Beatles Rock Band (1 Viewer)

[Morgan Jolley]

You can use up to 16 GB SD cards, and I'd recommend it. You can launch games and DLC off of it for a lot of recent games. The 2 GB might be a little small. The DLC for the Wii isn't quite as good because you can't play the full 16 minute medley, but the songs are still there, I believe, but in smaller chunks (like 3 songs together instead of the whole dozen).

 

[Grady Reid]

Thanks for the info, does anyone know how much memory- or "blocks"- is used up by the Abbey Road DLC?

 

[Morgan Jolley]

No idea. I just tried to look it up and couldn't find a good answer. Most likely, you'll want to buy an SD card, especially if you plan on getting DLC or downloading games in the future. I think the Wii can take up to 16 GB cards, so probably better off getting something around that size.

 

[Ruz-El]

I downloaded the Sgt. Pepper DLC last night. Pretty good stuff. It's not full of the hardest songs you'll ever have to play (admittedly, I'm still on the medium setting of guitar and drums). That fact is compensated by the cleverness in adapting an album that's not really from guitar heaven. So you get to play the harp part from "She's Leaving Home" and the clarinet from "When I'm 64" since there's no actual guitar part. The drums for "Within and Without You" seemed trickier then the mash up on the original disc, and they through in some additional percussion bits like bells on other tracks as fills to keep you busy on the pads. I haven't tried the bass yet.

So the combination of cleverness and being able to "play" the greatest album of all time makes this a pretty good deal.

Looking forward to Revolver (my favorite Beatles album ) in December.

 

[Matt Birchall]

Originally Posted by Russell G

Looking forward to Revolver (my favorite Beatles album ) in December.

Hate to break it to you, but Rubber Soul is the next full album DLC.

I read an interview with one of the Harmonix guys somewhere and they said it was basically a flip of the coin between Rubber Soul and Revolver, and Rubber Soul won. It's speculated that Revolver will be released early next year, but there's also speculation that there may not be any further DLC after Rubber Soul if the current DLC doesn't sell that well. But I'm thinking we'll see Revolver in January or February.

 

[Ruz-El]

Ahh, I must of had them mixed up. Revolver would be the more fun album to play I think, but I'll buy Rubber Soul regardless. I'm surprised it's not Let It Be or one of the discs for the white album. A bit more interesting guitar in those. I like Rubber Soul, but it's a bit laid back.

 

[WillG]

speculated that Revolver will be released early next year, but there's also speculation that there may not be any further DLC after Rubber Soul if the current DLC doesn't sell that well.

Has there been talk that sales have been dissapointing. I hope not. There's still essential stuff that has not been released. Also PS3 owners have still not gotten "All You Need Is Love"

My further wish List:

It Won't Be Long
All My Loving
Roll Over Beethoven
I'm Happy Just To Dance With You
Any Time At All
You Can't Do That
I'm A Loser
I'll Follow The Sun
What You're Doing
Help!
You've Got to Hide Your Love AwayAnother Girl You're Going To Lose That Girl Act NaturallyI`ve Just Seen a FaceDizzy Miss LizzyAll of Rubber Soul (as rumored)All of Revolver (as rumored)Strawberry Fields ForeverGlass OnionHappiness is a Warm GunI’m so TiredYer BluesEverybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My MonkeySexy SadieLong, Long, LongRevolution 1Savoy TruffleCry Baby CryRevolution 9 (Kidding)Only a Northern SongIt’s All Too MuchTwo of UsAcross the UniverseLet it BeOne After 909For You BlueLove Me DoFrom Me to YouThank You GirlShe Loves YouSlow DownShe’s a WomanI’m DownWe Can Work it OutRainThe Ballad of John and YokoFree as a BirdReal LoveIf You’ve Got Trouble (Unreleased Until Anthology 2)That Means A Lot (Unreleased Until Anthology 2)Not Guilty (Unreleased Until Anthology 3)
So, as one could see, there is still plenty of material that would unfortunate if it does not see the light of day. And didn't the deal with Apple include all of the Beatles catalog? Considering that, it couldn't be prohibitively expensive to release DLC, right (with maybe the exceptions of cover tracks)?

 

[Matt Birchall]

From Wikipedia:

While there is potential for the entire Beatles catalogue to be made available, this will be unlikely, according to John Drake of Harmonix.[64] Drake identified the costly development process as a potentially prohibitive factor: "Every time we do one song, it's not like Rock Band where we wait for the masters to come in and just author them... its like, send people to Abbey Road, use the original tape, separate them out... it costs thousands of dollars."[65] Drake asserted that Harmonix would take sales of the currently announced albums into consideration before continuing development of downloadable content.

