Tomorrow morning you’ll be able to fire up your Xbox 360 and download the remaining tracks from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. You’ll have to wait on the PS3 since the store doesn’t update until Thursday. Still undecided on the purchase? Check out a gameplay trailer that Harmonix just shipped over.
The Beatles are arguably the most iconic band of all time. For years, music lovers around the world have flocked to the band’s music to raise their spirits and hearken back to better days. With the release of The Beatles Rock Band, gamers are given the unique opportunity to step foot in the virtual shoes of a Beatle and follow their path of success through a portion of their catalog. The result is a terrifically fun, albeit short gaming experience that should not be missed.
I caught a few minutes of a blurb on Bloomberg about Viacom banking huge on the The Beatles: Rock Band release this week. You can catch it here. MTV Games is a subsidiary of Viacom and they are expecting to make their year on this one title. As the video says this is expected to turn around last months 46% slump in sales. That is one hell of a turn around for one title.
Loading ...
The music video game genre has been in a profound slump this year, with sales down 46% so far, according to the NPD Group. Part of that is due to the recession, of course, but part of it may be waning consumer interest in Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The games’ publishers, Activision Blizzard and MTV Networks (owned by Viacom) have seen the impact on their bottom lines and are taking big steps to shake up their businesses as a result.
As a story in the Times explains, the biggest change comes in the form of The Beatles: Rock Band, a risky bet worth tens of millions of dollars in royalties alone.
But as MTV launches the game with its distribution partner, it’s also implementing a new strategy: flee the hardware business. Sure, there’s a limited-edition, $250 hardware package, but quantities are limited. And there’s a $160 “value bundle” featuring original Rock Band hardware that MTV is eager to get rid of.
If you’re new to music video games and want controllers for The Beatles: Rock Band, MTV has a preferred solution: buy Guitar Hero.
Harmonix is bringing new life to the Rock Band franchise in the form of the Rock Band Network, allowing up and coming bands, and fellow gamers, the chance to put their song IN the Rock Band song catalogue.
This is great news for the Rock Band franchise, and should see the track list of songs jump to an unheard of number of listings. Upon a closer inspection (Joystiq has a a good article on their impressions here), we see that the service to create the first song for your band won’t be as quick of a turnaround as one would like. Most gamers out there will have to put in an average of 20 to 40 hours to create their first track, and some people (myself included) just don’t have the patience for that.
I was very impressed with The Beatles Rock Band at E3. Every bit of new footage of the game I see makes me want to to play it now… too bad I can’t. Check out the latest trailer and get ready to buy this later this year.
Starting in August, Harmonix and MTV Games will be opening up Rock Band to anyone wanting to get their tracks into the game. The Rock Band Network will allow any musicians to turn their songs into playable versions for Rock Band. Pretty damn cool, if you ask me. One of the best parts is that you’ll be able to demo any of these songs before buying, so you won’t be stuck with crappy songs from your neighbor’s band.
Any musicians who want to get their music into the game will need to be part of the XNA Creators Club. Right now, this service will only be available on the Xbox 360, with all tracks having a 30 day exclusive to Microsoft’s platform for the foreseeable future. MTV Games has stated that “stand out tracks” will follow on the PS3 and Wii versions of the game. Once the songs are uploaded, playtested and approved by peer review, they’ll be uploaded to the Rock Band Network Store.
The songs can be sold from anywhere from $0.99 to $3.00 with content creators taking 30% of the profit. This is a great way for smaller bands to get their music out there and amazing for gamers looking for an even larger variety in the songs they play in Rock Band.
Here’s to hoping Mickey Avalon submits My Dick to the Rock Band Network.
I’m baffled by this one. What started as a joke, then became real, went back to a joke again, and now it’s official. LEGO Rock Band is coming this Holiday season. What. The. Eff.
The game is supposed to be more tween/teen focused than previous Rock Band titles. A few tracks shipping with the game include:
I guess we’ll be seeing mostly pop songs coming in this iteration. Maybe LEGO themed instruments too? The game will be released on the 360, PS3, Wii, and DS. Not sure how the DS version is going to work, but I’m guessing similar to Rock Band Unplugged on PSP.
I’m out of words on this one. Just don’t know what else to say. Check out more screens after the jump.
That’s right, friends, The Beatles Rock Band is coming this year, 9-9-09 to be exact. The game will be released in multiple countries on multiple platforms the same day, so get ready.
The Beatles: Rock Band will allow fans to pick up the guitar, bass, mic or drums and experience The Beatles extraordinary catalogue of music through gameplay that takes players on a journey through the legacy and evolution of the band’s legendary career. In addition, The Beatles: Rock Band will offer a limited number of new hardware offerings modeled after instruments used by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr throughout their career.
Sounds like a plan to me. I’m sure Harmonix will do the “journey” right, so expect to play through all The Beatles earlier songs first in the game. I’m a big fan, so I’m pretty excited for this one.
Sony wasn’t kidding when they said the PSP was going to get some high quality titles. SCEA sent out a press release today detailing some amazing upcoming games for their handheld platform.
In the Fall, we’ll be seeing a PSP version of LittleBigPlanet as well as MotorStorm Arctic Edge. Harmonix will also bring Rock Band Unplugged to the PSP sans peripherals. Two new bundles were announced, including a “Lilac” Hannah Montana Entertainment Pack shipping in July. The big one though is an Assassin’s Creed Entertainment Pack. While no release date has been set, this shows yet another big title coming to the PSP.
Will this huge lineup be enough to catapult the PSP up the sales charts in 2009? I have a feeling it will, especially with the more hardcore audience. Nintendo seems to have cornered the casual market with the DS, so Sony is looking to take the hardcore market. Now if only they’d ship new PSP hardware with dual analog sticks.
Coming Soon!
Recent Comments