SingStar Developers’ Response To The Community

>> An other improvement for the singstore. I think that the game should store somewhere the songs that you have already on the retail version of the game. Why’s that? Because I think it’s a bit nonsense to propose the same song to be purchased on the singstar whereas we already have it on the CD game. Some people might buy it twice.

>> Last thing for me, I understand that each countries have his own Singstar playlist for the retail version due to countries own tastes but I was a bit disappointed when I couldn’t find some of those songs available in the singstore whereas there are available on theretail country game version. (ex: “Supergrass – we are young” was not avaiable for France nor avaialble for purchasing on the Singstore)

Again, thanks to all the singtar team for this fabulous game.

Cheers!

In the QA process, the designers present a comprehensive document to the QA team detailing what each specific feature of the product should do in a very precise way. The QA team should ensure their test suite checks everything pinpointed in the document, creating new tests where necessary, then run through each test in the test suite and report back any failed tests. The product should not be signed off by QA until all tests in the test suite pass on all configurations. That is approximately how QA works.

I hope that explains sufficiently my scepticism over the statement above; all players should be wary of any claims of adequate QA until the above conditions are satisfied.

You can also view a list of desired song by the French here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rQURKEG8XlrY2XiKgGkjZ0A

Excuse me again for disturbing you, but for us French it is a great chance to be discussed and it is so rare that it takes advantage

thanks thanks thankssss
Xave

Mike you absoulte legend! Thank you sooooooooooo much you have just made me and 30 odd people very very happy!

Mr_Writer, are we all invited too?!

Hi Dave, got a couple of questions, first would it be possible to somehow have your songs on two ps3s, i hvae a slim in my bedroom and a 60gb downstairs which singstar is mainly used on, thing is the songs are on the 60gb but i cant sing them upstairs and it really bugs me, any chance that they could both be used, same psn account and i own the songs so you should be able to in my opinion. Also, any chance that an occassional sale could be introduced like the normal store has, just 10/20 songs every 2 weeks or so, maybe to get people hooked then maybe buy more:)

thanks for reading

wow long posts here

Dave,

While I’m writing I would also recommend that you take a look at the research PlayableGames are doing for you at the moment and consider taking a more pro-active role in monitoring it. Considerable time and effort has been expended there in providing the team with very constructive and comprehensive feedback based on the views of many of the most active players in the SingStar community, and virtually everything in this thread has been written there already, so the fact that some of these ideas seem to appear to be new to the team is rather worrying.

Katy.

Any chance the bug fix will allow you to exit the game without the machine crashing, forcing you to do a reboot.

I have no problems with singstar and last version, should i wait for the patch or can i play it safely?

Mike,

Hi, I had already tried several times to log in and out of the PSN and sadly still no joy, I’m still padlocked out of the new songs.

Is there any way to log out of the PSN and still stay in the game?

Like I mentioned before the frustration for myself is that using my wife’s PSN profile I can purchase these songs but not on mine? But this was why I bought the £20 PSN card so I could get the 9 songs this week on the store like I mentioned earlier.

I propose to introduce the use of R3 and L3 buttons (pressure on Stricks) for improving the carousel songs:
By pressing R3:
1 – we all titles SingStore + bluray
2 – just the songs downloaded from the SingStore
3 – just the titles of the bluray drive
4 – to return all the titles bluray + SingStore (closed loop)
Pressing L3:
1 – it has songs from all languages
2 – the only French song
3 – just the English songs
4 – just the German songs
5 – just the Italian songs
6 – just the Spanish songs
7 – and so on and back to all languages (closed loop)

A possible improvement, I offer a multiplayer mode on the same screen with the opportunity to sing at 4 in the same time.So it generates an additional sale of microphones (I suggest yellow and green in addition to the existing blue and red)

Hello! I’m Spanish and my English is very bad, sorry.SingStar track compatibility across PS2 & PS3 is enabled via the Disc Swap feature but don´t work with Singstar Bollywood. Are you going to fix it?
And if possible add more songs folk, ethnic, bollywood,…
Thank you very much!

If you are considering new filters for the carousel, can I request a ‘new’ filter as sometimes I’ve forgotten which songs I’ve recently downloaded but haven’t yet played! *blushes*

First off I would like to say thanks to the team for providing this feedback session. Interaction between developers and the community is very important, and it was something particularly lacking in the first year of SingStar PS3’s release. Recent improvements, first via the SingStar UK Facebook page and later through the PS Blog have been instrumental in changing the community’s attitudes. One only has to compare the difference between the PAL SingStar community and the US SingStar community (which receives no communication) to see what an effect this has on attitudes and morales.

