Karaoke Joysound enables you to turn your Wii into a karaoke machine and comes complete with microphone. Even though the mic was not connected (and was for display only), Vinnk gave it a go so we could all enjoy his vocal genius. He sung Video Killed the Radiostar… (no really, he’s very good!).

The game plays exactly like any karaoke machine except that to get the songs you want you have to download them. It costs 300 yen (that’s $3 or £1.50 roughly) to download as many songs as you want but you only get to keep them for 24 hours (think of it as a rental). However, the company says that you can get any song you could ever want to sing. So effectively it’s like going out to sing karaoke in a little Japanese karaoke booth, except you don’t have to leave your sofa.

The songs download within seconds so there’s no waiting around, and then you can scroll through them on your screen in a menu like a DDR game. Once your song starts the backdrop is mainly comprised of little dancing Miis and, obviously, the words!

When you go to a Japanese karaoke room you are usually supplied with several minor music instruments such as maracas and tambourines. So to recreate the atmosphere you can shake the Wii controllers to create the sound of a tambourine.

The game is going to be release in Japan on December 18th, and then in both the USA and Europe in 2009.

My overall take was that it looks fun. Vinnk definitely enjoyed playing it, but as someone who lives in Japan I would probably choose to go out to sing karaoke with my friends rather than stay in. However, I think it’s a pretty fun idea for the UK and USA since most people don’t have a karaoke room five minutes from their house and the game has been very well put together.

My only problem with it is the fact that you only get to keep the songs for 24 hours. I’m not sure if the ability to sing for 24 hours would make my downloading worth while! And I would have liked to have had the option of keeping the songs permanently, even if it was a little more expensive. But overall I liked the game.