Metallica will be the second band to get its own game following the June release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.  Unlike Aerosmith, the game will not follow the band’s rise to stardom, but instead follow a new band as it tries to make it on the road with the legendary rockers.  “There’s a historical element involving some memorable gigs we have played, but it’s not something that follows a chronological timeline to a tee,” says drummer Lars Ulrich.  “We kind of wanted it to be a little bit more about who we are now than a who-we-were-in-1986 type of thing.”

In addition to playing from the large catalogue of Metallica songs, the game will include appearances by over twenty guest acts ranging from artists that inspired the band or have toured with them.  The list of artists include Queen, the Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bob Seger.

In addition to the new game controls introduced in World Tour, a second pedal will be available for those wanting the full Lars Ulrich experience.  There is no word yet if the game will be sold with any special edition guitars or drum packages, but odds are likely it will.  Guitar Hero: Metallica will be available on the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 systems.

Microsoft’s has done something with its Xbox 360 that no other game console has ever done before.  They have done a complete overhaul of its operating system via a console update.  The first of the next-gen consoles to be released has been losing market share at a steady pace ever since the release of Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii.  The Wii, in particular, has been the biggest thorn in Microsoft’s goal to dominate the gaming console market.

One of the Wii’s biggest advantages is its motion controlled remote.  Sony had little success trying to compete with Nintendo when it decided to forgo rumbling and added four axis motion control into its controllers.  Microsoft, having released the 360 a year ahead of its competition, was unable to add such technology into its system (which is probably a good thing seeing how the PlayStation 3 hasn’t benefited much from the inclusion).  So what does Microsoft do?  They decided to implement another success from the Wii - avatars.  Nintendo included the ability to create personal avatars they call “Mii’s” into their system to help make the console and games more approachable to non-gamers.  Allowing players to play as their alter-egos in many of their games.  Taking a page from Nintendo’s success, Microsoft implemented a massive overhaul of their system to allow players to create avatars to represent themselves, hopefully attracting non-hardcore gamers to their system.

The update, which is being dubbed the “New Xbox Experience” or “NXE” also includes the ability to share photos with friends and stream Netflix movies.  One feature that was not included at launch is what is being called “Xbox Live Primetime”.  Players will be able to take their doppelganger avatars online and compete against other players in game shows such as 1 vs. 100 for real world prizes.  Xbox Live Primetime is expected to hit 360 systems early next year.