Engadget giveaway: Show us your crappy gaming setup and win a custom PS3 Slim from Rockstar Games!

So you want this, right? If so, we need to see your current gaming setup -- the crappier, the better. To be eligible to win, you'll need to drop a link in comments of a photo of your gear (if you don't include a photo, you can't win). The deadline to get your pics in is by Friday, April 23rd, 2010, at 12:30pm ET. After we get all the contributions, we'll go through every single one to find the worst of the worst -- and that person will win this very special PS3 Slim. The full rules are after the break -- so get commenting and good luck!
Engadget's Worst Gaming Setup Contest
Official Rules
No Purchase Required to Enter or Win
2. Sponsor: The Contest is sponsored by Weblogs, Inc. LLC, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 ("Sponsor").
3. Agreement to Official Rules: Participation in the Contest constitutes entrant's full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which are final and binding. Winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein.
4. Entry Period: The Contest begins at 12:30PM on April 16, 2010 and ends at 12:30PM EST on April 23, 2010 (the "Contest Period").
5. Entry: During Contest Period, go to http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/15/engadget-giveaway-show-us-your-crappy-gaming-setup-and-win-a-cu/ and follow the instructions to submit a comment that includes a link to a photo of your gaming setup (the "Submission"). Submission will result in one (1) entry. Limit one (1) entry/submission per person. Submissions that do not include the required information listed above will be disqualified. The use of any agencies or automated software to submit entries will void all entries submitted by that person.
Contest entries cannot be revised or altered once submitted. Once submitted, all entries become the property of the Sponsor and will not be returned. Incomplete or inaccurate entries are void.
Sponsor shall have the right to disqualify any entries that they deem to be obscene, vulgar, sexually explicit, lewd, derogatory, inappropriate, or otherwise not in good taste, as determined by the Sponsor in its discretion. Submissions must be 100% your original work, and must not contain any additional third party material or content (including but not limited to any company logos or trademarks, photographs, likenesses, film or video clips, music, or any other copyrighted or trademarked content) for which you have not been granted specific written permission for this use by the copyright or trademark rights holder. You grant to the Sponsor and its designees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, edit, market, store, distribute, have distributed, publicly and privately display, communicate, publicly and privately perform, transmit, have transmitted, create derivative works based upon, and promote your image (including photographs and video), biographic information, and comments, (collectively, the "Submission") in connection with the Contest and such other products or services as the Sponsor may designate in any medium now known or hereafter devised for editorial, commercial, promotional and/or any other purpose. In addition, the Sponsor shall have the right to reproduce and distribute your Submission for promotional purposes in broadcast, print and or other media as the Sponsor may determine in their sole discretion. You retain ownership of all right, title, and interest in and to your Submission to the degree permitted by law. You agree that the Sponsor owns all right, title, and interest in any compilation, collective work, or other derivative work created by the Sponsor using or incorporating your Submission. You hereby grant to the Sponsor the right to edit any of your Submission, in whole or in part. In addition, you hereby grant to the Sponsor and their designees the right to use any edited Submission, or parts of a Submission, without your approval and waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the Submission prior to or following publication and any right to compensation for the Submission. All elements of your Submission must be your original work and must be owned by you, and you must have the right to grant any and all necessary rights and licenses, including without limitation, all necessary copyright and other related rights to all of the materials, free and clear of all claims and encumbrances without violating the rights of any person or entity, including any right to privacy or publicity. Your Submission should not include the likeness of a third party, unless permission of said third party has been given, or contain elements not owned by you (including but not limited to trademarks or logos). By submitting your Submission, you agree to release and hold harmless the Sponsor and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claim or cause of action arising out of your Submission or your participation in any phase of this Contest.
6. Judging: A panel of judges (the "Judges") will select one (1) Potential Winner based on which entrant has the "worst" gaming setup, as determined by the Judges. In the event of a tie, the submissions involved in the tie will be reviewed by an additional judge according to the Judging Criteria. Decisions of judges in are final.
7. Requirements of the Potential Winner: Entrant who is notified that his/her entry was selected is a Potential Winner. Potential Winner is not a winner until he/she has returned all required documentation and eligibility has been verified by Sponsor. Potential winner must comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules, and winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements. If a Potential Winner cannot be contacted within three (3) days after the first attempt to contact him/her, the entrant with the next highest score will be deemed the potential winner. Except where prohibited, Potential Winner may be required to sign and return to Sponsor, within five (5) days of being notified, an affidavit of eligibility, liability/publicity release, and an IRS W-9 form in order to claim his/her Prize. Failure to return documents as specified, or if prize notification is returned as undeliverable, will result in the entrant being disqualified, and the prize may be awarded to a potential alternate winner.
