Lars Ulrich in an interview with Game Informer noted that the band stood up for the inclusion of the band Slayer against Microsoft's concerns on the explicit lyrical content of the group's songs. Alan Flores, lead designer for the game, noted that they had originally cleared Slayer's "Angel of Death" but had to pull it due at a late date to pressure on the song's background, instead, at the urging of Ulrich, successfully cleared "War Ensemble" and rushed to include it in the game.
A trailer for the game was included as a video in Guitar Hero: World Tour.
The actual band did extensive motion-capture work for their in-game avatars.