The Beatles: Rock Band
Most of my work at Harmonix concerns the weekly Rock Band DLC. I’m unfamiliar with a lot of the songs we do, and though I get to know them pretty well during the testing process, I rarely have a chance to get sick of them thanks to our relentless schedule. So when faced with a year of testing 45 very familiar songs for The Beatles: Rock Band, it seemed inevitable that I’d end up a Stones guy when the project was through.
Then, last night at the company release party, I hung out in front of an Xbox with some thirty coworkers and sang along to Beatles songs for over four hours at the top of my lungs. When I woke up this morning, I actually yawned blood.
I’m probably in too deep to make anything resembling an objective recommendation, but suffice it to say that this game is more than the sum of its parts. I’ve never experienced anything like it.
In about 5 minutes I’ll be opening my Beatles Rock Band box. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve been this excited to play a new game.
Congratulations to you and your Harmonix pals, Dan. I know (or at least I think I know) how much work you devoted to this massive project. I’m happy to read that you feel a genuine sense of pride in what you’ve done. Nothing quite like that feeling, is there?
All the best.
I’m so glad to hear that (well, maybe except for the yawning blood part), and I want to congratulate and thank you for all the work that you’ve put in on it. I can’t think of the last time that I’ve looked forward to a game as much as this one; and then it turns out that I have a cold brewing today, giving me enough of a headache that I’m not sure I’ll enjoy it properly, so I’m waiting another day or to to try it. (The cold might partly be due to the fact that I stayed up later than I should have the last three or four nights putting in one last Rock Band 2 binge before the Beatles game arrives; thanks for your DLC recommendations, by the way!)
You’ve really joined Harmonix at an amazing time: as wonderful as the Beatles game sounds, I could imagine Rock Band Network overshadowing it, indeed turning out to be one of the most important video game developments, one of the most important music developments, of the decade. Great times.
Please don’t die! I miss you… Please come back! Music theory relating to videogames is exciting and interesting!