The big day for Beatles fans: A primer

The Beatles Rock Band hits store shelves today. (Click to enlarge)
[PHOTO: Courtesy of Harmonix Music Systems]

Today’s the day the Beatles Rock Band music game, along with remastered versions of their albums, becomes available. Curious about these launches, but haven’t had time to get up to speed on them?

Here’s a quick guide:

Beatles Rock Band. Among the more successful video games of recent years, Rock Band, like rival Guitar Hero, offers music fans the chance to play and sing along—using instrument controllers and special microphones—with classic rock songs. As for the game itself, you’re scored on how accurately you hit colored buttons on the instrument controllers in response to on-screen prompts or how well you hold pitch when you sing.

Where other editions of Rock Band come with 58 classic-rock and alternative songs from various artists, the Beatles game comes with 40 songs, all Beatles titles. The software itself costs $59 and is available for the Wii, X-Box 360, or Play Station 3. If you need to buy a console, they cost $200 and up, despite some recent price drops.

If you don’t already own controllers for Rock Band (or for Guitar Hero, most of which work with Rock Band), the best deal is probably to spend $70 or so on a bundle comprising drums, guitar, and microphone. But since the Beatles game is the first “music game to offer harmonies," you may want to buy an extra mic or two, at $20 and up apiece. You can also buy controllers that are replicas of the Beatles own guitars, like Paul McCartney’s violin-shaped Hofner bass.

The Beatles reissues. As Beatles fans are aware, tomorrow also marks the availability of the first remasterings of the full Beatles catalog in more than 20 years—an eternity in digital time. Most reviewers raved about the improved sound of “Love,” the 2006 Beatles’ Las Vegas show (and CD), which includes remastered versions 20 Beatles songs from the team responsible for this week’s reissues.

But there are also reasons to grumble about this week’s re-releases, even before hearing them. The extras are confined to making-of video documentary on each album. Also, though the albums have been remastered in both stereo and mono (the latter being the preferred format by some Beatles fanatics), the reissues do not combine both versions on one disc—as recent reissues for many other 1960s bands have done. Rather, when bought singly, the reissues only carry the stereo version of the album. To get the mono, you must buy the entire catalog, in a box set that lists at $300—if you can even get it (it sold out in advance at many retailers, though a second run is promised). And the titles aren’t being issued in Blu-ray or DVD formats, and hence there are no 5.1-channel surround versions as of yet.

To many observers, including me, the formatting decisions look like an attempt to sell diehard fans those thirty-something-minute-long Beatles albums not just once more, but several times more over the coming years. That’s a little unseemly from a band that’s traditionally been classier than most. —Paul Reynolds.

Sagging video game industry looks to price cuts, new titles

[PHOTO: Courtesy of Rebecca]

While major home electronics are still selling despite the sagging economy, smaller personal electronics are sitting on store shelves, according to the Consumer Reports Index, our new economic survey.  I expect that finding is hardly a surprise to the video game industry--sales of video games and game consoles have been dropping for months.

The decisions by Sony and Microsoft to slash $100 off the price of their Playstation 3 and X-Box 360 Elite systems, respectively, could help slumping sales. (With the cuts both consoles now cost $299.) Those price cuts could increase unit sales by as much as 60 percent, NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier told Gamasutra recently. That’s welcome news to both console and game makers: NPD has reported a year-over-year sales drop of 37 percent in console sales and 29 percent drop in game sales.

[Update to expand on new X-Box prices: Thanks to the $100 cut, the Xbox 360 Elite system is now $300, while the Xbox 360 Pro package, which is being phased out, is $250 following a $50 price cut. A basic Arcade version is still priced at $200. One change is that the Elite system, which has a larger hard drive, will no longer include an HDMI cable.—Ed.]

