The Beatles Rock Band will finally be in stores September 9th

The Beatles Rock Band will finally be in stores September 9th but if you think you have been waiting long for the release date - Paul DeGooyer, senior vice president of electronic games and music for MTV Networks Music Group, has been conducting negotiations with former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison for the last two years to put together the Beatles game.

It was important to the former band members and all concerned that they include all stages of the Beatles career. That was not as easy as it sounds seeing as how the bands early work was recorded.

On some of the early albums the songs where recorded with the drums and guitar on the same track. With the Rock Band format needs to have each instrument on a separate track.

Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin, has developed a filtering method that split the instruments into separate tracks. He developed it while working with Cirque du Soleil on the Grammy Award-winning "Love" project.

By using the method the early recordings are now included in the 45 songs from the Beatles catalog. That’s more than any other band based game on the market. The Beatles Rock Band has a lot more detail that any of it predecessors, right down to the way each band members hair moves while they are playing.

You will also be able to download the Beatles music in a digital format for the game, Abby Road will be available on October 20th, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in November and Rubber Soul will be on the market in December just in time for Christmas.

There will be a $250 deluxe edition with plastic signed replicas of McCartney's Hofner bass guitar and Starr's Ludwig drums (George Harrison's Gretsch Duo Jet and John Lennon's Rickenbacker will be sold separately for $100 each). There is also a value package for $160 that includes basic Rock Band instruments and a $60 disc-only version for consumers who have existing "Rock Band" or "Guitar Hero" instruments.

The downloadable Beatles albums will cost $17 or you can buy individual songs for $2 each. 

Some other stories by Mitch McCracken.

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