Thursday, October 30, 2008

With deal, Beatles songs may enter Digital Age

Songs that span throughout 'The Beatles' career may soon be put into the "Rock Band" game (by MTV/Harmonix)some time in 2009. MTV recently had a conference with Apple Corps, regarding the specifics of the game. Supposedly, this game will not follow the 'Rock Band' name, and instead will be called a 'Beatles Game', specifically and exclusively made for Beatles music. New visuals will have to be made to accomidate for the new Beatles game. A direct quote is: "a visual exploration of the Beatles imagery is a big part of the creative direction of the project" - I only imagine the psychadelic visuals that they would use for songs off of the "Yellow Submarine" album.

The two surviving Beatle members, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will help participate in the creation of this game. George Harrison's wife, Olivia Harrison - and John Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono, are also helping in the creation of this game (aspects such as the visuals and also design). Regarding the game, Paul McCartney said: " "a fun idea which broadens the appeal of The Beatles and their music,". As everyone (at least everyone who has played - or seen the game being played) knows, when you make a mistake, the instrument is muted in the game (which I personally think is pretty awesome). I don't play the game, so I can't say I'm excited about it at all, but I still think it would be neat (especially the visuals) to see how it all plays out. The original producer of the Beatles music, George Martin - and his son: Giles Martin are making last minute touches and adapting the game to be able to be used in Rock Band. The father and son team are trying their hardest to keep true to the original mixes.

2 comments:

Matt Dudek said...

What a great idea! I'm not a fan of the current guitar hero game but if they were to make a Beatles rock band, I would be all over that. I think this idea would also help the adults of our age get involved because at least they would be able to sing the old songs. As the Beatles once said "Come Together" and lets make this game!

Patrick T said...

I'm a fan of both Rock Band and Guitar Hero but, I am not a fan of having games like those be narrowed down into one genre or band.

With Rock Band you buy the game and get to play all different kinds of music and download news songs, practically, daily.

However when you limit what the game contains you limit any kind of potential for the game's future. When you buy the Beatles game you are only ever going to get all the Beatles' songs and nothing more.

I think that making the Beatles music digital is a good idea though, and I would love to play any new songs via a downloaded song pack(s).