US Deal: Buy Guitar Hero 5, Get GH: Van Halen Free

135
Dan Webb

If you didn't have enough reasons to buy Guitar Hero 5, then let us throw one more on the pile.

Activision have recently announced that if you buy a specially marked Guitar Hero 5 copy before the 31st of October this year (GameStop's website says October 1st), then you'll get a copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen for free. This deal is only available to people in the US and is a limited offer whilst stocks last.

Whilst it is a good deal, it still isn't enough for us to rank it above The Beatles: Rock Band as the must purchase music game of the year.

It appears like Guitar Hero: Van Halen might be a title that Activision can't even give away ... literally.

Comments
135
  • its times like these i wish i was american :-( oh well i'll just settle with GH5
  • Awesome
  • Nice deal. Especially nice to see Activision giving something back to the customer for once; rather than milking them. Hope this eventually does come out in the UK. *touch wood*
  • still not buying a activision rhythm game ever even if its free.
  • lol activision knows they are failing i mean they dont ven have all the band members in the game
  • Meh favouritism
  • ill probably get this. i want van halen more for the supporting songs instead of the van halen songs
  • They better do that offer over there too
  • Still just going to rent them both.
  • Well, time to cross my fingers once GH5 comes out and hope that I get that copy. I wouldn't buy GH Van Halen, I'd rent it or get it as a freebie.
  • All the Halen cheevos are expert centered. I don't even care for the music they make anyhow. Pass for me.
  • HELL YES! I have been planning to buy GH5 for a while now, and now I get a FREE copy of another GH game with it?? Nice job Activision, this is very redeeming of yourselves...
  • I live in the UK and already hold a grudge against Activision? This makes me angry.
  • us only ffs
  • This switched it to from a rent to a buy for me. Although I am gonna have more music games than I know what to do with, with BRB coming out a week later. I'll prolly drive my roomate nuts cause all he plays is halo, and he mocks my music game addiction...
  • @#16, it'll take 6 weeks to receive the game, so you should have some time to work on TBRB and GH5 haha
  • i want rock on... the beatles is not the rock im searching for -.-
  • a band game with the beatles songs its the worst idea ever -.- just some good but boring-to-play songs
  • well gh5 and gh vh are much higher on my must have list than rb beatles so its a no brainer, but i live in aus where we have to pay for games :P
  • Falling off fence...Must preorder now!
  • @21 lol, me too, and im sure that's what activision is trying to do here. I feel sorry for you guys in aus... and anywhere besides the US for that matter. You guys get screwed all the time and its really not fair.
  • so do we have to buy the whole peripheral bundel or just the game, i need new drums so this definately justifies it but my friend was gonna sell me his old rb ones for $10.
  • Land of the FREE baby! woo!
  • AWESOME Deal!
  • yeah, still no dice. Maybe when Guitar Hero 27 comes out next summer and they offer Guitar Heroes 21-26, Guitar Hero Hannah Montana and Guitar Hero Hanson for free with it, I'll think about it. Not really. Rock Band Beatles has my money. And Lego Rock Band.
  • I'll be getting RB: Beatles because at least they are making a proper homage to the band, not just throwing the band with a set list that is only 1/2 of that band's songs. Harmonix is giving the Beatles the game they deserve, GH is a series now used for one reason: making activision money by having 8 new GH games a year or so(not to say that's a bad thing? that is if your still into GH). I might give GH:5 and GH:VH a try but I really don't feel like spending $120(Canadian) to buy them both, I'll save my money for Brutal Legend and COD:MW2
  • Van Halen is sweet I hope the UK do a deal like this.
  • thats a good deal, but is this proof guitar hero is startin to fail agaisnt rock band?
  • Well if they have to give gh:van halen away it don't look that good for gh:van halen.
  • I already had GH5 pre-ordered, so this is just great. I'm not the biggest Van Halen fan in the world, but free is free, so I'll gladly take it.
  • Is this a sign that GH is starting to sweat RB?
  • Wow, thats all this crap coming with GH5 and they still cant beat the best band in the world. Sorry Activision close your doors and stop making games please.
  • This is either a marketing decision that will make Activision a lot more money or it will end up costing them a lot of sales.To me,it reeks of desperation.They really don't want to release Van Halen.I'm quite sad to see what is happening to the series.
  • This better come to the UK, I don't give a flying fudge about RB: Beatles.
