Recession special: Buy Guitar Hero 5, get Guitar Hero: Van Halen for free
Buy one, get one free.
In a move sure to resonate with recession-minded gamers, Activision's just-released Guitar Hero 5 game includes an offer to get the highly anticipated Van Halen version of the music game franchise for free.
As a value-based pushback against the Beatles: Rock Band juggernaut, it's an excellent idea. Guitar Hero 5 includes 85 tracks (versus just 45 in the Beatles game), plus 44 more in the Van Halen spin-off.
Guitar Hero 5 includes acts from Johnny Cash to Stevie Wonder to Tom Petty, while Guitar Hero: Van Halen has 25 classic VH songs, plus 19 more from "guest acts" such as The Clash and Deep Purple. If you're a VH superfan, note that the game reportedly excludes former members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, but does include current bassist Wolfgang Van Halen.
The free Van Halen game offer can be redeemed, according to the sticker affixed to the cover of our copy of Guitar Hero 5, by going to guitarhero.com/vanhalengameoffer and filling out an online form, including a unique serial number from the back of the Guitar Hero 5 instruction booklet.
The offer is good until October 1, and says to "allow up to six weeks for delivery," which should still put the Van Halen game in your hands before its official December 22 release date.
Update: After hearing from a few readers, we tried filling out the online form and got the following error message: "We're sorry, but due to overwhelming response we are having difficulties validating your code at this time. Please try again." A few hours later, we were able to complete the process, which ends with a printable form that has to be snail-mailed into a P.O. Box.
New York native Dan Ackerman, a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including Spin, Blender, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and the New York edition of Editors' Office Hours. Dan's new album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now. E-mail Dan. 
By the way, once you fill out the online form you have to print a form and mail it in along with a copy of your receipt and the sticker from the front of the game box. I almost threw away the sticker when I opened the game.
However, you'll notice when you do the online registration, the e-mail that sends the form to you also has a link to print the sticker, so you would have been okay still.
On the other hand, a game for the cost of a stamp is worth it. Although I wish the Van Halen game included the Sammy Hagar years.
I personally would have waited, had it not been for the free VH offer.
As far as saving on copies, it would probably just be easier to 'limit' the number of copies they give away, instead of paying someone to process the mail.
Requiring receipt and everything to be mailed in does deter 'guessing' those validation codes.
I remember a while back, when registering Nintendo games to get the free Zelda collector's edition, you simply had to +1 on the end of the registration code, so some people got screwed. (They've sinced changed their code generation algorithm I believe.)
Expecting a certain number of people to not take advantage of the offer is always one of the intended outcomes of offers like this. It is also the reason behind mail-in rebates. Companies can make it seem like they are giving customers a great deal while knowing that they won't have to give a game or rebate to everyone who buys their product because there will be a significant number of people who never mail in the required forms; this saves the company a great deal of money while still offering a discounted price. However, if people do fill out (correctly) and mail in the forms, this and many mail-in offers can be great deals.
However, you'll notice when you do the online registration, the e-mail that sends the form to you also has a link to print the sticker, so you would have been okay still.
As long as you have the receipt and the code from the manual, you could print the sticker.
I bought from Gamestop, and everything I needed was there, and the clerk pointed out and let me know to keep the sticker, though it certainly isn't necessary.
So I will just play Guitar Hero 5 and let the others struggle to get Guitar Hero Van Halen free, let them beat it and get bored of it. Go on the internet and buy it for a steal.
- by Brett9630 October 15, 2009 3:28 PM PDT
- Just got this in my email today
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(11 Comments)"Dear Guitar HeroŽ Fan,
We know you're ready to start rocking to Guitar HeroŽ Van HalenŽ. We are sending you this email because you took advantage of the Guitar HeroŽ 5 offer to receive Guitar Hero Van Halen on the PlayStationŽ3 computer entertainment system platform.
Unfortunately, we made a printing error on the package of Guitar Hero Van Halen. Fortunately, we caught and remedied the error prior to sending your disc. Our effort to ensure a completely positive customer experience has resulted in a slight delay in shipping your copy of the game.
We will begin mailing copies of Guitar Hero Van Halen this week and you should have yours very shortly. Again, we apologize for the delay. We are committed to bringing you the best quality gaming experience possible. We know you are ready to rock and appreciate your patience.
Thanks again for being a loyal fan of Guitar Hero.
Rock on!
The Guitar Hero Team "
wii and xbox apprently fine