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Mega64 pokes fun at The Beatles: Rock Band with a little help from a friend
Mega64 gets back to its roots in the troupe's latest video, enlisting the aid of John and Jane Q. Public to create another minute and a half of comedy based on The Beatles: Rock Band. You're probably asking yourself how the trio can recreate the full British pop quartet. To answer that, we offer this: through the aid of a surprise guest, of course! Head past the break to see who. We're pretty sure you'll never guess who it is. [Thanks, Brock]
Win a limited edition set of Beatles MusicSkins from TUAW
Although you still can't get your Beatles fix through the iTunes Store, Apple Corps has made a license agreement with MusicSkins, the maker of music-related vinyl skin products for electronic devices. As a result, you can now purchase Beatles personal device skins featuring the Beatles logo and cover art from "Abbey Road," "Yellow Submarine," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Rubber Soul," "Let It Be," "With the Beatles," and "Hard Day's Night." We have something completely different we'd like to give away to one lucky TUAW reader -- a limited edition (one of only 250) Beatles Album Jacket set with MusicSkins for the iPhone (2G, 3G, 3GS), iPod touch (1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation), iPod nano (5th Generation), and iPod Classic (80GB, 160GB). This features the full set of album cover art from the Beatles, and there are two MusicSkins for each of the iPod / iPhone types noted. If you don't have all of the devices, you can give some away to your friends as gifts! To enter this special giveaway, just leave a comment below with the name of your favorite Beatle (and no, Pete Best, Stu Sutcliffe, and Brian Epstein don't count). Here are the details of the giveaway: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older. To enter, leave a comment with the name of your favorite Beatle -- John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, or Ringo Starr The comment must be left before Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected in a random drawing. Prize: One Limited Edition set of MusicSkins featuring The Beatles (Value: US$120.00) Click Here for complete Official Rules. Good luck!
The Beatles: Rock Band DLC 'All You Need is Love' coming to PS3, Wii
The Beatles: Rock Band single "All You Need is Love" will bounce on trampolines over to Wii and PS3 on February 16 and March 4, respectively. The song was initially released exclusively on Xbox 360, with proceeds from purchases going to Doctors Without Borders. The track raised approximately $218,000 for the international relief agency before the promotion ended on January 31. All you need to download the track and start singing along is $2, or 200 Wii Points. %Gallery-75971%
The Beatles: Rock Band raises $217,780 for charity (so far)
When you guys aren't setting franchise records downloading a track for The Beatles: Rock Band, you're helping to save lives .... well, actually, we guess you were kinda doing them both at the same time. My, what wonderful multitaskers you all are! Microsoft has revealed that the Xbox-exclusive track "All You Need Is Love" managed to procure $217,780 to date for the Doctors Without Borders charity, an international humanitarian outfit that specializes in assisting those in need in impoverished and war-torn countries. That figure comes from both the DLC and the custom Xbox 360 auctioned off for $17,400. Oh, and if you didn't know all that about the charity stuff and just wanted to download a Beatles song, then there it is: you're making the world a better place, one harmony and hot guitar solo at a time. All proceeds from "All You Need Is Love" will go to Doctors Without Borders up until January 31.
Video: Beatles: Rock Band's 'Sgt. Pepper's' DLC
The Beatles: Rock Band will get a hot DLC injection tomorrow when Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band releases as downloadable content. In preparation for the arrival of these new tracks, MTV has passed along the above trailer which offers a brief sample of new tracks in the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club album mixed together with some found on the disc. In the end, the video saves us all precious time we would've had to use sampling tracks on YouTube and, inevitably, watching Pomplamoose videos.
