Letter to Sir Paul ('Rock Band' review)

But at the mall on Saturday, the boxes in the game store window reeled me (and my mom) in. Yes, my mom, because she caught the tail end of The Beatles generation.

Just as the creators of "Rock Band" had hoped, the game not only grabbed the attention of tweens, teens and 20-somethings, but also the original Beatles fans.

For serious music (and Beatles) lovers, it's not like you're going to find anything super surprising about the game. All the songs are well-known. But the best part of the game is that each player can select from a number of levels.

So my mom, the guitarist, can choose "expert" while I'm practicing "easy." And as we go along, we're not so much competing as trying to play through a song together. In the process, we're even learning a little about feeling the rhythm of the music, as my head is bobbing.

As gamers progress through the story of The Beatles, they unlock pictures of the band. And the levels are split by the places the group has played -- at the Cavern, on the Ed Sullivan Show, at Shea Stadium and so on.

It's hard to concentrate on my part, really, when a police officer is arresting a screaming female fan in the background. But that's what makes it The Beatles: Rock Band.

The best part of the game was unpacking the instruments, and finding, to our delight, postcards of the Fab Four. Now we can mail them to our friends (young and not-so-old) and invite them over for band practice.

So, Paul, I owe you a thank you, for all the memories -- the ones you've shared of the band and the ones families and friends are making in living rooms today.

Now if only I had a bigger TV ...