nd, ou gotta get The Beatles: Rock Band into your life. The game hyped so extensively these past few months actually lives up to all the buildup prior to its September release. It's a Beatles experience for everyone that combines music, graphics, scoring, competition, teamwork and some exer- cise, whether ifs your vocal cords or your body. Participants can play guitar, bass or drums and sing lead or three-part har- monies to more than 45 Beatles originals, with more available for online purchase. We used the drums, guitar and micro- phone from a Rock Band 2 package with a bunch of songs from one-hit wonders, cheesy boy bands and reprobate rappers that I didn't know and really didn't care to. Our teenagers were familiar with some of the music that game contained, but still were mostly drawn to the music and groups they already knew. That changed when we slipped The Beatles: Rock Band disk into our Nintendo The music on my iPod is quite differ- GG38 November 26 • 2009 a nt from at of y to raged daugh rs, but It was great to find out they had a sweet spot for the Beatles. They ven were curious to check out songs they didn't know. I've come away with a renewed appreciation for the Fab Four and found myself pulling out some old vinyl as well as downloading some new tunes. There was something for everyone right off the bat as we watched the impressive opening video rather preten- tiously called "the opening cinematic" (see it at beatlesrockband.com ). Songs can be arranged by album, venue or dif- ficulty and can be accessed directly or as part of a Beatles career retrospective. The retrospective allows you to unlock pictures, video and music as you follow the band from the cinderblock basement of the Cavern Club in Liverpool to the Ed Sullivan Show and New York City's Shea Stadium, then to Japan and back to London for the band's final concert on the Apple Records rooftop. It's great fun to get better acquainted with the lyrics and marvel at the some- times trippy and always way-cool graph- ics. But singing the songs is the best. You have much control over the options so you can just do vocals or guitar or any combination of instruments you choose. Or you can forgo the instruments so you can sit back and enjoy the graphics. Each song has four levels of difficulty and you can practice segments of each song to improve your scores on the real thing. We even used the game at our recent Suldwt arty, inviting Sohn, Pahl, George and Ringo as special guests into Our suld‘h with our friends joining in the fun. Even those not ready to strap on a guitar were impressed and reached for the micro- GET FIT phone. • Wii Sports Resort: Save on airfare and The kids had played Rock Band and hotel this year and take the entire fam- Guitar Hero before and found the Beatles ily to the new Wii Sports Resort. The version easier than some of the other program upgrades favorites from Wii games they had tried. But that was fine as Sports like bowling and golf and adds their scores soared on the instruments as new stuff like table tennis, piloting an we worked to nail the vocals. airplane and Frisbee with a cute dog pro- What is missing? Well, some of my grammed to retrieve. It requires an add- favorite songs were not among the 45 on MotionPlus motion sensor to connect included, but they are supposed to be to the remote, but it's worth it as it really available online for the holidays. Also, for makes a difference in the control you a key Beatles demographic like me — a have and also makes it more challenging. baby boomer — it would be nice to be I have to relearn bowling, but hope to be able to increase the size of the lyrics that able to break 200 again some day. The race across the screen on the faster songs. software, with two sensors, ships from After all, I'm supposed to feel cool, not Amazon.com for under $60. old. The software is about $60 at retail out- • Wii Fit Plus: If you have been thinking lets, but you'll need the platform to play it of buying Wii Fit, now is the time as the on (Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or Nintendo new Wii Fit Plus software makes some Wii) as well as the instruments. Prices are real improvements. I got my Wii Fit and already dropping for the holidays, with Balance Board from a friend who didn't the Wii reduced to $199. The software like it and, after enjoying it for weeks, and the instruments also are packaged I have to admit it's been sitting around together for about $139, though you can quite a bit lately. But after trying Wii Fit add individual instruments and micro- Plus, which builds on the previous game phones as you'd like, or even, no surprise, and adds 15 new exercises, I realized the buy special Beatles-branded instruments game hadn't given up on me — I'd given for a premium. With just a microphone, it up on it. makes the ultimate Beatles karaoke. I particularly like the new Obstacle So check it out. I've got a feeling it will Course and Snowball Fight, and there's all come together. Come Together on page GG4O Photo by Ang ie Baa erfec ilies.