Beatles: Rock Band 'Sgt. Pepper's' DLC debuts Nov. 17
In a move no doubt inspired by the Movember Movement, Harmonix and MTV Games have revealed that the second DLC album for The Beatles: Rock Band, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, will release the week of November 17. Tracks from the British sensation's eighth studio album, as featured in the DLC release, include: "Fixing A Hole" "She's Leaving Home" "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!" "Within You Without You" "When I'm Sixty-Four" "Lovely Rita" "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" "A Day In The Life." Xbox 360 and Wii owners can purchase the DLC on Tuesday, November 17. The tracks will be available as a complete Track Pack for 1080 ($13.50) or 160 ($2.00) individually on Xbox 360; and 200 Wii Points ($2.00) per track on Wii. PlayStation 3 players get a few extra days to grow out their glorious mustaches when the pack lands on PSN on Thursday, November 19 for $13.49 (or $1.99 per track).As previously revealed, Beatles fans can look forward to next month when 1965's Rubber Soul will become available as the game's third full-album DLC.
Harmonix employees harmonize during a cappella Paramore song performance
Since only a fraction of Joystiq is headquartered out of Boston, MA we unfortunately aren't eligible to be honored with "Top Places to Work" awards like Beatles: Rock Band developers Harmonix, nonetheless host a company-wide singing contest. If we could though, we'd like to think our singing chops would at least match the five gentlemen (four from audio and one engineer) found singing Paramore's "That's What You Get" after the break. Winning first "among mid-size companies" and third overall in The Boston Globe's "Top Places to Work" survey, the 320 employee-strong music/rhythm-game studio was praised for its studio-wide a cappella singing competition. "I would do a lot to stay here," says senior writer Helen McWilliams. "It's really hard to imagine going from this company to any other company." That whole "making successful games" thing probably doesn't hurt either. (Thanks, DarkArchon)
Dhani Harrison: Rock Band 3 will make you better at actual rocking
In a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune, Dhani Harrison, The Beatles: Rock Band contributor (and son of the late, great George Harrison), spoke about his involvement in future iterations of the popular rhythm franchise. "I'm working on Rock Band 3 and making the controllers more real so people can actually learn how to play music while playing the game," Harrison explained toward the end of the interview. "Give me a couple years, it's going to happen." We wish Harrison and the entire Harmonix crew the best of luck in this endeavor, if only so they can finally stymie the infinitely deplorable "why don't you learn how to play a real instrument" contingency. Man, we hate those guys.
Viacom: The Beatles: Rock Band sales strong, overall RB growth slow
Even though John, Paul, George and Ringo have been rocking the disc tray of your favorite console with The Beatles: Rock Band, its expectation-exceeding sales haven't helped boost overall Rock Band sales. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman told USA Today the "economics of our Rock Band franchise are improving, though not as quickly as we'd like." There's still hope that Rock Band could at least break even or show a small profit, though Viacom CFO Tom Dooley said that will depend entirely on the franchise's performance this holiday season.Despite tanking sales, the music genre still remains one of the best in the industry and The Beatles: Rock Band shows us that the right approach could still determine financial success in the space. Its September debut was very fortuitous and it even managed to best Guitar Hero 5 in the US -- which not only came with a free game, but is also one of the most recognizable brands to the mainstream. Source - USA Today Source - Viacom earnings report
Prepare for digital music from the Beatles -- but not on iTunes
In a limited run of 30,000 units, Apple Corps Ltd. will be releasing the Beatles' remastered catalog for your consumption in a green apple USB device. Unfortunately, I didn't say anything about iTunes in that sentence... It looks like the Apples still can't play nice together, so we're left to dream that one day the Beatles collection will make it to the big download cloud in the sky. Our sister site, Engadget, reports that these drives are available for pre-order now but will not ship until December 7th in the UK and December 8th in the US for $279.99. The 16GB USB drive will include the Beatles' 14 stereo tracks in FLAC (for the audiophiles in the audience) as well as the rest of their collection in 320 Kbps MP3s. The drive will also include 13 documentaries about the studio albums, expanded liner notes, re-touched album art, and several rare photos. What does all of this mean? The Beatles' record company basically created a massive iTunes LP without iTunes. According to The Beatles' website, there's a special Flash interface for consumer interaction with the extra content. Some would say that this is just another stepping stone in the road to online distribution... while that may be true, I'm getting tired of all the back-and-forth. I own a good majority of the Beatles albums on CD and have already ripped them into iTunes. I expect that most anyone who really wants these in their iTunes library has already gone through the motions to accomplish that. I could pay the $280 for a USB drive, or buy all of the CDs from Amazon.com for half that price and spend several hours putting them on my computer. Sure, sure, I'm not getting the officially remastered files from the Beatles themselves... but I'm willing to make that sacrifice. Even still, this may be the perfect Holiday gift for the Beatles fanatic in your household. (Honey, I don't want one.)
