Detail from "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game (thebeatlesrockband.com)

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Aerosmith did it. And Metallica. And the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And Spinal Tap. They’ve all seen their music take the plunge into the world of Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and video games.

But the Beatles? Not until now.

Out from the mists of time, the Fab Four are making the leap. “The Beatles: Rock Band” hits the shelves tomorrow. The marketing din is deafening. Soon, you too can grab a plastic guitar and rock out like the Beatles at Shea Stadium.

Is this a revolution? Evolution? Or just fun and games?

This hour, On Point: music, video games, and Beatlemania all over again.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us in our studio is Alex Rigopulos, cofounder and CEO of Harmonix Music Systems, developers of “The Beatles: Rock Band.” Harmonix developed the first Guitar Hero game in 2005, and in 2006 the company was acquired by MTV Games for $175 million. Harmonix now makes the Rock Band games, the first of which came out in 2007.

Joining us from New York is Heather Chaplin, video game critic and journalist who’s written for Salon, Fortune, and The New York Times. She’s co-author of “Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution.”

Also from New York, we’re joined by Lisa Robinson, contributing editor at Vanity Fair, where she covers music and the music industry. She has interviewed all four of the Beatles.

Grand Theft Auto IV, out this week in its millions of red hot copies, is a vast sensation in the video gaming world. It’s a blockbuster — bigger than movies or music and way bigger than books.

It is – as usual – bloody, brutal, grim, dark, wild — a no-holds-barred video crime spree set in Liberty City, a huge digital approximation of New York. But is it art?

Some say that the richest video games are growing a new narrative richness. Moral dilemmas. Nuance. Truth and consequences.

This hour, On Point: Grand Theft Auto IV, and the evolution of the video game.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Chris Baker, senior editor at Wired, his review of GTA IV, “It’s Not Just About Killing Hookers Anymore,” appeared this week on Slate.com.

Steven Johnson, co-founder and CEO of outside.in, and Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University, he’s the author of several books, including “Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.”

Stuart Andrews, self-professed game nut and videogame reviewer for the online journal Trusted Reviews and the London Sunday Times.