MTV Networks announced a deal to use songs by The Beatles in a custom video game. It was widely expected that The Beatles would be placed into a Rock Band game, much like AeroSmith was a few months ago. But today it was announced that The Beatles would be getting their own music game that was similar to Rock Band.

We guess The Beatles have enough pull to warrant their own game, though it's unknown at this time if that means the game will require new instruments or if the Rock Band ones will be compatible, or if instruments will even be used at all, though its hard to imagine a music game these days without them.

In fact, MTV Networks said there was no release date or sale price for the game yet, but that it was due to be ready for release around the 2009 holidays. Jeff Smith, chief executive of The Beatles Apple Corps Ltd, said the game would include "samples of the whole (Beatles) catalog."

The new, yet unnamed game was conceived by former Beatles Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and the wives of late Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison.

"The project is a fun idea which broadens the appeal of The Beatles and their music. I like people having the opportunity to get to know the music from the inside out," McCartney said in a statement.

The Beatles have been very guarded with their music to the point of not distributing very much of it online. The new Beatles music game could break this trend, opening up the music of The Beatles to a new generation in a way that only a video game could.