‘Glee’ coming soon — to a Wii near you

While you may not be a hardcore “Gleek,” it’s hard to deny a karaoke-based video game based on the hit television show Glee sounds like a perfect idea.

This week, Konami and Twentieth Century Fox confirmed Karaoke Revolution: Glee, a Nintendo Wii exclusive coming this fall that lets you interact with the music, characters and performances found in the first season of the mega-popular TV series.

I had some hands-on time with the game back in May, but was told they’d sick Coach Sylvester on me if I wrote about anything before the embargo lifted.

As you’d expect from such a game, Karaoke Revolution: Glee, which will ship with a wired microphone, lets you sing along to familiar songs from the show, and you’re graded on your performance. While a video plays in the background, you’ll see the lyrics appear on the screen, along with a pitch and rhythm meter that shows when to sing higher or lower and when to take a breath. Price, with microphone, will run about $50.

Belt out tunes sung by your favourite Glee characters, such as overachieving Rachel Berry (played by Lea Michele), football hunk Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith), and of course, the Glee Club’s fearless leader, Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison). Konami says “up to” 35 songs will be in the final game, which suggests the exact number hasn’t yet been determined.

At Konami’s L.A. offices, I played around with the various game modes, which includes a quick one-song game, a story option that follows a character of your choice, and a couple of multiplayer modes, such as one that gives two players the chance to sing to sing as a duet or with harmonies.

As a bonus for hardcore Gleeks, the game will also have unlockable content, including video clips and information from the show.

Speaking of music games, Rock Band 3 is ready for jamming on Oct. 26, according to an announcement from publisher MTV Games and developer Harmonix.

The third major sequel in this series (The Beatles: Rock Band notwithstanding) will be available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii ($59.99 apiece) and Nintendo DS ($29.99).

But this price is for the game only, for those who already own a guitar or drum peripheral or microphone from a previous (or compatible) game. No word yet on how much the keyboard peripheral — the biggest out of the new features — will cost, or if there will be a hardware bundle that includes one or more of the plastic instruments with the game.

Rock Band 3 will include 83 songs and will support all previous Rock Band songs and downloadable song packs.