I'm still not entirely sold on the NXE. It's crashed on me more times than I can count, and the new interface is a confusing mess that feels like iTunes and the XMB had a deformed baby. But there is one very, very notable high point, and that's avatars.

Specifically, I'm talking about editing other people's avatars. Yesterday when Tom Mc Shea was out at lunch, I hopped on his Xbox and edited the living hell out his avatar. The below result speaks for itself:

What do your avatars look like? Anywhere near as frightening as Tom's?

On Weds night, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King launched in London's famous Oxford Street, and we were there to interview Blizzard and the fans.

Just who is this Beatles game for?

That's the question that's been running through my brain ever since news of the announcement that Harmonix and Apple Corps Ltd would be combining efforts on a Beatles-themed project came to light. Several outlets were reporting at the outset that the game would be a dedicated Rock Band expansion devoted to the Fab Four but that turned out not to be the case. Instead, we'll have a "full, new music game built from the ground up," according to Harmonix co-founder Alex Rigopolous.

The licensing of The Beatles' music has had a... ahem... long and winding road; these days, the vast majority of the group's catalog is owned by Sony and Michael Jackson (the King of Pop purchased the publishing rights to around 200 songs in 1985), with royalties still being paid out to John Lennon's estate and to Paul McCartney. In 2006, the Cirque du Soleil production, "Love", was unveiled in Las Vegas, which combined some of the group's most famous songs with the visual wizardry of the long-running show company.

So, Apple Corps Ltd's long-standing dispute with Apple over licensing of the music to the latter's iTunes service notwithstanding, the company has been willing to extend use the Beatles' music, as long as it's in the right context. But what does that mean for Harmonix's just-announced game?

To me, it comes back to my original question: Who is the intended audience? While I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who actively dislikes The Beatles, I'm not sure if they are as relevant to the hardcore game-buying demographic as they might have been, say, ten years ago. I consider myself a moderate fan of the group--they lost me somewhere around The Yellow Submarine--but I have a hard time believing that the typical 18 year-old as totally psyched about this announcement as, say, your typical 48 year-old.

But, then, what 48 year-old is going to play (much less buy) a game like this, unless Harmonix radically simplifies the gameplay? Rigopolous has stated that this game will use Rock Band instruments but, as it stands now, further details are few and far between. I can only imagine the look of bewilderment my mom or dad would have if I sat them down in front of a set of Rock Band drums and told them to hold it down for me while I rocked some Rush. And it's tough to see how a Beatles game that uses the pricey Rock Band peripherals could be considered casual enough to draw in tons of new fans, Lennon and McCartney be damned.

So I'm left puzzled. If the Beatles game is a dumbed down Rock Band experience aimed at a casual crowd, it will likely turn off the hardcore Rock Band fans, a good chunk of whom won't have much of a connection to the music in the first place. And while the older set might relish in a perfectly marketed casual gaming chunk of 60's nostalgia for Xbox 360 and PS3, can it really be called "casual" if you've got to spend a bunch of cash for the accessories you need to play it?

Rigopolous has already stated the game will use explore the Beatles iconic psychedelic imagery--such as that found in the film The Yellow Submarine. My best bet? The Beatles game will be a sort of gaming equivalent to director Julie Taymor's film Across the Universe, a re-imagining/visual exploration of the Beatles catalog. I imagine the musical gameplay aspects (i.e. playing along with Beatles tunes) will be either entirely optional or, perhaps more likely, will give the player multiple options for interaction (everything from straight karaoke, to playing along with Rock Band instruments, or following note patterns with a standard controller). Ensuring a large (and customizable) spectrum of interaction seems like a must-have feature when dealing with what could potentially be one of the widest demographic spreads we've ever seen in a videogame.

So what do you think? Are you excited about the Harmonix/Beatles game? Do you think a Beatles game with Rock Band-esque gameplay can be a hit with both young and old gamers? What does this game need to do in order to be a gameplay success?

From a press release about Shaun White Snowboarding having exclusive content when you buy it from Target:

"I've had a blast working with the Ubisoft developers, and we've created a game that's really different from any other action sports game," said White. "I think it really captures my style, and I can't wait to see what Target guests think of the extra features we've made just for them."

Target "guests"? Shaun White is keepin' it real.

I can't help but be reminded of similarly fabricated PR quotes from Aerosmith and Korn. How do these things make it into the final press release? Do these companies just like asserting their alpha dog pack leader position by forcing the stars people actually like to recite corporate terminology?

Does nobody look at this and say, "You know, our campaign might resonate with Shaun White fans more if it doesn't instantly make them think their favorite snowboarder is an absolute sellout. Maybe we shouldn't beat people over the head with the fact that we've turned him into a spineless corporate puppet and he is now more brand than person."

Sigh.

I only occassionally post in my blog about the podcast (because I'm sure most of you listen anyway!), but I thought I would highlight this week's show. If you're at all interested in development, how large publishers deal with smaller companies or the wider industry in general, then I urge you to listen to our interview with the guys from Introversion Software, who fill us in on all of their experiences so far.

Pain: Amusement Park highlighted two issues that I hope the free market wraps in a burlap sack and dropkicks into an oncoming roller coaster. Pain is a game that combines the futility of fake achievements, "yay, you found the x button," and obnoxious micro transactions, "please insert six dollars to advance to the next level." For six dollars the latest installment of Pain gives you access to one gen x ragdoll character and one level, of which you can unlock only one other launch pad located ten feet from the first. Pain claims you can unlock two additional costumes but you have to be a cryptologist or have psychic powers to figure out how. Pain then awards you with copious amounts of pats on the back and then regrets to inform you that all additional content, in the form of new characters, is ninety nine cents and additional time in the game is therefore pointless. How unsatisfying, however cheap, to buy game progress, it defeats the purpose of, well, doing anything. This is a game that should have been sold for ten or fifteen dollars, with more than one level, and a large variety of forward moving progress.

Part of the reason I'm so frustrated is that a game like Pain: Amusement Park could have been so much more. If you pick it up on PSN you'll see the genius in the first half hour before you realize you bought the equivalent of a looping animation. This game should have been designed to reward players for playing and I can think of a million ways this could have been done. They could have given you more ooch, a jetpack to control yourself in flight, new areas that unlock, or secret rooms you can only reach in special ways. Pain could have given you awesome weapons to use, or special in flight poses with special powers, or pogo sticks, or let you drive vehicles you land on, or anything to reward you for throwing your gen x character through his paces. Instead you blow up a few barrels, smack a few monkeys, yawn, and then go back to playing something else. In my humble opinion, micro transactions and meaningless achievements have revealed their true value to players.