Buy Gears of War 3 From Blockbuster and Get Free Rentals

In one of the more interesting efforts to get people to start using their service, Blockbuster has decided to give those who walk into their stores and purchase Gears of War 3 a whole month of free in-store video game and movie rentals. Not too shabby if you've got a Blockbuster nearby and haven't picked up Gears 3 yet.

Epic Games must be reeling with the success of Gears of War 3. The final game of the trilogy brings the story to a head, and in a great big way. There's a lot to say about it, so be sure to check out our Gears of War 3 review. Downloadable content for Gears 3 has already been announced and will be revolving around secondary characters in the world. Of course, none of this will matter if you don't pick up a copy of Gears of War 3 today. If you don't have it, Blockbuster really wants you to come in, and soon -- the offer ends on October 7, 2011.

Randall Baker, Blockbuster's Senior Buyer of Video Games (what a strange title), doesn't try to play up the "buy Gears 3 from us" angle. That's kind of nice, considering how a lot of retailers want to force players to come into their particular store and purchase from them. More details on the free rental offer can be made available at your local Blockbuster outfit.

Here's the official word from Baker:

“We want to get back on gamers’ radars with a promo that packs a punch. Gears of War 3 is certainly one of the biggest games of the year, but players may want to take a breather from fighting alongside Delta Squad every now and then. We’re giving them nearly unlimited entertainment options for those spare minutes.”

Just in case you want to take a break from impaling Lambent with a Retro Lancer, or if you just want to get away from the destruction for a little bit and take in a fancy foreign film like In The Mood For Love, Blockbuster is willing to make that happen for you. In fact, why not pick up a fancy foreign film, given that video games are starting to become a much more involved storytelling medium and might even take over?

Of course, there's a high probability that Blockbuster's number crunchers weighed the pros and cons of handing out free rental vouchers (or however they are implementing the system) with each copy of Gears 3. The overhead will probably end up being more than manageable. Think of it this way: if you haven't pre-ordered Gears 3, what's different about buying it at, say, Wal-Mart and getting nothing, or going to Blockbuster and getting free video game and movie rentals for a month? Seems like that decision can be made on its own.

Gears of War 3 is available now for Xbox 360.

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