Yukari Iwatani Kane, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

The Beatles' Surprise E3 Appearance

June 1, 2009 at 1:11 pm PT

Every year, the annual E3 videogame expo kicks off with media briefings by the three console makers: Microsoft (MSFT), Nintendo and Sony (SNE). The trio vie to get the most buzz for their games and products by trying to one-up each other with the most entertaining, star-studded show they can muster up.

Microsoft, who kicked off E3 Monday morning, set a high bar this year with a media briefing that was preceded by a mysterious email the day before. That email stated that the event would start five minutes early “due to a very special addition.”

Its special surprise guests turned out to be the Beatles’ Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as the spouses of the late John Lennon and George Harrison, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. All showed up to promote the much anticipated “The Beatles Rockband” music simulation game by MTV Games, in which users can pretend to be members of famed music group.

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Tagged with: Beatles, digital, Digits, E3 videogame expo, email, entertainment, frontpage, George Harrison, John Lennon, Nintendo, Paul McCartney, The Beatles Rockband, The Wall Street Journal, Yoko Ono, Yukari Iwatani Kane

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