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Activision boss Bobby "What, Me Worry?" Kotick has a well-established routine for dealing with record labels. When it comes to Guitar Hero, they take their small cut of the profits, they get their songs on the game, they go quietly into the night. Helps Activision make a ton of money from the games, but it also looks like it cost them a deal to get the Beatles on Guitar Hero. Speaking with Reuters about said deal, Sony/ATV CEO Martin Bandier has said Activision's hard-ball stance with record labels was the driving force behind MTV scoring The Beatles catalogue:

It was presented as if they were doing the music business a favour. It's true you can choose other types of music, and somewhere along the line someone's going to do it for free for the exposure ... When it comes to the Beatles, the leverage changes. We're very happy with the terms of our arrangement with MTV.

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So Variety reported that the terms of the deal between Apple Corps and MTV gives Harmonix access to 45 songs from the albums spanning 1962 to 1969 -- the prime cut of the Beatles' catalog -- for a Beatles music game. That tidbit's useful information, because knowing the maximum size of the set list helps in guessing what will make it into the game. Team Teabag just took a swing at it, looking at the 45 most popular songs for The Beatles in that timespan. IT IS NOT AN OFFICIAL SET LIST, LEAKED OR OTHERWISE. It's just a good guess at what we might see in a Fab Four game.

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Signing the Beatles (or at least the people handling their song rights) to a music game can't have been easy for MTV. And it definitely can't have been cheap. While not disclosing just how much MTV paid them for the rights to the Fab Four's tunes, Martin Bandier - who is CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing - has said:

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During a teleconference being held by Apple Corps, Ltd and MTV this morning, the two companies, along with Harmonix, announced an exclusive partnership to create a brand new video game featuring the music of the Beatles. This seems to be a new game that will allow friends and families to experience the music of the band in an all new way.

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The Beatles in my Rock Band ? Believe. Confirming that confirming email, MTV's Rock Band has licensed The Beatles' music reports The Wall Street Journal. This deal, set to be announced later today, is all the more remarkable considering how The Beatles have not allowed its music to be licensed to Apple's iTunes.

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Despite the fact many parts of Europe are only just getting Rock Band 1, a PR company hired by EA to handle the series has told Eurogamer that the UK can expect to see Rock Band 2 "this side of Christmas". EA UK proper have of course since denied this, saying a date is yet to be announced, but that sounds more like ass-covering than genuine ignorance.

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And not just any Motley Crue album. It's Dr. Feelgood. The announcement comes not from Harmonix, and not from MTV, but from the Crue themselves (or, at least their publicists), with a small note on the band's imeem portal letting us know that the album most people will say is their crowning achievement will be available for the game starting October 14. For reference, this is the album with Kickstart My Heart on it. Not interested? You should be looking yourself in the mirror and wondering why you spent all that money on a game called Rock Band.

Win the entire catalogue and a signed copy of "The Dirt" [Imeem]

Between hearing the news, getting the press release then getting a follow-up, all the big questions we had about Rock Band's AC/DC expansion were answered. Doesn't mean all our questions were answered, though. We've still got plenty more. Like...how's online going to work? Is it true that AC/DC are now signed exclusively to Rock Band? And if so, does this mean Harmonix are big fat liars, and that exclusivity in these band games does matter?

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There was a bit of confusion this morning when the official press release for AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack hit. Unlike the New York Times story, which said the game was a Wal-Mart exclusive, there was no such mention of exclusivity in the press release.

We contacted Harmonix this morning for clarification and it turns out the New York Times got it right: AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack will be released as a disc-only game exclusively at Wal-Mart.

The standalone game will include 18 classic live tracks from the band's live performances for more than 99 minutes of gameplay on each instrument. And, according to Harmonix, the game will not be available as DLC only as a disc.

If you buy the disc you can export the tracks from the pack to Rock Band or Rock Band 2 at no extra charge by entering a special export authentication code from the manual, though an online connection will be required. The $30 to $40 game will also be available for purchase at Sams Club in the U.S.

For those living in Europe, Australia and New Zealand the game will be available at most major retail outlets, but still not online.