Not sure how many people saw this but....
http://andriasang.com/comz2k/ps3_karaoke/Good ol' Namco Bandai has brought the Joysound karaoke system to the PS3. Until December 19th, you can try it out for free. Download the program through the Japanese PSN store. It's really easy to find right now since it's at the top of the release list and sometimes pops up in the rotating ads too.
Once you download the program and start it up, you have to have a valid ticket to use it. For the trial period until the 19th, you can get a free ticket that works for 24 hours. (If you want to play after that, you just need to "buy" another free ticket from PSN) From the menu, go down to Ticket (third option). Under that submenu are two options: Ticket Information and Purchase Ticket. Purchase Ticket will take you to the PSN store where you can "purchase" the Free Ticket 1 day pass.
Got your ticket? Then you are ready to sing! Karaoke is the first option on the main menu screen.
The next screen has a wheel with options. Circle down to Genre and then choose Anime. Select the first option which is Program. Move through the list until you see the various THE IDOLM@STER options. Most of the songs are under the first main "THE IDOLM@STER" but there are a few covers under the other ones as well.
Pick out a song or three you want to sing, like, oh, say, Kamisama no Birthday or Kiramekirari by hitting the circle button. This adds the song to your reservation list. Once you've picked out all the songs you want to sing, hit the start button on your controller. It has to download the songs to your PS3 so a constant online connection is required.
I'm able to run the program through my Japanese PSN account on a Japanese PS3. Not sure if people with non-Japanese PS3s would have any issues but I think it's worth a try. (Update: I've seen a few blog posts now where people have been getting region lockout errors trying to use the program.
This seems to a hardware based lockout as I'm using my Japanese PS3 in the states will no trouble.)
There is also a huge selection of regular Japanese pop and Western pop as well. We already had fun singing Lady Gaga songs today.
If you have any questions on how to use the program, etc, leave a message on the thread and we can all help each other out!
