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Doritos Crash Course wins Unlock Xbox challenge
You think little Jill Robertson ever imagined she'd grow up to be a game consultant ... for Doritos? As the winner of the Doritos "Unlock Xbox" challenge, Robertson will have the opportunity to work a six-month stint for the chip maker, baking up gaming ideas. She's also pocketed $50,000. Robertson's Doritos Crash Course beat out Justin Carpenter's Harms Way in the three-week voting period that began earlier this month when the two finalists' games were released for free on Xbox Live Arcade. According to Frito-Lay, the games accounted for more than two million combined downloads during that time, and they'll remain available as free XBLA games for the foreseeable future. In a "last-minute twist," Doritos also awarded Carpenter a $50,000 cash prize, though he would appear to be stuck at his plain old day job for now.
Get into Harms Way, Doritos Crash Course and Bomberman Battlefest on XBLA today
The two final contenders in the Doritos-sponsored "Unlock Xbox" game design contest have been fully realized and released as Xbox Live Arcade games today, for free. Until December 26, you can cast your vote for either Doritos Cash Course (download) or Harms Way (download) through the Xbox Unlock ad on the Dashboard, with the winner to be announced on December 29 and offered a 50G (that's dollars, not Achievement points) part-time, game consulting gig with Doritos. Perhaps overshadowed by the flavorful showdown, the previously announced Bomberman Live sequel, Battlefest (download), is also available on the Arcade today for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Additionally, the third Lara Croft: GoL challenge pack add-on, "A Hazardous Reunion" (download), has been released for 400 points ($5), along with the "Marvel Pinball" tables (download/trial) for Pinball FX 2, priced at 800 points. Update: The Costume Quest DLC "Grubbins on Ice" (download) has also been released today for 400 points.
Harms Way goes from dream to screens, trailer
It's so rare that we get into something before it's cool, that we have to savor it when it happens. In January, we were smitten with the concept behind Dorito's Unlock Xbox finalist Harms Way. Well, a little less than a year of development later and creator Justin Carpenter and developer Bongfish are putting the finishing touches on the shooting-driving hybrid and prepping it for release this month. It will vie for votes with Jill Robertson's Avatar Crash Course. We've got a bunch of screens and the first trailer after the break, as well as a quick chat in which IRS staffer and college student Justin tells us how the reality of game development stacks up to the dream. %Gallery-108584%
Unlock Xbox finalists announced
Did you vote in last year's Unlock Xbox competition? If so, did your pick make the final cut? Gamers and amateur designers were encouraged to submit their original ideas in the Doritos-sponsored competition. Out of over a thousand submissions, two will be turned into real (and free!) XBLA games. The three finalists to be considered by Microsoft execs are: Harm's Way -- snipers and drivers team up in a game that combines racing and blowing someone's brains out. Delicious! Avatar Crash Course -- inspired by Japanese obstacle courses, you must "press buttons, wiggle sticks, and jump up and down to survive." Thrown -- "the whole point of it is to smash into other vehicles in order to throw the driver from their car and then run them over." A feel good game! We're somewhat surprised by the violence involved in some of these XBLA suggestions. But perhaps we're looking in the wrong place for class, considering the last winner of Doritos' contest involved dinosaurs eating exploding trucks (seriously).
Unlock Xbox contest down to eight finalists, voting begins for final three
Last year's free Xbox Live Arcade game from the Unlock Xbox contest, Dash of Destruction, may not have been the best game we ever played, but it was certainly far from the worst. Also, it had that whole costing nothing thing going for it, so that helped our opinions considerably. This year, our chances of getting a fun game have doubled, with the contest's 1,500 competitors vying for two spots rather than one. The final eight contestants have been culled from the initial submissions (listed after the break), and are now available to be voted on over at the contest's website, ultimately determining three game ideas to be given final pitches at Microsoft. From there, we get two XBLA games full of Doritos' "bold, intense" branding -- and at the very least some free Achievements.
