Seriously – there’s now a reason to own Sony’s overpriced, overhyped, stupidly-advertised superconsole the PlayStation 3. And what is it?

Karaoke.

If you’ve been at a party where someone has whacked on a games machine then it’s going to have either been Guitar Hero, Buzz or Singstar – if it’s anything else they’re an idiot and shouldn’t be your friend any more. Singstar lets you sing to dozens of pop hits, along with the many different genres that aren’t too alternative to alienate the general public. Though one version has Sublime’s Santeria on it, which is inspired.

Singstar also gives players two microphones – actual, real microphones. Not hair brushes, not small, random items you can hold in your hand and put to your mouth and sing into. Actual, genuine microphones (though they are, technically, small, random items you can hold in your hand and put to your mouth and sing into). When items like that get into the hands of boozed up fools, you know shit is about to kick off.

Alas, there was a constant stumbling block for the previous Singstar titles in that there was never enough choice of musical treats. Though the mechanics of the game – sing, get rated, laugh in your tone-deaf friend’s face – were perfect, something was missing. Sony decided to plug that gap this year with the magic of the superhighway informationnet digital content distribution hub.

Yes: you can download songs for the PS3 version. Inspired. Songs start at 99p per track and you get the pretty little video in the package too, so the choice of many hundreds of tunes is well worth it. There’s about 20 tracks pre-loaded on the game, just as there always has been, but the choice offered online is nothing short of utterly great.

Basically, it’s the future of party games. Until Rock Band comes out, at least.

[story by Ian Dransfield]