"My advice would be if you want to pursue a career in the music business, don't." - Simon Cowell, American Idol.
Calling all American Idol fans! The smash hit reality television show is heading to a PS2 and PC near you this Fall.
Complete with a computer generated Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell, with trademark insults, American Idol is a music-based, rhythm -action game that will allow you to create, style and train a contestant for the competition. Once styled and trained you'll see your contestant through the auditions, various heats and then fingers crossed make it to the grand final.
You'll need quick fingers as you sing and dance with your hands. Match the right combination of buttons to what's displayed on the screen and your contestant sings a sweet harmony and dances to the rhythm of the song. Get it wrong and their voice fades and goes out of tune as the judges and later the audience grow unsettled.
The track list includes 40 international top-ten songs to master, so prepare to get full feedback from the judges whatever your performance is. If your contestant sings the song perfectly you'll receive a few words of praise from Simon Cowell and a place in the next round. However, if your contestant squeals and howls out of tune then prepare for heartache as Simon delivers one of his famous comments before you get booted off the show.
Play by yourself or challenge your friends, see who can make it to the final to win the American Idol crown! Look out for American Idol hitting stores this Fall.
Pop Idol (UK Version)
The interactive video game publishing rights to Pop Idol, the smash-hit reality
television entertainment show, have been secured by Codemasters, the global
computer and video game publisher, under licence from FremantleMedia and 19
Entertainment.
The deal will see Codemasters launching a Pop Idol video game for PlayStation 2
and PC CD this autumn in the UK. The game is set to launch as the second Pop
Idol series enters its gripping run up to the finals.
The music-based rhythm-action Pop Idol game lets players create, style and train
a Pop Idol contestant and compete as a singer all the way to the finals. Each
virtual contestant will choose from 40 top-ten music tracks to perform for the
judges. Players will receive comments on their singing performances from the TV
shows' judges, including a computer-generated Simon Cowell.
It is anticipated that the Pop Idol title will become the mass-market video game
of the year and be Codemasters' biggest video game launches in the company's 17-year history.
The game will be targeted at a mass-market audience of 7 to 17-year olds, a
massively untapped but very active gaming audience. Pop Idol audience research
indicates that over 70% of all 4-15-year olds watching television at the time
saw the final, and of those 70% play games (Source: TGI).
The Pop Idol format has become a phenomenon in every territory it has launched
in. In the UK, Pop Idol reached almost 14 million viewers, the final telephone
vote hit a UK record-breaking 9 million calls, and now there are over 20,000
applications to be a contestant in Pop Idol 2.
The PlayStation 2 and PC title is being created by Hothouse Creations and
Codemasters acquired the project under its business development and acquisitions
programme.
Says Gary Rowe, Codemasters' Head of Business Development: To secure one of the most talked about, most watched, most fascinating entertainment brands of recent years is a major landmark in Codemasters' acquisition strategy. With the gaming market now a mass-market entertainment platform, the Pop Idol title will have a massive impact.
Dom Wheeler, UK Licensing Manager at Fremantle Brand Licensing comments: The Pop Idol video game is a hugely exciting project for us and we're delighted to have Codemasters as our publishing partner. Codemasters has an excellent heritage for bringing hugely popular big-brand video games to market. We strongly feel that working with Codemasters and Hothouse Creations, we have a game that truly reflects the shows and gives everyone the chance to enjoy the Pop Idol experience.
Says Mike Hayes, Codemasters' Group Marketing Director: To have video games based on the ratings-dominating Pop Idol series and to launch them with such perfect timing is a major coup; the games' launches will be major events in the mass-market gaming calendar. The power branding of Pop Idol, combined with an excellent music rhythm based game has
immense appeal to the far-reaching gaming audience on PlayStation 2 and PC.
Codemasters will launch Pop Idol in the UK this autumn for PlayStation 2 and PC.
A first look at the game will feature at E3, this May in Los Angeles.
