Blip Festival, a celebration of all things chiptunes music, is happening this December 17 through the 19 at the Bell House in Brooklyn, New York. This is the fourth year Blipfest is taking place and it's thanks to the people at The Tank and 8bitpeoples that the annual concert goes down. The three day concert will feature many popular chiptune artists such as Bit Shifter, Disasterpeace, Figher X, Nullsleep and many more.

We have two, three-day passes to giveaway to this year's show and in order to win a ticket, we want to hear about your favorite chiptune song. Leave a comment below linking us to your favorite chiptune track and tell us why you like that song. We'll be picking the two best comments to give the tickets away to.

You have until Sunday 29 11:59 CDT to enter the contest. Contest is open worldwide but keep in mind that you are responsible for your own travel and accommodations if you're planning on going. Have at it!

First thing's first -- Zipper Interactive has announced that its beta program for the massive online PlayStation 3 exclusive shooter MAG has been extended. It was originally scheduled to end on November 23, but that's so last week.

"MAG Beta 4 program" will continue this week, and the next phase -- "MAG Beta 4.5" -- will re-launch on November 24 with another small download. What that means exactly is unclear, but if you've already pre-ordered MAG with GameStop, you should have received a beta key that will work throughout the beta. (You should still be able to pre-order online and get your working code; Zipper says in-store keys will "no longer support" the beta.")

Want a key? Well, we have 100 keys to give away today. To win, simply comment and tell us which of the game's private military factions you'll join when you sign up and why. You can get more info on the factions from our earlier preview of the game. 

We'll choose our 100 favorite answers (starting at around 5:00pm Eastern), and message you your key using Destructoid's new private messaging system (which is also in beta). Good luck! 

[Update: The contest is closed, and I'm currently choosing winners and then private messaging the winners. Keep an eye out; I'll update when all codes have been sent out. Since I'm doing this by hand and I'm one man, please give me time to organize and send out codes. Thanks!]

Well, are you? We want you to take a picture of yourself in front of whatever Naruto product you own. Whether it be clothing, DVDs, videogames -- even taking a picture of yourself in front of a computer screen with something from Naruto on it is fine. Whatever picture you take, it must have something Naruto related in the image and there has to be some kind of sign or image that says Destructoid.com. No photo editing is allowed unless you want to create an animated gif.

You have until Sunday, November 22 11:59PM CST to submit your photo in the comments below. Contest is open to US residents only. We'll be picking the six biggest Naruto fans who will each be receiving this prize pack courtesy of Tomy Corporation:

One copy of Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 (Wii), one limited edition Naruto Shippuden Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 T-shirt, one Naruto Headband and Naruto chopsticks. The grand prize winner will also be scoring himself an exclusive one-of-a-kind framed poster featuring Anbu Kakashi, the final unlockable character in Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 which is out in stores this week for the Wii.

Make sure you use BBCode when submitting your photo ([img]picturename.jpg[/img] and that the image is no wider than 620 pixels. Good luck!

Welcome to another 24 hour contest! This time, we're giving away For the Glory - A Europa Universalis Game for the PC. For the Glory is a historical real time strategy game that spans from the years 1419 to 1819. Build up troops, take over countries -- do to the world what you will. Plus, the game was developed by a team within the Paradox fan community. Neat! You can get more info on the 32-player game after the break.

To win one of the five codes we're offering, you just simply need to leave a comment saying "Give me For the Glory!" You can comment as many times as you would like, you just have to wait for three other people to leave a comment before you can enter again. Deadline to enter is 11:59 CDT tonight and the contest is open worldwide! Good luck!

[Update: Codes have been given out!]

Military Madness: Nectaris is a 3D turn-based game from Hudson Entertainment. It's been out for Xbox Live Arcade since September and it finally came over to the PlayStation Network last week. The above video will give you a taste of what to expect from this strategy game. 

You can go spend some of your hard earned dough on the game, or you can possibly win a code for Military Madness right here on Destructoid. Simply submit a comment below with the name of a war that has taken place (a real historical war or a fictional war from games/movies/etc) and what platform you would like Military Madness for. 

Yup, it's that easy. You have until 12:00AM CDT tonight to leave your entry below. You can enter as many times as you would like, but you have to wait for at least three other people to submit their entry before you can comment again. We'll be randomly selecting five winners to give the one PSN and four XBLA codes for Military Madness. Contest is open to everyone. Good luck!

[Update: Codes have been given out! Check your e-mail to see if you're a winner!]

The Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta begins tomorrow for PlayStation 3 owners! The beta is made up of one map, one mode and supports 24 players. Read my preview to get more info on what you can expect from the beta. 

EA has been giving out beta codes all over the Internet and now it's time for Destructoid to give out some invites! Just leave a comment below saying "I want to join the Bad Company!" You can enter as many times as you'd like, but you have to let at least three other people comment before you can enter again.

We have 11 codes to giveaway and comments number 2, 50, 76, 100, 249, 255, 300, 501, 600, 850 and 1,000 will each get a code. Contest is open to everyone!

_{[Note: If the selected comment doesn't say the required answer, prize will default to the next person who comments correctly.]}

[Update: Codes have been given out. If you didn't win a code, it's because you didn't follow the rules!]

The final day of our A Boy & His Blob contest is upon us! Our winners so far are MoX, Tragy and Justice! I need shipping addresses for you all, so please use Destructoid's brand new frontpage PM system to send me your details. Hit the "Inbox" button at the top of the page.

We have one last copy of A Boy & His Blob, plus a sexy art book, to give away. Yesterday we wanted 1,500 copies in exchange for the prize. I think you know what we want this time. That's right, the one who gets the 3,000th comment will win! Wait, what? Shouldn't it be 2,000? Yes, yes, it should ... BUT IT'S NOT! Epic comment thread GET!

Remember, These games will be PAL version. Yes, while most of our contests unfortunately exclude Europeans, this contest will be shipping prizes from the UK! European readers finally get some payback! If you're in the US, you can still enter, but be warned that the game won't work on an NTSC Wii. Enter at your own risk.

You can comment as many times as you like, so feel free to increase your chances!

The first person to get to post 3,000 (who has not yet won) wins! Good luck!

It's day three of the big, fat, wobbly, sexy, delicious, erotic A Boy & His Blob giveaway. Yet another day brings yet another copy of the game, plus a delightful art book, which we shall award to a lucky reader who can prove he's handy with the F5 key.

Tragy took yesterday's prize. I'll be collecting shipping details at the end of the week, so stick around on Friday for that! Once again, the bar's being raised for the third prize. Yesterday you needed 1,000 comments. Now you need 1,500. The poster of the 1,500th comment (who hasn't won yet, of course), will get a copy of A Boy & His Blob, plus an art book.

Remember, These games will be PAL version. Yes, while most of our contests unfortunately exclude Europeans, this contest will be shipping prizes from the UK! European readers finally get some payback! If you're in the US, you can still enter, but be warned that the game won't work on an NTSC Wii. Enter at your own risk.

You can comment as many times as you like, so feel free to increase your chances!

First to 1,500 wins! Good luck!

