McCartney And Starr Join Forces For Beatles Edition of Rock Band
— June 2, 2009 0 23It’s not often that the two surviving members of The Beatles are seen together, but Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were recently seen sharing the spotlight in Los Angeles for the announcement of a new version of the popular video game “Rock Band.”
The two music legends made a brief appearance at the E3 video game conference along with both Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison. The four were received enthusiastically by the conference attendees, who showed their support with generous amounts of applause.
The new game, which is set for release on September 9, is also a move that brings the music of The Beatles to fans in digital form, which is something that the surviving members have resisted thus far. Whether or not this will influence them to change their stance on allowing the distribution of their music via sites like iTunes remains to be seen.
The new game enables players to sing along with The Beatle’s three-part harmonies and rock along with the “Fab 4” using the traditional replica instruments that are fashioned after the actual instruments that the group used, including John Lennon’s Rickenbacker 325 guitar, Paul McCartney’s Hofner bass guitar, George Harrison’s Gretsch Duo Jet guitar and Ringo Starr’s drum kit with classic black oyster pearl finish.
The new release also brings players the experience of playing along with the band at various virtual venues, including the Ed Sullivan Theater, Budokan, the Abbey Road Studio, The Cavern Club and Shea Stadium, presumably with hysterical female fans fainting in the front row.
Also included are rare audio clips and previously unseen photographs from the archives, that are revealed to players as they master the included tracks.
Included in the game are legendary Beatles classics such as “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Day Tripper,” “Back In The U.S.S.R.,” and “Here Comes The Sun,” along with other fan favorites.
The new release is currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com for the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360and PlayStation 3.
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