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Destructoid Gauntlet week one winners announced!

11:23 PM on 10.31.2008, Niero 58 comments

Destructoid Gauntlet week one winners announced! photo
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First of all, how's about a hand for Cyberpower and Intel? We're lucky to have companies sponsoring our community activies.  It really is going above and beyond the call of duty to provide over $10,000 worth of prizes and made this great tournament possible.  Check out their products if you're in the market for a fast gaming PC ... and tell them we sent you. Golf claps all around!

Alright, now for the fun part: announcing the winners.

The first match was brutally competitive -- monitoring and ultimately judging the winners of this contest became tricky due to all of the hacking out in the open that took place, some forms of it more amusing than others. I can't say we've ever seen that before on Destructoid, but we do appreciate the enthusiasm towards winning these great computers at the risk of being permabanned for life. There was no shortage of that! Regardless, I hope everyone had fun with it anyway and improved their Tanked-Up skills overall. Special thanks to Nitrome for lending us their games.

So who won it?  How did we judge it?  Hit the jump to find out!

A FLASH FINISH IN THE COMMENTS

Congratulations to Tim48o, Wedge, Meep Jeep, -H-, and Reaprar -- the top five consecutively (and legitimately) high-scoring players before things got "interesting".  It's hard to tell which one of these guys was on top at the last minute, so we'll do a tiebreaker in the comments below. The first three to comment will win $300, $150, and $50 respectively and seats in the final tournament. If you know one of these guys I'd get them on the phone right now, as two are about to be eliminated!  Exciting, isn't it?

But wait, there's more!  The top five score hackers will also receive a supply of HACKS cough drops and Dtoid stickers: Congrats Dyslexic, RedRabbit, Blacksheep, KamikazeTutor, Weirs for coming clean on the hacks. Special thanks to our matlocking unofficial IRC crew, too!

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

Among all the hacking attempts one stood out:  a way to win the contest without reverse-engineering the actual game file, interrupting server communications, or altering the system's short-term memory, thus technically not breaking our contest rules. A white-hat hacker (name withheld by request) took the time to write in and detailed an external software tool that enthusiasts use to bring their computer's CPU clock to a grind, allowing a player to complete any part of a game through artificial slow-motion.  Both flash games and retail games (not involving a live multiplayer match or time-based session) are vulnerable to this tool, so unless we're sitting there over everyone's shoulders we're not likely able to catch these guys in the act. Obviously, that changed things and will affect the tournament going forward.

You have to laugh -- isn't it ironic that a tournament giving away hyper-fast computers could be gamed best by emulating the slowest computer possible? 

 

NEW WEEK, NEW GAMES

We've listened to community feedback closely and I believe we've come up with a great solution:  Since the various hacks are nearly impossible to monitor across a few thousand players in real time we've decided to change things up a bit for the next two rounds.

1. Simply play the tournament, get your score in, and random winners will be selected to win cash prizes. 

2. Winners from each match will move to the final match which will may be played in a ladder or deathmatch but absolutely skill based: a PC game that allows multiple Dtoid judges to monitor and record activities in real time. Could I be more intentionally vague? Hint: It requires a keyboard and mouse!

 

WHAT'S NEXT?

Look for a new game early next week and more random prizes like Intel Quad-Core Processors to be issued out next week just for playing the game and submitting a score.

Can you guess what it will be?  Check out Nitrome's web site for a hint!


Next page: More cyberpower pc stories




godkow's Avatar
godkow at 10/31/2008 23:20
Let's see who wins the tie breaker.
Aerox's Avatar
Aerox at 10/31/2008 23:21
Yay Wedge!
Wedge's Avatar
Wedge at 10/31/2008 23:21
OMG I <3 YOU AEROX
godkow's Avatar
godkow at 10/31/2008 23:22
Well, that settles that.
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 10/31/2008 23:23
Congrats guys, if I knew any of you, I'd totally call right now.
A New Challenger's Avatar
A New Challenger at 10/31/2008 23:23
I have this mental image of Niero absolutely frazzled while typing a bunch of stuff and unplugging and replugging wires in all week, dashing around the room, making notes on a whiteboard, trying to figure out how this thing was going to play out moving forward. More likely he sat around with a beer in hand calmly typing out emails.

Oh and congrats to everybody.
bruceleethree's Avatar
bruceleethree at 10/31/2008 23:33
Meep Jeep wins another random draw? Hmm suspcious time.
king3vbo's Avatar
king3vbo at 10/31/2008 23:38
Congrats Wedge!
Eschatos's Avatar
Eschatos at 10/31/2008 23:39
Fuck, I forgot to enter.
Mxyzptlk's Avatar
Mxyzptlk at 10/31/2008 23:42
Grats to the winners, the hackers who came clean, and especially to Niero and the rest of the Destructoid staff for handling the entire situation so well.
Shin Oni's Avatar
Shin Oni at 10/31/2008 23:46
Hopefully the next 2 games won't be so tier breaking with who has the best computers. Cause i'd like to win some free money without having to spend money for a computer when i'm trying to win one.
Atlas's Avatar
Atlas at 10/31/2008 23:49
can I win? I was around tenth before the going got tough.
Infinite Obscurity's Avatar
Infinite Obscurity at 10/31/2008 23:51
So the way I understand it, the winners are random now except for the finals? Oh well, at least this gives everyone a fair chance.
Atlas's Avatar
Atlas at 10/31/2008 23:53
Kidding, I'm just a materialistic whore blindly flailing at Destructoid for child labour built products and an ailing currency.
nebones's Avatar
nebones at 11/01/2008 00:08
gratz
pedrovay2003's Avatar
pedrovay2003 at 11/01/2008 00:09
MEEP JEEP?!?

