Games
The Beatles: Rock Band Debuts at E3 2009
By Eli Green June 1, 2009 - 18:40
Original
Beatles band members Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with
Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, kicked off E3 2009 today with the world
premiere of the first ever Beatles video game, The Beatles: Rock
Band. This game represents a
huge collaboration between the music and video game industries, even
bigger than the previous titles in the Rock Band
franchise, as it will not just be the release of a new video game,
but a massive licensing agreement for music from The Beatles'
catalogue, plus their likenesses and, essentially, the band's
biography. In all, the creation of this game has seen collaboration
between The Beatles' multimedia corporation Apple Corps and Harmonix,
MTV Games, Electronic Arts, EMI, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, as well
as the three major console manufacturers, Microsoft, Nintendo and
Sony.
The Fab Four in video game form.
When
the game releases on September 9th,
it will be the first time gamers will be able to experience The
Beatles' musical career for themselves, from their early days in
Liverpool in 1963, all the all to their final performance on the
rooftop of the Apple Corps building. Not only that, but you'll be
able to get into it full force, with three-part vocal harmonies.
There's still more. The game will include a number of previously
unreleased authentic voice recordings of John, Paul, George and Ringo
chatting between takes during sessions recorded
at Abbey Road over decades ago.
The
Beatles: Rock Band will include
a full featured story mode that takes players on an interactive
journey through The Beatles' career. Along the way, the venues, set
lists, clothing and instruments will relive the band’s rise to
fame, represented in The Beatles' touring period from 1963 to1966 and
their studio days from 1966 to 1969.
Performing on the roof of the Apple Corps building.
You'll
start out from the band's earliest days, playing The Cavern Club in
Liverpool, England in 1963, move on to the band's performance at The
Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, to their sold out concert at Shea Stadium
in 1965 and conclude at The Beatles’ memorable concert at Budokan
in Tokyo, Japan in 1966. From there you'll hit Studio 2 at the Abbey
Road Studios. The development team at Harmonix took a lot of artistic
liberty with the design for this part of the game, highlighting the
studio years with artistic visual expressions they are calling
Dreamscapes, “intended to transport players to imaginative
environments that capture the essence of The Beatles’ genre-busting
musical and fashion transformations during their later years”.
Out
of the entire Beatles catalogue, 45 songs
will be available directly on the disc. Giles Martin, co-producer of
The Beatles innovative LOVE album project and Music
Supervisor/Creative Producerfor
The
Beatles: Rock Band,
unveiled the first ten songs that will be available on the game-disc:
I
Saw Her Standing There,
I
Want To Hold Your Hand,
I
Feel Fine,
Taxman,
Day
Tripper,
Back
In The USSR,
I
Am The Walrus,
Octopus’s
Garden,
Here
Comes The Sun,
and Get
Back.
The rest of the tracks will be announced at a later date. Also, the
entire Abbey Road album will be made available as downloadable
content (DLC) , along with additional music from The Beatles'
catalogue.
Playing the Ed Sullivan Show.
As
previously announced, The
Beatles: Rock Band will
offer a new set of instrument controllers designed to look like the
instruments made famous by John, Paul, George and Ringo. Featured in
the set are the Rickenbacker 325 and Gretsch Duo Jet guitars –
hailed as two of the celebrated, signature instruments played by John
Lennon and George Harrison throughout their careers – as well as a
Höfner bass controller – a large-scale version of the bass
famously used by Sir Paul McCartney – and a Ringo Starr inspired,
Ludwig-branded Rock Band 2 drum set with a classic pearl finish and
vintage remake of a Beatles kick drum head.
Along
with all of this news comes the announcement that, on the date of the
game's release, there will be two other major Beatles related
releases. The first will be the release of All
You Need Is Love
as Xbox Live exclusive DLC. This will be a special release with all
Apple Corps, MTV Games and Microsoft proceeds of the purchase of the
song benefiting Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF).
McCartney, Starr, Ono and Harrison personally selected Doctors
Without Borders as the beneficiary of the proceeds. The second side
announcement was that the entire original, digitally re-mastered
Beatles CD catalogue will also be releasing on September 9th.
Live from the Octopus's Garden. This shot doesn't do the game justice.
The
Beatles: Rock Band
will be releasing worldwide on September 9th
(09/09/09) for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Wii and is rated T for
Teen. It will be compatible with all other Rock
Band instrument
controllers, as well as most Guitar
Hero
instrument controllers, and some third party peripherals and
microphones as well. For more information on The
Beatles: Rock Band,
including venues and more, go to www.thebeatlesrockband.com.
We hope to have some of the footage from the premiere for you soon.