hex168 reveals another Xbox 360 contest

The countdown ended a bit ago and basically, it seems like you have to submit pictures or video of wierd stuff in a bid to become one of 360 who will win a free Xbox 360 and three games (6 days before official release perhaps?) and get flown to a release event or something. It would be cool to get one for free and all but it’s a little hazy on what exactly they’re looking for. Here’s the official legal mumbo-jumbo:

 

1) PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: No purchase necessary to enter or win. The Hex 168 Contest (the "Contest") is a skill contest in which participants can submit a photograph or video exhibiting “the power of hex”, defined as the unusual among the mundane, for a chance to win. The promotion begins at 12:00 p.m. PT on October 18, 2005 and ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on November 4, 2005 (“Entry Period”).

2) HOW TO ENTER: Access the Hex 168 website online at http://www.hex168.com. Complete the online entry form as instructed and click to submit. You will then be prompted to submit your entry materials. To submit your entry materials, create a “Researcher ID”, enter the title of your entry submission, a brief description of your submission (max: 50 words), indicate the category for which you wish to be eligible (0-1 persons, 6 persons, 30 persons), and upload your photo submission (for any category) or video submission (for the 6 person and 30 person categories only) (the “entry”). After proper submission of your entry materials, you will receive a confirming e-mail at the e-mail address submitted at the time of entry. Click the link provided in the e-mail message to confirm and complete your submission. You must click the link in the e-mail confirmation you received to confirm and complete submission of your entry.

Entry Categories and Limitations: Entries in the 0-1 person category must feature an occurrence of “the power of hex” with zero persons or an occurrence with one (1) person (original entrant) “under the power of the hex”. Entries in the Six (6) person category must feature exactly six (6) persons (including the Original Entrant) “under the power of the hex”. Entries in the Thirty (30) person category must feature exactly thirty (30) persons (including the Original Entrant) “under the power of the hex.” Your entry submission may contain a total of as many individuals are you like. However, all entry submissions must feature exactly the total number of participants “under the power of hex”, (including the Original Entrant and Participating Entities) for the category for which it is being submitted and only those individuals “under the power of hex” will receive a prize if your entry is selected as a winner. Entries which feature either too few or too many participants “under the power of hex” for the category for which it is submitted will be disqualified.

Video Requirements: Videos must be a minimum of twenty (20) seconds and a maximum of forty (40) seconds in length, and must be in one of the following formats: MPEG, WMW, AVI, or QuickTime. Limit: 8 MB file size.

Photo Requirements: Digital photos must be in .jpg or .tif format and have a maximum file size of 5 MB per photo.

This whole Lutz inspired Hex168 mess

I was going to do a long post on my thoughts, interpretations and musings on this whole hex168 puzzle going on but since the "game" is up in three hours anyway (the countdown is anyway), I think I’ll wait until we ifnd out just what this might be. Does this make me excited? Am I tingling with anticipation? No, I can’t say I’m even close, and I actually activated axons for ilovebees. I’m hardcore but after the let down that was ourcolony and origien360, I’d rather buy a PS3 than invest in any more trivial Xbox 360 games. Yeah, I said it! Until I get some friggin big news related to something I care about, I don’t need to waste my time making educated guesses and trolling forms for the little clue that gets me that much closer to a flipping screenshot. boo!

Rumormongering: Is World of Warcraft coming to the Xbox 360?

I noticed this little nugget in my weekly check of Gamespot’s Rumor Control (which isn’t always weekly, for shame gamespot, i need consistency!). The little nugget being that World of Warcraft may be coming to the Xbox 360. The logic behind this speculation? Some recent "for hire" postings on Blizzard’s website. Nevermind the fact that Starcraft ghost was recently noticed as " coming-soon to next gen consoles", logic be damned! WoW should come to the Xbox 360 just because I don’t want to have to spend a month’s worth of paychecks to get my pc to the point to where it can run World of Warcraft without making my pc smoke and choke. I would be all over the Xbox 360 (the version that comes with the hard drive of course) for some WoW lovin.