  • Post 1 - are you mad. They could give me GH1, 2, 3, 4, Aerosmith, Metallica ALL free @ perform an act of oral love on me & I still wouldn't want to be american. Think of those silly little sports they play. Bring on Guitar Hero - Black Metal
  • Of course...US ONLY what a suprise...EPIC LET DOWN! The GH series is brilliant in my opinion but there just tryin too hard to make new games....DLC and Cheevo updates would do.
  • I really do hope that a similar offer is given to the UK, So angry US always get the best of gaming, oh look now they get a game free.
  • saw this on facebook a couple hours ago. came to report it to you guys but you already got it.
  • That is a good deal, but I don't want to spend another $60 this year.
  • Activision is obviously dead in the water. Giving away a rubbish game free with another rubbish game makes no sense to me.
  • Can anyone else sence, desperate? Seriously this while I do like it cause I am a Van Halen fan is pathetic. They want to beat the Beatle game soooo bad, sure they might in sales, but when it comes to great and fun games, better games Harmonix destroys Neversoft. Seriously GH5 will be nowhere near as great as the Beatle game.
  • Why would they give that away? They seem desperate lol
  • What did people do when it was announced that songs would transfer into GH5? They complained. They whined about having to actually OWN a copy of the game so they could have the manual (even when you need the RB2 manual to get the 20 free songs, nobody complained about that). They complained about the fee to transfer songs over (where, Rock Band once again, charged as well). What are people complaining about now? They are complaining about getting a FREE GAME! A game that would normally be the standard $60 price! What has the world come to?
  • lol, wow good for all of the americans that get this.. buy GH 5, get van halen free... then trade it in. for the 40$ value it will have lol.. it's like getting gh5 for free lol... win... too bad i am Canadian
  • Not from the US so if I want or not I can't get that deal.
  • @44 Because this is a Guitar Hero article, anything with Guitar Hero or Halo in the title will just have 90% of comments starting with 'z0mg this game is teh suxxors'. RB>GH, CoD>Halo, its always the same. Guys its a free game, if you don't want it, don't buy GH5. So many people condemn Activision for being so greedy, and then when they give something away it 'reeks of desperation'. Hypocrisy at its finest.
  • @47 The level of fanboyism in these types of news articles is just ridiculous. I'm a fan of both franchises (is that against the rules? It sure seems so...), and I support both on-disc releases and DLC sales for both games...
  • I wouldnt waste my money on Beatles Rock Band anyway.
  • As long as I can do this in Australia, NICE =D=D=D
  • Just gotta wait for them to release an Aus Version
  • I wish i liked van halen...
  • Seriously, this site is full of weird brits, and trend followers. Guitar Hero is amazing, and I can't wait to get this deal. Beatles Rock Band will also be a buy for me as well. You European people must be poor as hell.
  • The only way Activision could bury GH:VH any more would be if they physically buried copies of the game in the desert. It's not surprising, though, since it's going to be a GH:WT engine game coming out AFTER two GH5 engine games (Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero).
  • Americaaaaaa FUCK YEA!!!
  • Shut up bodomjordan.
  • Meh US only again D:
  • so what are the odds of getting a free copy of Van Halen if you purchase Guitar Hero 5 on release day? GH5 comes out on my bday..lol.
  • Why is everybody so happy for The Beatles:Rock band? THE BEATLES IS NOT ROCK ITS FUCKING JAZZ!!!GH IS ROCK!!GH OWNS RB!!!
  • wow cheezbrgr you should really read the title...note the us only beginning
  • Haven't bought one since GH3 because of the horror stories, but I've been kind of wanting to get back into them. Might have to snag this deal.
  • #59, are you an idiot? The Beatles aren't jazz, that is one of the the stupidest thing I've read in these comments. On-topic, I would actually buy into this, but I live in Canada. argh
  • Wow for me I was really on the fence for GH: VH I love van halen but I'm aorta sick of the rythem games but I for sure wasn't going to buy GH 5 but that totally just changed! Awesome that the van halen game is free but I wish I had guitar hero GnR or at least appetite for destruction!
  • I wasn't going to buy GH5 until it came down in price, but this gives me a reason to...
  • I wasnt really considering buying gh5 last week. Now I can forward my gh wt songs, my dlc will work with it and I can get gh van halen for free ? Its a must buy for me now.
