Microsoft has announced a new Karaoke service for Xbox Live. The new service, just titled “Karaoke,” will steam Karaoke songs through the console along with scrolling lyrics so you can sing along. It’s not a game like Karaoke Revolution or Rock Band, it’s just a way to get together with your family and sing horribly out-of-tune hits on the holidays.
Xbox Karaoke uses The Karaoke Channel’s library of tunes. The service doesn’t pre-stream or download any content to your hard-drive, so it does require an active Internet connection. In addition, your Internet connection will have to be stable and sufficiently speedy, or else hiccups could interrupt your streaming tunes and lyrics.
Xbox Karaoke is essentially a rental service that charges per hour (rather than per song). You can purchase blocks of 2, 6, or 24 hours and, for a limited time, you will gain access to the entirety of The Karaoke Channel’s library. Pricing is not yet available.
A release date has not yet been set for Xbox Karaoke, however we have been assured that it will arrive in time for the holidays. In addition, Xbox Karaoke will take advantage of Xbox Smart Glass, allowing lyrics to stream to your mobile device, much like the upcoming Wii U title Sing . Achievements are also set to be included, but since there is no scoring system, its questionable how they will work. Maybe you’ll get gamer points if you sing Total Eclipse of the Heart enough times.
Source: PlayXBLA