Beatles: Rock Band DLC Albums and Pricing Announced

I would normally say that the 1360 Microsoft points (roughly $17) for an entire album and the typical 160 Microsoft points ($2) per song may turn off the owners of this game, but I would be wrong. I know how wrong by the fact that upon reading the press release, I balked at the number then quickly followed up with, "yeah, I'll probably buy it anyway." Beatles fans have been waiting for something like this since plastic guitars began filling up living rooms.

The last three months of this year will each see one entire, full album release. While I can get behind October's Abbey Road release and November's release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, those that have followed my writing know that December's release of Rubber Soul is what I am most looking forward to play. October 20th, a month and a half-ish after the game's release will give the fans something to clamor to purchase.

The big question (from a Wii owner's point of view) is whether or not these full albums will be available to be purchased as a set? Xbox 360 and PS3 owners have always enjoyed this option with track packs that come at a reduced rate per track. Wii owners have never had that luxury. In the press release below, I count 17 songs listed for Abbey Road and at $17 for the album, a dollar a song is not a horrible value. With the Wii's current pricing structure, that could be up to $34 or 3400 Wii points in downloads alone (okay, more like $24 by not purchasing the 5 songs that come packaged on the disc).

If you're looking for a list of songs included or just really love paradigm shifting marketing rhetoric, check below at the press release and I'll see you on the other side of the drum set.

Harmonix and MTV Games Make Major Music Announcements at Gamescom 2009 

Details for the Three Downloadable Albums Coming to "The Beatles™: Rock Band™" Music Store Revealed

"All You Need Is Love" Available on 9/9/09 for $1.99

Tracks from Queen, Nirvana, Tom Petty, Elton John, Iggy Pop, The White Stripes, Pantera and More Coming Soon to the "Rock Band™" Platform

Rock Band Catalog Surpasses 800 Songs Available to Date Scheduled to Hit 1000 Songs by Holiday 2009

Cologne, Germany – August 19, 2009– Speaking at Gamescom 2009, Alex Rigopulos, CEO and cofounder of Harmonix, the world's leading developer of music-based games and a part of Viacom's MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), today confirmed release details for the three Beatles albums that will be available for purchase as downloadable content in The Beatles™: Rock Band™ Music Store by the end of this year. Abbey Road will be released on October 20th, 2009, followed by the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in November and Rubber Soul in December.

Additionally, Rigopulos revealed that tracks from Queen, Nirvana, Tom Petty, Elton John, Iggy Pop, The White Stripes, Pantera, Talking Heads, Korn, The Raconteurs and more will be among the artists coming to the various offerings across the Rock Band™ platform. With over 800 songs available to date via the Rock Band catalog and 1000 by end of 2009, the billion dollar selling and genre-defining Rock Band franchise continues to be the gold standard in music video games by completely dominating its closest competition with its massive music library, weekly downloadable content and artist offerings, innovation, and superior gameplay (Rock Band 2< average metacritic score: 92). With its leadership stance on music game peripheral compatibility, disc and DLC export, the recently announced Rock Band Network and the upcoming The Beatles: Rock Band, music fans will need to look no further than the Rock Band platform to satisfy all their music video game appetites.

Details for downloadable albums coming to The Beatles: Rock Band Music Store are as follows:

Abbey Road (1969)
Release Date: October 20, 2009
Pricing: $16.98 (or 1360 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for album, $1.99 (or 160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for individual tracks

  • "Come Together"
  • "Something"
  • "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
  • "Oh! Darling"
  • "Octopus's Garden"
  • "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"
  • "Here Comes The Sun"
  • "Because"
  • "You Never Give Me Your Money"
  • "Sun King"
  • "Mean Mr. Mustard"
  • "Polythene Pam"
  • "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window"
  • "Golden Slumbers"
  • "Carry That Weight"
  • "The End"
  • "Her Majesty"

In addition, purchasers of the full album download of Abbey Road will have the option to play the famous 16-minute B-side medley as a single continuous track. The medley includes "You Never Give Me Your Money," "Sun King," "Mean Mr. Mustard," "Polythene Pam," "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window," "Golden Slumbers," "Carry That Weight" and "The End."

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Release Date: November 2009

  • "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
  • "With A Little Help From My Friends"
  • "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
  • "Getting Better"
  • "Fixing A Hole"
  • "She's Leaving Home"
  • "Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite"
  • "Within You Without You"
  • "When I'm Sixty Four"
  • "Lovely Rita"
  • "Good Morning Good Morning"
  • "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"
  • "A Day In The Life"

Rubber Soul (1965)
Release Date: December 2009

  • "Drive My Car"
  • "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)"
  • "You Won't See Me"
  • "Nowhere Man"
  • "Think For Yourself"
  • "The Word"
  • "Michelle"
  • "What Goes On"
  • "Girl"
  • "I'm Looking Through You"
  • "In My Life"
  • "Wait"
  • "If I Needed Someone"
  • "Run For Your Life"

As previously announced, "All You Need Is Love" will be released Sept.9, 2009 for the standard Rock Band DLC pricing of $1.99 (or 160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360), exclusively through Xbox LIVE for a limited time as a downloadable song for The Beatles: Rock Band, with Apple Corps Ltd, MTV Games, Harmonix and Microsoft proceeds benefitting Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).