August 13, 2009 11:01

Yoko Ono 'gave 'The Beatles: Rock Band' designers hell'

She sends designers scurrying to improve the game months before its release

Photo Gallery: The Beatles
Photo: Pa Photos

Yoko Ono gave the designers of 'The Beatles: Rock Band' "hell", according to a representative of the game's publishers MTV.

Paul DeGooyer, senior Vice President of MTV's game division, explained how Ono's involvement in the game – which is released on September 9 – was initially minimal.

However, with just three months until the game's June debut at Microsoft's E3 Conference in Los Angeles, Ono decided to fly to Boston to oversee the production process, reports Wired.

"She gave the designers hell," DeGooyer said of her input.

Alex Rigopulos, co-founder and CEO of game developer Harmonix, admitted that he wished Ono had contacted the designers sooner to give her opinion.

"We were like, 'Oh, gee. Thanks'," Rigopulos said. "It would have been nice to know that six months ago, but yes, 'Thank you very much'."

He said that Ono's demands were mainly to do with the look of the game, adding that she specifically requested that the game's final scene – of The Beatles' 1969 gig on the roof of the Apple Building in central London's Savile Row – should look "windier".

"She was very concerned with the look of the game. She really held our feet to the fire," he explained.

Ono, along with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison's widow Olivia and son Dhani, has endorsed the finished version of the game.

Watch a trailer of 'The Beatles: Rock Band' below.