Lips
(Microsoft/iNiS, Xbox 360)

I'd like to prattle about the potential of Lips, Microsoft's first-ever karaoke game, but I'm just as tempted to merely say that my family adored it, and my nerdy friends did not.

Mom and sis each had favorites out of the 40 songs spread across all genres (John Denver and Rihanna, respectively). They liked the songs' original videos as the backdrop while they sang; they liked the focus on duets and people taking turns singing; they liked the no-fail aspect and not having to “unlock” any songs. And they liked having a reasonable scoring system that proved the "winner" on a given song's duet.

On the other hand, I've had short spurts of play that ran out of steam quickly with friends. Like when Slog's own Jon Golob came by and put his special atonal twist on Destiny's Child and "Survivor." You have a limited song selection, not much progression for solo play, and a lack of Rock Band's bells and whistles. Fun, full of laughs, but brief. (Though if each copy of the game came with a shlub who badly sang the Beyonce tracks, replay value might skyrocket.)

I should note that Singstar on the PS3 is just about the same. Licensed songs with videos. Duets. Easy to learn and use. You probably don't own both of these game consoles—and if you do, you're possibly not the target audience for owning every karaoke game ever made. So, sure, you'll be fine with either, though Lips has a couple of things going for it. First off are its slick microphones. Wireless is good; motion-controlled “dance moves” are not, as the sensors in the things aren't perfect. You can ignore the dance stuff, and well you should. Lips also has some cheeky battle modes, which I tend to ignore, but they're there if you really want to make your on-screen avatars, um, kiss.

More interesting is the ability to import songs from a networked PC or an MP3 player. The game will sift through whatever's connected to the Xbox, show a list of songs, and let you pick favorites to import. Bad news—no lyrics or official music videos are on the screen while singing these songs. You'll have to bust out a laptop, Google a given song's lyrics, and wing it.

If you're okay with that hurdle, Lips' vocal recognition is pretty durn good. In repeat tests on imported MP3 songs, the scoring reflected who was superior—even after I attempted to cheat my way to a win by mouthing the guitar noises in a song or two, since the game will give you points for any noise you make mid-song. Besides, why pay $2 per track—TWO BUCKS, REALLY??—when you can rig up the iPod and have a Beatles karaoke-off for free instead? The official Lips song store for extra songs is currently barren, so MS is making your mind up for you there.

Once the iPod's in the equation, you can use Lips as a party's stereo system, and the game's promo videos encourage this. Import your favorites to the game, delete the default game songs you don't like (peace out, Trace Adkins), and hit “jukebox.” Your Xbox will then play all of its tunes on shuffle mode. During a party, if people decide they're drunk enough for karaoke, they can shake the remotes and get a duet battle going for whatever song is playing. Or you can totally ignore the Xbox and let it play on as a stereo system, no harm, no foul. It's this implementation that kinda blows my mind—treating Lips as a party centerpiece, rather than a dedicated game, makes more sense when you consider that the title has nothing in the way of progression, unlockables, or other typical game shit.

But what are you paying for, then? Two nice microphones, a half-decent set of songs that'll run out of steam too quickly, and a chance to sing over songs on your iPod without lyrics on the screen to help you along. The potential for an infinite karaoke machine is interesting, but the hassle makes it less than ideal, and I gotta wonder if another, less massive company would've greenlit the ability to type in your own lyrics and give the import feature actual legs. Still, for a music game without the intimidation of plastic drums and guitars, Lips is slick and interesting enough, and Mom still loves it, so I guess Microsoft deserves credit for a decent music product... for once.

Oh, and dudes. LIPS? C'mon. I'm hopeful the Slog nation takes that awful name apart here.