E3 2009: The Beatles Rock Band

One of the biggest highlights of the Microsoft E3 Press Briefing was the reveal of The Beatles Rock Band. Since being announced last fall, the game has been eagerly anticipated by both fans of the Rock Band franchise and Beatles fans. Taking center stage, The Beatles rocked our world and is by far one of the best titles of the show.

The trailer shown during the Microsoft E3 Press Conference included cel-shaded visuals that were reminiscent of the other Guitar Hero sequences. They showcased ten Beatles songs throughout their careers starting in a basement in Liverpool's The Cavern (1963) with A Hard Day's Night playing in the background. The trailer moved on to Here Comes the Sun and I am the Walrus. backgrounds included more psychedelic visuals of a giant Elephant walking around, with the Beatles riding on top, with various creatures surrounding them. The last song played was Octopus's Garden and had John and Paul singing on the same microphone.

As the trailer progressed, you could see the Beatles aging from young kids to the shaggy haired adults they became. In addition, Several features were shown off but not discussed. The biggest of these was the multiple vocals in addition to the other three instruments. This may be to add harmony to the Beatles songs.

We do know that there will be 45 songs included on the retail disk. Full downloadable albums will be made available shortly after the release of the game on September 9, 2009 The first downloadable album will be Abby Road.

Present but not discussed were also the new instruments. These include Lennon's Rickenbacker 325 guitar, McCartney's Hofner bass, Harrison's Gretsch Duo Jet guitar, and Ringo's black oyster pearl drum and Beatles kick drum head.

The Beatles Rock Band looks absolutely amazing. No word on if you can import your other Rock Band tracks, if the ION drums are compatible, or if the Lips Microphones will work. We hope to get answers for these questions and more details later during E3.