Most of the things I would like to cover have already been brought up here, so I won’t go over them again. There is one thing though…. Currently there is no way for users to simply request songs they would like to see on the store. People attempt to namedrop select artists on the UK Facebook page and on Nina Scherer’s PS Blog updates, and I know that the team keeps an eye on the boards, but there is no way for users to get a visceral feeling that they have actually been listened to.

(more follows…)

(…continued form #65)

What I propose is the use of a submission system – be it through the singstargame.com website or through a simple email system – where users can request songs they would like to see on the SingStore. Someone could periodically go through requests, filter out inappropriate songs (i.e. no lyrics, no music video, inappropriate content), and forward the remaining songs onto licensing.

I know that a lot of songs people request are already on your internal wishlist, but the feeling alone that requests have been listened to would be a dramatic improvement. Additionally, such a request system may bring the team’s attention to new songs which haven’t previously been considered, some of which in turn may also be licensable.

Another way of removing the lock is to select the song with the lock, press circle to go back, select another song, press circle to go back and then select the locked song again. This will unlock the song.

Hi Mike,

Thanks again for your persistance. Sorry but again this didn’t work.
I tried this on the Ace of Base songs the new one is locked and the older one isn’t but still no joy.

If you’re unable to fix this problem then maybe in 2 weeks when the next store update happens maybe I’ll be able to purchase them then?

Thanks for your replies though.

Will there a Singstar Hits 3 for France? if so, is it in development? a release date?

Singstar Michael Jackson: rumor or under development? a release date?

Hey SingStar team!

Im kinda new to the game, but I already love it!! I dont have any problems with the game itself, only with the singstore that it refuses to login etc, but I already got the answer from the blog post

In older blog post for SingStar I didnt receive an answer, so i have some questions:

I want to ask if there is any chance to add in the SingStore songs from Utada (even the ones from Kingdom Hearts series [playstation 2 games]) and more songs from Robbie Williams and Lady Gaga (Paparazzi and Love game) ?

Is there any chance for Greek Songs to make it in the game through DLC? There are rumors about a SingStar Greek version to be released somewhere at 2010, but not a real confirmation. Is it true?

Thanks in advance! And keep it up

Other requests I have are from a programming/features point of view…

- The current storefront is slow and laggy, especially when switching between one screen of songs and the next. Would it be possible to introduce a smooth dynamic system like the one currently employed by the PSN Store? Something where you don’t have to wait 5-10 seconds to browse down one screen?

- When you add a song to your cart, it takes you to a separate screen confirming the song was added. Then you have to exit the screen and return to the store front, which involves more loading. This also contributes to the slow and lagginess I mentioned earlier, especially when I just want to pick ten songs from the new update I want and purchase them. Perhaps find a way of reducing load times between such screens, or removing the need for the separate screen entirely?

- There should be a way for users to switch Blue/Red player names easily in Battle mode, etc without having to back out through the menus, select new users, select new difficulties, etc. A lot of people just go into Battle mode and just switch microphones without changing usernames because it is too cumbersome.

- Have you considered having the difficulty rating saved as part of a person’s profile? i.e. when I select my username on the player select screen, it automatically comes up with Medium difficulty beneath it. When my friend selects their username, it comes up with Easy. Most people only play on the one difficulty setting for the entire game, so it makes sense to store it in their profile.

- When people play Pass The Mic, you can currently only pick one difficulty for the entire team. This can be difficult when needing to consider a number of people with different vocal abilities. Introducing a system like I mentioned previously (difficulty stored under name) would mean each person on the team could have a difficulty setting that is appropriate for them. i.e. when a user’s name comes up on Pass The Mic the difficulty is adjusted to match that in their profile.

- Pass The Mic also needs the ability to save round settings, or at least not revert to the default round settings every time you go to play a new match. We like to set up our Pass The Mic rounds in a particular way, but have to spend time re-setting it after every tournament.

Why not use VidZone submission system as a future title singstar?

Some websites offer singstar Michael Jackson ps3 price from 30 euros to 100 euros. I wonder if that Singstar is under development or is it just a rumor?

