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Dhani Harrison: Rock Band 3 will make you better at actual rocking

by Griffin McElroy { Nov 7th 2009 at 1:00PM }

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

by David Hinkle { Nov 4th 2009 at 8:29PM }

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

Here comes the trailer for Abbey Road from The Beatles: Rock Band (do do do)

by Ben Gilbert { Oct 20th 2009 at 2:00PM }

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: The Beatles: Rock Band: Abbey Road DLC

The Beatles: Rock Band 'Abbey Road' album DLC detailed

by Alexander Sliwinski { Oct 19th 2009 at 3:30PM }

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.

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Harmonix taking 'wait and see' approach with The Beatles DLC

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 9th 2009 at 3:41PM }

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'

by Justin McElroy { Oct 7th 2009 at 7:30PM }

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

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 22nd 2009 at 5:59PM }

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!

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'All You Need is Love' becomes fastest-selling Rock Band song

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Sep 18th 2009 at 3:45PM }

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

by David Hinkle { Sep 16th 2009 at 12:45PM }

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

by Alexander Sliwinski { Sep 11th 2009 at 4:40PM }

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

by Justin McElroy { Sep 9th 2009 at 3:16PM }

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.

PAX 2009 interview: The Beatles: Rock Band lead designer Chris Foster

by Kevin Kelly { Sep 9th 2009 at 12:44PM }

The Beatles: Rock Band drops today, along with the band's remastered albums ~~availability on iTunes (?)~~ and a flood of Beatles: Rock Band news. Fans will be wailing on plastic instruments all day in an effort to travel back in time and live out their fantasies of becoming musical legends.

We caught up with lead designer Chris Foster at PAX, who gave up some secrets about the game (including the scrapped "forever" mode). Read on for the full interview.

Gallery: The Beatles: Rock Band (07/20/09)

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Reminder: The Beatles: Rock Band DLC already available

by Justin McElroy { Sep 9th 2009 at 11:44AM }

If you're picking up The Beatles: Rock Band today (which you really should) and you're getting it on Xbox 360, we've got a quick reminder that the first DLC for the game is already available for 160

($2). If you'll recall, Microsoft announced "All You Need is Love" to be an Xbox 360-exclusive track at its E3 keynote. Better yet, by buying the song, you're going to be contributing to Doctors Without Borders, which sends physicians and other medical personnel into impoverished countries.

Although, doctors, isn't it just a tad irresponsible leaving the country in the middle of the PAXPOXalypse? Oh, and if you're unfamiliar with the song, we've taken the liberty of embedding it after the break.

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Harmonix founders detail the company's failure-ridden road to success

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 3rd 2009 at 9:15PM }

Believe it or not, things weren't always going so well for Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchise developers Harmonix. Starting out in 1995 as a "music tech" company, founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy took four years of "misstarts and product concepts that never made it anywhere" before they had any success. Talking to CNN Money, the two detail five years of strange, misguided, or ill-informed ideas that ~~eventually~~ somehow lead to The Beatles: Rock Band.

First up: "The Axe," something that Rigopulos describes as "a joystick music improvisation system." In so many words, you moved the joystick around and various sounds were produced. Unsurprisingly, only 300 were sold -- "a horrendous failure that led to a painful lesson," Rigopulos says. "You can't really build a business on an entertainment experience that only keeps people entertained for 15 minutes." Second, the two tried breaking into the (at the time) $10 billion Japanese karaoke market ... and met with resounding failure once again.

Luckily for us, lessons learned overseas came back with the duo and Harmonix became a game company. Rigopulos and Egozy quickly changed their company's focus from "music tech" to "gaming," creating Frequency and Amplitude soon after. Though the games didn't directly lead to the financial success achieved later with Guitar Hero and Rock Band (GH didn't get off the ground until RedOctane approached Harmonix in the early oughts), both helped the now major developer to get a foot in the door.

Rumor: 45th track in Beatles: Rock Band is 'The End'

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 3rd 2009 at 10:24AM }

We can just picture it: Harmonix employees collectively having a laugh at our expense as the forty-fifth (and final) track featured in The Beatles: Rock Band is announced to be ... wait for it ... "The End." The image you see above certainly makes this possibility seem all the more real, as the Abbey Road track isn't listed anywhere on the nearly complete track list we've had for some time now.

Apparently, the game has already landed in a few lucky forum-goers hands over at ScoreHero, who quickly revealed the alleged final track. Also revealed: The game's a lot of fun. Shocking! All kidding aside, though, we're fairly confident "The End" made it into the game as track number 45, but we'll have to wait and see with our own eyes when The Beatles: Rock Band launches next week.