Good Lord, at least it was a legitimate win. I swear he's a legend now.
Shin Oni's Avatar
Shin Oni at 11/01/2008 00:12
is that even the same meep jeep?

I figured it was someone who named himself that, put a space, and CAPPED their name.
Wedge's Avatar
Wedge at 11/01/2008 00:19
Good point, could be a joke account. In any case, there's only 3 winner spots, and nobody else has claimed them yet...
bluexy's Avatar
bluexy at 11/01/2008 00:24
Cheers folks :D It was a lot of fun even as the game changed. Regular game, game with glitches, game with fancy hacks.

Cash winners, start a community contest and share the wealth :D!
Danmartigan's Avatar
Danmartigan at 11/01/2008 00:25
alright you guys caught me, my alt account is Tim48o.
Wedge's Avatar
Wedge at 11/01/2008 00:27
I actually sort of need that money, but if I end up winning the main computer thing, I will have an "old" computer I no longer need...
Tubatic's Avatar
Tubatic at 11/01/2008 00:45
lol Meep Jeep. Always around for the contests. I look forward to your introduction post . . . :D

All love though. Get that paper Meep Jeep!
happyorangeman's Avatar
happyorangeman at 11/01/2008 00:48
I kind of like the new rules better. Gives regular players who don't cheat, a chance to win.
mix's Avatar
mix at 11/01/2008 01:17
Congrats guys.......and Meep Jeep......LAWL
MrNiceguy's Avatar
MrNiceguy at 11/01/2008 01:28
ummm for the last game that u guys are going to be monitoring... well it be a game that requires high specs? I have an old celeron d computer, and I don't even know if this thing has a graphics card... I could play games like starcraft though... and counter strike with lags. Anyway plz look out for us econmically challanged, and have a nice day :D.
Oh and conratulations to all the guys that one :D
Sharpless's Avatar
Sharpless at 11/01/2008 01:50
Meep Jeep is someone's alter. I'm calling it, right now. Someone is really damn sneaky and they're using it in these contests and it must be enchanted or something. MEEP JEEP IS A LIE.

Also, I'm all about the random winners. Gimme summa dat.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 11/01/2008 02:05
Good way to handle the situation, and congrats to everyone who won.
Wedge's Avatar
Wedge at 11/01/2008 02:09
Lrn to red Reaprar. You won $150 and a spot in the final tournament. The question is if any of the other 3 will ever comment at all ;P.
electricmole's Avatar
electricmole at 11/01/2008 02:32
congrats. i wonder what are the top 5 best time of the tank game.
MF DOOM's Avatar
MF DOOM at 11/01/2008 03:02
awesome now you can buy more games. I only have enough money to buy one game this year so i got fallout 3. i do not regret it CONGRATS!
UglyDuck's Avatar
UglyDuck at 11/01/2008 05:22
Oh well. It was a nice idea.
Niero's Avatar
Niero at 11/01/2008 07:06
I looked in our database and he's definitely a real person. I'll nudge the other guys
meepjeep's Avatar
meepjeep at 11/01/2008 08:38
woot!
Kiranio's Avatar
Kiranio at 11/01/2008 09:25
Random winners eh. Sounds pretty interesting.
Neonie's Avatar
Neonie at 11/01/2008 09:27
I like the random winner idea anyway, opens it up to more people for the actual prizes.
CarlCastello's Avatar
CarlCastello at 11/01/2008 09:40
Congratulations to the winners and hackers.
Zombutler's Avatar
Zombutler at 11/01/2008 11:08
Haha, Yay! I just bought a new laptop that is asking for some stickers AND I have an illness at the moment that could be remedied with cough drops. I love destructoid.
Transbot's Avatar
Transbot at 11/01/2008 11:09
Grats to all.
thisissami's Avatar
thisissami at 11/01/2008 11:11
holy shit it's meep jeep again!
thisissami's Avatar
thisissami at 11/01/2008 11:51
also, sorry for double posting but SkyWire 2 is such an addictive game. goddamn nitrome... i have a shitload of homework i have to do!
wardrox's Avatar
wardrox at 11/01/2008 12:25
umm... wut?

brb, warming up sql injection.
dyslixec's Avatar
dyslixec at 11/01/2008 13:18
HAHA WUT I WIN STICKERS?!? HELL YES!
dfielder's Avatar
dfielder at 11/01/2008 13:23
congrats to the winners...and the hackers ha!

Thank-you Destructoid!
exodus1925's Avatar
exodus1925 at 11/01/2008 13:53
Golf claps all round!
The Grudge's Avatar
The Grudge at 11/01/2008 17:50
Congrats to all I guess. Thanks for all the hard work there Niero.
-H-'s Avatar
-H- at 11/01/2008 18:17
too late maybe
-H-'s Avatar
-H- at 11/01/2008 18:21
and I tried hard.... hehehe
Tim48o's Avatar
Tim48o at 11/01/2008 19:06
OH nooo. Post it as soon as i get knee high in Fallout3. I was doomed from the beignning
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