Exclusive Downloadable Tracks From Linkin Park's Chart-Topping New Album, A Thousand Suns, Coming to Both Guitar Hero®: Warriors of Rock and DJ Hero® 2

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) have announced today that Grammy-Award winning alternative artist, Linkin Park, will break new ground by becoming the first band to bring downloadable content to both the award-winning Guitar Hero® and DJ Hero® franchises, delivering songs and remixes from their number one album, A Thousand Suns.  As an added bonus, gamers who purchase Guitar Hero®: Warriors of Rock or DJ Hero® 2 exclusively from Amazon.com between 12:01am PST on October 17 and 11:59pm PST on October 23 will also receive a copy of Linkin Park's new album which will be included along with their copy of the game*.

"We're looking forward to bringing our new album to Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and DJ Hero 2," says lead vocalist Chester Bennington. "I think our fans will have a blast playing it."

"Linkin Park is one of the biggest artists in the world because of the quality and depth of their music and their ability to reach so many diverse fans in a cutting edge way made them the right first choice to have music from one album featured in both Guitar Hero and DJ Hero downloadable content," said Tim Riley, Vice President, Music Affairs, Guitar Hero.   "By having Linkin Park on disc and putting out more Linkin Park songs in both Guitar Hero and DJ Hero downloadable content, we continue to find new distribution channels for great music to reach fans in an interactive way."     

Following the on-disc inclusion of "Bleed It Out," one of the band's most popular songs, in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, Linkin Park are cranking up their Guitar Hero presence with an exclusive six song track pack for the Guitar Hero music library.  The Linkin Park track pack, which will have players strumming, drumming, and wailing for hours on end, will feature a collection of songs from Linkin Park's new album, A Thousand Suns and will be available for download beginning October 19.  

The Linkin Park Track Pack for the Guitar Hero music library will feature the following tracks:

• "Blackout"
• "Burning In The Skies"
• "The Catalyst"
• "The Messenger"
• "Waiting For The End"
• "Wretches And Kings"

No strangers to the remix realm, having collaborated on crossover tracks with everyone from hip-hop icon JAY-Z to world-renowned DJ Hero remixer and consultant Z-Trip, three Linkin Park hits are also set to receive the exclusive DJ Hero remix treatment as downloadable content this winter for DJ Hero 2.

The Linkin Park Track Pack will be available on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft for 960 Microsoft Points, on the PlayStation®Store for PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system for $11.99 and for Wii™ for 1200 Wii Points™.  All songs in the track pack will also be released as downloadable singles for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft for 160 Microsoft Points, PlayStation 3 system for $1.99 and Wii for 200 Wii Points each.  In addition to the in-game music store and Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360, Xbox 360 owners can expand their Guitar Hero music library using the Guitar Hero VIP Pass Music Store, available exclusively on Xbox LIVE® online entertainment network.  For more information about Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and its entire line-up of downloadable songs and disc imports, please visit www.guitarhero.com.

About Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock

In Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, join with friends on an epic rock journey to save rock.  Featuring an impressive 90+ track set list, a totally redesigned rock-inspired guitar controller and a host of all-new gameplay features, living room legends and their friends can strum, drum and wail in the most immersive music videogame experience to date.  Delivering the quintessential rock music collection that focuses on guitar shredding hits from bands such as Black Sabbath, Slipknot and Megadeth and larger-than-life band anthems from Queen, Muse and KISS, players can unleash more rewards and unlockable content than ever before in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock's Quest Mode, the franchise's first ever story-based mode, and Quickplay+, which invites challenge-starved fanatics to test their rock skills.  Running on the powerful Guitar Hero engine that has been expanded and refined and with encores from the critically-acclaimed and fan favorite gameplay features that made Guitar Hero one of the most popular franchises of all-time – such as Party Play, Competitive modes and any combination of up to four instruments – the game offers a complete interactive and connected experience bringing friends and foes to the stage in the ultimate rock music experience.

About DJ Hero 2

The ultimate mixer of music and friends, DJ Hero 2 will deliver the definitive way for players to come together and party with a host of new multiplayer modes – including DJ Battles that pit DJ against DJ in mixes produced specifically for battle gameplay – and invite vocalists into the spotlight with integrated on-screen singing and rapping of lyrics and rhymes while bringing the party to life with jump-in/jump-out Party Play gameplay.  Featuring the biggest dance, pop and hip-hop hits by the hottest artists everyone knows and loves remixed by world-class DJ's in an all-new way, the game's soundtrack delivers 83 unique creations only available in DJ Hero 2.  Further immersing players into the music, the game offers a heightened level of creative input and allows everyone to add their own touch, directly impacting the beats they're spinning with freestyle scratching, crossfading and sampling.  The game will also feature an all-new career-based Empire Mode where players start out as an up-and-coming DJ on the road to becoming the head of a major entertainment empire, all of which is founded solely on their success as a DJ.

Dropping on October 19, DJ Hero 2 will invite a wave of new digital disc jockeys to the turntables as the game will be available as a Party Bundle which will include a copy of the game, two turntable controllers and a microphone, offering the ultimate "party-in-a-box."  Gamers who experienced DJ Hero®, the #1 new videogame intellectual property of 2009, can pick up DJ Hero 2 as a Turntable Bundle featuring one turntable controller and a copy of the game or as standalone software.  The game is in development by FreeStyleGames for Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and Wii.  The game is rated "T" (Teen – Mild Suggestive Themes, Lyrics) by the ESRB.  For more information about DJ Hero 2, please visit www.djhero.com, www.facebook.com/djhero and www.twitter.com/djhero.

About Activision Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's website, www.activision.com. 

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing's expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Activision Publishing generally uses words such as "outlook," "will," "could," "would," "might," "remains," "to be," "plans," "believes," "may," "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "estimate," future," "plan," "positioned," "potential," "project," "remain," "scheduled," "set to," "subject to," "upcoming" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include, but are not limited to, sales levels of Activision Publishing's titles, shifts in consumer spending trends, the impact of the current macroeconomic environment, the seasonal and cyclical nature of the interactive game market, Activision Publishing's ability to predict consumer preferences among competing hardware platforms, declines in software pricing, product returns and price protection, product delays, retail acceptance of Activision Publishing's products, adoption rate and availability of new hardware (including peripherals) and related software, industry competition including from used games and other forms of entertainment, litigation risks and associated costs, rapid changes in technology, industry standards, business models including online and used games, and consumer preferences, including interest in specific genres such as music, first-person action and massively multiplayer online games, protection of proprietary rights, maintenance of relationships with key personnel, customers, licensees, licensors, vendors, and third-party developers, including the ability to attract, retain and develop key personnel and developers that can create high quality "hit" titles, counterparty risks relating to customers, licensees, licensors and manufacturers, domestic and international economic, financial and political conditions and policies, foreign exchange rates and tax rates, and the identification of suitable future acquisition opportunities and potential challenges associated with geographic expansion, and the other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

Guitar Hero, DJ Hero and Activision are registered trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc.  All rights reserved.

"PlayStation" is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.  Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Wii is a trademark of Nintendo. All rights reserved.

*This offer is only available in the US.

SOURCE Activision Publishing, Inc.