Hudson Presents Joysound: Wiiware Music Download Service/Karaoke

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Well we knew WiiWare would be a place for new games, but we didn’t ever think it could be for something this extensive. Hudson has announced Joysound to be a karaoke Wiiware title that allows you to download a selection of close to 20,000 songs and then use a mic to sing along with them. This completely blows anything else out of the water. Here’s IGN’s article in its entirety:

One of the first titles announced for the Japanese WiiWare service last year was Karaoke Joysound, a karaoke program that promised downloadable music for the Wii. Today, at a Tokyo press conference that also saw the unveiling of new WiiWare games like Alien Crush and Blue Oasis, Hudson shared specifics on this potential killer app for Nintendo’s new download service.

Hudson appears to have some ambitious plans for Karaoke Joysound Wii, as the program is currently being called. The company hopes to have 20,000 songs available at the start of service, with 1,000 additional songs added every month.

Although it’s being referred to as a WiiWare title, Joysound is a bit different from the rest of the WiiWare lineup. Users download the Joysound program from a server that’s being exclusively set up for it. This server will also house the songs for downloading.

Hudson is currently considering a billing system based not on a per song rate, but on a subscription rate. Users will presumably be able to download as much as they want over a set period of time.

As previously announced, Joysound will be released both as a WiiWare download and as part of a package version. The package version will include a USB microphone, and may include lesson modes and more elaborate displays during songs. For those who do opt for the WiiWare version, Hudson plans on offering the microphone separately.

Sadly, specifics beyond this were not shared today. However, Hudson reps did state that they expect a Japanese release by this summer.

Man we really going to need and HDD now. This is a very cool idea. I like it. Singstar my ass. It just got owned by Hudson.

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yes this screams for HDD

I wonder if Nintendo will ever release one...

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I hope so, but man this is a kickass idea. I mean this is what I wanted out of the “next generation”. Really creative ideas like this.

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I remember Reggie commenting on this...it sounds cool.

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It’s really an awesome idea. I just hope they come through. Not to mention it’ll have a social network that allows for online communication apparently to be voice chat. Awesome eh. The first voice chat game for Wii.

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bump

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Sounds nice, I didn’t read everything though. Is this part of Wii Online?

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They don’t have to.

The extra 1GB SD cards are enough, and cheaper.

I like this idea, but I’m not too keen on subscriptions, unless I can easily get a month paid and just download a buncha stuff for that month, even though I bet they’d put limits. If I have to keep on paying each month to download and keep the music, then Hudson can suck my nuts.

Last edited 29 Mar 2008 09:12 pm by RageOverdose

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Excellent use of the WiiWare! Nice job Hudson!

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It’s actually a Wiiware title that works more like a channel.

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OIC

Sounds... interesting.