The Beatles, one of the last holdouts in licensing their music for Guitar Hero/Rock Band, announced recently that they have struck a deal with MTV, Harmonix and Apple Corps to develop a rhythm-based video game. Until now, the band has licensed their music with extreme rarity. The announcement promised a 2009 release, new instruments, and new game play innovations. Hit the jump for more details.

With bands like Aerosmith and Metallica proving that there is significant money to be made for bands in video games, all the major stakeholders have been in discussions for over a year to make this happen. The game will sample Beatles music from throughout the band’s career, and will feature a grand total of 45 songs.

The game, which will not be titled “Rock Band” like Harmonix’s first two iterations of their music games, is confirmed to be backwards compatible with Rock Band instruments. Also confirmed in the announcement was that Harmonix will introduce a keyboard into the game. That’s right, for all you keeping your fingers crossed for Keyboard Hero: Billy Joel Edition your fantasy is gaining momentum!

Source: Associated Press