New game titles may also help not only manufacturers but the retailers that sell their wares, such as game-rental giant GameStop, which reported a 32 percent profit dive in the second quarter. GameStop CEO Daniel DeMatteo sees some hope with the impending release of several new games this fall (including Halo 3: ODST and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2), according to Reuters, but says his company is “cautious” given ongoing concern about the economy and consumer spending.

Less than a year ago, some analysts speculated that the video-game industry could be recession-proof. Obviously, that’s not the case. Nintendo, the third of the “Big 3” game-console manufacturers, is now facing pressure to drop the price of its $250 Wii.

Are you considering buying any video games or consoles this fall, or are they still too expensive? Let us know. --Nick K. Mandle

Gesture control: Is it the next big thing?

Microsoft's new gesture controller for the Xbox 360 premiered this month at E3. (flickr:Jake of 8bitjoystick.com)

More devices are being equipped with what’s technically known as  “perceptual user interface,” or PUI -- the capacity to recognize and respond to mere human gestures. Some recent examples are the recent unveiling of motion and gesture controlled gaming devices by Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.

Do those announcements, and others -- like the Canesta system that lets you control your television or DVR with the wave of your hand  -- presage an imminent wave of, well, waving, pointing, and other gesturing to operate the gear in our homes?

Maybe not, according to a panel on new user interfaces at a Consumer Electronics Association conference last week. The panel spent more time talking about other ways to interact.

Like haptics: the technology where a surface interfaces with a user through the sense of touch. It’s already available on some touch screens in the form of vibration feedback. Certain Samsung phones, such as the Memoir and Impression , for example, offer vibration feedback to help you locate the keys on its virtual keyboard, and know when you are depressing them. There is also voice recognition, a recent addition to the upcoming iPhone 3.0 operating system, which the panel agreed, could unleash a host of third-party apps using voice controls.

The challenge with gesture control, as one panelist put it, is that we don’t have any universal body language for a lot of the actions we’d want gesture control to accomplish. For example, there’s no widely shared gesture that means “turn it off,” so programmers would need to invent one, and then hope users would be willing to learn it.

Get in the game

There are big differences among the top-three video-game consoles: Wii, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3. But those differences actually make it easier to choose which is best for you. Grab the Wii if you're looking to get off the couch and play games with the family; the Xbox 360 if you're a hard-core gamer; and the PlayStation 3 if multimedia and movie-watching are as high a priority as popping in a game. Your preference in games could also come into play, since some consoles are better known for particular games than others.

How much you’re willing to spend might also sway you. The Wii, from Nintendo, costs the least at $250. Microsoft's Xbox consoles range from $300 to $400 (we don't recommend the stripped-down Xbox Arcade). And the Sony PlayStation 3 costs the most, from $400 to $500.

A couple of the consoles let you watch high-definition movies: The PlayStation has a built-in Blu-ray player; you can also download standard- and high-def movies via Sony's PlayStation Network video service. Though it doesn't play Blu-ray movies, a recent Xbox Live enables Xbox to stream high-def movies from the Netflix video service, making it the first Netflix-enabled device capable of accessing high-def content.

The Wii Fit: First impressions from our lab

After an intensive few days of bending, jumping, and precarious balancing by Consumer Reports staff, under the watchful eye of expert testers from our Health franchise, we have our first test reports on Nintendo's Wii Fit, the wireless "balance board" that hit the market in North America earlier this week.

You can read on the Consumer Reports Health Blog what our testing experts have to say about the Fit.

Essentially a platform that senses and responds to body movement, the Wii Fit is an accessory to Nintendo's Wii game console, which, since its launch in 2006 has replaced the usual passive, "couch-potato" video-game experience with a more active, "get-up-and-play" activity.

The Fit offers interactive exercises in four areas: yoga, strength training, balance, and aerobics, along with fun "mini-games," such as ski jumping and hoola-hoops. The Fit also tests your center of gravity and registers your Body Mass Index (BMI), storing personal information on the Wii console so you can track your progress.

Says Nintendo's website:

Wii Fit combines fun and fitness in one product. It can change how you exercise, how you balance, and even how you move.

