Metallica helping the Beatles???

[Jerkinator]

If you seriously think that less than half the people who own TB:RB would not export the songs to the main library if given the chance, you're smoking something.

I'm guessing that well over half of RB players have not exported the other games to their hard drives. A lot of people are fine switching discs, don't have the space, or even don't know (or care) about the option.

And I'm not sure I'd export to the main platform, because I love all of the intricacies of TB:RB. Playing their songs without the actual band members or dreamscapes would be much less fun.

[bklynsteamer]

Harmonix are not the ones that are against exporting TB:RB songs. Complaining at them won't change anything.

Exactly! Try giving Paul, Ringo, Yoko and Olivia a call and see what they say.

[Dragonclaw]

As a store manager for a big, evil game company....a person who deals with all sorts of gamers and fields questions every day I can say from a LOT of experience that one of the FIRST questions I get asked about with EVERY music game....and I got a lot of it with the Beatles...was about EXPORTING. Sorry, but anyone who thinks exporting isn't a big deal to the general public is mistaken from the experiences of myself, my staff...and judging from many of the questions asked at the store manager conferences I've attended those experiences weren't limitted to my ownn store. The lack of export hurt TBRB sales...sure the band alone was going to move a lot of units due to their fan base...but they could have had much more

I said form the beginning, the BEST solution, especially for artists who don't want generic avatars playing their songs and are reluctant to buy into any music game because of that...and quite frankly I don't blame them...is to link songs to the avatars directly. If they had included TBRB as an export, but included the dreamscapes and the fab four in a way that whenever a Beatles song is chosen it is only the Beatles that would play (and the avatars would remain locked out for other songs so Paul doesn't have to try and belt out Holy Diver ) I think it would be a huge win. Quite frankly I can't see where anyonne would be opposed to that

[SirDavidTLynch]

Switching to out-of-place Beatles avatars for certain songs would hurt the presentation of Rock Band 3. The narrative about your band wouldn't make much sense if you're performing at some club in Boston, then in the middle of the set it cuts to The Beatles at Shea Stadium, then go back to your band. On top of that, your band is all over the game, the venues are likely preloaded, and the remaining time loading the actual song is hidden by a cutscene of your band setting up. It would be really hard to keep the "no loading screens" intact when they have to load new character models and venues for every song. It would also increase the already-expensive licensing costs, which would require them to sell even MORE exports to offset.

[Dozer3677]

Switching to out-of-place Beatles avatars for certain songs would hurt the presentation of Rock Band 3. The narrative about your band wouldn't make much sense if you're performing at some club in Boston, then in the middle of the set it cuts to The Beatles at Shea Stadium, then go back to your band. On top of that, your band is all over the game, the venues are likely preloaded, and the remaining time loading the actual song is hidden by a cutscene of your band setting up. It would be really hard to keep the "no loading screens" intact when they have to load new character models and venues for every song. It would also increase the already-expensive licensing costs, which would require them to sell even MORE exports to offset.

Really? That is pretty awesome. I haven't read much into the game, but I never knew about No Loading screens. That is really an awesome thing. I cannot wait to see it in action!!

[DrEeviil]

As I understand it, they are more concerned about the Fab Four playing other songs, than other avatars playing The Beatles songs. After all, there are covers all the time. I keep saying they should do a Rock Band version of the Love album.

[amlex]

I bought RBTB when it first came out, my wife is a huge Beatles fan and to be honest the game has been played maybe a total of 5 or 6 times. If the songs had been able to be exported a large portion of the songs would be added to a typical song list. Unfortunately, when playing we enjoy some music variety.

The disc change isn't necessarily the issue, the average player would rather be able to play the songs throughout a normal playlist - eventually, playing the same songs over and over again will lose the novelty (avatar or no avatar, dreamscape or no dreamscape).

Rock Band as a whole is as strong as it is because it is a platform. I understand those associated with the Beatles wanted the songs to remain separated but it in all honesty that alone affected the overall sales. There are many players that would be happy to pay the $65-70 for the game and song export, since it would still make the purchase not much different than getting DLC.

The Beatles songs are definitely strong enough to probably pull two to three times the sales numbers you saw without the exporting - and that number could possibly be a low estimate. The living Beatles and family members left a lot of money on the table ... what makes it worse is the game engine used in RBTB will likely languish even though the technology will continue to move along and expand.

[SirDavidTLynch]

There are many players that would be happy to pay the $65-70 for the game and song export, since it would still make the purchase not much different than getting DLC.

Are there that many people who would pay MORE (depending on when they got it, more than TWICE AS MUCH) for just the songs than they did for the same songs, plus avatars, venues, dreamscapes, and other extras? The Beatles are strong enough to sell what they sold despite being walled off into their own game. It's more of a matter of whether the main Rock Band Platform™ is strong enough that enough people would pay to play the same songs they already have, but without the artistic style of The Beatles: Rock Band.

[Droosies]

It's more of a matter of whether the main Rock Band Platform™ is strong enough that enough people would pay to play the same songs they already have, but without the artistic style of The Beatles: Rock Band.

If Pro Mode is added to the export, you bet your sweet bippy they would. Could you imagine using Rock Band 3 to actually learn how to play While My Guitar Gently Weeps or Dear Prudence? You could also add the keyboards, which I know is being discussed, however, those poor Wii-belos are going to be left out in the cold on that one since the game can't be patched.

Exporting the game to the main platform and adding Pro Mode features more than makes up for the "disgrace" of having Buzzsaw sing Yellow Submarine. Bringing the Beatles to the main platform with Pro features added brings people even closer to their music than the actual game did. Think about it like this...the game introduced them to the Beatles (for the most part), the exporting would immerse them in it.

[SirDavidTLynch]

And that's assuming pro guitar is even going to take off at all. Right now they haven't decided if it's going to be successful enough to develop a pro bass controller, and only "select DLC" is going to have pro guitar charts at all due to the extremely time-consuming process (which likely wouldn't include deep cuts like "Dear Prudence"). In fact, we don't have a clue how many songs from any of the other discs are going to get any kind of upgrade.