There's also the unique dreamscapes which no doubt factor into the cost.

And it looks like "All You Need Is Love" will cease being exclusive to the 360 on December 10.

 

[Ruz-El]

Originally Posted by Matt Birchall

From Wikipedia:
There's also the unique dreamscapes which no doubt factor into the cost.

And it looks like "All You Need Is Love" will cease being exclusive to the 360 on December 10.

Thanks for the post. It makes sense too. If you think about it, the early pre-Rubber Soul albums all pretty much sound the same (Drums get a bit repititive as it is). So while it would be fun to play them, they wouldn't be dramatically different to play. It would make no sense to do "Yellow Submarine" since half of it is orchestra.

I would like to see Revolver, Magical Mystery and Let It Be though, and a compilation of the White Album would be icing on the cake. Harmonix have proven to be really creative with adapting some songs you wouldn't think adaptable to Rock Band, it would be interesting to see what they could do with the rest of the later albums.

 

[WillG]

it costs thousands of dollars

So even if one track costs thousands of dollars (and by those words, I'm assuming less that $10,000). At $1.99 per download, really not that many people have to download it to make a profit (and yeah I'm sure there's other cost involved other than preparing the track such as the dreamscapes, but I have noticed that the dreamscapes for the DLC are not nearly as elaborate as the on-disc tracks. And of course, the pre-Abbey Road Studios and "Let It Be" era tracks would recycle the established venues). And I would imagine that anyone who bought Beatles Rock Band would automatically be interested in any DLC as opposed to the other games that are more pick and choose with regards to DLC.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

You need to take a lot into consideration. First off, the cost of getting access to the Beatles' catalogue of music cost Harmonix somewhere in the realm of $60 million (IIRC, I could be wrong or off in the number). Second, they still need to operate, so paying everyone at the company (programmers, musicians, artists, legal, advertising, etc.) is included. Third, in order to get the Beatles' songs broken down by instrument, they needed to develop a new technology that could analyze and separate the songs, which means that the R&D cost of that is included. Sending people to Abbey Road and getting access to the studio are probably the only things considered in that "thousands of dollars" cost mentioned before.

Granted, Harmonix is probably still making boatloads from Rock Band DLC and a good amount from The Beatles DLC, but I'm not sure how many people are downloading whole albums just yet. I'm sure at some point they'll release the numbers. I hope they get around to more stuff, but at some point they will run out of songs that will be fun to play and have to stop.

 

[WillG]

You need to take a lot into consideration. First off, the cost of getting access to the Beatles' catalogue of music cost Harmonix somewhere in the realm of $60 million (IIRC, I could be wrong or off in the number). Second, they still need to operate, so paying everyone at the company (programmers, musicians, artists, legal, advertising, etc.) is included. Third, in order to get the Beatles' songs broken down by instrument, they needed to develop a new technology that could analyze and separate the songs, which means that the R&D cost of that is included.

But what does that have to do with future DLC? Those were up front costs to get the physical game disc out. The catalog is already paid for no matter what happens with future DLC and the track separation technology is already developed and paid for. There shouldn't be anymore upfront cost to develop additional DLC. The way I understand it, the subsequent DLC is incremental cost. If anything, they should be releasing as much DLC as they can to help amoritize those costs.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The cost to put the 40-odd songs on the disc is probably separate from the additional cost to produce the 3 DLC albums. In the end, if it doesn't make them enough money, or rather profit, then they won't produce more.

 

[Ockeghem]

I too would love to see That Means A Lot eventually included. One of my 'dream' singles by the Fabs has for years been That Means A Lot b/w I'll Be On My Way. I played both tracks in High School (ca. 1972-ish) in a band. But they didn't sound quite as good as when the Fabs performed them.

Our children love Beatles Rock Band. It's wonderful seeing them hear some of the Fabs' tunes for the first time. They don't know it, but they're also getting some remastered albums for the holidays.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Originally Posted by WillG

But what does that have to do with future DLC? Those were up front costs to get the physical game disc out. The catalog is already paid for no matter what happens with future DLC and the track separation technology is already developed and paid for. There shouldn't be anymore upfront cost to develop additional DLC. The way I understand it, the subsequent DLC is incremental cost. If anything, they should be releasing as much DLC as they can to help amoritize those costs.

