The Beatles: Rock Band guitars confirmed, pre-order club announced

by Ben Gilbert on May 5th 2009 11:15AM

MTV Games and Harmonix have announced The Beatles: Rock Band will have two standalone guitars made available alongside the forthcoming Liverpudlian music rhythm game. The Rickenbacker 325 and Gretsch Duo Jet, played by John Lennon and George Harrison allegedly throughout their respective careers, are set to go on sale when the game launches in September for $100 bucks a pop. For those of you playing along at home, that equates to $250 for the full "premium" bundle plus another $200 for both of these guitars, altogether adding up to a whopping $450 for you serious Beatles fans. We spoke with Mariana Agathoklis at MTV Games this morning who said, "These guitars are really for the hardcore fans."

Additionally, the "pre-order club" has officially opened for business at the game's official site, allowing those who've already pre-ordered the game to access "breaking news and access to exclusive game elements including art and behind-the-scenes footage." The bad economy has us in a bit of a fiduciary bind -- maybe you fine folks pre-ordering the game would be so kind as to shoot us a tip when the hot scoops hit?

Update: Mariana at MTV Games asked us to clarify that these guitars will be compatible with "all Rock Band instruments, as well as most Guitar Hero and other music game peripherals." We've also added an image of the guitars in question in a gallery below, direct from the pre-order site to your eye cavities.

The Beatles: Rock Band guitars

Tags: beatles, ea, Electronic-Arts, gretsch, harmonix, Microsoft, mtv-games, Nintendo, rhythm-games, rickenbacker, rock-band, the-beatles, the-beatles-rock-band, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (69)

I was hoping that for $250 we'd at least get a guitar and a bass in the bundle. Oh well :(

$250 is about what I expected the original Rock Band bundle to cost, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found it was $170 (the quality was a tad lower than I expected).

With the sleek design and attention to detail these have (and considering whatever licensing they have to pay for them) I think they're still a good value. It's hard to make a profit on niche products like this, so I'm pretty surprised they're even making these.

I just love the RB Stratocaster. I've been told the RB2 Strat is superior, but alas I cannot purchase one in this country without paying heavily for an import.

I'm going to assume these guitars are a step up from the RB2 Strat and go the Gretsch. It sure is a pretty guitar.

Current number of plastic guitars: 5

They need to release the RB2 strat in Europe.

I bought the GHWT guitar bundle so that I'd have a spare guitar for RB, but the damn thing, and then its replacement, broke within an hour of play.

I agree, those RB2 instruments need some european love.. I might get the madkatz portable drumkit, though I want the RB2 drums with the symbols

Liking the Gretsch.. though I'd like something 'harder', maybe a V.. Maybe by the time RB3 comes along, eh..?

I love my RB1 strat to death, but skipped on the RB2 bundle for financial reasons. But hey, it's 2009 now, and I'm going to spend $450 on a video game. Am I an idiot? Maybe. (Actually, don't answer that.) But I'm so excited because those guitars look beautiful.

Ok... do you guys remember the thread when I bashed The Beatles saying that they are overrated?

Well... after that, a Joystiq friend recommended me some songs, and we talked about The Beatles, their biography, sogs, etc... and well, I was very wrong...

I really liked a lot of their songs... so much... we even play "Don't let me down" at the bar almost every week.

So, an apologie to everyone for The Beatles bashing the other day.

*hugs Fernando*

Apology on a forum? Well, I never thought I'd see the day wh

[world explodes]

you, sir, win this whole thread

Congratulations. You have gained an understanding of one of the basic rules of life.

It's easy to criticize the Beatles when you don't know much about them. I'm a new fan as well, only liking them for about 9 months now, and I have already purchased 4 studio albums and LOVE.

That was very cool of you, by the way!!!

The Beatles are good. But they are still overrated.

A lot of people I've met that dislike the Beatles were basing their dislike on the Beatles early works. The second you play them a little Eleanor Rigby, or Strawberry Fields Forever, etc, they usually change their tune. Their music changed so much in the decade they were together, that it's a disservice to any music fan to simply pick one period and stereotype the rest of their music accordingly.

That isn't to say that I haven't met people that swear up and down that they hate the Beatles even after listening to their better songs. Music is very subjective after all.

Nice, Fernando!

Way to man up. +1

Well done Fernando , thats 2 Fernando's that we love here in Liverpool now (unless you are actually the god Fernando Torres) .
Incidentally I live on Penny Lane in Liverpool the very same one from the Beatles song of course ! I see the Magical Mystery Tour bus go past mine most days !

You were right the first time. Way to be spineless.

"Don't Let Me Down" is one of my favorite Beatles tracks. I just rocked the shit out of that at karaoke the other night.

Glad to hear you've come around. I never "got" The Beatles until I was in college and I finally just sat down and listened to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band from start to finish. There's a reason why The Beatles are so popular -- they earned their legacy.

If you like "don't let me down" check out "things ain't like they used to be" by the black keys. You'd be surprised how many good bands have been influenced by the beatles.

