Guitar Hero To Sponsor 2009 Sonisphere Festivals

[Detomah]

Activision announced today its sponsorship of this year’s European Sonisphere Festivals, which are headlined by Metallica, and will be taking place in Holland, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Finland, before finishing off the season with a two day festival in the UK. At the six festivals and a host of Metallica’s European gigs, fans itching to get a taste of Guitar Hero Metallica will have the opportunity to hone their skills and shred, drum and wail on a demo of the band’s highly-anticipated game before the European release in May 2009.

“Guitar Hero Metallica offers fans a unique opportunity to live out their dreams of stardom playing as one of the greatest bands of all time to a set list of over 45 explosive rock and metal tracks,” says Siân Evans, European marketing manager, RedOctane. “To be able to play as Metallica and experience their intensity and musical skill in a video game and then watch them perform live, will be an awesomely, unique event for any music fan.”

Fans attending Metallica’s European tour dates will have the chance to win exclusive tickets to the Sonisphere Festivals and get their hands on signed Guitar Hero Metallica merchandise. Each tour date will also include Guitar Hero Metallica pre-show events where fans will have the opportunity to rock on specially made Guitar Hero stages. At some of the concert venues, there will also be a variety of free limited-edition Guitar Hero Metallica prizes up for grabs, as well as after-parties featuring live DJs, on-stage guitar duel challenges for prizes and celebrity face-offs. A lucky handful of skilled players and performers will be able to win the chance to play the game on the Sonisphere Festival main stage in front of tens of thousands of fans and two fans from each country will win the ultimate prize, a chance to meet Metallica.

“Ride the Lightning” with musical icons Metallica and 21 other rockin’ acts in an all new Guitar Hero experience – Guitar Hero Metallica. Enter the world of Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo and experience the intensity and skill of one of the greatest bands of all time. Shred on the guitar controller, rip on the drum kit controller and wail on the mic to a set list featuring over 45 explosive hits from Metallica’s illustrious career and a wide variety of other legendary artists personally selected by the band, such as Bob Seger, Alice In Chains, System of A Down, Foo Fighters and Queen. Fans will be able to rock as Metallica while performing in venues reminiscent of the band’s epic album covers, themes from their music and real world locales.

Guitar Hero Metallica is developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system. The Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo and the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system versions are developed by Budcat. The game is rated 12+ by the BBFC. For more information on Guitar Hero Metallica, please visit guitarhero.com.

2009 Sonisphere Festival dates are as follows:
20/06/2009 Nijmegen, Holland
04/07/2009 HockenheimRing, Germany
11/07/2009 Barcelona, Spain
18/07/2009 Hultsfred, Sweden
25/07/2009 Pori, Finland
01/08/2009 – 02/08/2009 Knebworth, UK