I would actually guess the up-front payment in royalties was only for the songs already used on the disc. Subsequent DLCs probably require more up-front royalties.

Whilst the technology to separate may have already been developed, each time it is used it probably still requires many hours of labour to supervise and refine, all of which goes towards the incremental cost of each track. As they've said, it's not the same as modern tracks where the masters are already completely separated at the outset and they just work on charting and mixing the songs for game use.

I sure would like to see lots more DLC, but I'm not holding my breath. Doesnt' even have to be full albums, 'best of' an album compilation or hits only would be most welcome too. (For the record, I've already bought the SPLHCB and AR albums, now waiting for RS album and AYNIL single on PS3.)

 

[WillG]

I would actually guess the up-front payment in royalties was only for the songs already used on the disc

I don't know. It was pretty much clearly stated that the deal granted access to the entire catalog. I don't want to admit it, but I would be willing to buy an additional game disc to get the remaining tracks I mentioned. Maybe at a companion disc price point.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The deal allowed them to pick 43 songs from the entire catalogue. Even so, the total cost of developing a videogame nowadays is somewhere in the tens of millions, and the deal to get access to the Beatles catalogue itself was in the $60+ million range. Add in costs for marketing and whatever else.

 

[Bob McLaughlin]

I was a Rock Band/Guitar Hero virgin before this set, so I am still getting comfortable learning how to play the guitar and drums. Right now I can easily do Medium setting for guitar, but I'm not quite good enough for the Hard setting, some of the chords mess me up, particularly the red/blue or yellow/orange chords. I can put my pinky and tall finger down okay but my ring finger always wants to push down too, so that's going to just take some practice. I am starting to do some bass tracks on the Hard setting though.

My daughters (age 4 and 2) love playing along with the songs. My 4 year old can belt out a lot of the tunes, her favorite is "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". She even gave our "band" a psychedelic name: "Gravy Hive"!

 

[Ruz-El]

Originally Posted by Bob McLaughlin

I was a Rock Band/Guitar Hero virgin before this set, so I am still getting comfortable learning how to play the guitar and drums. Right now I can easily do Medium setting for guitar, but I'm not quite good enough for the Hard setting, some of the chords mess me up, particularly the red/blue or yellow/orange chords. I can put my pinky and tall finger down okay but my ring finger always wants to push down too, so that's going to just take some practice. I am starting to do some bass tracks on the Hard setting though.

I'm at about your level too. Medium seems to easy, and hard is, well, just too hard on some songs! It seems like a much larger skill jump then from easy to medium. Not that I'm complaining. I found that playing "hard" level bass has helped with the guitar, it's not as tricky with all the chords, but still gets you used to the extra button. I've just started this week to play the guitar on hard on Beatles. I don't fail the songs, but I can get through them. On Rock Band 2 it's another story though.

Anyone on the PS3 who wants to add me for band fun, my user name is Ruz-El

 

[Yee-Ming]

Originally Posted by Russell G

I'm at about your level too. Medium seems to easy, and hard is, well, just too hard on some songs! It seems like a much larger skill jump then from easy to medium. Not that I'm complaining. I found that playing "hard" level bass has helped with the guitar, it's not as tricky with all the chords, but still gets you used to the extra button. I've just started this week to play the guitar on hard on Beatles. I don't fail the songs, but I can get through them. On Rock Band 2 it's another story though.

Wait till you try moving from Hard to Expert...

I've been playing since GH3/GHWT, progressed reasonably quickly from Easy to Medium to Hard, and am now at the level where I could play the entire Beatles game on Hard, passing every song first time I played it. But some Expert songs just confound me, e.g. I failed The End, which has a pretty difficult solo in Expert, though I can pass some other songs on Expert.

On completing guitar on Hard, I started over on bass. After the first set, I found that a bit simple, switched to Expert Bass, and that's a fair challenge now, and I'm about half-way through the Story playing bass.

Some gamers have opined that the Beatles game is relatively easy compared to the others, as you've alluded to in reference to RB2. I agree: I've also got GH: Van Halen, and it's a fair bit harder on Hard than the Beatles was on Hard.

I was in a CD shop today, and the riffs being played in the concert DVD being demoed sounded really familiar but I couldn't quite place the song. I quickly realised the concert was the new McCartney in NYC DVD, and after a while I finally recognised the riffs as being from The End, but they were jamming and ad libbing which is why it took me a while to figure it out. Having said that, prior to TB:RB, I had never heard The End before...