It looks like Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison have more to do with The Beatles: Rock Band than thrilling journalists at Microsoft"s E3 media briefing. In an interview with Crispy Gamer, the game"s lead designer, Chris Foster, intimated that the former Beatles, along with Ono and Harrison, have shared quite a bit of input with the team at Harmonix.

Foster calls the group "the shareholders," and states that they helped put together the song list, its venues and gave input as to whether the game"s "dreamscapes" adequately supported the songs. "They looked over all the characters, the animations ... they really kept us honest on whether we were capturing the spirit of the band as they were performing, which was a huge challenge for us," says Foster, noting that it"s necessary to capture the joy that The Beatles expressed when playing.

According to Foster, seeing the former Beatles and their widows at Microsoft"s E3 briefing "is about as validating as everything." He adds, "They don"t get together for almost anything ... it has to be something important, something they believe in."