As Jeff proved yesterday, it's always a good idea to bring some kind of photo-capable device with you whenever there's a trip to the Best Buy--with a building that big and an economy this bad, you're bound to find something worth snapping. During a recent, and as I recall, fruitless trip to secure a few new releases, we stumbled upon a special Call of Duty: World at War box set that I'm pretty sure neither Activision nor Paramount sent out press releases for.
Yup, that's Call of Duty: World at War, bundled up with Enemy at the Gates. There's a pretty clear thematic link between the two, so I can't fault the logic of the pairing. Most interesting to me is how a quick check on Best Buy's website reveals this value-added bundle to be the same price as a standalone copy of World at War. Sorry Jude Law and Joseph "Not Ralph" Fiennes! Your gritty WWII epic is now a loss-leader for someone else's. Not far from that Call of Duty promo rack, I found another awesome pairing of video game plus DVD that Best Buy really needs to get out of its warehouses.
As hard as I tried to obscure it with my shaky photography, hopefully it's still apparent that you're looking at Soldier of Fortune: Payback and the David Caruso classic First Blood. While I didn't see it in the store, Best Buy's website also has a listing for the totally-not-jokingly titled Ultimate Modern Warfare Box Set featuring Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and the Owen Wilson/Gene Hackman tragedy Behind Enemy Lines. I think the only parts of The Ultimate Modern Warfare Box Set that apply to Behind Enemy Lines are "The" and "Box." Hey, at least it's not Behind Enemy Lines II.
It's a pretty transparent effort to move old stock of slow-moving DVDs by pairing it with stuff that actually sells, but I gotta give props to whoever's doing the pairing. I'd like to see it start getting a little more high-concept, though. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows plus one of the Spider-Man movies would be way too obvy, but howsabout a bundle with The Net? Gears of War 2 and Brokeback Mountain? Mirror's Edge and Blow? What movies would you like to see bundled with today's hot video game releases?