Day two of our big A Boy & His Blob competition begins! Yesterday you all contested for a copy of A Boy & His Blob plus a kick-ass art book, with MoX becoming the 500th poster and snagging a prize. I'll be collecting mailing addresses at the end of the week, so stay tuned for that.

Yesterday we gave a prize to the 500th commenter. As promised, we're upping the ante. You managed to clear 500 posts no problem. Now we want 1,000. The winner of the 1,000th post (no double entries, sorry MoX) will walk away with yet another copy of the game and art book.

Remember, These games will be PAL version. Yes, while most of our contests unfortunately exclude Europeans, this contest will be shipping prizes from the UK! European readers finally get some payback! If you're in the US, you can still enter, but be warned that the game won't work on an NTSC Wii. Enter at your own risk.

You can comment as many times as you like, so feel free to increase your chances!

Get posting. First to 1,000 wins!

Hi gang!

We love giving stuff away on Destructoid, and we know you love getting stuff from us. That's why we're pleased to announce that we have four copies of A Boy & His Blob to give away, as well as a hot art book that will ship with each copy. We're going to give one away a day, and all you have to do is comment.

Here's the very important rub, however. These games will be PAL version. Yes, while most of our contests unfortunately exclude Europeans, this contest will be shipping prizes from the UK! European readers finally get some payback! If you're in the US, you can still enter, but be warned that the game won't work on an NTSC Wii. Enter at your own risk.

You can comment as many times as you like, so feel free to increase your chances!

Entry is simple! I'll give a prize to whomever posts the 500th comment on this article. Tomorrow, I'll be upping the comment ante, and the next day, you'll have to climb even higher post counts to win. Somehow this makes it more exciting! So yeah, for today's chance to win, keep posting until we hit 500 comments! Simple as that.

Enjoy!

We're a week away from the launch of one of the year's most highly anticipated releases, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. So what better way to celebrate the release of the game than by having a contest?

First up, if you didn't know, GameStop has been giving away daily prizes for Modern Warfare 2 for a little while now. All you have to do is pre-order the game from GameStop and then enter their sweepstakes over on Surprize Attack, where they're holding raffles twice a day. There are a ton of prizes being offered, from CoD dog tags and shirts to CoD-themed Hummer. Yeah, a freaking car! The GameStop contest ends on November 10.

If you already pre-ordered Modern Warfare 2 from somewhere else, though, don't worry: Destructoid's got your back. We're holding a big Modern Warfare 2 contest this week, with these prizes:

• First place: The Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Console with a copy of Modern Warfare 2.
• Second and third place: A copy of Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360).
• Fourth and fifth place: A $50 GameStop gift card.

All you have to do to enter this contest is to create a perk you would like to see appear in a Call of Duty game. It can be funny, serious -- anything goes. Just make sure you describe your perk in detail when you leave your entry in the comments below. One entry per person only!

Perks, if you don't know, are customizations you can give yourself in multiplayer that give the player an extra advantage, such as increase the damage you give, increase your reload speed, drop grenades when you die and so on.

This contest is open until 11:59 PM EST on November 10, and it's for US residents only. We'll be announcing the five winners on November 11. Now have at it!

[Winners were announced here!]

We've teamed up with Namco Bandai to giveaway some great Magnacarta 2 prizes. Over on the official page for Magnacarta 2, you can win an art book, battle atlas and a Magnacarta 2 Xbox 360 themed faceplate. Over here on Destructoid, we're giving away six copies of the game away for the Xbox 360.

All you need to do to win the game is create a funny image with a photo editing program using one or all of the pictures from the gallery below. Whatever you create, try to keep it safe for work and post it in the comments below. The funniest and/or most creative image creation will win Magnacarta 2.

You have until November 8 to submit a photo and this contest is open to US residents only. Good luck!

[Update! The Magnacarta 2 contest on the official site is now live! Just register on the site and you'll get entered in the contest where you can win one of ten prize sets made up of an art book, battle atlas and Xbox 360 themed faceplate.]

What the world needs is more fishing games and less violent first-person shooters. Take my good friend and Dtoid community member, SnakeDude4life. The screeching sounds of gunfire and the metal dings of bouncing grenades are now silenced by the long hours of relaxing Bass fishing. This poor boy's mind has been polluted and deranged with violent video games and next-generation graphics of death and destruction. Luckily for you and him, it's nothing that hours of daily therapy with Bass Pro Shops: The Strike can't heal.

Let me help you help yourself.

Be the 200th comment and you too can begin the healing process of scraping away the thousands of hours of mental strain that's caked onto your feeble gaming mind. Here's your chance to win the ultimate therapeutic package! We'll ship one lucky winner, Bass Pro Shops: The Strike for the Xbox 360 including the "rod & reel" fishing-rod peripheral. All it takes is admitting you have a problem.

Do yourself a favor, bring out your inner SnakeDude4life, and be the 200th comment. Good luck!

[Update: After resorting to some desperate measures, entrager wins!]

Halloween puts me in a good mood every year -- a whole holiday just dedicated to being scared. It's like heaven to me! The folks over at FEARnet know how I feel, and they provide the kind of horror goodness I love 24 hours a day. So when they said they wanted to do a giveaway on Destructoid, well, I was pretty down for it.

To celebrate what they call FEARtober (look after the jump for more details on that), they have given us a huge Grand Prize to give away, which includes an 80GB PS3, a copy of Fallout 3, Resistance 2, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and a signed poster from the cast of Fear Clinic, which is FEARnet's newest online series. That ought to keep you busy inbetween passing out candy to trick-or-treaters!

We will also choose five first prize winners who will get one game of their choice from a limited selection (Fallout 3 (PS3), Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (PS3), Resistance 2 (PS3), Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360) or Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)) and a signed posted as well. In other words, six total chances to win, and the contest is open to all countries. So what do you have to do to win this stuff?

Hit the jump to go to the comments and tell me what you think the best horror game of all time is and why. As you may have gathered from my choice of header picture, mine is Silent Hill 2. I'd tell you why, but I'm not eligible to win so I'll leave it to you! If you want to write an essay, a song, make a video, whatever, feel free to do it. The contest runs through November 2nd at midnight EST. Good luck -- this seems like a good reason to replay some old favorite horror games, doesn't it?

[Update: Winners were announced here!]

Critter Crunch is a puzzle game on the PlayStation Network where you have to solve puzzles and vomit into your children's mouths in order to feed them. Yup. Best game concept ever.

Capybara Games have given us some Critter Crunch codes, shirts (you'll be able to pick the size and color) and this signed print art to giveaway so we've decided to take the barfing aspect of Critter Crunch and apply it into our Critter Crunch giveaway. All you have to do to win is take a picture of yourself throwing up. Important: DO NOT ACTUALLY TAKE A PICTURE OF YOURSELF REALLY THROWING UP! Real barf pictures will be immediately taken down and you will not be eligible to win. Instead, we're looking for pictures of you throwing up random objects. LEGOs, batteries, bowling balls -- whatever you think would make for a funny picture.

The picture you take should contain the word Destructoid.com in there somewhere and no photoshopping is allowed. You have until November 1 to submit your photo and we'll be announcing the five winners on November 2. Contest open to US and Canadian residents only! Submit your pictures in the comments below and good luck! 

