The Beatles: Rock Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04JlvZZTQOI

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with the widows of George Harrison and John Lennon, seem to understand that the Beatles are not a museum piece, that the band and its message ought never be encased in amber. The Beatles: Rock Band is nothing less than a cultural watershed, one that may prove only slightly less influential than the band’s famous appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964. By reinterpreting an essential symbol of one generation in the medium and technology of another, The Beatles: Rock Band provides a transformative entertainment experience.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/arts/television/06schi.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

I desperately want to play this and I think I have pretty much my entire life.

Funnily enough I just bought a Wii for my son today and have been wondering this evening about getting this.

This may be what causes me to invest in a gaming machine.

I pre-ordered mine. Grabbing it the day it comes out. (Super psyched.)

Probably the only game in the world that could convince me to pre-order by promising 3 extra tracks for doing so.

What exactly is the game play on this?

Isn't part of the key thing here that they have included a harmony singing element added to what is already part of Rock Band?

Which, well, I guess Queen Rock Band may be the next thing to expand on that technology then ;)

Right, as far as I know the only brand new ludic element is the harmony singing. But of course the real appeal for me is being able to sing the Beatles catalog.

That NYT article made me real excited for next generation of Beatles fans. I remember discovering their albums and constantly going "Holy shit they did this song TOO?" and I think alot of kids that would have never bought a Beatles CD are going to play this game and have that experience.

As I said on ILG, I'm very skeptical of that challop.

still sticking with what i said on ILG.

this seems to be a challop but i do not understand why:

Beatles Rock Band will be an absolute unmitigated sales disaster

― A DOG, A BARREL... RIDICULOUS! (jjjusten), Thursday, August 27, 2009 3:48 PM (6 days ago)

hahaha thanks to my mod edit now it looks like you can SEE THE FUTURE xpost

I am sure a lot of people were probably sceptic towards Guitar Hero back then too. I mean, "trying to sell a guitar rock game to the kids? Dude, kids are into hip-hop and R&B, they don't like rock'n'roll! Rock'n'roll is for their dads!"

Obviously the doubters were wrong though......

Mordy, why are you skeptical? Unless there are some serious technical issues/control problems I see this as a sure-win situation. Is it the appeal of the music? The Beatles have a very universal appeal, and kids will want this who are both into the idea of The Beatles as the ultimate boy band/pop group and the ultimate rock innovators. The Beatles have appealed to kids for decades and that is certainly true in this era.

I'm with Geir....the first time I ever saw Guitar Hero there was a tween kid completely acing "Slow Ride"; he knew every part of that song front-to-back. I think modern technology + classic rock = $$$.

Uh wat?

Given how expensive these things are I doubt they are for kids anymore...

one that may prove only slightly less influential than the band’s famous appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964.

yeah or it may prove only slightly more influential than that dopey "across the universe" movie which was supposed to trigger a new wave of beatlemania wasn't it now

It was? I don't know if anyone expected Julie Taymor to trigger all that much mania.

I wouldn't expect ridiculous manias from this, either, but it's a pretty broadly popular game, and I think Adam's right that it's this significant teenagey experience for lots of people to suddenly notice that the Beatles were really good, that they sang a bunch of songs you already subconsciously know and like, that lots of their stuff is weird and doesn't really sound "old," that it's the seedbed of a bunch of stuff you might already enjoy in the present day* -- I'm assuming this'll have that effect on plenty of kids. Maybe it'll make that discovery passe and uninteresting for others; I dunno.

* (hence, I think, that realization that it doesn't "sound old" -- enough of what we still consider normal/timeless/conventional pop and rock stems from somewhere in the Beatles' area that they haven't dated much)

At the risk of stating the obvious, I don't think people here are skeptical that the game will be fun. It'll be fun. It's guitar hero/rock band, which was already fun even when you were forced to play awful songs, with Beatles songs. If you're a Beatles fan, and of course a lot of people are, you're guaranteed to have a fucking awesome time.

People are skeptical about the credibility of a writer who thinks "The Beatles: Rock Band is nothing less than a cultural watershed", "...it may be the most important video game yet made", and "the weakness of most games is that they are usually devoid of any connection to our actual life and times".

