The Beatles: Rock Band Archive

NPD September 2009: PS3 tops Wii, at least for the month

By AnthonyPublished: October 20, 2009

NPDThe PS3 has done the unthinkable and taken the top spot on September’s charts. OK, so it’s not fair to call it unthinkable since everyone and their grandmothers knew the slim model, price cut and aggressive marketing would provide a sales jump (you go, gaming savvy grandmas!), but it is at the very least a notable occurrence.

Still, all the consoles saw a month-over-month increase except for the Nintendo DS. Perhaps those users were saving for a PSP Go? Even with the small drop, it’s hard to argue the success of Nintendo’s handheld platform.

September 2009
Nintendo DS – 524,200
PlayStation 3 – 491,800
Wii – 462,800
Xbox 360 – 352,600
PlayStation Portable – 190,400
PlayStation 2 – 146,000

August 2009
Nintendo DS – 552,900
Wii – 227,400
Xbox 360 – 215,400
PlayStation 3 – 210,000
PlayStation Portable – 140,300
PlayStation 2 – 105,900

September was fairly strong for software sales in the top 10 as well, with Halo 3: ODST ripping its way to the top of the charts. Batman is continuing to do well (and on the PS3 no less — exclusive content for the win?), and The Beatles prove they still have it, the “it” being marketing power. Notable are the odd parallels between the August and September charts. Wii Sports Resort sits at number two and Madden occupies spots three and six (albeit different versions). Also, Wii Fit has finally taken leave of the charts. Will it last now that Wii Fit + has released?

September 2009
1. Halo 3: ODST (360) 1,520,000
2. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) 442,900
3. Madden NFL 10 (360) 289,600
4. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS) 258,100
5. The Beatles: Rock Band (360) 254,000
6. Madden NFL 10 (PS3) 246,500
7. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (360) 236,000
8. Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3) 212,500
9. Guitar Hero 5 (360) 210,800
10. The Beatles Rock Band (Wii) 208,600

August 2009
1. Madden NFL 10 (360) 928,000
2. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) 754,000
3. Madden NFL 10 (PS3) 665,000
4. Batman: Arkham Asylum (360) 303,000
5. Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3) 290,000
6. Madden NFL 10 (PS2) 160,000
7. Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP) 130,000
8. Wii Fit (Wii) 128,000
9. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) 120,000
10. Fossil Fighters (DS) 92,000

The Shenanicast #160

By DanPublished: August 27, 2009

Episode #160: In which crashing a virtual motorcycle is really, really fun

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This week Dave’s bought the Summer of Arcade, so we talk about that for a while. Then there’s that PS3 Slim thing, and honestly Dan doesn’t want to sound like a fanboy but he can’t really recommend people buy it. We also discuss Call of Duty 4 bullshots, Monkey Island and — of course — Rock Band.

Harmonix buries the lead beneath some Beatles crap

By DanPublished: August 19, 2009

There are two well established facts about The Beatles: Rock Band:

  1. Quite a lot of people are into The Beatles
  2. None of them write for Gaming Shenanigans

So when an announcement comes out of Gamescom about the three downloadable albums for TB;RB (Abbey Road on October 20, Sgt Pepper in November and Rubber Soul in December) for $17/1360 points each, well, okay. Sure.

(And to be clear: I’d actually be into getting my Day in the Life or Norwegian Wood on, but I’m not going to spend $60 and isolate the rest of my music collection for the privilege)

Hidden beneath that, though, was the real gold: the announcement, maddeningly with no further details, that more artists were coming to Rock Band: Queen, Nirvana, Tom Petty, Elton John, Iggy Pop, The White Stripes and Pantera.

Nirvana is an announcement by now? The White Stripes could be kinda cool, but how do you extrapolate a two person band into a four player session? Queen will be great assuming they give us Bohemian Rhapsody, but finally we get some Tom mothereffin Petty. However, knowing Harmonix’s collection development policies, it’s not going to be Refugee (the best song of all time) or Mary Jane’s Last Dance or anything; nah, it’ll be Joe or something else off of The Last DJ. But at least they’re trying.

The Shenanicast #156

By DanPublished: July 25, 2009

Episode #156: In which The Beatles are Dave’s favoritest band ever!

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That’s what we in the biz call ’sarcasm,’ by the way. We pretty much go back to our roots here, with a fairly Halo and Rock Band centric show. Master Chief saying ‘kawaii!’? Dan’s much more loving towards Bungie than he was a few weeks ago, and also is all about Monkey Island. Dave’s been too busy working 22 hours a day to play many games, but he does have some hands-on experience to relate when we talk about The Force Unleashed.

Fifteen more songs for your Beatles pleasure

By DanPublished: July 21, 2009

I gather that if you’ve preordered The Beatles: Rock Band and have access to Harmonix’s Super Secret Fan Club then you found this out yesterday, but since it’s dealing with a game that comes out in a month and a half and we’re reporting the news the next day I’m not entirely convinced how big a deal that is. Anyway! They just announced 15 more songs in the game and the venues they’ll be played at.

  • Twist And Shout / Cavern Club
  • Do You Want To Know A Secret / Cavern Club
  • Can’t Buy Me Love / Ed Sullivan Theater
  • I Wanna Be Your Man / Ed Sullivan Theater
  • Eight Days A Week / Shea Stadium
  • Paperback Writer / Budokan
  • And Your Bird Can Sing / Budokan
  • Yellow Submarine / Abbey Road Dreamscape
  • Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band* / Abbey Road Dreamscape
  • With a Little Help from My Friends* / Abbey Road Dreamscape
  • Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows / Abbey Road Dreamscape
  • Revolution / Abbey Road Dreamscape
  • Birthday / Abbey Road Dreamscape
  • Dig A Pony / Rooftop Concert
  • I’ve Got A Feeling / Rooftop Concert

You might ask what the asterisk is for on the two Sgt Pepper tracks. Your guess is as good as mine, since they don’t ever explain it in the press release.