Update: Capybara and the artist behind the character art for Critter Crunch, Nick “Qiqo” Stephan, made Destructoid some very special custom art. Yes, that is Biggs barfing up a shark barfing up a cheetah with laser eyes. The grand prize winner will now also be receiving a print of this amazing drawing. 

[Update: Winners of the contest were announced]

Armored Core 3 Portable was released last week for the PSP and we plan to have a review of the game up sometime next week. In the mean time, we have five copies of Armored Core 3 Portable to giveaway and all you have to do to win a code is leave a comment below telling us your favorite robot, android or cyborg.

Comments 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 will each win Armored Core 3 Portable. You can comment as many times as you’d like but you can’t use the same robot twice. The contest is open to everyone and will last until we get 500 comments. 

Go go go!

[Update! aeqe, ran24, ThunderHeartXI, Alexander Berlingieri and Aaron St Croix have each won a code for Armored Core 3 Portable.]

Update:  Today is the last day to enter the raffle.  Good luck!

A wise young man at PAX once asked me: "Why the hell is it so hard to meet up and play with people on Dtoid?" Good question! So we got to work and today I'm proud to unveil the new version of our community gaming meetup thing.  Try out Destructoid meetup+play!

How it works: We pick a handful of the most popular games on PC and consoles.  You add them to your Dtoid profile and set what timezone and times you're usually up for an online game. People can then see what games you own and you can send them a private message to meet up. You can even score the results of the match if you want to play competitively, and each PM gives links to your personal private chat room to facilitate meetup communication without compromising your privacy.

Try it out for a chance to win sick Vigor gaming PCs. 

We'll enter your name in a raffle for $1,500 gaming PC just for adding your games and sending one request to play.  Next week the most active players will be invited to a private meetup against Dtoid editors to compete for gaming prizes for Intel, including a beastly $5,000 PC courtesy of Vigor Gaming.  Don't you wish all beta tests worked like this?

Academy of Champions: Soccer is an upcoming over-the-top arcade style soccer game by way of Ubisoft. It's set to offer a ton of features and also stars legendary soccer star Pele along with Mia Hamm.

Academy of Champions: Soccer is out on November 3 and to promote the game, Ubisoft sent us four Academy of Champions themed soccer balls signed by Mia Hamm herself. In order to win one of the four soccer balls, you'll need to write a haiku in the comments below that's related to soccer and videogames. You can write about anything, so long as it involves soccer and videogames and it has to follow the five/seven/five syllable rule.

The four best/funniest haikus will win a soccer ball. You have until Thursday, October 29 to submit your haiku and this contest is only open to US residents. Good luck!

Kia's latest car, the Kia Forte Koup, is the first coupe in its class to include MP3/USB connectivity as well as Bluetooth connectivity standard on all models. Kia really wants gamers to be aware of these new features that they're offering so they've teamed up with Destructoid to give away a 120GB PlayStation 3 Slim and $25 gift card to one lucky commenter.

All you have to do in order to be entered in the raffle is install this Speed Racing app onto your Facebook. Then, get yourself a car, race against Kia Motorsports or a friend and publish your win onto your Facebook newsfeed. After you've won a race, leave a comment below with a screencap of your feed showing that you've completed a race.

This contest is open until October 26 and you can enter once a day until then. We'll be picking a random commenter and announce the winner the following day. This contest is only open in the U.S. (sorry international folks!)

[Update: Here's who won the PS3 Slim and $25 gift card]

So maybe you didn't win the Alienware laptop you were hoping for from our Shiaya contest, and you were down about it. That is totally okay -- because I'm about to give you the chance to win another one. In fact, our newest contest gives you the chance not only to win a beautiful Samsung Netbook (see specs after the jump), but we also have an 8GB iPod Nano and a 4GB iPod Shuffle for you too. Good prizes are good!

So here's what you do to get a chance to win them: head over to Redbana.com and make an account with "Dtoid" at the beginning of the name. For example, I would make the username "DtoidColette". To get a chance at these prizes, create a character in the free-to-play dance game Audition and get it to level three. Once you get there, you've entered the contest. Easy as can be!

This contest will run through the 28th of October and we will choose three winners. You can enter no matter what country you live in, so don't let that stop you. If you have any questions about this contest, please feel free to contact me at colette@destructoid.com. Good luck to everyone and have fun dancing!

Hopefully by now you've had a chance to check out my little round table with the guys of Gaijin Games and the latest game they have coming: BIT.TRIP Void. We have some more content coming son, which you should certainly pay attention to, especially if you're a fan of wildly artistic and musically driven games of the old school.

But it's not just content you should be excited about! No no no! We've actually got some pretty exciting prizes for you, yes you, the readers of Destructoid. First and foremost, we've got four incredibly high quality prints of concept and promotional artwork fro BIT.TRIP Void. Let me tell you, these stills are really a class act, evoking a style normally not seen for gamers. It's nerd chic at it's best. You could frame them! Hang them in your office! Show them off to friends! Endless possibilities!

But that's not all! We have an awesome t-shirt we're ready to send out, and an extra special prize that we will be announcing later this week. The winner of this contest can expect to be positively assaulted with the polychromatic spectrum of goodies Gaijin Games and Destructoid wants to share with you. So how can you get this prize? Well, make a comment in this thread before we make a random drawing on Friday, and announce the winner!

Do it because you know you want to.

[Update: Here's who won!]

Remember this ridiculously awesome Pokemon shirt that Teextile was selling a couple of months back? Well, lucky for all of you, Teextile still has a few of these limited edition shirts remaining in their possession and they want to give them away to you!

To win one of these shirts, I want to see you draw your own battle animal like the ones on in the design. So for example, here's a giraffe with a missile silo that also has barracudas for legs that I drew. I call him Wariffe. Your drawing doesn't have to be anything fancy. It can be a quick, hand-drawn image that needs to just get the point across. You can also leave a comment with your custom Pokemon idea, but you have a much better chance at winning a shirt by drawing something up.

The contest will run until 11:00PM tomorrow and is only open to US Residents. The five best entries will win one of these T-shirts. Have at it!

[By the way: Today is the day to pick up the Piranha Still Life shirt at a discount!]

I'm not sure how much time you spend staring at a computer screen every day, but I average 8-10 hours if I don't have overtime to do. Long story short, eyestrain and headaches kind of go with the territory. I just figured all I could do was take a break from time to time, but a clever little company called Gunnar Optiks thought of a better concept -- invent glasses that fix the problem.

Founded by Oakley veterans, these glasses may just be able to enhance your gaming experience. Gunnar has recently partnered with Major League Gaming to produce the Legend model, which you can see in the gallery. Valued at $99, Gunnar says these provide "reduced reaction time, improved accuracy, and increased visual endurance". Is it true? Well, there's only one way to find out.

To win a pair for free, simply hit the comments and tell me about the worst headache (or other affliction) that you got from a case of hardcore gaming. Feel free to illustrate with video, pictures and reenactments, such as Rey's amazing parody here. The contest is open to all countries and runs through October 21, ending at midnight EST. As always, if you have any questions, hit me up at colette@destructoid.com. Good luck, everyone!

[Update: Here's who won!]

