Rock Encyclopedia

Launch Event to Raise Funds and Awareness for The Call of Duty Endowment

Metallica has partnered with Activision Publishing, Inc. to headline the Call of Duty: Black Ops launch event on November 4 at Santa Monica Airport’s Hangar 8.  The event will feature a performance by the GRAMMY-Award winning band, honor the six branches of the Armed Forces and raise $1 million for The Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit, public benefit corporation founded by Activision Blizzard that helps soldiers with the transition to civilian life and help them establish jobs and careers. Call of Duty: Black Ops will release worldwide on November 9.

“We are honored to have Metallica partner with us to pay tribute to the brave servicemen and women who have risked their lives at war only to return home to find their biggest challenge is searching for a job,” stated Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard.  ”Today, the unemployment rate for veterans is 21% higher than the rate for all Americans, with veterans’ unemployment topping 500,000.  We believe that the business community can and should do more.  Through The Call of Duty Endowment, we are committed to raising millions of dollars for job assistance and training programs for veterans and raising public awareness for this serious issue.”

Formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, Metallica have become one of the most influential and commercially successful rock bands in history, having sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and playing to tens of millions of fans the world over.  They have scored several multi-platinum albums, including 1983′s Kill ‘Em All (3x), 1984′s Ride the Lightning (5x), 1986′s Master of Puppets (6x), 1988′s …And Justice For All (8x), 1991′s Metallica (also known as “The Black Album” – 15x), 1996′s Load (5x), 1997′s ReLoad (3x), and 2003′s St. Anger (2x).  Their latest album, Death Magnetic, was certified platinum just six weeks after it debuted atop the Billboard Top 200 Album chart in October 2008.  The band released a groundbreaking Guitar Hero edition of Death Magnetic, which was the largest selling download album on the platform at the time.  They also released Guitar Hero: Metallica in 2009 with Activision.  Metallica have also garnered numerous awards and accolades, including nine Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, and multiple MTV Video Music Awards, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum last year.

For One Week Only, Buy Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock and Import Your Guitar Hero Metallica Tracks for Free Select Tracks From Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero® Smash Hits, Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero Also Importable Into This Fall’s Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

Legendary musical icons and heavy metal pioneers, Metallica, are returning for an encore this fall by bringing their skill, intensity and passion to the Guitar Hero music library.

In conjunction with the launch of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, fans who own Guitar Hero Metallica will be able to import 39 of the game’s on-disc tracks directly into their Guitar Hero music library beginning September 28. Additionally, head-banging, guitar-shredding rockers who buy Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock between September 28 and October 5 will be able to import these tracks from their copy of Guitar Hero Metallica for free*. The disc import will feature the following tracks: (more…)

Hailed as “Activision’s best Guitar Hero(R) yet” by AOL/GameDaily and “a must-play for fans” by IGN.com, Activision Publishing, Inc.’s  Guitar Hero(R) Metallica(R) is now available at retail outlets across North America for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system.

PlayStation 2 system rock stars can now experience the intensity of musical icons Metallica and over 20 additional bands. Shred on the guitar controller, rip on the drum kit controller and wail on the mic to a killer set list of over 45 explosive hits from both Metallica’s illustrious career and a wide variety of legendary artists personally selected by the band, such as Alice In Chains, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, Foo Fighters, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Queen.

“Guitar Hero Metallica has garnered critical acclaim across the industry proving the widespread appeal and accessibility of both Guitar Hero and Metallica,” said Will Kassoy, Head of Publishing for the Guitar Hero franchise. “With a very successful launch on Wii(TM), Xbox 360(R) and PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system, we are excited to bring the game to the huge PlayStation 2 system gaming community and expect it to quickly become a fan favorite for that platform.”

Guitar Hero Metallica allows fans to “spend an evening with Metallica,” and more than 20 popular artists, while performing in venues reminiscent of their epic album covers, themes from their music and real world locales. The all-new Expert+ drum difficulty setting, available for all platform versions of the game, features two bass drum kick pedals, offering an authentic Metallica experience with note-for-note tracking, and Metallifacts, which, after nailing a song, lets players enjoy a virtual concert filled with on-screen facts and trivia about the song being played.

Guitar Hero Metallica is now available for the Wii(TM) home video game system from Nintendo, the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation 2 and PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment systems across North America. The game is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. For more information on Guitar Hero Metallica, please visit guitarherometallica.com.

Activision Publishing Broadcast Media Center

Members of the media can visit Activision Publishing’s Broadcast Media Center to download broadcast quality video, web-ready video and high- resolution images. Members of the media using Pathfire can take advantage of a Pathfire enabled video download.

Sound bites, behind-the-scenes and gameplay b-roll footage of Guitar Hero Metallica are available for download.

Broadcast Media Center: www.usngondemand.com/index.php.

Source: Activision Publishing, Inc.