  • what nice deals activision are giving out! us gets 2 guitar hero games for the price of 1 and the uk gets cod at a more expensive price. hooray for double standards.
  • time to scavenge some discs to trade in lol, glad i have beatles preordered already, wasn't gonna snag this but it seems like $60 savings is a good enough reason lol
  • So screw us europeans again.
  • I actually find myself enjoying watching the UKers bitch about these US only deals. CRY MOAR!! Your tears are sooo delicious
  • Sweet. And Killswitch is going to be on GH Van Halen, which is a plus, for me.
  • gh5 has nothing but ups on it. the new band starpower, gh wt and smash hit import, dlc import and now a totally free game with it (of course im not american *sad face*) and people come here and post comments about rock band the beatles? umm... its not even rock band 3. this is similar to guitar hero aerosmith, which blew. i have all the guitar heros on x360 and i love the fact that i can FC 75% of songs in the games =) im thinking now hard and was hoping you could help me. if i order this from gamestop, do i get the van halen?
  • @#5 How the hell is Activision failing? They're leading in sales on their Guitar Hero games to any other music-rhythm game. This would be good but I'm living in Canada :'(.
  • im american and i think america gets all kinds of advantages when it comes to gaming why cant we all be equal. if i were in the UK I would be super pissed.
  • (while supplies last) & more importantly (on available consoles) scares me.
  • I don't get the comment about Rock Band: Beatles being excellent, it's only my opinion, but while i would call myself a Beatles fan, there songs just won't be fun to play, everyone remembers the fast, rocking songs when playing these games, well, err the Beatles have none, i don't get it, i also don't get how the Beatles are going to attract the main group of people who play these games which are clearly the younger videogamers (as a majority), it just reeks of a bad idea to me, but will see.
  • HELL YA
  • @73 The US gets the deals for the following reasons: - Most major software development is done in the US - Laws and paperwork required to do some of these deals outside of the HQ country for these companies probably makes it not worth doing - No one really cares about the PAL region And you know what? US gamers get irked by the cool game and deals that have been happening in Japan for 25 years and never happen here, too. Its not a big deal. Get over it, and if you really want to matter, move to the US.
  • #77 - mostly true, but damn dude that was harsh at the end, lol but as Webb says in the article.... why would they be giving it away if it was worth a horse's ass? i said from the getgo Van Halen didn't have remotely large enough a [gamer] fanbase to support the release. i mean target age for gamers is what, 12-34 or some such (unless you're Nintendo, and then's its old folks), and i'm at the higher end of that range and have zero friends interested in GH: VH, whereas all of them went apeshit over GH Metallica. lesson to activision/neversoft - license bands that gamers actually, you know, listen to for your headliner.
  • Well, Activision is clearly afraid of The Beatles: Rock Band, so they have to try every way possible to catch cosumers. Sorry, Activision but your GH is somewhere in the ice age of rhythm games.
  • fuck im a huge fan of guitar hero games and i was going to pre order GH5 this week at gamestop, but as im in canada i wont get VH for free damn it, plattsburg in the usa is at 2 hours of car from here, if i go buy it there ill get vH for ffree? lol
  • This is killer my favorite band is van halen and i dont really want to wait all up to the 22nd to get. I wasnt really interested in GH5 but i guess ill get it now
  • ok, people bout beatles rock band. "guitar hero is afraid of rock band so theyre giving stuff for free" umm. no? guitar hero has made a lot of games as a mass process. i dont think theyre scared of some beatles rock band, which by the way beatles isnt even a good band for a rock band game idea.
  • VAN HALEN SUCKS
  • @83 You're right, The Beatles: Rock Band isn't a good idea, it's a great idea! For one, it's one of the most popular bands ever, so many people will be interested in playing it. It has a fan base of all ages, it will be a great party game, and not everybody is looking for the most difficult game ever. I have beaten every Guitar Hero/Rock Band game on Expert (besides Smash Hits because I haven't gotten it from GameFly yet), but am much more happy with a band that I love than just a bunch of challenging songs i.e. GH: Metallica. I couldn't stand that game because I am not a Metallica fan, still beat expert though. Sure, it was challenging, but that doesn't mean it was fun.
  • GUNS N' ROSES GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Rock Band: The Beatles is the must buy game of the year? I much rather have Guitar Hero: Van Halen then play and sing a bunch of dated old-folk's tunes. That said I don't like the tracks on GH5 either.
  • omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg thank god i already pre-ordered the game cant wait until septembr 1st fml oh man cant wait o man cant wait good stuff guitar hero idc about van helan wntil now so fml
  • Meh pass.
  • I have been consistently intrigued by the new features reported for GH 5 and this latest piece of news mean that I will be buying it. I might even get a new guitar controller.
  • I doing this.
  • Im more into a rock band.....but hey i might look into this game.
  • @36 Fuck You. @Topic Awesome. Have to buy day of release now! Awesome!!!!
  • lol @85 ur trying to impress people by saying u beat every games on expert? metallica is load better than beatles fuck off fool lol
  • and for the peoples who are telling that they are giving away GH:VH because activision is afraid of beatles i just laugh at you i think its mostly because everybody is saying " ahh they make new GH every month and we have to buy every games 70$ why they dont bring on huge DLC's " well if you buy GH5 and they give VH its a deal about this problem. 70$ for 2 GH games is rly reasonnable for me
  • So us who buy GH5 still wont get GH VH until Dec 22, 2009 right? Wow the RB & GH topics sure get alot of whiners
  • Still fail as far as RB is concerned. Yet again we (Guitar Hero fanbase) get more satisfying news updates while RB.... yeah you see where I'm going with that one. With the new Band Hero and LEGO hero, those games are solely based for the younger generation... I will pity any 20+ year old while they play with their Lego men and guitars. roflcoptor
  • hmmm free Guitar Hero Van Halen? Pass
  • Thats awesome I love Van Halen...and the Beatles are overrated...they were good but nothing amazing
  • Everyone knew after guitar hero 3 was done this game went to hell with the whole band to work on they left out the whole point of the origanal games the guitar and if they have to pull this sales pitch to grap people into "Another" shitty instalment of the series then you know its tanking in the past 3 years they have made at least 8 games just throwing them im sorry even though i am a very strong guitar hero fan they have gone to far
  • I normally try to avoid commenting in news articles mainly because 90% of the comments are trash, today's example is a whopping 95%. Congrats guys. Activision is not "afraid" of RB: Beatles. They are doing what they can to get people to choose GH5 because otherwise money is going to their competitor- which they don't want. It's a marketing strategy, and a good one at that. Too bad fanboys are incapable of recognising that or any other sort of reason. And WOW @ 98. You're going to "pass" on a free game? Are you retarded? Even if you didn't want to play it at all, you could always sell it. Wait, what am I talking about? Nothing makes sense in fanboy land. Sorry, continue on
  • i would totally get that. but i'm not american. FUCK!!!!
  • still dont give a fuck
  • Haha, VH sucks and sales must be/going in the toilet. Props for 2 games for the price of one though. It's a good deal, one that would be better if the games weren't garbage though. @101 Companies don't just give incentives to "give back", they are sweating RB Beatles or they wouldn't worry about losing sales to them, thus the pack in. The only problem is it's a shit game packed in! Go ahead and buy GH5 at retail and then get your $8 on ebay for GH VH. /clap It's funny that everything is US only though, must suck to be the rest of the world. Most of the people will play it though, myself included, but I'll be waiting until it's dirt cheap, GH isn't worth $60 anymore.
  • Haha 36 is legend. No one wants to be American coz then they would be retarded lol. Bring on GH: Arctic Monkeys. English bands ftw, infact anything English ftw :) xx
  • Ya this is a decent deal if you are American and must have GH5 at launch. If it's not a must have wait it out and pick up GH5 for cheaper and Van Halen for >$10 like Aerosmith.
  • Thats about the only way I would take GH:VH. Van Halen sucks, easily one of the,if not the worst band in history.
  • Thats sucks i wish i was there i would get it free and straight away trade it in.
  • Sounds quite a good deal though. But why does America get all gaming stuff better/cheaper!
  • Jup, also going for "the beatles". Van Halen who? Guitar Hero Red Hot Chili Peppers! or Guitar Hero As I lay dying would be 100times better! :)
  • #110 > YEA AS I LAY DYING! Wauw only US :(
  • This is a great deal if you like Van Halen. However, I'm fairly sure I wouldn't shed one tear if Van Halen suddenly got sucked into a black hole. So I don't think I can really justify the purchase!