Ridiculously rare game related items for free? Why yes, this is Destructoid, where we give away things like that on a regular basis. Welcome and thanks for staying. Today, we're going to have a Twitter party (here's how they work if you're new to all this). 

The prize for the winner is the extremely limited Fortune Hunter edition of Uncharted 2, which includes the game, exact in-game replica of the Phurba Dagger Artifact and stand, Collectible Art Book and Collector case autographed by Naughty Dog, plus a host of downloads. If you want an idea what this baby is worth, go look at this eBay listing of one going for over $3000. Yeah, you read that right. We have three t shirts for the runners up, to, so you have four chances to win something free!

To get a chance to win this delicious swag, follow @jim_sterling and @dtoid on Twitter to follow the party. If you want to be in with a chance at win this ultra rare prize, simply get on Twitter and get involved with the discussion while using the #Uncharted2Cinema hashtag. This all gets started at 3 PM CST and goes until 5 PM, so make sure to join in and we'll announce our winners shortly afterwards. The contest is open to US residents only. Good luck, everyone!

It’s no secret that Destructoid has a very special relationship with Nerdcore. So “special,” in fact, that when Nerdcore completed their brand new 2010 calendar they presented us with two choices: 1) We could give away five of the fabulously scandalous calendars to you, our loyal readers, or 2) I could exclusively pose nude for all twelve months in various scenarios, most of which involved me facing the camera with one leg up on a wooden chair. Although I would do anything to further my career in the nude calendar posing business, I decided to think of you all first and declined the second option. You’re welcome.

So, here we are with five wonderfully sexy 2010 Nerdcore calendars to give away. Check out the below gallery for a preview of the some of the (censored) photographs. Needless to say, they are extra hot this year.

This year’s calendar theme is “Horror,” so to win, we want you to take a picture of yourself reenacting your favorite scene from a classic horror movie and post it in the comments. Heck, you can even make it a scene from a horror videogame. As long as it is in the horror genre, anything is game. And, no, you don’t have to do it with your clothes off, but I will say this: the more skin shown, the better. Think of us as the David Letterman of the blogging world.

The contest ends next Monday night (10/12) at 11:59 p.m., so get those entries in as soon as possible! This year’s calendar is a great one, so if even you don’t win, you should purchase one by clicking here. All the proceeds go to a charity to help save abandoned puppies.*

Good luck!

*That is not true at all.

Hey you. Yeah, YOU! Do you want a Wii? Do you want Muramasa: The Demon Blade? You don't to earn free swag by doing very little work? Then pay attention! At 3pm Central today, Destructoid and Ignition are presenting one of our signature Twitter parties, where you can win stuff just by talking about Muramasa.

Prizing will be completely random this time, so the idea will be to Tweet and chat about Muramasa: The Demon Blade as much as possible and use the #muramasawii hashtag. That's ALL you need to do in order to be in with a chance. The party will be led by @Dtoid, @Muramasawii and of course, @Jim_Sterling. Make sure you're following up to be in with a chance. Winners will be notified via DM.

Party starts at 3pm and ends at 5pm. Prizing will include the aforementioned Wii, a copy of the game, a saucy T-shirt or an exclusive wall scroll! Right now I'm trying to confirm whether or not international readers are eligible for prizing. I will confirm via Twitter as soon as I know anything. 

Okay then, see you all on Twitter and the very best of luck!

Yes, it's time once again for one of our patented Destructoid Twitter parties! This time, Ignition has approached us directly to offer a bevy of Muramasa: The Demon Blade prizes, including a Wii console! The party will hit Twitter on Thursday and will run from 3pm to 5pm Central Time.

Prizing will be completely random this time, so the idea will be to Tweet and chat about Muramasa: The Demon Blade as much as possible and use the #muramasawii hashtag. That's ALL you need to do in order to be in with a chance. The party will be led by @Dtoid, @Muramasawii and of course, @Jim_Sterling. Make sure you're following up to be in with a chance. 

Please note: All winners will be contacted via DM. We will let you know when all the prizes are given away.

Prizing will include the aforementioned Wii, a copy of the game, a saucy T-shirt or an exclusive wall scroll! As always, our aim is to make Muramasa a trending topic, so spread the word and be ready to win. Also, be aware that Twitter doesn't like pure contests running on their site (despite being perfectly fine with Jay Z being a trending topic) so make sure you do some legit chatting about the game to keep us above board, otherwise nobody will win that Wii. 

So there you go. Get following and stay tuned for our Muramasa Twitter party!

Last week, Konami released Nihilistic's Zombie Apocalypse for Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network. It's a four-player, arcade-style shoot-em-up where you -- get this -- shoot up a bunch of zombies. It's fun, it's addictive, and it's gory. What more can you ask for? 

Nihilistic has given us ten extra download codes for the Xbox LIVE Arcade version of Zombie Apocalypse, and we want to give them to you! What do we want? We want you to be a zombie, of course! Simply post a picture of yourself in the comments acting like a zombie, and we'll pick our ten favorites who will win the codes. Easy, right?

You certainly don't need to dress up either -- making zombie faces works, too. Get creative. If you have a picture of yourself dressed up like a zombie from a past Halloween (as in my image above), simply post a picture of yourself out of costume alongside that image so we can verify it's you. No cheating!

We'll give you three days to zombie it up -- through Friday at 12pm EST --  picking the winners this weekend and announcing them on Monday. 

[Because of the nature of the codes, this contest is open to undead in the United States only. Sorry!] 

Destructoid just keeps on giving! Today we have five copies of Champions Online for the PC to give away to five lucky winners. These copies are the exclusive Wal-Mart Limited Edition packages so along with the game, you’ll be getting a collectible lenticular cover, exclusive zone map, iron-on decal and ten in-game micro-transaction dollars.

What do you have to do to win? Simple. Just take a picture of yourself doing something semi-heroic. Here’s an example of what I’m looking for: Is that pickle jar giving your mom a bad time? Is that evil jar inflicting pain on your beloved mother?! Then it’s up to you to save the day and open that pickle jar for her! Letting your dog out to pee, helping someone cross the street -- things along that line. The photo has to be real and you can Photoshop yourself into scenarios. If you have a question, just ask in the comments. Bonus points if you dress up!

All entries need to go in the comments below (make sure they’re 620px wide!) The contest runs until September 29 and is open to everyone. Good luck!

[Update: Contest has been extended by day. Feel free to Photoshop your photos too!]

Earlier this month, Goozex and Destructoid teamed up to give away a brand new PlayStation 3 Slim and a copy of Watchmen on Blu-ray. This contest was ridiculously easy as all you had to do for a chance to win was create a free account over on Goozex.

Many entered, but there could only be one winner in the end. Congratulations go out to DynamicDonut for winning this sweet prize! We've already gotten in touch with DynamicDonut and his prize is on the way.

No need to be sad if you didn't win! We give away stuff every week here at Destructoid. You still have a few hours to enter our Alienware Laptop contest! Plus, look for some more contests to appear on the site later this week too.

Apologies for the lateness of the results, but this has been one bitch of a contest to judge. The competition has been surprisingly stiff, with some of you guys going above and beyond the call of duty and dignity in an attempt to win an Xbox 360.

