The Beatles: Rock Band dropping 9/9/09

By Tor Thorsen, Mark Walton, GameSpot UKPosted Mar 5, 2009 9:22 am PT

The Fab Four's Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii debut arrives in NA, EU, and AU in Q3; available as $250 limited-edition hardware bundle or $60 game; stand-alone guitars $100 each; no PS2 version announced.

After widespread rumors, MTV Games-owned Harmonix announced that it was developing a rhythm game based on The Beatles, arguably the most popular band of all time. At the time, Harmonix cofounder Alex Rigopoulos insisted that the game would be an all-new game, and "not just a Rock Band expansion pack" a la the AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack.

9/9/09!

"Let me make this clear," Harmonix cofounder Alex Rigopoulos told the Wall Street Journal. "It's a full, new music game built from the ground up."

Today, MTV Games and Beatles record label Apple Corps revealed that the game would, in fact, bear the branding of Harmonix's signature Rock Band franchise. This morning, the companies announced that The Beatles: Rock Band will be released on September 9, 2009--i.e. 9/9/09--in North America, Australasia, and the European Union. (Previously, the game was expected in Q4 2009.) It will ship simultaneously on the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, but not on the PlayStation 2, unlike Harmonix's last project, Rock Band 2.

Distributed via the Electronic Arts Partners program, The Beatles: Rock Band will indeed be a brand-new game featuring songs and visual elements that span the group's entire career, from Please Please Me (1963) to Let It Be (1970). It is not yet confirmed whether the Beatles themselves will be featured as playable characters.

In the US, the game will be available as a $59.99 a la carte game for use with instruments from previous Rock Bands and other compatible hardware. The Beatles: Rock Band will also be available as part of a $249.99 limited-edition bundle with an all-new drum set, guitar, and microphone modeled after the Beatles' own instruments. Also announced were Beatles: Rock Band-branded stand-alone guitars for $99.99 each.

To date, the Rock Band franchise has sold more than 10 million copies. In January, Harmonix promised that all of its efforts would go toward creating the Beatles game along with new downloadable content for existing Rock Band games, with no other series entries set for this year.

260 Comments

  • JunglemanchiId

    Posted Sep 1, 2009 1:21 pm PT

    for the $250 spent on a limited edition, buy a real guitar

  • supermike6

    Posted May 27, 2009 8:49 pm PT

    One of my favourite Beatles songs is "And Your Bird Can Sing" and it seemslike it would be really fun on Rock Band guitar. It would be kind of like "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" on GH2, which I loved. I can't wait for the songlist!

  • sampj

    Posted Apr 17, 2009 7:21 am PT

    I can't wait for this; being an avid Beatles fan this will be a defining game of the year.

  • Eastcoast93

    Posted Apr 15, 2009 2:43 am PT

    I want this badly....wohoooo....Beatless!!! lol I'm 15 and I love them...yes not so long but currently im listening only to the beatles. at first i thought rockband beatles i don't know about that but now as im in a hype will be cool... i jsut don't know if this will speak to all kinds of gamers...

  • shadow591

    Posted Apr 14, 2009 1:19 pm PT

    in difficulty it should go Expert, Hard Medium, Easy then Ringo.

  • Martinflame

    Posted Apr 3, 2009 3:57 pm PT

    Why no PS2 version ??? I would have love to see a PS2 version. Really disappointing

  • aquillae

    Posted Mar 17, 2009 10:00 am PT

    Hopefully the success (and profits) of The Beatles Rock Band will give Harmonix the push it needs to go after the great rock & roll songs of the 50's, 60's & 70's that would open the game to a wider group of older people - namely baby boomers (the ones with the cash now).