That's fine, but his opinion is about as useful as me expounding on how important Bertrand Russell was or something. Only, my paragraphs about Russell aren't likely to be published in the New York fucking Times. Really, it's not that big of a deal - a million people who don't have a clue will read this and think that the Beatles, whoa baby, have miraculously transformed society, and will maybe add "the Beatles video game" to the one other game they know (Mario Brosephs). It's just annoying is all.

actually it was a friend of mine who predicted a new beatle-mania. wishful thinking.

significant teenagey experience for lots of people to suddenly notice that the Beatles were really good, that they sang a bunch of songs you already subconsciously know and like, that lots of their stuff is weird and doesn't really sound "old," that it's the seedbed of a bunch of stuff you might already enjoy in the present day*
* (hence, I think, that realization that it doesn't "sound old" -- enough of what we still consider normal/timeless/conventional pop and rock stems from somewhere in the Beatles' area that they haven't dated much)

i love the beatles, always have, but timeless? of course they're dated. my favorite teenager thinks any music recorded before the 1990s is not just dated but ANCIENT sounding. he's still laughing about the old soul records i played him. "how can that be R&B? it's got SAXOPHONES." sonically i don't hear much beatles influence in the top 40 pop/rap/R&B stuff he listens to night and day. perhaps a beatles game will change all that, but i bet more baby boomers than actual teenagers-in-2009 are the ones paying for AND playing it.

Yeah, that article is really hypey, but I figured TBRB deserved its own thread. I was gonna link to it in the remasters.

I dont think anyone seriously expected "Across the Universe" to be anything more than another "Sgt Pepper The Movie".

You dont play pop/rap/r&b on Rock Band though.

"expounding on how important Bertrand Russell was or something"

I would play an Uncle Bertie video game. (please photoshop Russell's head onto Q-bert)

"Uncle Bertie, the revolutionary new videogame from Rockstar Siberia, will end the civil war in Somalia, inspire a budding young genius to successfully invent a perpetual motion device, and eventually generate a universal treaty on complete nuclear disarmament. It is guaranteed to make you shit your pants and not even care. Sweet Jesus I love Bertrand Russell, and I am convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that everyone else on Earth will too. Hosanna!"

ILX spends a weird amount of time being amazed that there are articles in the NYT folks here would find kinda clueless; it's like checking your e-mail every morning for a year and being appalled afresh every time that your aunt would forward you something so corny

xpost - my use of pop/rock was meant to point slightly more at guitar music, obviously, but yeah. ("old soul records" =/= "Beatles.") I think just enough of what we consider the sort of platonic fundament of a conventional guitar-pop song traces back in the direction of the Beatles and their ilk that a lot of their stuff can feel relatively familiar and not too dated to a young person listening now. (It helps that they're pretty melodic and friendly-sounding, that they made really upscale recordings, that they leavened rock'n'roll with even more "platonic" pre-rock song conventions, etc.) This isn't saying there's something magically timeless about the Beatles' music, it's saying the Beatles helped shape enough of a template for what popular guitar music sounds like that some of their stuff can sound quintessential instead of just ancient.

I can sing along to my Beatles albums at home for free. But I believe this game will be neat.

Of course The Beatles Rock Band will not be a cultural watershed to the same extent that The Beatles themselves were. Guitar Hero and Singstar were both probably more important cultural watersheds than Rock Band has ever been, as Rock Band is basically just using those two inventions to create a whole. And the only thing new about Beatles Rock Band from a gaming point of view is the addition of harmony vocals, which is interesting and nice, but not more of a watershed than a lot of games have been before.

But that doesn't mean the game will be a failure. I am quite sure it will be a huge seller, maybe even culturally important in turning older generations into gamers. What is more interesting is whether the kids will rediscover The Beatles to the same extent Guitar Hero made them rediscover Iron Maiden and AC/DC. The next months will show.

http://riverdaughter.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/strawman.jpg

Presumably this will have to have all the separate tracks? How hard is it going to be to reverse engineer to get stems? And does this mean we are we going to get a whole lot of illegal high quality beatles samples in music?