After much deliberation, I believe Wake Up Sammy deserves the grand prize. He scores points for the quality of the costume and the depths to which he sunk in order to get a laugh. As you can see from the header image (and that's one of MANY photos he took), he was really prepared to put his self-respect on the line. He gets an Xbox 360, a copy of the G.I Joe game, and a figurine. 

Our runner-up is Chack, who recreated the metal mask Cobra outfit in a most hilarious manner. He gets a figurine and assorted swag.

Finally, I want to give special credit to Super Drybones, who went so far as to mail threats to our head office, take a silly amount of photos, and spend much of his Destructoid time "in character," as it were. Although he does not win an official prize, I am going to ask our contest department if there is some Dtoid-flavored goodies lying around the office that we can send him, just for being an awesome chap. 

Winners, please PM me your shipping addresses via the Dtoid forums, and I'll get those prizes shipped out. The rest of you, congratulate our Cobra Commanders. They really are quite amazing.

Sure, we give you guys things, but it's only once in a while we get to give you BIG things. Exciting things, like new computers. However, thanks to the courtesy of Aeria Games, today we have one, and for the next month you have a chance to win it!

This contest is centered around the free-to-play MMO Shaiya, which you can download here if you 'd like to enter the drawing.  Once you do, make am Aeria account that starts with Dtoid (example: "DtoidColette") and get your character up to level 5. Once you get there, you will be automatically counted for a chance to win the Alienware laptop you see posted above (see the gallery to check out its specs)! You can also see the rules here.

This contest runs through September 27th and is open to all countries, so you have plenty of time to get in there and give it a try. Should you find yourself really digging the world of Shaiya, you may also want to tune into their Twitter, which encourages players to hunt for landmarks, characters and more in-game to win prizes. Good luck everyone!

Goozex has kept me happy for some time now with its game trading services, and I was excited to hear that they recently added movie trading as well. Hooray! The list of reasons to leave my house is shortening by the day! Anyway, to celebrate this new feature, Goozex had an idea: to give away a PS3 Slim and a copy of Watchmen for Blu-Ray on Destructoid. Why, we said we'd be honored!

To get a chance to win, you'll need to head over to Goozex and create a free account using the promotional code "Destructoid". By doing this, you will automatically be entered into the drawing to win the PS3 Slim and movie. The contest runs through September 23rd at midnight PST and is open to residents of the United States and Canada. If you'd like a closer look at the rules, they can be found here. Good luck, everyone!

Our friends over at GameDaily got a bunch of Uncharted 2 codes to giveaway and felt like spreading the wealth around to us! So, we have 20 codes to giveaway and all you need to do to win a code is leave some kind of comment below. Every fifth comment wins a code. So easy!

I’ll be getting in touch with you through the e-mail you have on file with your Dtoid account by the end of the day with your prize. Comment away!

[Update: Contest over and all codes sent out!]

Destructoid just keeps on giving and giving and giving! Seriously. Are there any other gaming Web sites that give away as much as we do? In our IL-2 Sturmovik contest, we asked you all to Photoshop some planes from IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey into some kind of funny image. Plenty of you entered but only five can win:

• Kraid
• mtgrill
• DelayedPiano
• Chocobo Knight
• sickNasty

Congratulations to all the winners. You’ll be receiving IL-2 Sturmovik and a code which gets you two exclusive in-game planes. Expect an e-mail shortly!

Sad that you didn’t win? Don’t be! We have plenty of other contests going on such as this PS3 Slim with Watchmen contest, the Shaiya Alienware laptop contest and of course our on-going Friday Night Fights tournament where you can awesome PCs. Expect a new contest to go up today as well!

Miami is a notoriously non-nerdy place -- in fact, wearing a Mario t-shirt around here could even earn you a few weird looks. Thank the gods, some people choose to ignore that and make their own fun things to do here, and one of the ones we're looking most ofrward to is the Infinite Bits convention coming this October. Boasting some solid guests along with gaming on every console you can possible imagine (and a few you've probably never seen in the flesh before), it sounds just like the kind of party we want to hit up.

I happen to have six codes that will ge tyou a free pass to this con, so if you want em, reply in the comments. I'll give the codes to the first six people that reply and say "I live in the 305 and want Infinite Bits!" And yes, I am trying to save them for people that can actually attend the show -- so unless you plan to travel here for it, please don't claim a code you aren't going to use. Okay....GO!

It's Friday afternoon and there's a PS3 Slim that needs to be in somebody's hand. At 3pm Central, Destructoid is hosting its third Twitter party in association with Need for Speed: Shift. We have twenty-five copies to give away, so make you're Tweeting to win!

If you don't know how this works, let me inform you. Make sure you're following @jim_sterling, @dtoid and @dinomas on Twitter to follow the party. You'll also need to be following @needforspeed in order to qualify for prizing. Like last time, prizes will be awarded randomly and for answering specific questions. If you want to be in with a chance at winning either a copy of the game or a PS3 Slim, simply get on Twitter and get involved with the discussion while using the #NFS hashtag. Using a program like Tweetgrid will help you follow things, too.

International users CAN win copies of the game (NTSC format), but the PS3 Slim is US only. So, get onto Twitter, start discussing and using the #NFS tag as much as possible, and the very best of luck to you!

What's the deal with so many new adventure games suddenly coming out, in addition to numerous classics being brought to digital distribution services? I don't know, but it's certainly a trend I can get behind.

Acclaimed point-and-click adventure title The Longest Journey was recently added to Good Old Games' impressive catalog of DRM-free PC classics. It's no secret that we here at Destructoid fully support the efforts of GOG, because really, it's a terrific service.

We thought it would be fun to give out a few codes for The Longest Journey, so that's what we're doing! Any objections? Fantastic! To win one of five redeemable codes, simply leave a comment with your favorite lyric from a Journey song. And that's it. Do you see what we did there?

We'll randomly pick five winners on Monday, so no rush. Please, make sure you only post one comment as your first lyric is the only one that counts. Randomly spamming comments will not improve your chances of winning, but it will make us angry.

[Update: The winners have been randomly chosen! If your name is Swisskid15, Strandli, Skankerzero, Freefall, or EdgyDude, check the email you used to sign up for your Destructoid account.]

I heard you like Twitter parties? Of course you do, and this Friday we have yet another one for you. As usual, Destructoid will be teaming up with Rocket XL in order to provide an afternoon of prizes via the latest and greatest social networking fad. This time we've got copies of Need for Speed: Shift to give away, along with yet another PS3 Slim!

If you don't know how this works, let me inform you. Make sure you're following @jim_sterling, @dtoid and @dinomas on Twitter to follow the party. You'll also need to be following @needforspeed in order to qualify for prizing. Like last time, prizes will be awarded randomly and for answering specific questions. If you want to be in with a chance at winning either a copy of the game or a PS3 Slim, simply get on Twitter and get involved with the discussion while using the #NFS hashtag. Using a program like Tweetgrid will help you follow things, too.

Our Brutal Legend Twitter part was beyond ridiculous. We were getting over one hundred Tweets a minute and very quickly made #brutallegend a trending topic. With any luck, we will make the magic happen once again. 

The party starts at 3pm Central tomorrow afternoon, and will run to 5pm. It will be a very sexy time, yes? You will like it.

