If you were thinking of buying the limited-edition version of The Beatles: Rock Band as a holiday gift, you might not want to put it off. At $250, the package seemed like an unlikely candidate for selling out, but that's exactly what it appears to be doing. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman told financial media recently that the package, which includes reproductions of the Fab Four's vintage instruments as the controllers (drum set, pictured), is exceeding sales expectations. He added that the company, which owns MTV Games (which released the game with Harmonix), figures that the limited-edition bundle will be sold out by November. It sold 25 percent of its inventory in just the first week of sales. A quick check of Twin Cities stores today found copies available at Best Buy. Wal-Mart and Target don't stock that configuration of the game in stores but sell it online, as do the usual Internet retailers. So it's still widely available -- for now. And, of course, those who don't care about looking exactly like Paul, John, George and Ringo should easily be able to find the game-only release ($60) or the bundle with regular controllers ($160).

Incidentally, while some analysts expected Guitar Hero 5 to outsell The Beatles: Rock Band, the opposite appears to be happening -- at least, on the Wii and Xbox 360 -- despite a week's head start for GH5. We'll know for sure when the NPD Group releases the September sales figures in a few weeks.