Here's a list of some of the coolest features in the game, which make Rapstar a must buy for Hip Hop heads. - Rap along to the hottest Hip Hop videos, which include past and present hits from all the top name artists.
- You will never be limited to the songs that come on the game, constant updates will bring new and fresh material.
- You can NOT own this game without owning a PS3 Eye or Xbox Live Vision camera as you will literally be able to become a Rapstar.
- Battle friends, or create music videos using your consoles camera.
- The online includes a Youtube like implementation where you can share videos with the Rapstar community.
- Online will literally incluide charts, giving you to possibly become the number one Rapstar.
Check out these new screen shots we have from the game, as you can see the game looks very sleek. Lets just hope southern Hip Hop doesn't dominate the majority of the game. Much props to 4mm and Def Jam Interactive
Why should you be excited for this? Because, this game is gonna be a must buy for YOU. Hot 97 was in the building during E3 this year. We got our paws on a exclusive preview of Def Jam Rapstar. Even though it was in early stages, the game was a blast. The voice matching was so much more on point than other titles out, the selection library was crazy, and the presentation just made the experience that much more exciting. Half Way through me doing Jeezy's song, it turned into full fledged party. Now I know you saw the trailer and thought the game was gonna be corny, but the selling point is not the commercial, its not going to be in any previews or screenshots, its what this game does to you when you grab the mic and start the show. If you’re a shower/bathroom/in the mirror rapper, this is for you. A get-together won't be complete without this game. The final song library isn't available yet, but hit is up and let us know what you would like to perform, maybe we can put in a good word. Stay tuned, we're definitely on top of this one.
The game is being co-developed by 4mm Games and Terminal Reality with a target winter release. Def Jam Rapstar won't just be about your solo performance waxing it lyrical. Instead the game is going feature an in depth social experience branded with your own image. Using the PlayStation Eye or Xbox Vision Camera you'll be able to create videos and perform for the entire world. There's a few cooperative modes available including pass the mic and a combined scoring mode where both players rap at the same time. There's no word on any tracks other than the one that's featured in the debut trailer - "Put On" by Young Jeezy. But the game promises to represent over 30 years of hip-hop music Finally if you think you can lay down some lyrical poetry of your own, the game will feature a free style mode, guaranteed to entertain at parties. My only hope is they go for the mature rating and allow uncut versions of the songs.
The game will use either the Xbox Live Vision Camera or the PlayStation Eye, depending on the system your playing on, to put gamers into the game. After the song, players can edit themselves into the video and post it to the Def Jam Rapstar site.
The game features a two player local play, but more can be added with the Pass The Mic mode. A Free Style mode is also available for players to sing their own lyrics over scratch instrumental tracks. Online, multiplayer Battle and Co-op modes will be available. Battle mode has players alternating rhyming lyrics, while Co-op mode has players singing together to get the highest score.
The game is scheduled for release this winter, and is being developed by 4mm Games and Terminal Reality. Check out the screenshots above and below the story.
You will feel like a star emcee on stage, and you will see your star power and status be determined by your talent and skills. Def Jam Rapstar is about perfecting your flow so you can rhyme and sing along with the greatest hip-hop tracks. Def Jam Rapstar will create opportunities where it's also about developing all new rhymes, sharing your creativity and expressing yourself to the wider community and the world. Key Features - Def Jam Rapstar is the first and true hip-hop music game of its kind
- Glamorous and sleek look and feel of game interface that helps to immerse players into the hip-hop lifestyle
- Def Jam Rapstar leverages 30 years of hip-hop and provides players a vault of tracks from all eras and music labels
- Def Jam Rapstar will feature tracks from the biggest rap stars in hip-hop: US and worldwide
- Incorporates pitch recognition and speech/phoneme recognition technology to asses a player’s tune, timing and accuracy. Also features improved and optimized speech recognition to accurately determine what the player is saying, even in a noisy room, and provide live feedback of the player’s performance
- Using the Xbox Live Vision Camera and PlayStation Eye, Def Jam Rapstar puts players in the game and delivers the experience of being a real life rapstar. The player’s image is separated from the background at the start of each performance so that after the song, performances can be viewed and edited using various lighting, sound, and green screen effects to simulate a real studio, stage or impromptu performance
- A fully integrated online community allows players to upload their rap videos directly from the console to DefJamRapstar.com. Players can share their videos with the world to gain global recognition and even become a real life Def Jam star! The experience is one of self-expression and self-promotion
- Free Style modes allow the player to rap and sing their own lyrics over pre-created “scratch” instrumental tracks
- Two Players Local; More with Pass The Mic and other modes
- Multiplayer Battle and Co-op Modes let players perform together as crews. In battle mode, players alternate rhyming lyrics round robin style, competing for the highest score. In Co-op mode, both players sing and rap together to achieve the highest scores on each level
As seen at GamesCom, Def Jam Rapstar will cater to a global audience by spotlighting tracks from popular artists from around the world as hip-hop has become a global phenomena and reaching millions of fans.