US users really need to get more love and support. We have no wireless mics and the songs seems to get worse. Also with Glee being as popular as it is you guys should look into that as a upcoming disk. Over 1 million fans it could be big dollars and would finally be good songs to sing.

Singstar Musicals I want me some Wicked Songs, Phantom and others.

Does the SCEA makes decisions for Singstar music release in US and SCEE make decisions for Europe? Would be a thought. Had no clue who Take That was at all.

Thanks for taking the time to put it all clear to us.

It would be nice if, when browsing the singstore, the shopping cart would be cached.

It happened to me several times to be browsing the shop and adding songs to the cart just to be disconnected by some network error and lose the cart’s content, having to start over. If it’s one or two songs, it’s not that bad, but when you have several songs from different artists, it’s a pain.

Also, I wish I could sing my songs in both my PS3.

I know some Portuguese songs have been added lately (I bought them , but there are still so many important Portuguese bands missing. Please, please, please add more

Thanks for all the hard work you guys put into the game though.

I hope someone is still reading these…

I would love to see an option in Pass the Mic to either enable or disable the downloaded content. I don’t even want to buy new discs as I will mostly get songs from HDD anyway, and if I want to have an Abba party, I should be able to just take songs from the disc. (This means I’m spending less money on games, hint hint…) Also, custom playlists would be great! Loved the suggestion above to have difficulty levels per player, not team.

I also had a problem with downloading a song, the system crashed mid-download and it now claims the song has been downloaded, but it isn’t showing up in the carousel. How do I get to redownload it?

Unfortunately, downloading from the SingStore is a big pain, very slow and I often need to try a dozen times to get something downloaded, so recovery from partial downloads and automatic retry of songs that got interrupted would also really help.

Oh, and being able to play PS2 titles in Pass the Mic would be great. I do understand though if that’s more of a marketing decision to get us to buy the same songs again…

Mike the SingStore performance doesn’t have much to do with having a fast broadband connection, it’s because the page code and all the images are re-fetched with every navigation, and the SingStar server latency is very high most of the time. As I have written to the team before, caching thumbnails and static pages for the session (until the user quits the game) will dramatically reduce the bandwidth load on the servers in the same way as how video playbacks are currently cached.

What do you think of the new singstar Competitors: U-SING for Wii

Will they look at future singstar titles teaching you how to sing better like they do with Disney Sing it series?

Really good to hear a new patch is coming out soon (though I am one of the lucky ones who don’t have any issues with it, expect for a freeze of PS3 when exiting the game very now and then).

Besides being a big SingStar fan, I also maintain some websites of big Irish artists (started as a fan, now official). I can therefore bring you into contact with the record company of some big Irish arists (Dara Records and 3ú Records with artists such as Mary Black, Frances Black, The Coronas (who are currently hot in Ireland), Doloreas Keane etc). I already talked to Mary Black and Frances Black about SingStar and they both thought it would be great to have some songs of them in SingStar, so I believe this maybe a fairly “simple” deal for you to make (but I cannot make it myself) and to have some more diversity in the SingStore. If you want me to give you the contact details, please e-mail or PM me about it.

Keep up the good work. I am now going back to sing some more songs.

Are they looking into putting ps2 songs from previous singstar releases on the store so ps3 users can download those songs individually.

It is nice for taking your time to answer our questions even if you do not answer everyone. Strange that I’m the only one interested in learning more about this famous Singstar Mickael Jackson

Thanks Mike for the answer

I have already bought songs, and the wishlist is getting bigger with every update I hope to see in the near feature songs from Utada and the other artists i like

PS: The beta sounds interesting I hope to be in the lucky ones who will receive a beta key

First of all, I want to thank the European team for always being there to answer questions. In the USA we are lucky to even get updates on this game, and never a reply since Nina left and the SCEA people took over the SingStar updates for the NA blog.

Is the US singstar having this same problem? I haven’t logged in in quite awhile due to the horrible updates for America, and I don’t want to log in now until I know for sure the bugs are fixed.
(Last time I logged in I was unable to make any purchases from the Singstore though, which was a few weeks ago)

I know Europe is you guys top priority, but can you please get the guys in the USA to start caring and ask them to start pushing SingStar harder? I have spent hundreds on this game so far (several hundred songs downloaded and multiple disc purchases) and I’m afraid it’s dying in America.

Also, wireless mics in time for Christmas would make me so very happy….

Thats brill! Although, the PS2 Singstar Bollywood still hasnt been mentioned.. when will a fix for this be out?