8. Prize: One (1) Grand Prize Winner will receive Grand Theft Auto PS3 Slim that includes the following: a custom decorated, 120GB PS3 Slim, with a two tone paint job in black and Lexus pearl white, an LED-backlit skyline and logo on the unit, a custom power panel with laser etched back lit power and eject buttons, plus a color-matched controller. Approximate Retail Value of Grand Prize is $300. SPONSOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR WARRANTY FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
No cash or other substitution may be made, except by the Sponsor, who reserves the right to substitute a prize with another prize of equal or greater value if the prize is not available for any reason as determined by the Sponsor in its sole discretion. The winner is responsible for any taxes and fees associated with receipt or use of a prize.
9. General Conditions: In the event that the operation, security, or administration of the Contest is impaired in any way for any reason, including, but not limited to fraud, virus, or other technical problem, the Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, either: (a) suspend the Contest to address the impairment and then resume the Contest in a manner that best conforms to the spirit of these Official Rules; or (b) award the prize from among the eligible entries received up to the time of the impairment. The Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or to be acting in violation of these Official Rules or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Any attempt by any person to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, the Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. The Sponsor's failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. In case of a dispute as to the owner of an entry, entry will be deemed to have been submitted by the authorized account holder of the screen name from which the entry is made. The authorized account holder is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address.
10. Release and Limitations of Liability: By participating in the Contest, entrants agree to release and hold harmless Contest Entities from and against any claim or cause of action arising out of participation in the Contest or receipt or use of any prize, including, but not limited to: (a) unauthorized human intervention in the Contest; (b) technical errors related to computers, servers, providers, or telephone or network lines; (c) printing errors; (d) lost, late, postage-due, misdirected, or undeliverable mail; (e) errors in the administration of the Contest or the processing of entries; or (f) injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from entrant's participation in the Contest or receipt of any prize. Entrant further agrees that in any cause of action, the Contest Entities' liability will be limited to the cost of entering and participating in the Contest, and in no event shall the Contest Entities be liable for attorney's fees. Entrant waives the right to claim any damages whatsoever, including, but not limited to, punitive, consequential, direct, or indirect damages.
11. Disputes: Except where prohibited, entrant agrees that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of, or connected with, the Contest or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate court located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, entrant's rights and obligations, or the rights and obligations of the Sponsors in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of the Commonwealth of Virginia or any other jurisdiction), which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the Commonwealth of Virginia.
12. Contest Results: To request the name of the winner, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Engadget Rockstar Games Winner's List, AOL Tech, ATTN: J. Fruhlinger, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003. Requests must be received by May 15, 2010.
























Why doesn't Rockstar come up with a new GTA rather than feeding off of a dying title thats what? 3 years old?
No point in me entering, my setup is pretty decent, not good, not great, but for sure its not crappy either. I'd love to win that PS3 though. :(
@Snowman me too. http://www.obh.snafu.de/~madley/starwars/dataimg/death_star2.gif
my dorm room setup (very crappy, believe me. looks can be deceiving. nothing could be crappier than this crap)
http://i42.tinypic.com/29pon7b.jpg
@haveyouanywool
Uhh, no. You have a big TV and a sound system.
@haveyouanywool dude, you also have the hd650's which cost more than my entire setup. I'm at work and can't take a picture of it though :(
A huge step up from my current crappy set up.
http://twitpic.com/1g15ki
@walk0water
Stole my idea lol
@Jaylittles531
Unfortunately, that's all there is to my gaming set up. :(
http://yfrog.com/1gphotobaj
Theres mine... We all know how great these are for gaming, what with the 2 titles that you can buy for them.
@Jaylittles531
I think we need some ground rules. Apple computers are banned. The machine has to be capable of playing a game or I'll just enter an old egg whisk I've found
@Marklitt If anything, Macs should be banned because they are *too* capable. People are saying that Macs can't run games. I call BS - I know many people who are satisfied with playing games on Win7 in Bootcamp. A Mac is no longer a no-game zone, as far as I'm concerned.
heres mine. Those cpu temps are after being at idle for 10 hours with a fan in my room on blowing air near my desk.
Its just gma 3100 graphics and i get about a frame a second out of burnout paridise, i neednt even try steam. it was too slow on anything for useability
just a 18 inch lcd. even though its wall mounted dont think im all fancy here, i got the mount because im a hang things on the walls nerd..
Well the best of luck to all of you(mainly me heheheheh)
http://img689.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=1002214v.jpg
@bobthetechguy
while running windows 7 is crappy?