  • Activision is NOT desperate, nor are they tanking... any guitar hero game they make is bound to be in the best sellers list. I think the only reason they are doing this is because they are forseeing GH:VH as being an epic fail, so they are bundling it with GH5 to boost sales for the game they really care about. I decided to stop picking sides between rock band and guitar hero. I love both franchises, and I don't care how many games they make, I will buy/rent every game they make.
  • Beatles > Van Halen
  • WOW! The game isen't even out yet and already they know thats the only way they'll get people to play GH: Van Halen :-P
  • @ #114 Beatles < Van Halen. American FTW!
  • COOLZ!!!!!
  • I'm not gonna get either, even though I live in the USA. I'm not spending anymore money on horrible Activision-developed Guitar Hero/rhythm games. Especially since GH5 has just a few songs I actually like and I've never been that close with Van Halen music.
  • That is hilarious. I decided to buy GH5 when I found I could import from GHWT and Smash Hits, this just expedites the process. Even with all that, I'm still looking forward to Beatles: Rock Band far more. Now I just get to sell a used copy of Van Halen back to Gamestop.
  • Beatles > van halen? The beatles bore me to death.
  • GH went downhill after HMX stopped developing it, RB is the superior series regarding available music. I agree with many who say Beatles doesn't seem a particularly exciting choice, I imagine the songs will be too easy and therefore not particularly fun. Bring on something worthwhile like RB:GN'R (What I really wanna see is RB C&C's Neverender, that would rock). I feel like i've been quite even handed here so i'll finish by saying GH can go suck a bag of di*ks
  • I'll download them anyway
  • Sweet I was on the fence about both games, now I might have to look into it. I am betting that the "specially marked boxes" will only be the full set with all the instruments and not just the standalone game disc. Oh well, I wanted to get the drums anyway, my RB1 drums are starting to crap out.
  • What a great deal. I'd absolutely use that offer if I lived in the US.
  • i really could care less about guitar hero 5. but seeing that VAN HALEN IS MY ALL TIME FAVORITE BAND!!!!! (and i was gonna just buy van halen) its basically for me like buying van halen and getting gh5 free, so why not
  • Does it matter if I buy the disc itself or the guitar bundle? Because I like this offer, but only plan on getting the GH5 disc
  • As a child of the 80's the free van halen giveaway is enough to convince me to purchase GH5!! woh woh woh #107's cryin!!!
  • ughh GH 5 is garbage i wouldnt get these games if they were pre-owned at £5 each, waste of money rather get other INTRESTING games which are actually good
  • Yay! Beatles Rock Band will be awesome! ...yes, I know, this is an article about Guitar Hero, but frankly, I stopped playing after III. Rock Band all the way!
  • @104: I never said Activision was giving away VH to "give back" to us, we all know they don't give a shit about us. But what they do care about is us buying their game over EA's, and this deal does a stellar job accomplishing that. And once again, I'm 100% sure Activision isn't "sweating" Rock Band: Beatles. FYI, GH has always outsold RB. RB has GH pwned in the DLC area, but as for hard copies sold GH is the clear and obvious winner. And that's not going to change with the RB:B And it's funny you should mention Ebay. No doubt fans will pay much more than retail price for an advance copy of the game, so I don't know where your $8 figure came from. Out your ass is my assumption, which makes sense because that seems to be where the rest of your comment came from as well.waiting until it
  • Finally, you're right, a GH game is not worth $60. Actually, neither is Rock Band or most other games available. But two brand new GH's for $60? Yeah, that's worth it.
  • all americans are stupid moronic rednecks who don't know how too spell properly and can't understand that they are basically english anyway
  • #132, I'm American. Show me my spelling errors in the following message please. Anyway, I just went to my local GameStop and asked the front desk dude about this deal and he said he has never heard of it. The only thing he heard of was Van Halen becoming an expansion pack for GH5, so what's up with this deal? Did it just not get to the GameStops yet or is my GameStop stupid? (Where are my errors The Guava Man since you are such a genius and gramatical wiz?)
  • Hopefully something like this comes to canada
  • if you already preordered gh5, do u still get van halen, cause i preordered it a good month ago...
  • U.S only? what bullshit. If anything it should be north America only. We Canadian's mooch off America so much we should be considered part of the damn country, so I don't see why Activision doesn't expand their business ventures up here. Hell, If i knew I could get GH:VH for free just by buying GH5 I would have bought the damn game already.
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