Are you ready for SingStar ABBA, Sony Computer Entertainment and ABBA’s collaborative effort? Well, you’d better get ready and exercise those vocal chords, because SingStar Abba is going to be here this Christmas!

Releasing exclusively for PlayStation 2 and Playstation 3, SingStar ABBA includes all of the karaoke fun from past SingStar games, only this time including classic ABBA tracks such as ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’, ‘Waterloo’ and ‘Dancing Queen.’

SingStar ABBA is being developed in full collaboration with Universal Music Group in Sweden, who manage the rights to the ABBA brand, with an exclusivity agreement that lasts until December 2009. ABBA’s success and popularity is still being celebrated, after their recordings have sold an estimated 370 million units worldwide, while their album, “Gold,” has sold 26 million units alone. Additionally, the soundtrack to the movie inspired by ABBA’s music, “Mamma Mia!” has sold almost 3 million copies worldwide.

President, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe said, “We are thrilled to be collaborating with ABBA to bring their tracks to SingStar this Christmas. The popularity of this iconic band continues year after year, and we know SingStar fans will be delighted to add this selection of classics tracks to their SingStar collection.”

Chairman/CEO of Universal Music Group International, Lucian Grainge added, “ABBA have joined that elite club of musicians and artists whose popularity only grows with time, as new generations enjoy some of the most memorable music ever made. SingStar ABBA will have the world singing along again.”

Look out for SingStar ABBA in stores this Christmas!

It seems that compatibility is the word of the week. Earlier in the week Sony announced that all instruments for the PS3 versions of three upcoming music games (Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Revolution) would be compatible. Microsoft soon followed suite, making clear that instruments for future Xbox 360 rhythm games will be compatible too.

Following on the announcement that SingStar PS3 Vol.2 will be making its way to the US this October, SCEA unveiled a new SingStar PS3 disc swap feature that incorporates the SingStar PS2 library.

According to the SingStar development team, SingStar track compatibility across PS2 and PS3 is enabled via the Disc Swap feature. “The feature has previously been available on SingStar games for both PlayStation 2 and PLAYSTATION 3, but for the first time owners of SingStar for PS3 will be able to play songs from PS2 discs in their collection.”

When you are playing a SingStar PS3 disc, simply choose ‘select’ at the song select screen to swap discs and play the songs from the inserted disc. Although the songs are not saved to the hard drive, this feature enables gamers to enjoy their SingStar PS2 collection on their PS3.

The disc swap feature will be delivered via a free game update later this year. It will work with all current PS3 system models and does not require a system software update. It will work with all current SingStar PS3 discs and will be included on future SingStar PS3 discs releasing next year.

Richard Bates clarified a few points in the comments section. Players will not be able to upload any saved media for PS2 songs due to licensing restrictions and trophy support will be coming early next year.

In response to whether the PS3 will be playing PS2 discs in emulation through the SingStar software, Bates replied “We added to the PS3 SingStar game ‘engine’ the ability to read and decode the tracks from a SingStar disc for PS2. Keeping it within the PS3 game also means you can still play your downloaded tracks.”

The SingStar franchise has sold 12 million units across the PAL territories to date, 5 million of which were sold in 2007. This is the latest word from Sony, who also announced that one million tracks were downloaded across the PAL region from the SingStore within its first four months of trading.

The first SingStar title was released on the PS2 in 2004 and saw the PlayStation brand widening to include non-traditional gamers. The franchise broke on to the next-gen PS3 platform in December 2007, offering SingStar fans the chance to download extra content from the SingStore and share recorded performances via My SingStar Online.

My SingStar Online now boasts 140 000 registered users. Together with visitors to the game’s official website, these users have shared over 20 000 videos of their SingStar performances which have been viewed over 2.5 million times.

Sony also pointed out that SingStar PS3 had earned three Guinness World Records including Most Successful Singing Game, First Customisable Track in a Singing Game and First Music Game to Let Players Record Their Performances and Share Them Online.

SingStar fans can indulge themselves in various SingStar titles spanning different musical genres, decades and themes such as SingStar ‘80s, SingStar ‘90s, SingStar Rocks, SingStar R&B, SingStar Pop, SingStar Pop Hits, SingStar Legends, SingStar Party and SingStar Summer Party.

SingStar Volume 2 for the PS3 was also recently announced and will include tracks from top artists such as The Killers, Eminem, Kaiser Chiefs, Gorillaz as well as a new harmony duet mode and PSP Remote Play functionality.

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Sony is working on the next UK SingStar title for the PS2. They have called on SingStar fans to help create the new title by voting for a theme.

There are four possible themes: Boybands vs Girlbands; Cheesy Tunes; Divas; and 80s Vs 90s. You can vote at singstargame.com or on SingStar UK’s MySpace and facebook pages.

According to Sony, the chosen title will be released towards the end of 2008. After the theme is selected Sony will be asking SingStar fans to decide upon the tracklist as well.

According to semi official blog Three Speech SingStar for PS3 will be released across PAL land on the 7th of December.

A SingStar Myspace site was also revealed so if you are a fan be sure to check it out.

SingStar for PS3 will be the latest installment in the popular SingStar series but introduces SingStore which enables gamers to download back catalogue tracks.

Semi-official blog ThreeSpeech have posted a list of confirmed release dates for upcoming Sony titles.

First up is The Eye of Judgment for the 26th of October, followed by Lair and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction on the 9th of November. Unchartered: Drake’s Fortune is down for the 7th of November and, most importantly, SingStar PS3 is listed as a December release, although the final date is to be confirmed.

Incidentally, Unchartered: Drake’s Fortune is gold and on track to meet its release date.

Although Sony doesn’t seem to have announced this anywhere, some online retailers (HMV) in the UK have put the tracklist up for Singstar R&B, due out on the 26th of October.

Personally, I’m waiting for Singstar PS3 so that I can choose my own songs as this list is so far from my music tastes that we’re not even using the same coordinate system. This is a good thing though, as Sony is appealing to a mass market consisting of lots of subcultures, and these can’t exactly be expensive to make for the PS2.

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