116: I Am Citizen SingStar

[Christian McCrea]

I Am Citizen SingStar

"For many, the PS2 is 'the SingStar machine,' especially in Europe and Australasia. Anybody who tells you it's not a real game is a liar and possibly a Communist - it just rewards bravery over everything else."

Christian McCrea explores the impact of Singstar.


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[johnhummel]

Only tangentally related to the article, but I've been considering picking up SingStar for my PS3, since my daughter and I (who also play Guitar Hero together) will likely enjoy it.

So the question is: should I wait for the PS3 version, or if I go ahead and buy the PS2 version will it work on my PS3 without any problems?

 

[Squiglish]

I'd mock people who play SingStar...but no one can beat me at 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' or 'Life on Mars...

 

[Arbre]

One thing that left me a bit puzzled...

"Anybody who tells you it's not a real game is a liar and possibly a Communist - it just rewards bravery over everything else."

What the hell have communists to do with that?

 

[imcaseyimhott [deprecated]]

I don't get the point of this article... It's not a game.

 

[Virgil]

One thing that left me a bit puzzled...

"Anybody who tells you it's not a real game is a liar and possibly a Communist - it just rewards bravery over everything else."

What the hell have communists to do with that?

It's a joke, an Americanism. It loosely relates to McCarthyism [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism] and how people with contrary opinions could be accused of being Communists (and therefore Anti-American). Over time, it has evolved into a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that someone who disagrees with the stated opinion is inherently wrong about everything (because they're communists, and communists are 'the enemy'). Nowadays, it's just as likely to be replaced with a reference to being a terrorist.

And now you know!

 

[Geoffrey42]

One thing that left me a bit puzzled...

"Anybody who tells you it's not a real game is a liar and possibly a Communist - it just rewards bravery over everything else."

What the hell have communists to do with that?

It's a joke, an Americanism. It loosely relates to McCarthyism [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism] and how people with contrary opinions could be accused of being Communists (and therefore Anti-American). Over time, it has evolved into a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that someone who disagrees with the stated opinion is inherently wrong about everything (because they're communists, and communists are 'the enemy'). Nowadays, it's just as likely to be replaced with a reference to being a terrorist.

And now you know!

And knowing is half the battle!

Very succinctly put. My family at one point hosted exchange students from Europe for whole school years, and questions like that happened more often than not, but I never was able to so briefly and thoroughly explain away a crazy Americanism. Bravo.

 

[Arbre]

One thing that left me a bit puzzled...

"Anybody who tells you it's not a real game is a liar and possibly a Communist - it just rewards bravery over everything else."

What the hell have communists to do with that?

It's a joke, an Americanism. It loosely relates to McCarthyism [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism] and how people with contrary opinions could be accused of being Communists (and therefore Anti-American). Over time, it has evolved into a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that someone who disagrees with the stated opinion is inherently wrong about everything (because they're communists, and communists are 'the enemy'). Nowadays, it's just as likely to be replaced with a reference to being a terrorist.

And now you know!

Ok. I'm more aware of Bushisms than McCarthyism. j/k
I knew the issues about communism the USA went through, but not being an American literally puts me out of context by default.