Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
Entertainment
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Film
Music
People
Television
Arts
Industry
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Beatles playing for keeps with "Rock Band" game
Fri Sep 4, 2009 11:54pm EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Antony Bruno
DENVER (Billboard) - Paul DeGooyer is tired -- for good reason. It's about two weeks before the September 9 release of MTV's "The Beatles: Rock Band," and DeGooyer, senior vice president of electronic games and music for MTV Networks Music Group, has been traveling to New York, Boston, Los Angeles and London since 2007 to work on the project.
He's conducted delicate negotiations with surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison; hammered out essential licensing deals with executives at Sony/ATV and EMI Music, which treat the Beatles catalog with almost reverent care, and overseen the development of new technologies to meet the high expectations of all involved.
"It's been a bit of a blur," he says, the fatigue obvious in his voice as he speaks from his New York office.
To all involved -- MTV, its game development subsidiary Harmonix, EMI, Sony/ATV, the remaining band members and the families of all -- the result of all this time, effort and frustration is much more than just a videogame. It's the latest contribution to the hallowed canon of what many consider the world's greatest band.
"It's really about a new way to play with the Beatles' music than it is a new 'Rock Band' game," DeGooyer says with quiet humility. "If we did our jobs right, it is an authentic piece of the Beatles' catalog of work, and that sounds kind of crazy because it's a videogame."
This point became crystal clear to DeGooyer when, after first pitching the concept to the band and surviving family members two years ago, they insisted on including music from every stage of the Beatles' career -- something that wasn't as easy as it sounds, given the primitive way the band recorded its early work.
On "Taxman," for example, the drums and guitar were recorded on the same track. But "Rock Band" needs to devote a separate audio track to each instrument, so MTV had to figure out how to split those tracks into separate files in order to include the earlier songs in the game. Failure would mean losing the band's blessing -- and thus the project.
ALL TOGETHER NOW
Thankfully, MTV and Harmonix were able to enlist the help of Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin, who had access to the Beatles' master recordings and had just cataloged them while working on the Grammy Award-winning "Love" project for Cirque du Soleil. He developed a filtering method that split the instruments into separate tracks.
With that hurdle passed, MTV could have just plowed forward with the simple act of licensing. Instead the team brought in Martin Bandier and Peter Brodsky, Sony/ATV's CEO and executive vice president of business and legal affairs, respectively; and Cynthia Sexton, executive VP of global brand partnerships at EMI, into the planning and development process along with the Apple Corps shareholders.
"While it was critical to work with Apple and the Beatles, we didn't want to take for granted the other rights holders would go along with them," DeGooyer says. "They all needed to understand exactly what we were doing and have input. When you have that many rights holders involved in a catalog, it's not obvious that their interests align at all points."
The results of this process are evident in the game. In addition to the 45 songs from the band's catalog -- more from one act than any other music-based game yet released -- the title brings a level of detail not yet seen in a music-based game. Each band member is animated in striking detail, down to the way their eyes and hair move while playing. Scenes of the Beatles' performances in Liverpool's Cavern Club and New York's Shea Stadium include the actual crowd noise from each venue. The game's re-creation of the Beatles recording in Abbey Road's famed Studio 2 includes never-before-heard banter among the band as it recorded its later work. Trivia about the act is included as bonus material, along with previously unreleased photos, audio and video.
Perhaps most remarkably, the Beatles will allow fans to buy at least a portion of their music in digital form as extra downloadable content for the game, starting with "Abbey Road" October 20 and followed by "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Rubber Soul" in November and December, respectively.
"Everyone realized doing this game was really a significant event in bringing the Beatles into the 21st century," Sony/ATV's Bandier says. "This is an enormous opportunity, because for a moment in time, it will be the only legitimate place where you can get the music in a digital form."
THAT'S WHAT I WANT Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Warner Bros. poised to take summer box-office crown
Also On Reuters
Blog: Is high unemployment killing the White House?
Got a dream but no cash? The Internet can help
Mobile technology may help city dwellers hitch ride
More Entertainment News
Stars, family honor Michael Jackson at funeral
| Video
Warner Bros. poised to take summer box-office crown
| Video
"Dexter" author offers latest tale of murder
Venice documentary attacks Berlusconi media empire
Telluride unveils festival films, Oscar looms
More Entertainment News...
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
Police in Georgia arrest man in trailer killings
Amazon offers to replace deleted copies of 1984
California's Real Death Panels: Insurers Deny 21% of Claims
Website says to carry bin Laden "present" to Muslims
UPDATE 1-Boeing tanker backers seize on WTO ruling
SEC chiefs in dark as Madoff evaded junior staff
Late-night snacks could pack on the pounds: study
Japan's new first lady says rode UFO to Venus
Got a dream but no cash? The Internet can help
Double-dip recession risk rising: El-Erian
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
US eases travel curbs for Cuba
Many dead in NATO Afghan blast
Aftermath of Afghan tanker airstrike
U.S. jobless rate at 26-yr peak
DNA to prove attack on Mayan city
Brave new chapter for author Atwood
Michael Jackson laid to rest
Gabon curfew after poll protests
Kidnap victim adjusts to family
S.Korea anger over North's uranium
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Journalism Handbook |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.