MEGATON! Beatles to be in Rock Band

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122531701276881747.html

The Beatles have licensed songs to MTV Networks’ Rock Band videogame series, according to several people familiar with the matter, a coup for the Viacom Inc. unit in its battle with rival Activision Inc. for supremacy in the world of rock and roll video games.

The deal, which is set to be announced Thursday by Viacom’s MTV and the band’s own Apple Corps Ltd., makes the Beatles the next and biggest major band to license its songs to a music-oriented videogame, joining Aerosmith, Metallica, AC/DC and others.

Rock Band and Activision’s Guitar Hero have engaged in heated competition over exclusive rights to use music by major acts.
The games Rock Band and Guitar Hero let players use miniature plastic game controllers, shaped like musical instruments, to play along with recorded rock and pop songs to test the players’ level of skill. The game publishers have entered a handful of multimillion-dollar licensing agreements with some of the biggest names in the business.

The Beatles represent by far the biggest prize to date in the category. Not only do they have the best-selling album catalog any band, they have not yet licensed their music for sale by download services such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store.

Key details could not be learned, such as whether Rock Band is creating a special Beatles-only title, as Guitar Hero has done with Aerosmith and others; which songs or how many of them are to be included; or a release date or price. Rock Band is a product of Harmonix, a division of MTV.
Spokesmen for Apple Corps and EMI Group Ltd., the Beatles’ record label, could not be reached immediately. A spokeswoman for MTV declined to comment.

Holy shit!

Is 1UP planning a Beatles sequel to that goofy Who Rock Band video they put out a while back, that’s what I want to know.

My prediction: “Rock Band: Beatles” will be $60, and have only a single track, Revolution 9.

I’m afraid to ask how much Viacom paid to get that license. I wonder how soon we’ll see some tracks in RB.

Guaranteed sale in my house. My daughter is a huge Beatles fan and a recent convert to Rock Band. Just last night she asked me why there were no Beatles songs to play.

Hope they give me some ‘Hey Jude’, which is probably my all time favoite song.

It’s the fuckin’ Holy Grail, it is.

I will buy this no matter what the price.

HUGE win for Rock Band!

NOW it’s all over.

I think we knew someone would get them eventually, and my guess is that they’ll follow in the steps of the AC/DC pack, where you’ll be able to buy a disc but there won’t be anything to download.

I’ll also use this as a chance to post a list of songs I posted on ScoreHero in June the last time this rumor popped up, which would make for pretty entertaining guitar songs:

And Your Bird Can Sing
Back in the USSR
Can’t Buy Me Love
Day Tripper
Drive My Car

Get Back
Getting Better
Hard Day’s Night
Hello Goodbye
Help!

I Saw Her Standing THere
I’m Looking Through You
It’s All Too Much
Lovely Rita
Magical Mystery Tour

Michelle
Paperback Writer
Revolution
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
She Loves You

She Said She Said
Taxman
The Word
Ticket To Ride
Wait

With a few exceptions I think alot of the Beatles songs would fit into the Baba O’Riley category. IE great music to listen to. But boring as hell to play in the game. Getting the Beatles would be a huge coup for Harmonix with the casual crowd though.

Well, some of the Beatles catalogue lacks the obligatory blistering guitar parts (notable exceptions – And Your Bird Can Sing, Day Tripper, Revolution, Paperback Writer, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, etc.), but from a singing standpoint it would be fantastic. Hey Jude, I Should Have Known Better, She Loves You, Happy Birthday, the list goes on and on.

I’m pretty excited about this.

Baba O’Riley is indeed terribly boring to play. But I don’t think there’s a song in the list I posted above that would fall in that category.

That’s not to say every Beatles song would make a great Rock Band track – I don’t think we need DLC of “Yesterday” – but I don’t think a lot of people realize how awesome their catalog is for the game. They’ve got tons of short songs filled with fun riffs and dense rhythm guitar. A game with 30-40 tracks would be ridiculous fun.

You know “Hey Jude” is very easy to play on a real guitar?

I’d like to play everything the Beatles ever wrote, but I won’t do all of “Hey Jude”.

Your list of “entertaining guitar songs” totally fails without While My Guitar Gently Weeps. ;)

Ha ha ha.

The cover will feature John Lennon and Yoko Ono full-frontal nude.

Interestingly, the Beatles may not be coming to Rock Band after all.

Instead, Harmonix has been tapped to create an all-new game based on the Beatles. Alex Rigolpulos said on a conference call this morning that it’ll have interactive elements that you’ve come to expect from them, but this is not any kind of track pack. It’ll be a full game coming next holiday.

Bummer, sorta.

There is a disturbing lack of White Album on that list (Back in the USSR doesn’t count).