Hate them or Love them, it wont change the fact that the beatles were a great band.

The live version of Don't Let Me Down is crazy better than the version with studio vocals. I will cry with joy if the live one makes it in the game.

I will be more than happy to pay for the game, but $100 for a new RB guitar? My favorite GH/RB guitar is still the GH3 Les Paul, and I picked it up brand new during liquidation at Circuit City for $15.

"...played by John Lennon and George Harrison allegedly throughout their respective careers..."

It's not really "alleged..." John played his 325 from Hamburg until Ed Sullivan... he even requested a twelve-string made for him. George played the Duo Jet in Hamburg, the Please Please Me Sessions, and again in the 80s after a restoration.

I'm stoked about Paul's lefty upside-down bass! I'm making 'Srgt. Pepper's' uniforms as we speak in anticipation of this game's release!

.
Ok, I'm not really making uniforms.

Go ahead and fess up. You already own Sgt. Peppers outfits, don't you?

idk about this game it looks pretty cool with the new bundle and everything but im not really into the beatles i dont know much of there work

This might be a good way to check them out, actually. The game covers their entire career and their musical evolution in a linear way, so you could get a good buffet of Beatles.

"These guitars are really for the hardcore fans."

Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog's eye?

I am the eggman.... they are the eggman... I am the walrus. Goo Goo g' joob

I'm getting the Gretsch and the game, or maybe the bundle.
Go Beatles! Go!

@Stone Age: Thank you for getting the "goo goo" right. I can't tell you how much it annoys me when people sing/write it as "koo koo k-choo."

And yes, I am a Beatles pedant.

Well, I'm not a hardcore enough fan to buy $100 peripherals when my two RB2 strats still work fine. I understand why the game couldn't just be normal DLC, but I really would like everything integrated into one rock band platform.

If the premium bundle is $250, wouldn't one of these guitars be packed with it and thus in essence you're only buying the other one you don't have and then the cost is only $350 instead of $450?

$250 would be nuts if it were just drums & mic + game

ignore above; my brain wasn't working. Carry on. and yes $450's a lot.

What the hell is in the "premium" bundle, then?

a Höfner bass, Ludwig drums, mic & mic stand + "special content"

I might buy the guitar on the right and skip the game.

..I'm doing it wrong, aren't I?

damnit, i hate the fretbuttons taking up the whole top of the neck... bring back the GH fret buttons!!

Really? I very much prefer the larger fret buttons of the RB controllers. It's the strum bar on the GH controllers that I find superior.

The RB guitar frets are much more comfortable. GH guitars feel like Playskool products.

Uh... How is this still an issue for people, what with the cross-compatibility and oodles of guitars out there?

Besides, RB has always had the full-width-of-the-neck fret buttons, so there are no GH-style buttons for them to "bring back."

umm, the guys who made GH left and made RB, so yea they could bring back their original controllers.

@pete

You sir are incorrect. The company that originally made the GH controllers was Red Octane, not Harmonix. Red Octane still makes GH controllers and still owns the legal rights to their controllers' designs. So no, Harmonix couldn't just start making the old controllers for RB without a lawsuuit.

Also worth mentioning is that RedOctane is owned by Activision.

yes, harmonix designed the original guitars... but it was the RB people who made GH which used the GH axes. now that those people have created a new game, they have changed the design of their peripherals. does that make sense? or are you still convinced that developers and peripheral makers have absolutely nothing in common.....

let me explain this again... the developers of Guitar Hero used the redoctane guitars in the first 2.5 games (half a game if you in include the 80s hits for ps2). when the developers moved onto RockBand, they changed their guitars from the redoctane design to the ones we know today. activision took over the GH series, while the original creators made rockband. therefore, they changed guitars, and should BRING BACK THE FIRST ONES. dumbass

Yeah, that's exactly what he just said to you.

RedOctane are tied up with Guitar Hero/Activision/Neversoft, therefore Harmonix would have a very difficult time 'bringing back the old ones' for Rock Band without having a copyright infringement suit on their hands.

Also calling people dumbasses doesn't automatically make you correct.

uhh no, the fret buttons are copyrighted. just take a look at all of the third party guitars out there.

and yes, when i call someone a dumbass, he is a dumbass

uhh no, the fret buttons are not copyrighted. just take a look at all the third-party guitars out there. oh and check out this photo of Guitar Freaks, released by Konami before GH even came out.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2006/07/konami_guitarhero.jpg

look pretty familiar??

yea when i call someone a dumbass, thats because i mean it

Activision owns RedOctane. RedOctane (not Harmonix) created the original GH controller. Harmonix left to create RB. Seeking autonomy, Harmonix made their guitars different from the ones made by the company which they just left. RedOctane still makes GH controllers. What you are asking for is not an option. If you want the old-style fret buttons, buy a RedOctane controller to use with The Beatles: Rock Band and quit your uninformed bitching. Dumbass.

That Gretsch looks really cool. I like the retro style.

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The Beatles: Rock Band guitars confirmed, pre-order club announced

The Beatles: Rock Band guitars

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