If you're convinced that you've got to have a Fit, a word of caution. Demand for the device is high and many retailers are temporarily out of stock. So before you lace up your sneakers to run out to your local game store, be sure to call ahead. Or, you can take the traditional gamer's approach: Sign up with retailers online to be e-mailed when the Wii Fit becomes available.

—Nick Mandle

May 28, 2008 UPDATE: Several readers have pointed out that the Wii Fit reviewers in our video were wearing shoes during tests of the Fit's balance board while Nintendo's instruction says that owners should be barefoot in order to prevent the possibility of slippage and injury. Because of the discrepancy, we have removed our video. —Ed.

Get your exercise shopping for Wii Fit

Nintendo wants you up off your sofa and working it with the new Wii Fit ($89). But it could be awhile before your exercise program begins. As with the Wii console, it's looking like the Fit (Click on images for closer looks.) will be a tough purchase.

A check of several online retail outlets, including Game Stop, Wal-Mart, and Amazon, led us to messages like "not for sale," "temporarily out of stock," and "preorders sold out." If you started shopping extra early, you may have been lucky enough to have bought a coupon for $5 to $10 that guaranteed you a Fit. Those seem to be sold out now, although double-checking with your local retailer may not be a bad idea. Once the product is launched on May 19, check frequently both online and in stores. If Wii sales are any indication, retailers will get shipments and quickly sell out, so you'll need to hit the right store at the right time.

At the very least, sign up with Best Buy, Circuit City, or another store for e-mail notification of availability.

You'll double your challenge if you're pumped for the Fit but don't yet own a Wii console. It's still hit or miss when you walk into most retail stores, and sites like Best Buy don't sell it at all online. You'll have better luck if you don't mind shelling out about an extra $100 for a bundle that includes several games. Retail price for the Wii console alone is $250. Think about grabbing one now if you can, before demand for the Fit diminishes supplies even more.

Meanwhile, in the U.K., where the Fit has already been on sale since April, it looks like demand remains high. We were able to find a few units of the Fit at Amazon's U.K. site and several online stores, while others were sold out. But don't exercise notions of buying from one of these U.K. outlets. They probably won't ship to the U.S., and besides, we saw them selling for almost double the U.S. price at about 95 pounds, or $170.

We'll be testing the Wii Fit for its health benefits in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on Consumer Reports.org and on Consumer Reports Health for our findings. For an early look, check out this Wall Street Journal review.

—Donna Tapellini

Nintendo Wii: How to get one—almost

Nintendo's revolutionary video game system is one of the hottest electronic gifts this holiday season. And despite Nintendo's efforts to increase production, it remains one of the most difficult to find items in stores—much like when it debuted last holiday shopping season.

The company has acknowledged that even increasing production to nearly 2 million units per month won't likely ease the shortage anytime soon. So to not completely disappoint holiday shoppers and Wii wanters, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime announced on Friday a Wii "rain check" program with video game retailer GameStop. If consumers pay the $250 for a Wii system at a GameStop store by December 21, they'll get a certificate promising a Wii—sometime in January.

[Dec. 20, 2007 UPDATE: On Dec. 18, GameStop released further details about its Wii rain check program. On Friday Dec. 21 (and only on that day ), each GameStop outlet will have a limited number of Wii certificates that will be given to customers who pay the $250 in advance. (Each store is limiting one certificate per household.) The store will then contact rain check customers when the consoles arrive on January 25, 2008. Readers can find complete details about GameStop's Wii rain check program here on GameStop's Web site. —Ed.]

According to Reuters: "We expect this to be a very strong program and... a great way for consumers who desperately want a Wii to be able to have something to put under the tree—a certificate that guarantees their family will be able to get a system in January," said Mr. Fils-Aime in a telephone news conference.

Still, if having an actual Wii console (and not just the promise of one) under the Christmas tree is what you're really after, here are some tips…