"Given how expensive these things are I doubt they are for kids anymore..."

i hope i don't come across as argumentative, but haven't parents always paid out the ass to get their kids the hot new video game/console? i know games have grown up a lot, but there are still a ton of kids who see ps3s & immediately start begging their parents to buy them one.

^ Absolutely. I just shelled out €300 for the Wii for my son. Would never have bought one for myself.

Where Is Beatles Rock Band?

haven't parents always paid out the ass to get their kids the hot new video game/console?

OTM. Also the multi-demographic marketing opportunities for this xmas are sickening.

As someone who actually enjoys the guitar rhythm game aspect of these games and has no interest in the karaoke side this is probably the least exciting Guitar Hero or Rock Band game yet, except maybe that religious one. For me this is really the antithesis of "omg rhythm game version of battery!!!" Guitar Hero: Metallica.

obviously there are some Beatles songs with guitar and bass parts that will be sweet to play but that's not really their main appeal.

i think my mod edit is confusing people into thinking that mordy was the one thinking this was going to be a loser, but that was me.

the problem with this game is that unlike previous band specific titles (metallica and the didnt do so well either aerosmith editions) there are only beatles songs on here, which really diminishes the appeal. so basically this is just a track pack, but it costs $60 and has some different animations? who gives a shit.

im willing to get proven wrong, but i just think this is going to tank, especially after the release date blur of sales.

oh and the idea that this is going to expose people to the beatles is kind of like thinking that wii fit is exposing people to the idea of running - the beatles are pretty ubiquitous already dudes

also last time i checked across the universe was not exactly a resounding success, so it isnt as if modern media + beatles = automatic $$$$$$$

It'd be nice if there were something new to this game besides the harmony vocal thing. I was really looking forward to this, but after playing regular rock band a bunch the other night and finding it pretty unsatisfying, my enthusiasm for this game has diminished. I know this is all curmudgeonly-musician like, but if I wanted to play Beatles songs I'd pick up my guitar and do so.

Rock Band is really only satisfying in terms of scratching "I'm a MUSICIAN" itches if you sing or drum.

A co-worker and musician who's been prevewing an advanced copy said the harmony component makes this by far the most challenging Rock Band yet. He raved about all the chatter between songs, too.

haven't parents always paid out the ass to get their kids the hot new video game/console?

yeah, so not gonna happen

can't wait to see rockband-deprived kids posting to the "ruling class quiddities" thing.

Come on, you guys

http://img2.allposters.com/images/PF_New/442008/4321678.jpg

it's a nice game. they did a good job.

also, guitar hero: aerosmith did great, like 2.7 mill or so...more than metallica i think.

how much money is a full system with all the rockband gear and software compared to inflation-adjusted neo-geo? cause back in the day only rich kids got to have a neo geo.

Rock Band is really only satisfying in terms of scratching "I'm a MUSICIAN" itches if you sing or drum.

so I can't speak to the singing part, but I wanted to agree with this, speaking as a committed Rock Band drummer. (if you get good at Rock Band drums you will sort of learn along the way to actually kinda play drums -- simple drumming, and you'll still have to learn to use the hat pedal, but probably enough not to stick out in an indiepop band or something.)

I'm against it.

I'm a musician and I find these games to be very counter-intuitive.

Best example is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btcvSWoQWV0

I mean, obviously these guys can play the shit out of this song in real life.

no-one complains about playing Pro Evolution not being like actually playing football (soccer), I bring the same reasoning to Guitar Hero games.

I get into that weird zen mode where I don't even notice that I can play that hard part finally...but what's worse is when you realize, HAY! I CAN DO IT!! then you fail. Thinking is bad in rockband.

you know, that's the same with any instrument, real or fake; when you know a song you can just play it, when you start to think it through you stumble.

