also shows you what part of the song you're at exactly so you can adjust.

Karaoke Revolution is a little hard to find but I still see bundles for Karaoke Revolution Party available, and you can probably get any of the discs for the earlier volumes by themselves cheaply at a Gamestop. Or, just get a USB microphone separately.

[Unassuming Local Guy]

Another gripe I have with Singstar is that there is no indication of your current pitch level or timing. KR has an active arrow that shows your pitch so you can adjust it accordingly, it also shows you what part of the song you're at exactly so you can adjust.

Are you sure? I was watching a video on Gamespot of the editors playing. There was definitely an indicator all over the screen.

Check out this shot. Look at the right side of the blue indicator.

http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/5521/singstarrocks2006042004gi4.jpg

[espy605]

I wasn't sure but I don't really see anything, except maybe another light line? I think the issue I have is that it's a little hard to discern it from the regular lines. In KR, it's an arrow that goes up and down and everything is extremely obvious in terms of pitch level and timing.

[TimPV3]

I wouldn't want to turn off the vocal track, if I've never heard the song before, I wouldn't know how to sing the line.