The Beatles catalog being released on limited edition USB stick
You know what's kind of like online digital distribution, and yet not at all like that? Selling the entire re-mastered Beatles catalog on a USB drive that slots into a fake apple. The fine folks at Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music have teamed up to build a limited edition run of 30,000 USB apples to be sold on December 7 in the UK and December 8 in freedom-loving America. Included on the 16GB drive are the 14 stereo titles in FLAC 44.1 Khz 24-bit, in addition to 320 Kbps MP3s and a whole digital stack of special materials like liner notes and mini-documentary films, all for the low, low price of $279.99. The drive is up for pre-order as of now, which means you could be a mere month away from plugging this drive into your computer, dragging the files into your iTunes library and then pretending that you bought them online in some sort of forward-looking content distribution model.
Here comes the trailer for Abbey Road from The Beatles: Rock Band (do do do)
For those of you ready to Carry That Weight and swing Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Harmonix and MTV Games released the full "Abbey Road" album download today for The Beatles: Rock Band. Rather than simply release the songs, the DLC comes with new animations for the four British gents and, in some cases, new "dreamscapes" (the pseudo-psychedelic animations tripping our your friends while you play songs). The trailer above offers a medley sampling of the whole album, should you not be acquainted with it. But then, we must ask, what planet are you from where "Abbey Road" is an unfamiliar album?%Gallery-75971%
The Beatles: Rock Band 'Abbey Road' album DLC detailed
The Beatles: Rock Band will have the entire Abbey Road album available for download this Tuesday on Xbox 360 and Wii, followed by PS3 on Thursday. The full album won't be lonely for long, as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band will arrive in November, with Rubber Soul walking onto the scene in December. The full Abbey Road DLC setlist and pricing details can be found after the break.
Harmonix taking 'wait and see' approach with The Beatles DLC
You're undoubtedly familiar with our Rock Band Weekly feature. Harmonix has been able to produce weekly DLC for the Rock Band franchise across nearly every platform it graces, so it came as a surprise when we discovered the studio's hesitant attitude towards The Beatles. While three albums are already in the works as DLC, Harmonix representative John Drake told The BBPS that future releases are entirely dependent on sales of the initial batch of DLC. His explanation? "It costs thousands of dollars" to produce the DLC. "It's not like Rock Band where we wait for the masters to come in and just author them ... its like, send people to Abbey Road, use the original tape, separate them out," Drake detailed. In addition to the audio work that must be done, Harmonix has also promised to include original dreamscapes for future downloadable content as well. It seems likely Harmonix will find the sales necessary to produce more DLC, considering the retail success of the game so far. "If they sell well, we'll have a lot more content," Drake promises.
Activision: Guitar Hero beat Beatles because it's 'fun as hell'
We were just as perplexed as anyone when Guitar Hero 5 trounced The Beatles: Rock Band in the UK -- where we hear the Fab Four is fairly popular still. Thankfully, Activision's Guitar Hero business CEO, Rock 'n' Roll Dan Rosensweig, is there to explain it all. "The number one thing about Guitar Hero is that it's fun as hell -- it's focused on the guitar, and the variety and value proposition -- and the reviews are spectacular. So I guess we're the only ones not surprised." Rosensweig went on to tell GamesIndustry.biz that "internally we always talked about the Fab Five - Guitar Hero 5 - was going to beat the Fab Four." So, we've also discovered Activision's real secret weapon that keeps it ahead of the competition: Hilarious wordplay.
