Monday, June 01, 2009
Posted at
02:32
by
Ryan Stewart
ROCK BAND: Official Trailer
HARMONIX: unveil Rock Band at E3
Right now E3, the biggest of the many annual gaming news conventions and expos, is happening out in Los Angeles. And while we tend to find such affairs increasingly tiresome, this year's edition - which has already yielded one bit of very good news - brings us a much-needed update on one of the few upcoming games that matters, The Beatles Rock Band, from our good friends at Harmonix. Specifically, there's a trailer, which more or less confirms what we already knew, namely that the game will follow the path of the real-life career of the band. We also now have the beginnings of a confirmed tracklist: "I Saw Her Standing There," "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "I Feel Fine," "Taxman," "Day Tripper," Back In The USSR," "I Am The Walrus," "Octopus's Garden," "Here Comes The Sun," and "Get Back," all of which appear in the trailer.
One of the touching things about Harmonix, the company, is that a bunch of musicians who never quite became full-fledged rock stars were responsible for enabling the world to experience a decent simulacrum of becoming a full-fledged rock star. Nothing brings that full circle quite so much as seeing the Harmonix dudes up there on stage at E3, having what looks like a genuine rockstar moment -- for instance, that's Josh "Robotkid" Randall playing the Paul McCartney bass.
But what caught my eye the most? The downloadable content announcement. Not the one about how "All You Need Is Love" will be available exclusively for the 360, with proceeds benefitting Doctors Without Borders. That's fine and all, but it's nowhere near as exciting as the announcement that Abbey Road will be available as a full album download. Which is amazing. Wonder if they can figure out some way to let us play the whole run from "You Never Give Me Your Money" to "The End" as though it were all the same track. Which does remind us that we do know some people working on this game, and maybe we can pass along the suggestion . . .