Guess what? A demo for Double Fine's Brutal Legend is available today on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and PlayStation Network. That's the good news. But the bad news is for those who didn't pre-order the game. See, only customers who've pre-order the game through GameStop can get it now. Everyone else has to wait until September 24, 2009. Brutal. 

Well, not so fast! We have a few extra codes -- two (2) for Xbox 360 and three (3) for PlayStation 3 -- and we want to give them away. How do you win? Easy. Simply respond to this post with the comment "I'm brutal! \m/" and what console you want it on, and tomorrow morning we'll randomly select the winners. Simple!

We'll accept entries through midnight, East Coast time. After that, you're just wasting your breath. Oh, and one more thing -- codes are only valid for those in the United States. We're sorry, but that's what we've got, so no point in bitching about it in the comments. Good luck!

[Update: Winners have been notified and have all received his or her codes -- you know who you are! Congratulations.]

Free stuff -- I has it! Today we have five prize packs to give away, each containing a copy of the new aerial combat game IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, and a code which nets you two exclusive in-game planes. You can wins these, good lads and lasses, if you're in the mood to give this contest a shot.

With multiplayer that supports up to sixteen players and a World War II setting, IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey ought to prove a lot of fun for fans of flying games. This contest will run through September 21st at midnight EST and is open to all countries. To get a shot to win a prize pack, steal a picture of a fighter jet from the gallery and Photoshop it into the most entertaining picture you can find. Example: jet plane flies into Keyboard Cat's face. Yes, internet Memes are welcome and encouraged. Don't worry, your shoop doesn't have to look pro -- in fact, crappy cropping might make it even more funny. As usual though, please no nudity or pornography!

Paste your entry into the comments below (please resize to 620px before you do though -- be nice to our formatting!). If you have any questions at all, feel free to email me at colette@destructoid.com. Good luck guys and gals -- make me laugh!

Rocket Riot, which was released back in June, is one of those games you really shouldn't miss if you have a soft spot for retro and like multiplayer titles. I was chatting with the fine people over at Codeglue when they came up with the idea of having a contest on Destructoid. In fact, my ears especially pricked up when they told me the grand prize was in fact ten million dollars. Zimbabwe dollars, that is.

The funny money aside, the grand prize winner will also take home Rocket Riot goods like t-shirts, posters, an 8-Bit tie from Thinkgeek, a custom avatar and a code for the game. We will also choose a second and third place winner, and those readers will also win the poster, game, t shirt and custom avatar. The contest begins today, is open to all countries, and will conclude next Tuesday, September 15th at midnight EST.

So how do you win? Easy: download the Rocket Riot theme song (here) which you hear in the video above, grab the lyrics here, and make your own version in any way you want. Whether you rap it, sing it, rewrite it into a poem or play the melody on a xylophone, make a video or an MP3 of it and put it in the comments below. You may also link to a page with the video or song on it if you have trouble embedding it in the comments. 

As always, if you have any questions, please email me at colette@destructoid.com. Please do not mail your entries to me though, as my inbox is crazy enough as it is! Good luck everyone!

Seriously, I have never seen this much swag in my life. It's everywhere. It's awesome. It's really cool stuff too, as you can see from the gallery -- thick, high quality hoodies, really nice cotton tees, by far the coolest lanyards I've ever seen, jackets for cold weather, posters, and even beautiful copies of Cursed Mountain. If you're a survival horror enthusiast, you're definitely going to want some of this!

Here's how we are going to do it -- I'll give away 12 prize packs that will consist of a shirt, a hoodie, a jacket, a copy of the game and a set of lanyards, and a double sided poster. This contest is open to all countries and will run through Tuesday, September 8th. Be warned that the shirts run on the small side, so largest size I have is a slender large at best. If you're chosen as a winner and this is a problem, let me know and I'll replace it with something else.

Now, to win: tell me in the comments about the first time you played a survival horror game and what got you hooked on the genre. It can be as long or as short as you want, in written, drawn, video or musical format, but be aware that entries that obviously show more effort will be considered most favorably. If you have any questions at all, hit me up at colette@destructoid.com. 

Good luck to everyone!

When Capcom announced their Comic-Con exclusive Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles shirt, fans of the series were frothing at the mouth in hopes of getting one, and who could blame them?

A secret as awesome as an instant zombie costume laying just beneath the cotton surely ranks this among the best gamer shirts of all time, and soon enough they popped up on the Capcom store for sale (or you can also score one by pre-ordering the game through GameStop). If you haven't already gotten one, today's your lucky day, because I have five to give away!

To get a chance to win one, hit up the comments below and show me a picture of yourself doing your best zombie impression. As usual, make sure there's a computer in the background with Destructoid on it, or you're holding a piece of paper with "Destructoid.com" written on it.

The contest is open to all countries and will run through September 1. By the way, I only have these in large and extra large, so please specify what size you would want in your comment. Have fun and good luck!

On Sunday, August 30, the grounds at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, will get rocked by the Virgin Mobile FreeFest. Scheduled to perform at the festival are Weezer, Blink-182, and Franz Ferdinand, to name a few. Tickets were free. Key words here: "were free"; too bad all of the tickets are gone.

But if you live near New York City and are over the age of 18, we're giving you the opportunity to experience the event. Destructoid and Sony PlayStation want to put three Dtoid readers on a bus leaving from New York City's Penn Station down south, so they can experience the event firsthand. Because we're talking a near five-hour car trip, Sony will be equipping the bus with 20 PlayStation Portables, loaded with content and games to keep you busy. Oh, and riders will also have the chance to win a PSP. Nice.

Sounds good? Here's how you win: Simply show us a picture of you showing your Sony PlayStation love in the comments. What does that entail? Well, we're leaving that up to you, but keep in mind that licking a PSP is old news. Just keep it clean-ish, that's all we ask. We'll randomly pick three winners out of those who put in a little effort, and will announce and contact* the winners on Tuesday, August 25, at 12 PM Eastern.

Remember: While transportation to and from Virgin Mobile FreeFest will be provided, you must be able to provide your own transportation to NY Penn Station, where you'll meet the bus. You must also be 18 years of age or older; no exceptions.

Good luck!

_{*We'll be contacting you at the email address you provided when you signed up for Dtoid; please make sure you check and have access to this address.}

Who wants a $100 American Express gift certificate, courtesy of our sponsor? (Dtoid_Hammershark and Phantomile won the last two.) It may as well be you. Asus is curious about what gamers want future gaming notebooks to be like, so we're doing five more $100 giveaways to contribute ideas to their crowd-sourced PC. At the end of the year they're actually committed to building the most popular suggestion. Exciting, eh?

You may have already spotted our topic this week on the sidebar: Dual-Screen notebooks. Asus debuted a concept system (that thing pictured above is real, sans Starcraft II, which nobody's touching until next year) last year and is contemplating mass production. I got my panties wet and later in a bunch when I read about this thing -- it could be way, way cool but it could also suck in various ways. I wrote about it earnestly on my weekly WePC diatribe, which we invite you to weigh in on.

