New Beatles CD, 'Rock Band' Game Coming Soon

Beatles fans are in for two treats when a remastered CD of some of the band's songs and "The Beatles Rock Band" arrive in stores on Sept. 9.

According to Chicago Tribune, the CD will contain 14 Beatles songs that have been refurbished and remastered in an effort to increase sales for the CD format. It will also give EMI and Capitol the chance to increase their profits, as the CD will be sold individually and in two box sets: a mono version for $299 and a stereo version for $259.

Associated Content reports that "The Beatles Rock Band" will give players a chance to perform 45 of the band's songs. An added treat is the chance for fans to play the songs on replica instruments that the Beatles actually used, including John Lennon's Rickenbacker 325 guitar and Paul McCartney's Hofner Bass. The game will be available on Xbox360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii.

In a Reuters interview with McCartney, the lead singer of the Beatles talked about the CD. "[The CD is] not smarter or more sophisticated -- it's just more real, it's more true to the noise we were actually making," McCartney said. Regarding the "Rock Band" game, "if kids -- or anyone -- want to play videogames and someone like ['Rock Band' publisher] Harmonix wants to put together a great Beatles project, then it makes sense to me," he said.