The new screenshots show off updates to the sleek in-game elements, as well as giving a glimpse at its cutting edge community features as player’s rep their territories and take the battle online.
Def Jam Rapstar delivers players a hip-hop experience that allows them to take on the role of a rapstar. You will feel like a star emcee on stage, and if you deserve critical acclaim you'll get it. Def Jam Rapstar is about perfecting your flow so you can rhyme and sing along with the greatest hip-hop tracks. But the game also offers opportunities where it's also about creating all new rhymes, sharing your creativity and expressing yourself to the wider community and the world. It's not just about the music, but the lifestyle. Key Features - Def Jam Rapstar is the first hip hop music game of its kind
- Def Jam Rapstar leverages more than 30 years of hip-hop, which will provide players a vault of tracks from all eras
- Def Jam Rapstar will feature tracks from the biggest stars in hip-hop, including: T.I., Rihanna , Young Jeezy, Kanye West, The Notorious B.I.G. (confirmed E3 tracks)
- Incorporates pitch recognition and speech/phoneme recognition technology to asses a player's tune, timing and accuracy. Also features improved and optimized speech recognition to accurately determine what the player is saying, even in a noisy room, and provide live feedback of the player's performance
- Using the Xbox Live Vision Camera and PlayStation Eye, Def Jam Rapstar puts players in the game and delivers the experience of being a real life rapstar. The player's image is separated from the background at the start of each performance so that after the song, performances can be viewed and edited using various lighting, sound, and green screen effects to simulate a real studio, stage or impromptu performance
- A fully integrated online community allows players to upload their rap videos directly from the console to DefJamRapstar.com. Players can share their videos with the world to gain global recognition and even become a real life Def Jam star! The experience is one of self-expression and self-promotion
- Freestyle modes allow the player to rap and sing their own lyrics over pre-created instrumental tracks
- Multi-player Battle and Co-op Modes let players perform together as crews. In battle mode, players alternate rhyming lyrics round robin style, competing for the highest score. In Co-op mode, both players sing and rap together to achieve the highest scores on each level
4mm Games' Def Jam Rapstar, developed by 4mm Games & Terminal Reality, is scheduled for release winter 2009.
Def Jam Rapstar certainly looked slick from the off-set: the menu and interfaces are smartly dressed in black and gold whilst music videos smoothly play as you browse the selection of hip-hop music on offer. A healthy range of top hip-hop talent from the past 30 years is promised, with a handful of region specific tracks included to help aid familiarity with players. The basic gameplay of Def Jam Rapstar simply involves rapping along to a track to the best of your ability as you would in Singstar, but this is where the similarities end. Using phoneme technology, Def Jam Rapstar makes humming or whistling to the music a scoreless effort. Instead you need to show a prowess in matching the actual words with the right pitch and timing, gradually trying to build up points and the score multiplier as continuous syllables, beats and notes are matched. The music video plays in the background and accompanying lyrics are displayed, along with an indication of what beat and pitch is needed next. A final score is calculated at the end and a rating dished-out.