EA confirms The Beatles: Rock Band SingStar mic pack for UK, other territories
The Beatles: Rock Band SingStar bundle has arrived at UK retailers for £49.99 ($81.87). Only after being half-announced by MTV Games, showing up on an Australian retailer website, and then vaguely detailed in a press release from today, are we able to bring you this news. Is it coming to other territories? That's a good question! We asked EA, who gave us a laundry list of launch dates for various European and African countries (listed after the break). Unfortunately, we were told that the exclusion of North America from the list means that the publisher currently has no intention of bringing the microphone bundle Stateside. Sorry, aspiring North American crooners!
'All You Need is Love' becomes fastest-selling Rock Band song
Microsoft has announced that "All You Need is Love," the first downloadable song for The Beatles: Rock Band, became the fastest-selling tune in the franchise's history within the first two days of availability. We'd like to believe that the Xbox-exclusive track was entirely propelled by the spirit of philanthropy, with proceeds from sales ("tens of thousands of dollars," Microsoft says) benefiting Doctors Without Borders, but its success probably comes from the fact that it's "All You Need is Love." By The Beatles.A limited edition Beatles-themed Xbox 360, bearing artwork from the game's introduction video, was also sold by Microsoft during an online charity auction. After ten days, the system took off for $17,300. If you've yet to expand the legendary band's in-game lineup or hope to gain entry in the on-going Beatles sweepstakes, keep in mind that revenue from "All You Need is Love" is still going to charity. All you need is 160.
Nick Mason: We'd consider Pink Floyd Rock Band or Guitar Hero
Despite how some musicians feel about music 'n' rhythm games, Pink Floyd drummer (and part-time T-Zero agent) Nick Mason isn't entirely ruling it out for his band. With The Beatles: Rock Band having just released, the BBC asked him if we could be seeing a Pink Floyd Rock Band or Guitar Hero game, to which he replied, "I think we'd consider it." While he isn't a big supporter of the genre (he thinks it deters kids from learning real instruments, just like other celebs do), he did add, "Everyone's looking at new ways of selling the music because the business of selling records has almost disappeared." Especially those vinyl ones, which (gasp!) weren't even interactive.
Rock Band Stage Kit compatibility not being patched into The Beatles: Rock Band
Owners of the Rock Band Stage Kit must accept that the device will not be compatible with The Beatles: Rock Band. Harmonix has confirmed to Joystiq that there are "no plans to patch it for The Beatles: Rock Band." As to whether the device will be compatible with future editions of Rock Band, a company rep stated, "We haven't announced any future titles at this time."There's been some back and forth on the Rock Band forums about whether the smoke machine and disco ball-ish device -- originally $100 (but cheaper now) -- would be patched into The Beatles game. We hope this settles it -- not that you have a choice, apparently.[Thanks, Jeremy F]
The Beatles: Rock Band DLC to include original dreamscapes
If you plow halfway through The Beatles: Rock Band today, you'll notice that all the songs taking place in a studio setting (as opposed to The Ed Sullivan Show or Shea Stadium, for example) feature really lovely animations, which Harmonix calls "dreamscapes," inspired by the song they accompany. The developer tells us that the DLC albums arriving in the coming months will receive similar treatment. "DLC songs which don't end up in historical venues will have custom dreamscapes, yes," said Dare Matheson Lead Artist on the game at Harmonix. "There will be visual themes and elements that will stretch from the on-disc dreamscapes into the DLC dreamscapes, but everyone is custom, unique, and fully-crafted for the song it will accompany. It's a bargain!" At the same $2-per-song price as regular 'ol Rock Band DLC, we can't help but agree.