Also some more recent RnB songs would be great! From the likes of Neyo, Chris Brown, Usher, Justin Timberlake etc etc!

Thanks

Is a new competition planned for the future? Because the Singstar Cyrstal Mics contest was really great

Hi mike,
Great to come back from work and see all this feedback getting to the right people. Me and my wife love Singstar and cant wait for the fixes to be made.

A couple of suggestion for you concideration:
1. Can you introduce a wishlist for the singstore. with over 1000 songs there now and not always being able to buy the songs each fortnight i would love to be able to put then on a wishlist on my singstar profile so when I have the money I can go to my wishlist and easlily but the songs I wanted to get from each update instead of searching through all 1000 songs each time.

2. on the singstore can you add some sections which make it easier to know which songs are on the disc and which disc. My idea is have 2 sections, DLC and disc based.Then you only need to go to the section you wan tand if there is a disc you dont have and the songs are now available to download you can click on the disc and download the songs which are available.

thanks again.

thanks Dave, thought you might say that, suppose their’s not enough people with singstar and 2 ps3s to change the system for though:(

although, just had another idea, a best of singstore game, with the 100? top downloaded songs from the singstore, its not like they wont fit on a bluray, full game price (£40), i’d buy it:)

also, have you seen the psp digital games that they sell the code for in stores in america? its a card with a code which you enter into the store and download but pay in the shop, maybe have bigger songpacks for about £10 using these?

just some suggestions:)

Hello,

I think the biggest problem is having to swap discs. I own Vol 1 and 2 and about 5 of the ps2 versions. Whenever I have a Singstar party I’m constantly swapping out different discs so people are able to choose the songs they want. PLEASE figure out a way to copy the songs to the hard drive at LEAST temporarily so that we don’t have to swap. I understand why you wouldn’t want people to copy the songs to the hard drive but what if you were able to do some kind of disc check?

Maybe you copy all the cd songs to the hard drive and then everytime you load up singstar it would ask you to put in each disc one by one just to verify you own the content. Or you could just have the data wipe every time the ps3 is turned off. Either way this is a major problem and I hope it is fixed. It would really make Singstar parties a lot more fun if you remove disc swapping. See Rock Band as an example of how it’s done right.

Thanks

I hope we get to see Christmas carols this year, especially Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas song”, and George Michaels “Last Christmas”.

Have loved playing Singstar since the PS2 days – great game, but many of the comments above are valid.

+1 to the request for more multiplayer modes.

+1 to the suggestion for Singstar musicals. With the recent TV programmes in the UK on BBC, ITV and Sky it is clear that there would be a market. In fact I am astonished that Sony has not picked up on this already.

Swapping the discs remains a huge problem. Absolute minimum, all owned songs need to be on the carousel with the game asking to insert discs as required – this allows all owned content to be used in pass the mic in particular. However Harmonix managed to negotiate with their suppliers a deal where a small fee by the user allowed songs to be imported from Rock Band 1 to Rock Band 2. It’s been proven that such a deal can be worked out, so please do the same for Singstar (Sony owns many of the songs anyway!).

And on the DRM front – last week we had a party at a mate’s house. All I needed to take over to play Rock Band on the 360 was my game disc and a memory unit with my profile and some of my favorite downloaded songs. Can’t do the same with Singstar because it is tied to the console. That’s just a bizarre situation for a party game like Singstar. Again, it’s been proven on another platform that the recording industry is entirely happy to agree to much more sensible DRM restrictions than those currently implemented on Singstar. You can do it if you want to – go on, sort out the DRM for all your loyal fans!

Hey Dave, it’s good to know that you are listening to our complaints about the game. As I said in earlier posts, the game has great potential in the US… But the lack of content always let us down… How are you handling the deal with UMG in the US? It’s strange to see most songs from american singers in the EU Singstore… Please give us news about it, Ok?
And another suggestion… Do you have any plans to release a Singstar with brazilian songs? Cause SCEA is bringing the PS family by the end of this year in Brazil and Singstar is huge around here. I mean really really really huge. I think SCE would be very happy with the singstar sales in brazilian lands. Anyways, thanks for the good job!

Cheers

Is it possible to allow people to upload more than 30secs of singing? Or allow for listening to people sing live?

Also can you make a sort of Singstar jukebox mode where it just plays the videos without lyrics etc and of course allowing for the songs to shuffle.