meandthestereo

Video Game: The Beatles: Rock Band
Publisher: MTV Games / Electronic Arts
Developer: Harmonix
Systems: PS3, Wii, XBox360
Release Date: September 9, 2009
Decision: 4/5 All in All

1. Background:

Since the release of the game Rock Band, it has seemed like the Holy Grail of music games were the Beatles.  When Rock Band came out it allowed for four players to play at the same time and there were four people in The Beatles.  Also, the same year Rock Band came out Guitar Hero released its first band specific game in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.  But getting the Beatles to even allow their songs to be played in a game seemed like a pipe dream, let alone allow a full game to be made.

The aforementioned Aerosmith game was not exactly a quality product, and the Beatles, who have always been shy to release their music online, did not seem receptive to the idea.  At the time it seemed far more likely that they would join the growing chorus of detractors of the music game genre.  Apparently, though, it was Metallica that convinced the Apple Group, the name of the group of holders to Beatles music rights, that a quality representation of the Beatles’ work could be produced.  Specifically it was the guys at Harmonix playing a Metallica song on an early version of Guitar Hero that did it.

So after so long the game was finally released.  And its easy to see the care that was put into it. Read the rest of this entry →

Rock band! That single phrase has such a different meaning nowadays, doesn’t it? When I was growing up, listening to Rock and Roll LPs on my cheap record player, and someone mentioned a rock show or a rock band, it immediately made me think of a live concert. A real, honest-to-goodness, balls-to-the-wall type of rock show. You know what I’m talking about here, right? I’m talking about a buzz, an unbearable anticipation in the air…until the lights finally go down. The arena goes dark and the lighters go straight up in the air. The band takes the stage and just rocks your socks off! The lights pulsating to the beat of the music, some killer pyrotechnics, plenty of fake fog rolling off the stage…and the music was loud. Really loud! And if you were lucky, you would see some lasers! Oh man, how I loved a good laser show! I’m pretty sure the amps went to 11 at the old Capital Center shows. I think my heart beat was altered forever at the AC/DC ‘Back In Black’ concert! And when you left the show, after at least two encores, you couldn’t hear a damn thing. It was like your ear canals were full of cotton. You were shouting to the person next to you just to tell them how great the show was!

This is a Rock band.

Source Read the rest of this entry →