Development
Prior to The Beatles: Rock Band, no song by The Beatles, nor a cover of a Beatles song, had been featured in any Guitar Hero or Rock Band title, whether as disc-based or downloadable content. The idea of The Beatles: Rock Band came about during a chance encounter between MTV president Van Toffler and Dhani Harrison, son of George Harrison, at a luncheon sponsored by Robert Earl during the 2006 Christmas holiday, shortly after MTV's acquisition of Harmonix. Dhani, having been familiar with the Guitar Hero franchise and learning of the recent acquisition and plans for Rock Band from Toffler, suggested a game based on The Beatles. Though both Dhani and Toffler considered the concept an unlikely possibility, their meeting nonetheless spurred Dhani into further discussions with Harmonix's president, Alex Rigopulos. At the same time, Dhani helped to introduce the Rock Band concept to Apple Corps, the music production company created by The Beatles, and its key shareholders Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono. Initial meetings were arranged with the shareholders using an early prototype of the game to garner their interest in the title. One stipulation that the Apple Corps shareholders required of Harmonix was that the game feature songs spanning the band's entire career. Harmonix subsequently created a more complete demonstration that used examples of music and artwork that they envisioned for the game. The five-song demo, which included an early build for "Here Comes the Sun", was finished in February 2008. It was used to gain approval from McCartney, Starr, Ono and Olivia Harrison, effectively bringing them aboard the project as creative partners.
The Apple Corps shareholders considered The Beatles: Rock Band a new way to introduce the band's music to the public. They approved of the songs and venues that would appear in the game, and provided feedback on the artwork, character representations, and storyboards for animation sequences. McCartney and Starr fact-checked certain anecdotes relating to The Beatles while Ono and Harrison provided insight on their late husbands' performances and lyrics. At the developer's request, Ono visited the Harmonix offices late in development to provide critical feedback on several visual elements. In a Wired article, MTV's senior vice president of the games division Paul DeGooyer was quoted saying "She gave the designers hell", with Harmonix head Alex Rigopulos adding, "She really held our feet to the fire". DeGooyer and Rigopulos clarified the statement soon after the article had been published, asserting that the visit was "a high point of the two-year development process" and "has been mischaracterized by some in the press."
Though The Beatles: Rock Band aims to present a visual and musical history of The Beatles, the game does not attempt to replicate periods of turmoil between the band members. Rather, it presents a "fantasy version" of The Beatles to better serve the entertainment purposes of the video game. For example, Ringo Starr was estranged from the rest of the band during periods of recording for The Beatles (commonly referred to as The White Album). Thus, he did not perform on certain songs, such as "Back in the U.S.S.R.". In the game, however, the Ringo Starr character plays drums during the animated performance of the song.
Read more about this topic: The Beatles: Rock Band
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