Who's Gonna Get The "Ticket to Ride?"

A very interesting Beatles battle is raging on. The "Guitar Hero" versus the "Rock Band" rivalry just got cranked up a little bit, as both big music video games are trying to snag some Beatles hits for their upcoming games at the end of the year. The question is, will either side get the rights to make Beatles songs on their platform? The current Beatles' representative of their songs is Apple Corps (not the same Apple company that makes iPods, iPhones, etc.). This company is known for not letting anything Beatles-oriented get anything farther than a CD case. Hopefully, this year, it will be on a PS2, PS3, Wii, or XBox 360 disc.

I'll admit the Beatles are great, and having their songs being playable to gamers would be cool, but I think there are two possible ways this could backfire on "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band:"

• For "Guitar Hero," if they score the Beatles songs exclusively, they HAVE to make a full edition just by itself. They wouldn't be able to put a song on Guitar Hero 4, and then another one on Guitar Hero 5. They HAVE to make a full edition of Guitar Hero: The Beatles because they did it for Aerosmith (who, sorry Aero-fans, is not even on the same plane of existence as The Beatles...or for that manner, The Rolling Stones, either...) and they're going to do it for Metallica (who is a cool heavy metal band, but still, isn't as monumental as the Beatles). So, if "Guitar Hero" gets the Beatles, don't expect the songs soon.
• If both video games get the songs, which games is going to get which songs? If "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" do get the rights to do the Beatles, this scenario is likely. Personally, I would like "Helter Skelter" (could be an excellent encore song), "Day Tripper," "Get Back," and "Yellow Submarine." I don't think the more emotional songs are going to work for these games, except maybe "Hey Jude" (talk about a finale song...). Whichever songs each video games gets would be crucial to success.

Nevertheless, this jump to grab the Beatles songs into the "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" games shows the monumental affect these music video games has had on our culture -- it has introduced music fans of all ages to different kinds of music, whether it be as old as The Beatles or as recent as OK Go. (Though, if you like rap, you're not really in this. Oh well, current rap sucks right now...that's why its 'C-rap'...) So, good luck "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" games in getting these Beatles songs...though I would recommend some of my Rolling Stones...but hey, it's all jolly good fun, right, ol' chap?