How to win the booty:

Tell Asus what you think by posting a comment on this WePC.com  thread (not in the comments below).  If you don't have an account on WePC, please register your username as "Dtoid_YourName" so I know how to contact you later (Dtoid_Niero).  You may post your thoughts *once a day* to increase your chances to win. Important: This is a moderated discussion by Asus and Intel, so you must stay on topic or your comments may be deleted. The winner will be selected at random next week when we give away the next $100 gift card. All territories are eligible to win. Comment away. Yes, dudes that already commented are registered. Good luck!

Koei has commissioned an incredibly limited run of high-class Giclee anvas prints to promote Warriors Orochi 2's arrival on the PSP. It's very high quality stuff, using a print process usually reserved for fine art, with canvas stretched across a 16.25"x27.75." wooden frame. Fewer than twenty-five of these prints have been made, making this one of the rarest bits of swag we've ever talked about. I have one of these.

You can have one as well. 

By the time today ends, I'd like one of you to be the proud owner of a ridiculously limited Warriors Orochi 2 canvas print, but you're going to have to possess energy and luck in order to get it. This contest is going to be one of our world-famous "first poster to get to an arbitrary number of comments" contests, but due to the rarity of the item, it's going to be a long game. With that said, I'll be awarding the print to the 1,000th person to reply to this thread. 

You can reply as many times as you like, so feel free to go wild.

Destructoid cordially invites all readers to our second Twitter Party Extravaganza, and you don't even have to bring beer. At 3pm Central (RIGHT NOW) to 5pm Central, Twitter will be set aflame by talk of THE METAL and all things concerning Double Fine's hotly anticipated action game, Brütal Legend. It's ridiculously easy to take part.

Simply head on over to Twitter and take part in discussions with @BrutalLegend, @Dtoid, @Jim_Sterling and @Dinomas while using the hashtag #brutallegend. Those taking part will have a chance to win some amazing prizes, such a Eddie Riggs limited edition statues (five to give away), prize packs including stickers and patches (twenty-five to give away) and our top gift, a PS3 Slim!

There are two ways to win: You can follow @Dinomas and answer specific questions, or you can just Tweet like crazy and get one from our random draw. Hedge your bets by Tweeting as much as possible, using the all-important hashtag. You can also keep track of the discussions by using a service like Tweetgrid. The statues and prize packs will be open to international readers, but the PS3 Slim will be NTSC only. 

The last time we did this, we became a trending topic, demonstrating the power of the Destructoid community. I am sure we can do it again (especially since I've had over 200 new Twitter Followers since the party was announced) so let's dive in and have fun. See you there! 

#brutallegend!

A few weeks ago, Destructoid co-hosted a Twitter party for King of Fighters XII, using everybody's favorite self-obsession network to hand out a bunch of cool prizes to the Destructoid community. The power of the Destructoid fanbase was out in full force, and within the hour, the #KOF12 tag became a trending topic.

The influence of the Destructoid community has been noted, and that's why we're happy to say that we're returning to Twitter this Friday to host yet another party. This time it's for Double Fine's eagerly anticipated Brütal Legend! This friday, from 3pm to 5pm Central, the @Dtoid Twitter account, along with myself (@jim_sterling) and Rocket XL's @Dinomas. Make sure you're following us to keep the conversation going.

The prizes are absolutely splendid. There are five extremely limited Eddie Riggs statues to give away, along with twenty-five prize packs that include stickers, patches and zipper pulls. I have also just learned that one lucky winner will receive a PS3 Slim. Yep, you read that right. A f*cking PS3 Slim.

In order to win, keep chatting on Twitter using the #brutallegend tag. Rocket will be handing out prizes at random intervals, as well as asking questions for chances to win. 

So, this Friday at 3pm Central. There will be a reminder post going up on the day, and let's see if we can make yet another trending topic and prove to the world that Destructoid is a trendsetter.

P.S: Using a Twitter tracking service like TweetGrid with the #brutallegend tag will help you follow the party better. Oh, and don't forget to follow @brutallend.

Of all the contests we run at Destructoid, my favorite is easily the haiku contest, which is ridiculously easy to enter, but also a blast to judge, because people can be insanely funny when given only 19 syllables to work with. Today, I have two awesome prize packs to give to you guys, each containing three of Threadless' newest gaming designs: Nutritious Breakfast, Road Rage and A Simple Plan.

It runs through August 25th and is open to all countries, and all you have to do to enter is write me a gaming haiku in the comments. Any topic, any game, as long as it's related to gaming in some way and follows the five/seven/five syllable rule. We'll choose two winners next week, find out what size you wear, and bam, you get three new shirts. Is Destructoid good to you guys or what?

[Editor's note: We have given away the 100 codes -- thanks for participating!]

Here we go with the free stuff again! Today what I have for you is a virtual f*ckton of closed beta codes for the new MMO League of Legends. These are for North American users only, but they're one hundred percent free, so please don't be mad at me if you live outside the U.S. and you want one! After you win one, all you have to do is go here to make your account and you're in.

Today I have 100 codes to give away, so if you want one, all you have to do is comment on this post and say "Gimme!" If you do, I'll send you an email with a beta code in it at the end of the day. The closed beta will last through late September, so you'll have plenty of time to give it a spin.

Riot Games has also announced that all beta testers will get an exclusive Champion skin for Rammus the Armordillo (he's that guy that looks like he's wearing a Turtle shell in the gallery). The game itself doesn't launch until September, so this is your first chance to get an exclusive crack at it. Go go go!

Back at E3 when Microsoft officially announced props for Avatars, they teased press with the chance to win an exclusive prop. Well, the prop has arrived -- it's an E3 2009 trophy!

Yeah, that's it up there. We won one. Since there's like a billion of us who work here, we decided to stop all of the fighting and give it away on the site to one reader. Lucky you!

Here's how you win: Simply think up a caption for the above image. It could be something the Avatar is saying, for example. Our idea was "YOUR CAPTION HERE," which is not really funny or creative. You can do better than that, we think. Post your entry in the comments.

We'll pick a winner tomorrow at 12:00 PM Eastern, and your first entry/comment will be your last, so make it count! 

Will you be at or near QuakeCon this Friday? Do you want to play Borderlands? Are you a fine, upstanding member of the Destructoid community? If so, then Gearbox wants YOU to invade the studio headquarters and try out its awesome looking shooter.

At 4pm, Gearbox will be showing off Borderlands. It's a half hour drive from QuakeCon, so this is pretty much only something a Texas-based Dtoider can get to, unless you're made of money and can book a flight pronto. There are two spaces open and Gearbox wants a pair of you guys to have them. As short notice as it is, I'm going to throw together a very quick giveaway.

If you want to go, and are pretty sure you can go, respond to this thread saying "Borderlands makes my salty mushroom wet." You can post as many times as you like to increase your changes. Tomorrow morning at about 8am Central, I'll close my eyes, scroll up and down the page really fast, then jab the screen with my finger. Using this highly scientific method, I will select two member at random. Check this post a little after 8am tomorrow. If you've been selected, use the forums to PM me your email address, which I'll forward to Gearbox for further details. 

That's about it. Hope some of you guys can make it, since it's your enthusiasm that makes developers want to give us such nice offers.

