GADGETS

The Beatles are coming to a game console near you.

For the first time, the legendary group’s music will be featured in the lucrative video game market in a deal with MTV Games and Harmonix, creators of the “Rock Band” series. The game is scheduled to make its debut in time for next year’s holiday season.

“The project is a fun idea which broadens the appeal of The Beatles and their music. I like people having the opportunity to get to know the music from the inside out,” Paul McCartney said in a statement.

Beatles drummer Ringo Starr said in a release, “Let the games commence.”

The game will not be titled “Rock Band,” but will work with the existing instruments – a guitar, drums and microphone. Game developers were cagey about whether new instruments, such as a keyboard, would be incorporated.

“I would say that there will be interactive performances of The Beatles’ music as well as new dimensions that you haven’t seen from us before,” Harmonix Chief Executive Alex Rigopulos told reporters.

The video game has become a key and profitable market for established musical acts such as Metallica and Aerosmith to expose their music to a new generation of fans; some bands have even debuted their music via video games.

The game will feature sampling of music and imagery from throughout the band’s career, from “Please Please Me” (1963) through “Let It Be” (1970).

CELL PHONE SLOWDOWN: The usual pre-holiday ramp-up in cell phone shipments didn’t happen this year because of the feeble global economy, a research firm said Thursday.

Manufacturers shipped 299 million phones in the July-September period, down 0.4 percent from the second quarter, according to IDC. The third quarter normally sees a rise in shipments, as stores stock up ahead of the holidays.

Shipments still grew 3.2 percent compared with last year. But as cell phones have become a global must-have in the last few years, it has been more common to see growth rates of up to 20 percent.

From wire reports