In the top 50 !

So it's been a couple of months now that my daughter and I have been playing The Beatles rockband for PS3. We have had some fun I can tell you that. At first I didn't think I'd ever get the hang of the drums, but at this point I can actually do a few of the songs on expert and get as high as 97%. The cool thing is seeing my 5 year old do better and better at the drums as she plays. Her high percentage is now 79% on easy level. Yesterday I checked the leader boards and I ranked 49th in the world! for singing Sun King/Mean Mister Mustard. Previously my highest ranking on the lead vocals was 59th with When I'm Sixty Four.
Though I have been mostly concentrating on the drums ( I find it so satisfying) I have played the bass and some guitar on the game. I think those instruments are a wee bit harder to grasp though I am noticing some improvement. The main thing is I am having fun with them as well now.
I downloaded the Abbey Road album as soon as it was available. And recently I downloaded single songs off of Sgt. Pepper which were When I'm Sixty Four and A day in the life. I'm anxiously waiting for the Rubber Soul album due out in December. I do hope that Harmonix will continue to make some more downloads for this game. I'm hoping for some of the older stuff that didnt make the game such as Help!, She Loves You, You Can't do that, and Please Please Me to name a few. Wouldn't mind Let it Be and Hey Jude and Blackbird for the later stages of their career either.
Though it hasn't been more than my daughter and I playing at one time, ( I cant seem to convince my wife to join in, she's shy) I have rocked it up with players online. That experience is pretty cool. I have to say I cant figure out how those players can get all those notes on expert. I've limited my role for online play to lead vocals. Im almost ready to go online with the drums, though want to wait till I can do most of the songs on expert with at least 92% success as most of the drummers I encounter all play on expert. What I did notice with the online play is that a lot of the players prefer to do the later stuff more so than the early stuff. And there are a lot of George Harrison fans playing as we do most of his songs. Kinda surprised me as when you look at the forums , a lot of the posts from people say they lean towards the early Beatles.
Well with my birthday around the corner I'm hoping to pick up another mic and stand and the Rickenbacker 325 controller. I heard it from a little girl who was supposed to keep a secret that I was getting one and not to buy one! But Im keeping my eyes peeled anyway as they seem to be scarce around these parts! I see the guitar for the 360 but not the PS3.
I can safely say that though the game had the big price tag it has turned out to be a real prize. I've gotten Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2 and while both these games are 5 star games in my ratings, The Beatles Rockband is proving to be a very enjoyable and addicting game. You will not know how much fun I have playing it. If I have a lousy day at work and I play a few songs on the game , I actually forget the stuff that happened that day.
Oh I forgot I did play with a bunch of guys at work one day at their house. I told a co-worker about the game and he bought it and loves it .(he was playing rock band 2) Anyway that day at his house was a blast.
If you havent got it yet I recommend you do.

After finding out my pre ordered copy of the game was delayed. I was pretty dissapointed. With the weekend coming up I found out that I would not have the game in hand. I will be the first to admit that when it comes to patience I'm not one who can cope with waiting too well. So on release date 09 09 09, I was on the hunt for a premium limited edition copy of The Beatles Rockband. It seemed at the time that it was truly a limited edition as I was not able to find any in the greater Toronto area, let alone Ontario. There seemed to be plenty of copies for other gaming platforms like the Wii or Xbox 360, but none for the PS3. I saw the value edition bundles with the old instrument controlllers from previous rockband versions, but not the package I wanted.

However the next day I did manage to find one last unclaimed one at my local EB games, the last place I thought to look as I thought surely they would only have pre ordered copies. Oh how happy I was on the day after release that I was able to find one.

Needless to say that night after work I set it all up. At first I said ok, it's late so I'll try this game on the weekend, NOT. I was up till 2:30 am playing it and of course having a blast. Getting up 4 hours later to start my day of course was not and easy thing. Oh man was I dragging myself around at work that day.

The real fun would be playing it on the weekend, when I could turn up the volume and really appreciate it, after all it is a music game. I'm thinking this thing can really teach you how to play the drums. I've read that it can and after playing it I do feel that it is possible. My 5 year old really likes the game. Her favorite song seems to be Get Back. It is so cute how she grooves to the tune. At the moment when she is playing I don't actually have the controller on that way she can think she is playing and still have fun. She did however do the drums for real and she got a 32% score. I should note that she is pretty good at PS3 games like lego batman and Indiana Jones. She has been an ace online playing her computer games there. But anyway back to Beatles Rock band.

Surprisingly my wife thinks the cost of this bundle was alright considering the gear included. I told her that I wouldn't mind getting John Lennon's Rickenbacker replica as well. Get this, she actually said I should also get George's Gretsch duo so it would be complete!! Boy imagining all the instruments setup would be awesome. I think I'll be getting a real drum stool as the one Im using is a little low, and not comfortable at all. I may even setup my keyboard along side just to add a little eye candy.

The one thing I guess that I wish the game had was more songs. 45 songs is not a lot considering the Beatles library. I know there will be more to download in the next few months, but for the price it would have been that much nicer to at least have included 60 songs minimum. All that said the game is very polished and documents the groups rise to fame nicely. I have unlocked some exclusive rare goodies such as a Christmas record the group issued back in 1963 to their fan club, and a rehearsal footage of them performing I want to hold your hand on the Ed Sullivan show. By the looks of things there is a whole treasure of unlockable rewards for the player to earn. For the Beatle fan this is a real treat for sure.

I look forward to hours of playing this game and to future downloadable albums. If you are a Beatle fan I strongly suggest you pick this set up. I give it a two thumbs up! It is simply FAB !

Beatles Rockband PS3

Well I never thought I'd see the day when I would have the chance to play a Beatles video game. After being a Beatle fan for over 30 years now I'm going to have my hands on a replica of McCartney's classic hofner bass guitar ! Wow, when will I act my age? Sept.09.09 is the release date of this game. I heard about this game recently and even with the high price tag decided to pre order it. I mean how could I resist ? The limited or premium edition will include drum set with The Beatles logo, mic and stand, and Paul's bass guitar controller as well as the software game. Though I'm not interested in getting George Harrison's Gretsch Duo Jet, I will at some point pick up John Lennon's Rickenbacker 325.

It's funny I mentioned this to my niece today and she looked at me and said, why would you want a video game guitar when you could just buy a real one? My reply was like, uh could I ever afford a real Hofner bass, or a Rickenbacker 325? Can I even play the guitar? ( I dabble a bit on the piano ) Well I have often thought of learning the guitar one day, but for now I'll do some air guitar with the rockband set when I get it. Besides I have heard that by playing the drums on rockband you can actually learn to play real drums.
But the point of this game really is for Beatle fans to become that 5th Beatle. And with Beatles rockband you can be there with the band from it's early days at the cavern club to the recording studios of apple records and the final roof top show singing Get Back. Oh man I can hardly wait. I'm glad my PS3 is wired for surround sound. Admittedly this will be a big change from my traditional gaming experiences. It's times like these when I can really appreciate what technology has brought us. Now I wonder where I can get my hands on a Beatles wig !?