New Unlock Xbox contest offers $50k prize
Microsoft and Doritos have announced that the "Unlock Xbox" competition – in which gamers compete to have their game ideas developed into a full-fledged XBLA title – is back. Xbox gamers will likely remember Dash of Destruction, the winner of the first competition, likely because it was free and offered some of the easiest Achievements around. Things are a little bit different this year, as there will be not one but two winners, both of which will see their ideas developed into an XBLA title. In addition, the fan-selected grand prize winner will receive a "$50,000 gaming consultant project for Doritos." We're not really sure what that means, but there's probably a lot of nacho cheese dust involved. If you think you've got a gameplay idea that can top dinosaurs eating Dorito trucks (UNLIKELY!), head on over to the official Unlock Xbox site and sign up. Entries will be accepted until October 4.
DORITOS Dash of Destruction wins Unlock Xbox
After months of submitting, waiting, revealing, more waiting, playing and some final waiting the Doritos sponsored Unlock Xbox contest has officially come to an end. And we survived. The winning submission ended up being Mike Borland's dinosaur delivery game called DORITOS Dash of Destruction which will be fully developed and placed onto the Xbox Live Arcade sometime early next year for all to enjoy. You can preview what Dash of Destruction has to offer by trying out the demo over at the Unlock Xbox website. We aren't sure how (for the lack of a better word) cheesy the game will end up being, but it'll be free and will be used to market a product. So really ... how bad could it be? ::cough:: Yaris ::cough::
Vote on and play Doritos Unlock Xbox beta games
The somewhat controversial Doritos sponsored Unlock Xbox contest wrapped some two months ago and now we've been sent word that the voting phase has just begun. If you hop on over to the Unlock Xbox website, you'll be able to play the five finalists' games in their beta state and get your vote on. Though, the five games (Monkeys From Mt. Doritos, Doritos Dash of Destruction, Ultimate Dodgeball Championship, Rythum Racing and PB's Quest for Flavor) can only be demoed online in your internet browser, so for now you'll have to garner an opinion playing them that way. Some of these XBLA games are a bit shameful, some are surprisingly good, but only one can win and only the Xbox 360 community can decide. Cast your vote wisely fanboys, we don't want to have to go through another Yaris experience next year ... eesh.
Free Shark Week & Unlock Xbox downloads
We advise US Xbox Live members to swim on over to the XBLM to download a few newly free themes and gamer pictures. Discovery Channel is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Shark Week by giving away a (somewhat bland) shark theme and a set of shark gamer pictures. And what more can we say, they're sharky? But if you hate sharks or just like Doritos, then you'll be pleased to know that there is also a free Unlock Xbox inspired theme and gamer picture set available too.And allow us to vent a little here and point out that the Unlock Xbox theme bothers the heck out of us. Why? Because the background colors don't match the freakin' blade colors! It looks like the designers tried to match the colors, but got sort of confused by the time they painted the media blade. Hey theme makers, is it that hard to match a few colors? End rant.Read - Free Shark Week downloadsRead - Free Unlock Xbox downloads
Penny Arcade questions Doritos Unlock Xbox contest
The guys at Penny Arcade seem a little perplexed as to the Unlock Xbox marketing campaign from Doritos. Apparently, putting together a videogame based on a tortilla chip is pushing the envelope for ridiculous ideas, intense experiences notwithstanding. While the idea of getting your Arcade title's concept published on Xbox Live Marketplace is definitely a cool one, the necessity to incorporate some Doritos branding into the gameplay does seem a little cheesy. Do you mind the product placement suggested for submissions to the contest, or do you think the opportunity is too good to complain about such details?
Doritos wants you to Unlock Xbox
You dream it. We build it. That's the slogan for the latest Doritos/Xbox contest called Unlock Xbox. The contest starts tomorrow and its overall goal is to get users to submit their video game ideas and create one of the coolest games evar! The catch is that your video game idea has to incorporate the Doritos brand in some way, so Nazi soldiers or dismemberments need not apply. Judges will choose the top five ideas which will be made into betas where people visiting the site will be able to download and critique the offerings. Then, a favorite will emerge and will win the right to be placed on the XBLA. Yes, you read the correctly. The winner will see their video game creation grace the XBLA as well as receive a great Xbox 360 gaming setup.Start getting your ideas together, whip up something cool, and eat a few bags of Doritos, because there's prizes to be won and fame to be had. Just think, you could be the lead designer of your very own XBLA game ... w00t!