The high scores friend's board makes this crazy addictive. I just played "Getting Better" until my hand was a withered claw (but I'm now #1 on the friend's board with around 49k). I had to beat Je Suis France (who I believe is an ILXer?).

when you know a song you can just play it, when you start to think it through you stumble.

http://www.gladwell.com/2000/2000_08_21_a_choking.htm

It's like there's extra notes missing that will only be filled in when the reach the locked "super-hard-mega-expert" mode. DO NOT WANT.

did you have it on the hardest mode available?

finally got it yesterday, abandoned bass and am singing my way through on hard, mr vegemite opting for expert guitar. Fun fun fun fun. Need another mike, those harmonies are begging to be had. I keep getting distracted by the visualizations during the studio-era...Here Comes The Sun, Walrus, Lucy...they look great, and I love how it plops them back in the studio just as it's ending.

there's not always much of a challenge to getting through the songs, but the joy of playing them is awesome...and I'm kind of obsessed with accruing photos and all those easter egg bonuses. The Christmas single was a hoot!

So have any ilxors gotten the I GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS! achievement yet?

Finally got internet up and running in my new apt and chose my free songs for preordering with Gamestop. The options were:

Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Oh! Darling
Because
Her Majesty
Fixing a Hole
She's Leaving Home
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
When I'm Sixty-Four
Lovely Rita
A Day in the Life

Went with A Day in the Life, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!, and Because. But..."Her Majesty"? The fuck? Also, I would have loved to get "When I'm Sixty-Four" but it seems I got a faulty copy of the game that did not come with an oboe peripheral.

I was pretty disappointed we didn't get Maxwell's Silver Hammer, since I named my dog Maxwell Edison & sing it to him all the time. Guess I'll be downloading that one.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/10/beatles-rock-band-sales.html

In September, its first month in release, the game sold 595,000 units in the U.S., according to the NPD Group.

That's bigger than the first month sales of either 2007's Rock Band or 2008's Rock Band 2, but far below the best launches in the genre and some analysts' estimates.

You watch, when Christmas comes around...

Anyone managed to download extra Abbey Road tracks for the Wii?

They were supposed to be available from yesterday, but I had no joy either then or first thing this morning (the message this morning said that ‘no data was available for download’).

Hurrah! Downloaded the rest of Abbey Road this PM, even if it did cost me more Wii points than I thought it would.

omg the CREDITS on this thing go forever. I recommend not even finishing it. they just will not stop. they also have awful timing, because there's a list of all the babies born to people who worked on the game, and it comes at exactly the right exasperating moment for you to be like "omg screw your babies, I hate your babies, just finish so I can play the game again." the copyrights alone take like 5 minutes. by the end they're having to put up trademarks for stuff like the brand of headphones modeled in the graphics. it just will not end.

I do like, though, how you get toward the end of their career and get really in touch with the fact that Ringo did not use a lot of drum hits. the drum charts become kind of funny. everything's about the fills, and then if you've listened to the Beatles much you get into this funny mode where you just know what kind of fill Ringo would do, even if you don't know the song very well -- you just try to play it in what feels like a Ringoish way and you turn out to be right.

I think you have to finish it to unlock In the End.

you do. I'm not sure it's worth it.

or like finish it before dinner, then go to dinner, then come back and play "The End" afterward

oh man up nabisco!!!!!! the end is pretty sweet imo

I was manned up! I was all manned up and ready to play more drums! And then I had to sit there for long enough that, if I'd realized it'd be that long, I would have flipped back to TV and watched a sitcom or something in the interim

you can skip the credits btw

This might have been a good idea to get the kids into The Beatles. If it hadn't been for the stupid fact that The Beatles are still not available for digital downloads. Sure, I regret it personally, but the kids don't buy CDs. So if their music is only available on CD, the kids will not invest in, and discover, the wonderful music of The Beatles. Sad but true.

The high scores friend's board makes this crazy addictive. I just played "Getting Better" until my hand was a withered claw (but I'm now #1 on the friend's board with around 49k). I had to beat Je Suis France (who I believe is an ILXer?).

I gotta go play Getting Better some more now.

I absolutely love this game but have only pulled it out during parties since the week I got it. Haven't even played all the Abbey Road DLC yet.

Geir OTM

Sadly I still have not played this yet.

you can skip the credits btw

― joe, Wednesday, October 21, 2009 5:18 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol

I've got money burning a hole in my pocket for this, but the clincher will be Revolver DLC.

