Like The Beatles itself, the box that houses The Beatles: Rock Band Limited Edition is startlingly huge.
The package arrived last week while I was in Seattle for the Penny Arcade Expo, and since then it has claimed a huge chunk of my office as its own. The 33 inch wide, 21 inch high, and 8 inch deep box is the biggest retail package I have seen for anything outside of a big-screen television or a refrigerator. Videogame retailers have never seen anything of this size before; my mind boggles at the logistics of finding storage for these things in already cramped retail environments.
So what’s in the box? Well, now that’s it empty, my cat Ico — easily five times her size, it makes quite a comfortable resting place for kitties. But what will be in it when you open it up? Hit the jump to find out.
Of course, to start you’ll find the box for The Beatles: Rock Band game itself. Inside of it you’ll find eight postcards (shown below), as well as advertisement inserts for the game’s upcoming downloadable content, and other The Beatles merchandise.
Also included is the wireless Höfner violin bass peripheral, modeled after the instrument famously played by The Beatles’ Paul McCartney. The longer bass neck gives it a slightly different feel than the standard Rock Band guitar, but otherwise plays the same. Despite the fact that it’s not utilized in The Beatles: Rock Band, the bass does have an effects switch, which is a bit more difficult to change on the fly due to how damned small it is. It’s a solid peripheral, and when playing either bass or guitar in the game, I didn’t have any strum or button issues.
The wireless drum set included is Ludwig-branded, the casing around the four drums heads a “black oyster pearl finish.” The pedal itself features The Beatles logo, and just in case you forgot what game you’re playing, the package also includes a branded “kick drum head.” I may have imagined it, but the pads themselves appear to have a bit more bounce; otherwise, these are the drums that shipped with Rock Band 2.
The Limited Edition also ships with a microphone stand and a USB microphone, of which I didn’t take a picture. Picture it in your mind. It should be easy if you’ve ever seen a microphone stand and a USB microphone — there’s nothing particularly special about either of these things that’s included in The Beatles: Rock Band Limited Edition. I will note that the microphone stand is of a higher quality than I had expected, at least compared to the abysmal $19.99 retailer-branded Mad Catz stand sold in GameStop.
If The Beatles: Rock Band is your first Rock Band experience and you’re looking to populate your house with fake instruments, the Limited Edition package is certainly one of your options. Of course, it’s going to hit your wallet for a whopping $249.99, so weigh your love of The Beatles carefully against your other, likely less expensive options. I’ll admit that even though I’m not a die-hard fan of The Beatles, I did get a tinge giddy when I noticed that the digital McCartney and I were holding similar instruments.
Look out for my full review of The Beatles: Rock Band later today.