In my play-test I rapped against James Waller, Project Coordinator of Def Jam Enterprises, using Kanye West's classic track "Gold Digger". In this Battle Mode we were up against each other to score the highest points total, singing the chorus simultaneously but the other verses separately. Even though I have nothing to compare the experience to, I enjoyably got into the role of rapping as it didn't involve any embarrassing high pitch squealing like in Singstar. The scoring system worked well, with my rough newbie effort beaten 10-to-1 by the excellent rapping James demonstrated. I now yearn for a few more attempts to better understand the words and improve my score, perhaps providing some actual competition. Enjoyment in Def Jam Rapstar needn't stop when the music does; 4mm Games are setting out to inspire an online community here. Xbox Live Vision and PlayStation Eye cameras can record the whole process of you smugly rapping, after which you can add various video effects such as crowds and lighting. 30 seconds of this music video can then be uploaded to the Def Jam Rapstar community website with minimal effort - just a little patience depending on your internet connection. Music videos uploaded to the community site can then be viewed, rated and even played off against one another, with users voting to decide which is best. The developer is even catering for the more camera shy user - support positions such as manager and promoter will be available, so instead of working alone a rapper can find fame as part of collective team. This creates the potential to launch aspiring and talented rappers into the limelight of the community, meaning that the game doesn't stop when the console is switched off. All this and I am yet to mention the Freestyle mode. These special music tracks are mixed by top hip-hop producers, to which you can rap along with your own lyrics. Unlike the other licensed tracks, the full music video can be uploaded, and while no score is given in-game, user feedback will prove to be a vital tool. A flourish of DLC after release will continue to build-up Def Jam Rapstar, adding new music tracks and video objects. It should also be noted that previously owned microphone peripherals should work with the game, so a single retail copy of the game may be all that is needed, though other packages will be on offer if starting from scratch. Should Def Jam Rapstar rise to the occasion and meet its criteria then this will be a title all aspiring rappers should look into, and as I found out, it's not just limited to that one market. In my short time with Def Jam Rapstar I genuinely had a good time, which, due to my inexperience with this type of game, isn't something I was expecting to say. The gameplay method looks strongly implemented and, when released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in early 2010, the online community element has the potential to make Def Jam Rapstar reach the big-time.
We saw Def Jam Rapstar at GamesCom in Cologne, Germany. This is such a simple concept -- hip-hop karaoke -- that frankly, we're shocked the game has yet to find a publisher. There must be some weird legal or copyright hang-ups interfering with a potential publishing deal because based on the 30 minutes of fun we had here at GamesCom in Cologne, this music game feels like a sure shot winner. The premise is super simple. Pick a song from a list of over 40 modern and classic hip-hop hits and then rhyme away. Songs we saw and/or butchered in our hands-on gameplay demonstration included Kanye West's Gold Digger, Young Jeezy's Put On, Ludacris' Stand Up, and one of our all-time favorites, They Reminisce by Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth. The game will also feature some regional hip-hop talent from Europe, including Molotov 4 from France. We'll confess to knowing nothing about the European hip-hop scene, but these French rappers sounded pretty cool. Unfortunately for us, you have to know French to rap their songs. And we (meaning I, which means George Jones) can't speak French. Ultimately, the game's developer -- Terminal Reality -- promised us that the game would incorporate the last 35 years of hip-hop, ranging from the very beginning of the form to modern times. They also assured us that, because Def Jam recently sold its music catalog, the game will consist of more than just Def Jam recordings. (For the record, 4 mm is the game's publisher.) Playing Def Jam Rapstar is virtually identical to playing Singstar or the track-singing aspect of Rock Band. The words come on screen. You try to sing along with the tune, matching the pitch and cadence of the song's lyrics. When the song finishes, you get a score that indicates how well you performed in terms of pitch, lyrical accuracy, and flow. Three different modes exist in the game. Solo mode is exactly what it sounds like. Battle mode allows you to lay the smack down on your friends by alternating the lyrics. Just like a good old-fashioned hip-hop rhyme spree. But the game also features some interesting community features that will allow connected gamers to collaborate, compete, or attempt to become a real star. As an example, if you have a console camera, you can use it to videotape yourself rapping. The game also features a freestyle mode that will allow you to flow your own home-made freestyle rhymes over musical loops created by top-notch DJs around the world. Gamers and the general viewing public can then rate your performance. In both cases, you can upload your performances to a central server for public viewing from the game itself as well as from the game's web site. A Def Jam representative on site in Cologne even suggested that the record label would be monitoring these freestyle submissions as a sort of scouting hunt for new talent. One other interesting community feature is that the game allows players to create affiliations or crews based on regional or affinity preferences. Theoretically, this means that a crew of LA-based Rapstar rappers could challenge a crew of East Coasters. Or alternatively, a crew of rappers who love Halo could issue a similar challenge. Assuming the game finds a publisher, Def Jam Rapstar is currently scheduled to be completed sometime in 2010.