The excitement at Destructoid HQ is bubbling like dynamite in my grandma's toilet, as PAX is just three weeks away! There are a ton of people planning on going from the Dtoid Community, and we have a surprise to share with you for all of you guys and gals going to PAX on Friday. We're going to be busy running around on Friday, so we have a special yob for anyone that's interested doing something unusual.

Be Mr. Destructoid for an hour. Yup. Best job ever.

All you need to do to become Mr. Destructoid is call dibs in the comments below and meet us at a secret location to arrange costume logistics and wacky pose training. YOU MUST HAVE NO SHAME, DECENT COORDINATION, A STRONG NECK, AND AN IRON-LIKE FOREHEAD. The helmet weighs about ten pounds and has a built-in iPod that plays a video game mix through a built-in internal speaker for maximum peyote effect, as well as batteries and LED lights. However, seniority will be granted to long-time members of Dtoid (and people who actually show up on time!). It is preferred that you wear a suit if you're not going to fit in Niero's 5'1"1 170-pound sexy pants. You too, ladies. We don't discriminate, but we'll get you out of that dress and do you up like Hefner. The silliest person we can find may be asked to do something special at our PAX panel.

What does Mr. Destructoid do? Mostly grope people. You’ll be taking turns with your fellow Dtoiders for an hour each as you ham it up, take photos with people and do things that will make you question your sexuality.

Everyone that helps out by becoming Mr. Destructoid will get one of our new "Become" T-Shirts and a neck rub. The PAX show hours haven't been released yet, but the gig is only for an hour at a time, and you'll be asked to sign a waiver that you totally love possible brain damage and whiplash.

Until then, go call dibs!

Thanks to everyone that participated in our MAINGEAR Call of Duty 4 raffle and tournament, sponsored by Intel.

Casual players: If you completed a match or played for a bonus ticket you've been registered to win the $1,300 PC this Friday, so best of luck!

Skill ladder players: We'll be combing through the results this week and will announce the players that move on to the semi-finals soon.  These guys will be playing for a chance to win sick computers.

Random prize winners! Congratulations to Smurfee Mcgee who won the Cyberpower gaming mouse, and five Overlord winners: Grizbo, NV_misfit, Renemonney, Zakupilot256, and KenjiXSamurai. Nice way to start a Saturday, guys!

Not one of our winners today?  There's still a ton of other contests going on, such as posting a comment for a chance to win a $100 American Express gift certificate from Intel & Asus. We're also giving away an Xbox 360 for dressing up funny as well as a PSP. Check our contest page for more updates! 

In case you didn't read our glowing review of Pangya: Fantasy Golf, I'll give you a quick refresher course: imagine a hybrid of a golf game and an anime-styled fantasy RPG with bright, sunny characters with a lot of personality, and you've got Pangya. It's very different, something we love about games around here, and we had a lot of fun playing it.

Anyway, we have some swag to give away to five lucky winners. The grand prize is a Black PSP 3000 with a copy of the game and a set of Pangya-branded golf accessories, while the four runners up win the game and the golf set. The challenge is simple: take a picture of yourself wearing what you consider to be the awesomest golf pants of all time. Golf pants are normally plaid, sure, but be creative -- what would you wear to the green? Stuffed animal pants? A leopard print thong? Whatever you decide, take a picture of yourself wearing said bottoms and holding a Destructoid sign (or with Dtoid on your browser in the background) and post it in the comments below.

This contest is open to all countries and will run through Friday, August 14th, ending at 12 midnight EST. We'll announce the winners on August 15th. You better head out to the thrift store and start looking for pants!

The G.I Joe movie is happening whether you like it or not, and to celebrate we've got ourselves an Xbox 360 Arcade, as well as loads of G.I Joe themed swag to give to the dogs that bark on command for our sick and twisted amusement. What I'm trying to say is that we've got a contest lined up for you.

It's a fairly simple competition, so there's no reason for you not to enter. All you have to do is assume the role of Cobra Commander, photograph yourself as the iconic G.I Joe villain, and then post it here as proof of your deed. You can choose to portray whichever version of Cobra you want. That means you can just drape a blue towel on your head or, if you want to really impress, find a way to recreate his battle helmet. Here's what's up for grabs:

Grand Prize: XBOX 360 Arcade console, Copy of the game for XBOX 60, G.I. Joe Figurine, G.I. Joe Merchanise
Runner Up: G.I. Joe Figurine, G.I. Joe Merchandise

The contest is open to all, and ends on September 7, 2009. The only conditions for entry are that it's clear the Cobra hood/helmet is home made (no using officially licensed stuff) and that somewhere you are holding a sign that has "Destructoid" written on it to prove authenticity. 

That's it. Go and do your Cobra thing!

First, a matter of old business: Congratulations to Dtoid_Hammershark who takes home a $100 American Express gift certificate, courtesy of our sponsor.  Asus is curious about what gamers want future gaming notebooks to be like, so we're doing five more $100 giveaways to contribute ideas to their crowd-sourced PC. At the end of the year they're actually committed to building the most popular suggestion. Exciting, eh?

Last week I proposed an overclocked water-cooled gaming dock that notebooks could use as external performance upgrades.  The idea was met positively, but with concerns of actual performance and price.  Secondarily, many comments pointed out that netbooks would greatly benefit from such a technology, which brings us to today's topic. What if these upgrades were not bulky docks, but slim snap-ins that you could pick and choose from?  For example, if you don't care about battery life you could simply buy the video card dock.  If you don't care about gaming, you could buy the long-life battery one. Kind of like robot pancakes. The cost, bulk, weight, and engineering complexity of these things might stand to be more reasonable this way.

How to win the booty:

Tell Asus if this idea is awesome, stupid, or if you have a better one by posting a comment on this WePC.com  thread (not in the comments below).  If you don't have an account on WePC, please register your username as "Dtoid_YourName" so I know how to contact you later (Dtoid_Niero).  You may post your thoughts *once a day* to increase your chances to win. Important: This is a moderated discussion by Asus and Intel, so you must stay on topic or your comments may be deleted. The winner will be selected at random next week when we give away the next $100 gift card. All territories are eligible to win. Comment away. Good luck!

Longtime Destructoid readers already know how I feel about gaming apparel: for every great t-shirt out there, there's a dozen bad ones that are simply cliche, ugly or just plain stupid. Being a girl who's always on the lookout for a classier, cleaner version of the ubiquitous gamer tee, I was happy to meet the guys behind Glitch Gaming Apparel at our last Miami NARP. Florida locals making cool, understated gamer shirts? Can you say hell yes?

The guys at Glitch were awesome enough to donate some shirts to us when I told them we do this contest thing over here at the Toid, and so I have one Large and one Extra Large in each of the five styles you see in the photo above and in the gallery. If you want to win one of the ten, it's really simple to enter: just reply in the comments and show me a picture of you wearing your favorite gaming shirt (feel free to tell us why it's your favorite shirt too). Make sure you hold up a Dtoid sign or show me Dtoid in the background on your browser so I know it's really you, ok?

This contest is open to all countries and will run through August 10th. Along with your photo, please post what size you would like and what shirt you like best if you win. I'll try my hardest to get everyone what style they want in the order that they requested it, but please be aware if we run out of a style we may have to send you a backup. (No other sizes are available, sorry!) Good luck, everyone!