@bobthetechguy clean out the heatsinks with some compressed air - but do it properly - i sprayed air on my graphics card and it just collected all the dust in one spot and made it worse - take it out and make sure it's clear of dust = better airflow :)
@bobthetechguy i cleaned it out with air. thats even with a case fan and a molex to ac one plug adaper blowing 80mm of filtered air on it
Damn. My dual P3 1 ghz would have won hands down if I wasn't living in AUS :(
@Polemicist
That's nothing. I'm currently running a Pentium 3 500MHz with an astonishing 640MB of RAM. It gets internet through a wifi dongle at the end of a 1m extension lead, but the only decent place with decent signal is directly in front of the PC - so the dongle is held out in front of the PC by the cd drive tray. It plays a bunch of old strategy and business games - as long as I use the smallest map sizes.
I'd submit a pic, but I'm one of those ('un')lucky enough to live outside the contest region.
Fine. I'll pull out the 233 with the quantum Bigfoot 9 GB drive. :)
@Polemicist That's nothing, I should pull out my old PowerBook 150, 33 MHz 68030, 4 MB of RAM and a 120 MB hard drive.
Fine you are all making me pull out the big guns. My still working Texas Instruments 99/4a with tape drive. Parsec and TI Invaders ROCK!!!1
@Polemicist ill get out my old 486 chip 75mhz 8mb ram and a 200megabyte hard drive and DUAL (OMG) 5.25inch floppies
Here's mine http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4526264384_900d628534_o.png
@AckbarsFist OS4 Game Centre? that's a social network
@nik On an iPod touch, which is has games.
Here's mine. Note the jungle of wires under the desk. http://twitgoo.com/og4uw I'm too lazy to wire manage.
@Greenarcher
at first i was like, meh its not that bad, then I saw under the desk....
@spaz4322
Having another console to cram under there won't help your situation any.
@spaz4322
My bad, it was meant for Greenarcher.
@spaz4322
Having that custom PS3 just might convince me to tear this up and re-arrange everything.. maybe moving everything into the spare room (game room?)
@Greenarcher: God! this is really crappy hahahahhaha quite awesome the consoles you got :D
@Greenarcher I really hope that you're using a wireless mouse and keyboard. Using your computer that close to that huge screen would be murder on your eyes...
Yes, unfortunately this is the only gaming device i have right now!
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd221/rtur/mygamingdevice.jpg
well i envy all you guys cause my setup goes as far as paper and pen....and a crappy asus 900 eeepc.......yes 7inches of pixelated glory
awesomenessess !!!!!
as a tattoo aprentice i dont get paid so my cash goes to living costs etc.....stoked that i dont even qualify for the compo ....
oh well at least i get to play ps3 at my local game shop ...even tho i gotta wait for the grubby kids to finish
heres my setup ! http://i39.tinypic.com/o873ly.jpg
I entitle this "What gaming setup?"
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/4576/whatgamingsetup.jpg
If by gaming setup, you mean my closet door beer pong table (complete with tags from all my friends), then yes, this would be my complete gaming setup.
void in Puerto Rico :(
I REALLY need a new gaming setup: http://travis.tmknight.net/images/IMG_0016.JPG
Geez, what worse is there isnt even 150 pokemon anymore, its garbage. What the heck is a Wingull? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/sdhacking/IMG_0136.jpg
Aawww.
I'm in France.
:'(
I actually used to play games on this one: http://makey.biz/perm/lego/pc/legopc3.jpg
I think the hardest part about this contest is that your asking a bunch of tech nerds to show off their crappy gadgets. If there's one thing we all have in common on this site it's our love of great tech.
@JeezWhiz87
not true man , im a broke a$$ tech junkie that reads engadget everyday
and ....i dont even own anything made in the last 5 years..not even a ps1
@JeezWhiz87
Yeah they know that, they're just testing how creative we're going to be in making a fake one
Living in the past. *Sigh* Controllers in the drawers underneath.
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/354/image004lr.jpg
@squale7
Classic consoles are where it's at. Doubt I would even enjoy that pretty futuristic looking piece of hardware. Not that I wouldn't play with it and get addicted or anything.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_9N12-ZMkU7E/S8iatxuinDI/AAAAAAAATQc/kZ9P6acXXLE/s800/2646d0l.jpg
@squale7
A Dreamcast? I just feel sorry for you... I think you should win.
@Jaylittles531
I had good times with Seaman.
(I'm just gonna leave it at that)
@senormatt I truly love your set-up. Makes me feel nostalgic. =D
@squale7
Hey dude! You know you can upgrade your Genesis by getting the 32x Add-on! Then, you'll be even one step closer!
You gotta find a way to incorporate Quebec in there.
I know the government is not helpful at all, but please? please? please?
I hope that was enough pleading to change your mind