I hear that compared to regular Rock Band DLC, engineers need to go back and strip down all the tracks to their respective parts, which is pretty time consuming.

So the chance of new DLC is dependent on consumer interest for Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper & Rubber Soul.

It'd be a missed opportunity if this was the only DLC & you cant use Rock Band DLC in it.

im sure people will buy any dlc they release

I'm pretty sure "the kids" could find The Beatles music on the internet if they wanted to

Like back in 1998 when my friend in high school downloaded several songs by "the Beatles," including "Purple Haze" and "Last Dance with Mary Jane."

No wait, it was in the year 2000. (detail important only to me)

(xpost) or the Beatles' classic "Don Quixote's Marijuana"...

doofus: "man, this is totally a rare Beatles track!"
snoball: "this isn't the Beatles"
doofus: "yes it is! they were all cpmpletely stoned when they recorded this!"
snoball: "er, it's got an 808 drum machine on it"

"The 'No skanky weed' bit is George Martin"

Like back in 1998 when my friend in high school downloaded several songs by "the Beatles," including "Purple Haze" and "Last Dance with Mary Jane."

― we are normal and we want our freedom (Abbott), Tuesday, November 3, 2009 10:50 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

*sighs* Internet 1.0 nostalgia!

does anyone know if my LIPS microphones might be compatible with this game? cheers in advance

I don't, but anyone interested in this game needs to read Al's awesome, ongoing blow-by-blow account of it on Freaky Trigger. The first post is here:

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2009/09/the-most-important-game-1/

My kids love this. Tsk.

A friend let me have a go recently on regular rock band. It was great fun, so I've ordered the Beatles' version for post-christmas dinner entertainment. I'm not entirely sure what I'll get in the box - seems to be game itself, Beatles drumkit, McCartney bass thingy and (presumably) a microphone.

My question is: what other equipment might I need for maximum fun? Another microphone or two? There'll probably be four of us playing, and it's for the PS3.

I've only played normal rock band, but another guitar would be good so someone can do the bass part. Generally you don't need another microphone, but in the Beatles game (and the Beatles game only, apparently) you can do multi-part harmonies so some extra microphones might be good, but only if you have some sort of mic stand to hold them up.

Thanks. Harmonies sounds like a disaster-in-waiting for our post-xmas-dinner condition - excellent idea!

This is going for cheap in HMV at the moment.

£50 for the basic value bundle & £30 for the named guitars.

that's £80 for something that was selling for £200, 3 months ago.

It's the best fun ever.

Yeah - spent NYE on it - the drumming is especially fun.

Bought the 360 bundle here for $200 this weekend. Incredible fun, and bloody decent value (that's almost half price, for those keeping score). The deal ends tomorrow I think, and there are very few copies left anywhere for some reason.

The packed-in guitar gets a bad rap in some quarters, but it seems pretty solid to me.

Don't know why it all seems to be out of stock...

I heard that they will be packaging the game with the signature guitars and releasing that as a bundle...

my B:RB should be arriving the next couple of days.

I'm already torn about which DLC to buy first.. or just drop in and buy all three albums the day I get it.

One guy in a shop told me the Wii bundle had been discontinued. Seems a weird thing to do around christmas, even if a bigger and better bundle is planned. Eediots. Oh, and appaz no bugger who plays party games cares about the Beatles.

I love tapping pieces of plastic in time to Beatles songs.

considering how familiar with the beatles i already am, why is it so thrilling to 'win' a new photo of the group every time you ably complete a song in the story mode? my gf bought the set to play with her parents over xmas, and this is hells of fun.

I love tapping pieces of plastic in time to Beatles songs.

― The Broken Brothers, Sunday, January 3, 2010 7:55 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OOOOOOOOOOOH sooooo HARSH. feeling so humiliated right now

i mean it's like you just looked at this whole thing and saw it for what it really is - cutting us all to the core.

If you don't tap the piece of plastic at the right time, the song loses that element and you hear more of the remaining instruments. Already I've discovered bits of Maxwell's Silver Hammer I never noticed before.

All right, not a great example.