  • -Inertia posted Mar 11, 2009 10:27 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    -Inertia

    Posted Mar 11, 2009 10:27 am PT (hide)

    This will not end good, Beatles aren't really what the general populous of Rock Band listen to there more the metal scene

  • POPEYE1716

    Posted Mar 11, 2009 7:36 am PT

    Both metallica and the beatles needed each other, in case you dont know this is a mix of Metallica and the beatles

    http://www.beatallica.org/

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOBuz3ezWjA

  • The_Hitokiri

    Posted Mar 10, 2009 11:09 pm PT

    Mechwarrior, hate to tell you this, but none of the members of Mettallica created BRAND NEW CHORDS, whereas a member of the Beatles, did. The beatles are flat out better than that group, or any other. They have SKILL.

  • otanikun

    Posted Mar 10, 2009 2:50 pm PT

    I'm kind of scared about this; epic band doesn't necessarily constutute good game.
    I hope they don't screw this up.

  • CaptainHerlock

    Posted Mar 9, 2009 9:59 pm PT

    Topraman, only a Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery tour use predominantly non rock instrumentation. The White Album, Abby Road, and Let It Be are all rock n' roll arrangements. Everything right up through Revolver is pretty much guitars, bass, drums and piano with some orchestral instruments backing the main tracks here and there.
    It's not really that strange a choice. The Beatles are the biggest rock act ever! A lot of people who don't normally play video games are going to want to buy this.

  • BoucningSoul

    Posted Mar 9, 2009 7:24 pm PT

    Fingers crossed that the "limited edition" isn't too limited. I NEED to play this game using Paul's Hofner Bass.

  • skywalker1993

    Posted Mar 9, 2009 7:03 am PT

    One more thing: Yes tudyniuz! A Rock Band Queen would be great.

  • skywalker1993

    Posted Mar 9, 2009 7:02 am PT

    Best Rock Band Ever: The Beatles! The real creators of Rock & Roll Music.

  • topraman517 posted Mar 9, 2009 1:23 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    topraman517

    Posted Mar 9, 2009 1:23 am PT (hide)

    "The Beatles are terrible. Just because your grandpa likes them, you don't have to. Metallica > The Beatles"

    Why would you compare two completely different (but both brilliant) bands? Also, I know I'm speaking for almost everyone here when I say I didn't get into the Beatles just because older folks love them. I got into them completely on my own.

    The Beatles are an awfully strange choice for Rock Band though. They were only a rock band in their early days, and they even stopped playing live from 1966 onward. I'd say a good 65% of their music uses non-rock instrumentation. Expect a lot of classics to be absent from this game.

  • DarthVader75

    Posted Mar 8, 2009 3:57 pm PT

    mECHwARRIORx2, don't be ignorant...

    without the The Beatles there wouldn't be Metallica or Rock itself.

    biggest band ever, influenced the world.

    without Paul McCartney's show in Russia, Russia would still be communist.

  • Elfstrum

    Posted Mar 8, 2009 1:43 pm PT

    Cool, I can finally be the Walrus koo koo kacho

  • CaptainHerlock

    Posted Mar 8, 2009 12:09 pm PT

    Darth, The Beatles aren't just a "big act". They're THE BIGGEST ACT. When they say they want their own game then you give them their own game. As a fan, I don't want to play a Canned Heat song to have to unlock And Your Bird Can Sing.


    The other thing is that Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison don't want their songs split up and sold piece meal. They recorded the songs as albums and they want them sold as albums. Which is why they aren't on iTunes.



    I know a lot of younger guys like Darth don't have the attention span to actually listen to an album from start to finish and are convinced that all music started in 1991, but when the Beatles made an album they made AN ALBUM. They didn't record two singles and then have twelve tracks of filler. You got fourteen quality tracks from start to finish. If more bands did this today then the industry wouldn't be as atrocious as it is. Their singles weren't even on the albums in the UK. So my advice to you is to actually BUY an album like we did in the old days. It's a unique experience unto itself.

  • mysteriojoe

    Posted Mar 8, 2009 10:42 am PT

    I hope they have tons of tracks from the White album and Revolver. This is going to be so great!

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