But it was the non-licensed beats and what players can do with them that's far more interesting. Sure, players can upload 30 second snippets of video performances while rapping over pre-recorded, licensed tracks, videos that the community can vote on and players can compete against others with for high scores. But the freestyle portion of the game, using a suite of custom beats included in Rapstar, lets budding rappers write and record full, original songs. Waller says that the built-in tools will allow for multiple takes, allowing for layered tracks on top of a core rhyme, including ad-libs, background singers, whatever. Rapstar freestylers can upload their full performances, recorded via their Xbox Live Vision or PlayStation Eye camera‚ to the game's web site and let the community rate those original songs. Waller says that Def Jam, the company, will be keeping a close eye on the Rapstar community, trawling it for talent and using the Rapstar fanbase as a cultivator for up and coming hip hop artists. The cream, they hope, will rise to the top courtesy of community ratings. That will likely be aided with the help of Def Jam Rapstar's online meta-game, which should appeal to the hip hop fan too shy to get in front of the camera. The community web site will also enable Rapstar fans to act as managers and promoters, encouraging contributors to help find and publicize the best talent. Based on the description of that feature set, it sounds part fantasy football league, part analytical tool. Def Jam Rapstar's community will have a major focus on battles, essentially letting players join leagues, in video game terms. That could mean something as broad as east coast versus west coast or something more specific, like Queens versus Brooklyn or high school versus high school. While my own rap skills aren't going to be put to the test any time soon‚ because they're godawful‚ what Rapstar and 4mm Games are putting together is compelling. If done right, it could serve as a genuine audition tool for aspiring musicians. But at the very least, it appears to be a capable rap game with a decent selection of licensed tracks. Expect Def Jam Rapstar to hit officially this "Winter," which likely means sometime in Q1 2010. PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii versions are in the works "for now."
Gazing around your local games store, you'll notice that there's certainly no shortage of rhythm or karaoke games. SingStar, Lips, Guitar Hero World Tour, Rock Band, and Karaoke Revolution seem to have karaoke gameplay pretty well covered, but developers 4mm Games is banking on the power of hip-hop, a partnership with Def Jam Recordings, and some unique features to swing the balance in its favour. We took a closer look at this infectious title at GamesCom 2009, in Cologne, Germany.
What's New: While the set list is still a work-in-progress, we got a good idea of what to expect with tracks that included Gold Digger by Kanye West, Always on Time by Ja Rule, Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang,They Reminisce Over You by Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Live Your Life by T.I.,Molotov 4 by Sefyu, Mein Block by Sido, Put On by Young Jeezy, Right Round by Flo Rida, Stand Up by Ludacris, and around 30 more tracks from the likes of Run DMC. Regionalised artists will also appear in the game, such as Dizzee Rascal for the UK release. One cool idea King mentioned is that every performance uploaded to servers can be geotagged, allowing you to see if you're the best at a particular track in your suburb, city, or even your country. According to King, regular DLC updates will allow 4mm Games to publish songs that fall into subgenres or niches. He also confirmed that while all of the songs are radio edits, there won't be any changed words, and the uncensored lyrics may skew the game to an older audience. Given the material they're dealing with, this seems like a sensible approach. King also told us that some songs are particularly suited to duets, and while female artists will make an appearance, there will be plenty of songs "for the fellas." What's Different: We pulled up our socks, tightened our belt, and challenged 4mm Games president and rapper extraordinaire Jamie King at Kanye West's Golddigger. Unfortunately, we lost, unlike Chris Watters, but had plenty of fun letting our inner rap star out of its cage. Even if you're not into listening to hip-hop, there's something infectious and energetic about it as a genre, and it's hard not to want to bust out some dope lyrics in the process. What's The Same: When you're singing, the graphics appear very similar to those in SingStar or Lips, with a bar displaying your pitch and timing, a multiplier bar, and the words appearing above or below. If you have a camera plugged in, you can use it to record your performance, and at the end of the song you can add a range of graphical effects and then upload a 30-second clip to the Def Jam Rapstar Web site. You also get scored on various indicators, including text (saying the right words), "takt" (timing), and "tonlage" (pitch), as well as your multiplier. King says the game will support all existing microphone peripherals, as well as the Xbox Live Vision and PlayStation Eye cameras, and there are plans to launch peripheral bundles with the game at launch. 
What Impression The Game Made This Time:Def Jam Rapstar is still in development, and all the graphics we saw were merely placeholders. However, the game shows a lot of potential. The included songs seem destined to create countless living-room battles, and the community aspect sounds like it might set it apart from its existing competitors. Def Jam is currently scheduled for a fourth-quarter 2009 release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii.
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