The Beatles: Rock Band

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.

Of course they're counter-intuitive! Guitar play is nothing like guitar play; it's harder if you actually play guitar, because your habits will be non-applicable and confusing. Actual drummers screw up because they intuitively want to play the actual drum hits in the song and not the simplified game chart. It's kind of weird that people always point out how different these things are from actual instruments, because, you know, duh; I'm not sure anyone thinks there's that much relation, least of all players. But the drumming and singing are satisfying in terms of at least being the same concept as the real thing, as opposed to guitar/bass.

these games are total fun, who cares about all the other stuff.

won't somebody think of the children

What I do wonder is, like, sometimes you see some kid on Youtube playing Guitar Hero on the insane hours-of-learning levels, and it's hard not to think whoah, it would have been less fun and easy, but you could have maybe actually learned to play some real guitar in all that time.

On the time wasted scale, becoming Guitar Hero wizard and actual guitar wizard are probably closer together than they are to, say, learning Portuguese.

Maybe if you live in Portugal.

What if there are too many real guitarists in the world as it?

Seu Jorge Hero?

My guess would be that becoming a GH wizard maybe equates, time-and-effort-wise, to developing kind of a basic but solid guitar competence? Actually learning just has a much tougher, less fun, and less constantly rewarding slope to it.

i've wondered if there will be pro musicians who got their start playing these games as a kid, and if they'll be identifiable by quirks in their technique, the flipside of the games being counter-intuitive for practicing musicians. at the very least they might hoist their instruments more often.

i'd love to see a rock band cover band where everyone scats, shreds and drum rolls at the same time in the middle of a track.

i'd love to see a rock band cover band where everyone scats, shreds and drum rolls at the same time in the middle of a track.

Sadly, I believe that it'll be awhile before Rock Band: Can is released.

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

That is very true. But it also obviously makes it more appealing for the majority of gamers, as they are indeed non-musicians after all.

The whammy bar function on it is pretty accurate, plus it gives you points for 'showmanship' (pulling back on the guitar). It's really more than just pushing buttons at the right times.

yeah, I think a lot of the satisfactions of getting good at the guitar bit are still similar to the satisfactions of actually playing music. the satisfactions of lots of physical skills, really, including video games, which is the whole point. learning to do something slightly complicated to get a desired result; being pleased with yourself when you can finally pull it off; getting good enough that you can confidently nail it and even throw some flair in there ... this game just draws a line between executing a skill to play a real instrument and executing a skill to make music come out of a game console, and makes the learning/reward curve a hell of a lot more friendly.

It takes a LOT less time to learn to play Guitar Hero on Expert than to be even mildly proficient at playing guitar (speaking as someone who has worked at both).

Some context for people who have never played one of these games: To go from medium to expert on guitar (maybe not on the hardest songs, but on some of the difficult ones) takes about 2-3 weeks of a couple hours a day. By comparison, if you're actually learning to play guitar, at that point you can... what? Play a bar chord?

xpost - I mean, I play guitar, and there are certainly moments with these games where I get into the groove of playing something a little challenging, and feel a pretty similar satisfaction as actually playing: like aww, yeah, I nailed that, cool. (also moments where I'm like "screw you, that's an arpeggio, why are you making me move my fingers for it, I wanna play drums again.")

xpost - I'll totally take your word on that, Mordy, though remember I'm talking like kids YouTubing themselves at like INSANE-O impossible levels of Guitar Heroism. I'm guessing the biggest time difference would be the entry point, since as soon as you pick up a game controller you can work it effectively, whereas most people's hard start with guitar is how to even hold and manipulate it physically to make a decent sound in the first place

I dunno about proficient but every now and then I'll think about making an instructional guitar video that can teach you from nothing to playing blitzkrieg bop in about 10 minutes.

re: bar chord (about 2 minutes into the video)

haha NB I'd consider knowing major and minor barre chords (roots on E and A) and solid strumming technique to be a pretty solid start on guitar, though!

I learned the "correct" alternate strumming and Johnny would be sad to see anyone play blitzkrieg bop that way, so I say let the kids strum however they want. Also, truth be told, would probably stick to power chords instead of bar chords (maybe I mean the one and not the other)?

haha hey, I'm not trying to suggest all-downstrokes isn't a valid component of "solid strumming technique"

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.

― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Thursday, September 3, 2009 1:58 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OMG, Geir absolutely nails it!

As both a 'rock band drummer' and a beatles fan I have to admit this sounds like it will have the most boring and monotonous drum charts ever. Same could be said for the guitar charts. The beatles were clearly brilliant pop composers but none of them were considered virtuosos in their respective instruments.
You don't have to shell out those amounts of money to get karaoke versions of the beatles catalogue.

whether the kids will rediscover The Beatles to the same extent Guitar Hero made them rediscover Iron Maiden and AC/DC.

oh Christ, no wonder they're so fucking moronic.

^Apparently you've never listened to Maiden or read their lyrics?

(Not that I don't think kids today are moronic).

The beatles were clearly brilliant pop composers but none of them were considered virtuosos in their respective instruments.

Sad Paul is sad at this sentence.

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/MMPH/B72917~Paul-McCartney-Posters.jpg

See WTF IS HE DOING WHILE GEORGE IS TAXING THE STREET?

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.

― Philip Nunez, Thursday, September 3, 2009 5:14 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest

Neo Geo debuted at $600 in 1990, which is equal to $976.36 in 2008 dollars.
Incidentally, Super NES debuted at $200 in the same year, which is equal to $325.45 in 2008 dollars.

Beatles Rock Band Premium Bundle for all console systems (which includes game and all the controllers) is $249.99.

A+++ for both Q & A.

Agree with Adam that Paul McCartney is indeed a great bass player. Surely no Jaco Pastorius, but still an innovative and technically great instrumentalist. I would also say George Harrison developed into a quite good guitar player, but maybe not so much during his Beatles years. Ringo is not a bad drummer either, in spite of what George Martin thought. None of them is the best in his respective field, but those (and not John to quite the same extent) were all quite good at their instrument.

Still, it is as composers, arrangers and, to some extent, harmony singers that The Beatles were so unique that a lot of people consider them the greatest thing ever.

paul is such a better bass player than jaco.

What I do wonder is, like, sometimes you see some kid on Youtube playing Guitar Hero on the insane hours-of-learning levels, and it's hard not to think whoah, it would have been less fun and easy, but you could have maybe actually learned to play some real guitar in all that time.

― nabisco, Thursday, September 3, 2009 10:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

but jjusten says at his store most of the young kids that buy stuff are actually buying guitars because of rock band/GH, if anything i bet there will be more kids playing guitar because of it rather than less...

also to put it in perspective....if a real guitar was a rock band guitar there would be 144 buttons and 6 strum bars. that's not counting the physical issues like actually fretting and picking correctly, etc.

Wait, Kraftwerk should do a Synth Hero.

The arrangements are very simple but you have to get it PERFECTLY on the beat. It trains you to become a tempo robot.

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.