Harmonix: Beatles project in dev, not Rock Band

by Dustin Burg { Oct 30th 2008 at 11:00AM }

Just a bit ago, MTV and Apple Corp made an OMG MEGATON announcement regarding Harmonix's next video game project and it has to do with The Beatles. Yes, those Beatles.

Details are light, but we know that this Harmonix developed Beatles game will NOT be a Rock Band spin-off or Rock Band branded in any way. Instead, the Beatles game will be its own custom title. We also learn that the music catalog will encompass their entire career, include visual imagery from each album and we're also told that we can expect "a number of new dimensions" from team Harmonix. Expect more information over the course of the year, because this Harmonix developed Beatles musical game-o-fun will not make it to retail until Holiday 2009.

Tags: beatles, ea, harmonix, mtv-games

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

BKB @ Oct 30th 2008 11:10AM

Damnit... it should be like the AC/DC side game....

Odog4ever @ Oct 30th 2008 1:33PM

I pretty sure the negotiation went like this:

Apple Corps: "We want our own stand alone game or we walk."

MTV: "....Yessum!"

Unless Apple Corps suddenly has a change of heart in regards to digital distribution (and decides to drop the whole Beatles catalog on iTunes or Amazon) I'm guessing the idea of "copy songs to the console hard drive" freaks them out.

Curtis @ Oct 30th 2008 6:01PM

The entire Beatles catalog will be on iTunes.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/09/beatles-catalog-coming-online-at-long-last/

therpham @ Oct 30th 2008 11:14AM

Come on plastic orchestra! I want to play Eleanor Rigby!

No, there's no room for such things! But this is very exciting.

Rick @ Oct 30th 2008 11:20AM

As long as the RB instruments work with it, that's cool. It'll be nice to mix up the formula a bit. I just hope they can squeeze a few solo project songs out of the deal and get them into Rock Band. I'd love to play Instant Karma!

Vcize @ Oct 30th 2008 11:24AM

So basically, they just won't attach the Rock Band name to it so people don't realize they're whoring out the franchise every bit as badly as Activision is GH (this would be what, the 4th game in a little over a year on the same system....hell that's even worse than Activision).

Jerkfish @ Oct 30th 2008 11:35AM

Ummm what?

Harmonix has Rock Band 1 and 2, and soon a track pack. Surely you're not counting the track pack as a game. Because otherwise Activision has pumped out, GH1, GH80s, GH2, GH3, GH:Aerosmith, and GH4.

I'm no rocket scientist but I'm pretty sure 6 is more than 3. What console it's on has nothing to do with it, but you felt the need to include that just to spin the numbers a bit and make Harmonix look worse than Activision.

Saxon @ Oct 30th 2008 12:11PM

Technically Harmonix pumped out GH1 and GH2, not Activision, but those were 2+ years ago and therefor can't count in his statement of "a little over a year." On the other hand, you're forgetting the two Nintendo DS Guitar Hero titles so you're still correct.

Vcize @ Oct 30th 2008 2:07PM

The only difference between RB: AC/DC and GH: Aerosmith is that you can export the songs off the AC/DC track, which is a neat feature to be sure, but the game works as a standalone disc whether you actually have Rock Band or not.

Well, there's that difference and that you're also paying a lot more per track for the AC/DC one.

What makes GH: Aerosmith a "full game" and RB: AC/DC a "track pack", other than huge amounts of Harmonix fanboyism?

I swear, Harmonix could murder people's first born children and the fathers of those children would make an excuse as to why it's no big deal.