 

 

p.s. because I [heart] master chief, I also have to through in the little Halo 3 related tidbit mentioned in Gamespot’s rumor control as well. the Halo 3 release date may be August 1st. Why? Because of this whole hex168 mess going on. I’ll post on it here in a sec.

1up is owned by…the MAN?

Well, duh. Considering 1up = EGM and that I have yet to see any independent game magazine with EGM’s reach and distribution ability, this comes as no surprise. The fact that 1up is a part of Ziff Davis media and that Ziff is owned by uber investor Willis Stein doesn’t automatically make 1up an underground operative for [conspiracy theorists insert publisher name here]. Stein doesn’t seem to be hoarding up on game publications so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. 1up may have to filter certain news items and/or comply with certain rules or regulations but that’s what us little people blogs are for. Game-hawg, you’re alternative to THE MAN. spread the word.

 

[via kotaku]

McD’s rocks the free WiFi for all you Nintendo DSers out there

If you were Nintendo and you were trying to launch a free WiFi network for your DS enthusiats, how would you ensure that your cusomter would be able to get a connection on almost every street corner and in every mall? Why, you would partner with McDonalds of course. Nintendo teams up with the original fat burger in to bring their WiFi network to the (soon to be morbidly overweight, more so than now)  masses.

 

Nintendo of America has signed a deal with McDonald’s to put Wi-Fi hotspots in more than 7000 restaurants across the US, giving DS owners free access to the new Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service.

McDonald’s already offers wireless internet access to owners in restaurants around the country, but charges a fee. The access points are supplied by Texan firm Wayport, which will receive an undisclosed sum from Nintendo for providing wireless access for the DS.

Doom movie sequel?

It’s not so much in the works yet but Karl Urban and Rosamund Pike have alread signed on for Doom 2. They probably weren’t doing too much anyway. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson hasn’t signed on for anything yet, probably because he doesn’t want to commit to a sequel if the first movie bombs itself out of existance (which is to be expected with a video game movie, who rememebrs the mario bros movie? exactly).

Jack Thompson’s donation a fake, Penny Arcade picks up his slack

First he offers to donate $10,000 and then goes back on his word, claiming his donation offer was "satire" and the gaming community is too dumb (basically) to comprehend that. Penny Arcade picked up to cover his lack of humanity and decency and made the $10,000 donation for him, and no one even had to make them a game!

Is THE Master Chief in Dead or Alive 4 on the Xbox 360!!

I could see how one would thing so but dag nammit, read people, read! *begin halo geek rant* While this Spartan wears similar MJOLNIR, it is not the John 117 we all know and love. This Spartan is actually Spartan-458. A female Spartan by some unknown name.*end halo geek rant* If I see one more site/blog touting the pics they have that prove THE Master Chief is in Dead or Alive 4, I will rain the fury of many-a-halo nerd upon thee.

and you call yourelves gamers…ba!

[xbox365]

To sastify your Metal Gear Solid appetites

This MGS luvr edited together the cut scenes from the three currently available Metal Gear Solid movies. They’re bloody torrents thought. That means I can’t watch’em from work. Good for his bandwidth, bad for my lack of work ethic. 

Spielberg joines forces with EA

Now that this next-generation allows games to be more cinematic (supposedly…zing!), EA has decided to combine their sweatshopping creative talents with Steven Spielberg to have the director work directly with EA’s developers to collaborate on three upcoming games. Spielberg had this to say:

 

I have been playing EA games for years and have watched them master the interactive format. Having watched the game industry grow from a niche to a major creative force in entertainment, I have a great deal of respect for EA’s understanding of the interactive format. I’m looking forward to working closely with the team in Los Angeles

 

Master the format? I wouldn’t go that far. It would have been nice to see Spielberg team up with someone like Bungie. Probably too much red tape and politics for that though.