Aha, it’s all becoming clearer now. Activision’s oddly desperate-looking promotion to give away Guitar Hero: Van Halen to anyone who bought Guitar Hero 5 in September is starting to look a little more nuanced than it first appeared. 5Frets reports that copies of Van Halen are showing up in players’ mailboxes already — nearly three months before the game is due to arrive in stores.

Given that actually signing up for a copy required a fairly complicated process with what I expect was a fairly low participation rate (think mail-in rebate), this is looking more like a daring marketing drive and less like “We need to get these discs out of our warehouses no matter the cost.”

Hit the link for pics of the package and a few in-game shots, and see here for the full Guitar Hero: Van Halen setlist.

[Read, via Kotaku]