Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) announced on Tuesday that, in an industry first, Metallica's upcoming "Death Magnetic" album will be released simultaneously in record stores and as downloadable content for its "Guitar Hero" game in September. The company is slated to ship the next installment of the game, "Guitar Hero II: Legends of Rock," in the fall.

I'm the first to admit that the whole Guitar Hero thing took me off guard. Play music on a plastic toy guitar - come on! But then I went to Guitar Hero night at my local waterhole, Hyperion Tavern, in trendy Silver Lake (Thursdays for those of you that care, see picture to the right). It was so much fun that I was converted on the spot. Now in its third incarnation, Activision's (NASD: ATVI) "Guitar Hero" game franchise is still the most popular entry in the music-based gaming genre that includes the newer hit "Rock Band" by Harmonix. Not only has the games sold millions of copies and is now available on other platforms such as mobile phones, the games have also become an invaluable marketing tools for bands (rock band Motley Crue was the first group to release a new single, "Saints of Los Angeles," for sale through the video game "Rock Band.") as well as increased interest in real guitar playing. And the trend of interactive music games that Guitar Hero started is just in its infancy.

Los Angeles - Metallica have blamed their management company Q Prime for asking bloggers to take down their reviews of rough mixes of the band's new album -- bloggers who were invited to a listening party to hear said tracks, according to a post on Metallica.com. "Our response was 'WHY?!!! Why take down mostly positive reviews of the new material and prevent people from getting psyched about the next record... that makes no sense to us!' So after a few rounds of managerial ear spank and sentencing everyone at Q Prime to 20 push-ups each, we figured why not take matters into our own hands and just post the links here on our site."

Los Angeles - Activision (NASD: ATVI) plans to release a Metallica-themed version of its popular "Guitar Hero" game, according to an SEC filing noted by Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Edward Woo, GameSpot reported. Activision has already announced a version of the game featuring Aerosmith, which is due for release later this month.

Los Angeles - Longtime digital holdouts Metallica, who famously led the artist-based charge against the original Napster, have announced a new promotion for their upcoming album that will provide behind-the-scenes coverage of its recording, and a fan club whose members will be able to download it in the unprotected MP3 format upon its release. The "Mission: Metallica" club promises fly-on-the-wall footage of writing and recording; riffs and excerpts from the new album; unique live tracks; ticket contests and other features.

Mountain View, Calif. - With one more record due to Warner Music under their current contract, Metallica is considering a Radiohead-style release for future efforts, drummer Lars Ulrich tells Rolling Stone. "We've been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes for the next record, we'll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet," said Ulrich. Since notably coming out against illegal downloading during the heyday of Napster, the band now offers FLAC and MP3 versions of shows for sale on its website, while older shows can be downloaded for free.