Ode to Singstar

Much Singstar fun last night. Discussion with Giffy has convinced me that it's a great game. It has a sliding difficulty level - which means that you can make the game less forgiving of bum notes & it encourages practice and study in order to get really good - but it's also completely accessible to novice singers.

Plus the Party Games option is incredible fun. Making it a competive team event and then having everyone gather together for an 8-person singing finale is a celebratory act of smart game design.

I'm looking forward to house-sitting at Gino's. Playing Singstar, Eyetoy games and Dance-Dance Revolution - basically anything that doesn't require me to hold a tiny controller in my hands but instead use my whole body. To me, that feels like the next step in game design - making the room you're playing the game in part of the game. And it's why I'm so exciting by Nintendo's new console.

Also, I got a rating of Singstar on Dido's White Flag, emo'd on The Offspring's Self-Esteem and got to vamp on Alicia Keys' Fallin'. So I'm happy.