According to the official Metallica website, a March 29th release in the U.S. has been set for Guitar Hero: Metallica on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms. The game's arrival for PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii will most likely come in early May, around the same time the game is issued in Europe. As previously reported, Metallica is only the second act to get its own version of Guitar Hero, following last year's Aerosmith game.
The band had to go through an extensive motion-capture process in order to make them come to life in the game, and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett told us the final result was a little unsettling: "Once they've actually made a virtual you and you start seeing that virtual you playing Metallica songs, it's a trip, man. It's like watching a hologram of yourself or, you know, a cartoon of yourself or whatever. It's strange because it's weird and different but oddly familiar at the same time."
Guitar Hero: Metallica will include 28 Metallica songs, along with tracks from Slayer, Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains, and others.
The game will allow players to perform in either single instrument or band mode, in a variety of settings and stages.
In other news, a new book on late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, called To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton, will be published in June. The book, written by U.K.-based author Joel McIver and featuring a foreword by Kirk Hammett, is available through Amazon.
As reported last week, Metallica will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4th at a ceremony in Cleveland, along with Jeff Beck, Run-DMC, Bobby Womack, and Little Anthony & The Imperials.
Disturbed kicked off its new North American tour on Friday night (January 16th) in Milwaukee, with Sevendust and Skindred along for most of the trek. As usual, Disturbed has been on the road a lot in support of its current Indestructible album, but singer David Draiman told us that fans can expect some changes in the set list this time around: "Definitely some more material off of the new record that we haven't played live yet, and we're going to be digging deeply into the vault. We're gonna be pulling out some material that people have not either heard from us since (debut album) The Sickness, or maybe have only rarely heard from us. We're definitely trying to pull out some old gems."
Disturbed has also announced the lineup for its next tour, Music As A Weapon IV. Joining them on the bill will be Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil, and Chimaira. Dates and venues for the spring run are yet to be revealed.
Disturbed will be the featured musical act on the Wednesday, January 28th, edition of ABC-TV's Jimmy Kimmel Live, where they'll likely perform their current single, "The Night."
Previous single "Inside The Fire" is nominated for a Grammy Award for best hard rock performance, Disturbed's first-ever Grammy nomination.