It looks like Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison have more to do with The Beatles: Rock Band than thrilling journalists at Microsoft's E3 media briefing. In an interview with Crispy Gamer, the game's lead designer, Chris Foster, intimated that the former Beatles, along with Ono and Harrison, have shared quite a bit of input with the team at Harmonix.
Foster calls the group "the shareholders," and states that they helped put together the song list, its venues and gave input as to whether the game's "dreamscapes" adequately supported the songs. "They looked over all the characters, the animations ... they really kept us honest on whether we were capturing the spirit of the band as they were performing, which was a huge challenge for us," says Foster, noting that it's necessary to capture the joy that The Beatles expressed when playing.
According to Foster, seeing the former Beatles and their widows at Microsoft's E3 briefing "is about as validating as everything." He adds, "They don't get together for almost anything ... it has to be something important, something they believe in."
Reader Comments (38)
Posted: Jun 26th 2009 9:42AM MystileArmor said
..said the guy that praised John Lennon's murderer.
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 10:13PM spin cycle said
Yeah, it's about money. It brings families together too. Come into a large amount of money and suddenly you have relatives you've never met before.
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 10:14PM Bluebreaker said
"They don't get together for almost anything ... it has to be something important, something they believe in."
Money. I'd get together with people I barely talk with if they gave me a truckload of cash.
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Money. I'd get together with people I barely talk with if they gave me a truckload of cash.
Posted: Jun 24th 2009 10:19PM RyanLN said
This is actually a landmark move for those guys- they have NEVER had any of there songs available for legal download. Now I'm not 100% sure if they retain any income from back sales of their catalog, but when I think about all the money left on the table by failing to make their music available for download via avenues like iTunes it makes me physically ill. Hopefully this will just be the start of a more common sense approach to their music distribution and more Beatles songs on my iPhone.
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 10:26PM (Unverified) said
"Former Beatles, widows involved....."
Please tell me George Harrison had more than one wife, because if Yoko is involved *Shakes Fist*
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Please tell me George Harrison had more than one wife, because if Yoko is involved *Shakes Fist*
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 2:57AM Bluebreaker said
@ Monkeydog
Didn't that whole thing with Eric Clapton start "Layla" somehow?
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Didn't that whole thing with Eric Clapton start "Layla" somehow?
Posted: Jun 24th 2009 10:33PM PilzE wants your mint spaghetti said
So, is Yoko gonna try and break up The Beatles: Rock Band? Is that why she's involved. I'll bet she'll try and mack on VR John Lennon and cause VR Paul McCartney to get pissed, thus the Rock Band Beatles will break up and we'll eventually be left with; Guitar Hero: John Lennon; Rock Band: Ringo; Vegan Hero: Paul McCartney; and nothing from George Harrison since he's content with what he has.
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 10:36PM (Unverified) said
someone clearly forgot about George Harrison's solo career
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 11:06PM (Unverified) said
Well, it's more complicated than that, but I'll give you some props for trying to be funny.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_the_Beatles
I'm a little surprised that Yoko was involved in this seeing how she was completely indifferent to the Beatles.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_the_Beatles
I'm a little surprised that Yoko was involved in this seeing how she was completely indifferent to the Beatles.
Posted: Jun 24th 2009 11:05PM Sinister Rouge said
Still, I'm excited for the game more now then ever. At least the psychedelic parts. Paul's brain is mostly fried, and Yoko has always been heavy in to the psychedelic art/music scene, so that should be good. As for the money question, I doubt Paul is hurting, but the others may be. One would think that all of the royalties from their/their spouses monumental music project (The Beatles) would keep them set for life.
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Posted: Jun 24th 2009 11:18PM (Unverified) said
Hey Ringo, Paul, Yoko that's swell and awesome about Rock Band.
Now how about endorsing the Beatles tunes in Earthbound so we wont have any legal BS so we can get a Virtual Console/Wiiware release. Thanks.
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Now how about endorsing the Beatles tunes in Earthbound so we wont have any legal BS so we can get a Virtual Console/Wiiware release. Thanks.
Posted: Jun 24th 2009 11:58PM (Unverified) said
To those saying "its just money reuniting them", thats a load of crap. All of them are filthy rich already. Making a little more money (relative to what they already have) is nothing to them.
Also, if money is really the reason for reuniting, any reunion (especially between Paul and Ringo) would be immensely lucrative for them...the sheer amount of fans and what they'd pay to see those two perform together again. The fact that they haven't cashed in on those opportunities only further tells you that its not about the money.
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Also, if money is really the reason for reuniting, any reunion (especially between Paul and Ringo) would be immensely lucrative for them...the sheer amount of fans and what they'd pay to see those two perform together again. The fact that they haven't cashed in on those opportunities only further tells you that its not about the money.
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 3:17AM spin cycle said
Ringo seemed motivated by money when he was doing a voice over for a company I know. After doing the work he decided he needed more money for it or he would (and did) drop out.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 12:37AM (Unverified) said
I think it is because this is on a somewhat bigger scale than most "endorsements"
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 1:05AM (Unverified) said
http://pspcustomfirmware.com/psp-news-update/psp-news-sony-ericsson-phone-will-support-psp-game.htm
I think you'd find this interesting...if this is legit this is seriously awesome
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I think you'd find this interesting...if this is legit this is seriously awesome
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 2:20AM Accessgranted said
Good Ol' Beatles... well I hope this game turns out to be something epic. On a totally unrelated note I just had a mcdonald's apple pie that expired 2 hours ago I think 'm gonna go lie down... Damn you pies! why must you expire 4 hours after purchase time!
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 4:54AM (Unverified) said
Xbacast had this info as well and its audio! About 2 mins in Chris talks about how the project got started. http://www.xbapodcast.com/?p=2172
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 7:43AM (Unverified) said
I love the Beatles. LOVE THEM! But I thought Paul was a total douchebag at E3.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 12:27PM (Unverified) said
I thought i was the only one. Ringo seemed like a down to earth kinda guy. Paul seemed waay to cocky.
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Posted: Jun 25th 2009 8:21AM Johnny Neat said
They mean they showed them cash, the liked it. Then the animation was shown as a courtesy. I doubt that they know much of anything about gaming, even if Harrison's son was involved it was probably to convince them that making a game would be received well and not hated on by fans and probably made the argument with Harmonix that The Beatles being involved in a game was a win win.
Anyhow iTunes is coming soon as are the already scheduled re-masterings of all their albums.
As happy as I am that Harmonix got the kings involved in making a game, I pray Harmonix and this game's sales will and could convince the "Rock Band" to make a game, yeah I'm begging you Led Zeppelin!
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Anyhow iTunes is coming soon as are the already scheduled re-masterings of all their albums.
As happy as I am that Harmonix got the kings involved in making a game, I pray Harmonix and this game's sales will and could convince the "Rock Band" to make a game, yeah I'm begging you Led Zeppelin!
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 9:54AM (Unverified) said
Maybe somewhere in the middle there are minigames where you play as Yoko and try to keep John away from the other Beatles, capture-the-flag style. Home base is a bed in a hotel room.
I'm still very excited for this game. Also, no mention of George's very talented son Dhani, who is also working on it in this same group? Shame, joystiq. haha.
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I'm still very excited for this game. Also, no mention of George's very talented son Dhani, who is also working on it in this same group? Shame, joystiq. haha.
Posted: Jun 25th 2009 11:26AM ChomskyKnows said
I was just saying to myself the other day, "you know what would make the Beatles Rock Band better? Input from Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison!" And why isn't Heather Mills involved!!!!
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