In a world of shaky cams and YouTube, what happens on a rock-concert stage is going to reach the world.

Over the weekend, the first video game footage from "The Beatles: Rock Band" debuted in massive fashion as legendary Beatles bassist Paul McCartney rocked through a set with his band at California's Coachella music festival.

The footage spread across the Internet, first as a rumor that the visuals behind McCartney were a hint of this September's MTV-backed "Rock Band" spin-off. Later came confirmation on McCartney's Web site that this was, indeed, the most unusually staged debut of video game footage ever.

A post on the site read: "It was a night of firsts and was the unexpected, unannounced world premiere of the images from the coming Beatle 'Rock Band' game, which played on vast screens throughout 'Got to Get You Into My Life.' "

The footage looked like the background visuals one sees in a "Rock Band" game. The members of the Beatles sang and played with vintage instruments in their hands and period clothes on their backs. The footage probably isn't exactly what players of the game will see when they play "The Beatles: Rock Band." It did not show the signature scrolling-note highways that players need to stare at to know which buttons to press on their guitars, pads to hit on their drums or words to sing.

MTV Games and development studio Harmonix have released no official video of the game.

The Coachella footage was the second incident in two months that suggests major music game news will be breaking during concerts throughout the year. Activision's "DJ Hero," a long-rumored project, proved to be much more official in March when a banner for the game was hung behind DJ Shadow's set at South by Southwest.

"The Beatles: Rock Band" will be released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii on September 9. For more information, check out the game's site.

Check out the Multiplayer blog, updated daily, for even more gaming coverage.