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Attend the WoW Insider Blizzcon meetup tonight, meet cool people
Blizzcon starts tomorrow in Anaheim, CA, and WoW Insider and Massively are already on-site to provide the best coverage we can! If you're in town, we want to invite you to the WoW Insider meetup tonight at 8:00 PM Anaheim time. You'll have chances to win cool prizes and swag if you know your World of Warcraft trivia, and the WoW Insider podcast will be taped in front of a live audience, so you can be a part of that mayhem as well.The meetup will be at The Lost Bar at 1150 W. Magic Way, near the Disneyland Hotel. The party will go on through much of the night, so even if you're not getting in until after 8:00, feel free to show up late and relax with the WoW Insider crew post-flight or drive.
Blizzard unveils the BlizzCon store
The 2008 BlizzCon is coming rapidly, and with it, of course, comes exclusive BlizzCon swag. In addition to the goody bag, the BlizzCon store will also be open for business, and Blizzard's previewing the loot you can buy. Among the highlights: You may remember that the goody bags will come with either an inflatable Frostmourne or an Inflatable Paladin-in-a-Bubble. Luckily, if you don't get the one you want, you can buy it at the store. Alliance and Horde T-shirts A talking Pandaren bottle opener. The hardcover version of the WoW comic. Arthas' Helm. A WoTLK cinematic book. There will be lots of Diablo 3 and Starcraft II loot as well, including posters, stress balls, and t-shirts. Check out all the gear at Blizzard's official site, and start planning your budget to buy some stuff. I know I'm planning mine![Thanks for the heads up, Nicholas!]
House of the Amazing Swag
So far, we're loving Sega's marketing of House of the Dead: Overkill. We thought nothing could top the cracking grindhouse-style trailer released when the game was announced, but some of the swag associated with the game comes close.Destructoid's Jim Sterling (and we assume our other esteemed, Leipzig-attending colleagues in the press) just received the above video cassette box. Inside, Sterling discovered a postcard resembling a VHS tape, and a T-shirt that expands in water. Best of all, he notes how the box has been designed to look damaged and scuffed, so that it looks like the kind of under-the-counter filth that you may have found abandoned on a disused section of railway as a youngster; very subtle, Sega! Blast your way through the break for a couple more shots.%Gallery-29952%
The editor-in-chief giveaway: Win Ryan Block's gadgets
You know, when you're the editor-in-chief of a site like Engadget, you tend to accumulate a lot of stuff. Companies send you all kinds of interesting promotional materials, gadgets, swag, etc. It's great. Sometimes, though, you just let it pile up in your living room for years and years, then, when a new editor-in-chief takes over, you send all that stuff to him in about ten huge boxes. Luckily, we've got a way of dealing with this other than just throwing it in storage -- we're giving a ton of it away. That's right, you could be one of the lucky readers to win a massive stash of gear recently jettisoned toward New York by Mr. Ryan Block. Here's what's up for grabs in this round:Ooma VOIP box, Aliph Jawbone, Sansa e260 4GB PMP, Ramos RM550 1GB PMP, Enermax Caesar Aluminum Keyboard, SageTV Hauppauge Media Extender, Wowwee Butterfly, Microsoft Notebook Optical Mouse 3000, Microsoft Lifecam VX-5000, PSP A/V cable, Nikon 1GB flash drive, Trendset USB WiFi card, and more!Interested? Here are the rules: Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but a description of what percentage you plan to keep versus what you'll have to sell off, or any fond memory of a Ryan Block post is good too. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine. Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Winner will be chosen randomly. That winner will get a massive amount of gadget related goods. Packages represent a brief history of Ryan Block's tenure as editor-in-chief. Approximate value is incalculable (but no more than $600). Entries can be submitted until Friday, August 29th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.
Breakfast Topic: BlizzCon swag
A bubble-hearth ball? Inflatable Frostmourne? Now that we know what they're giving away at BlizzCon '08, it looks like it's turning into a kiddie party. Don't get me wrong, though, I think I would have a lot of fun poking people with a poofy little sword of unadulterated, soul-sucking evil. I think I'll even good-humoredly kick around a bubble-hearth ball, one of the game's long-running gags on my favorite class. There are other cool stuff, like Diablo health and mana stress balls and Pandaren brewmaster bottle openers.A while back, I asked what kind of WoW-related merchandise and spin-offs you had or liked. Let's turn the tables this time around and pretend you could make swag for BlizzCon, or any Blizzard event like the Worldwide Invitational (where they gave away keychains and door hangers). What if they gave away Halaa Battle Token soaps? What wacky stuff will you make or like to see? Surely it can't be any zanier than an inflatable cursed runeblade.
1942: Joint Strike E3 shirts now available for purchase
The 1942: Joint Strike shirts from E3, featuring Street Fighter's Cammy doing her best bomber nose art impression, are available now from Meatbun.com. The shirt will cost $26, plus shipping, and is available worldwide in the three colors seen above. A close-up of the shirt's image can be found after the break. Fun fact: Yoshiki Okamoto created both 1942 and the Street Fighter series, so the shirt's image with Cammy isn't an entirely random cross-promotion. [Thanks Jared, Via John D's blog]
Meet DS Fanboy and Joystiq in Santa Monica on Thursday, July 17th
Hey, do you live in the Santa Monica area? Like free stuff? Well, clear your calendar for the night of Thursday, July 17th. Joystiq is hosting a meetup. There, over 200 pounds of swag will be given out, and there'll be games and refreshments for all to enjoy. It's totally going to crush last year's meetup! Plus, you could meet me. That's got to be worth ... uh, something?It's all going to be hosted by the good folks at Mahalo.com. Just, do us a favor: RSVP if you plan on attending. Hope to see you there!When: 6-10:00PM pacific on Thursday, July 17thWhere: Mahalo HQ, 902 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90401 (map it!)Who: Every man, women and child of every age. Yes, even YOU can attend!Why: Because it's "good times".RSVP: Facebook
Pre-order Mirror's Edge, and it's in the bag
Mirror's Edge, the upcoming game from EA's DICE studio, is what you'd get if you crossed Johnny Mnemonic with the Kevin Costner epic The Postman and then multiplied it by Portal and divided it by the Y.T. character from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. You play a Runner named Faith, and she runs information in her faithful little satchel to and fro in a sprawling, futuristic metropolis. If you pre-order the game from GameStop, you can get your mitts on that very same bag. It has seven compartments, comes in eye-blasting yellow, and "fits your PS3, Xbox 360, or laptop for gaming on the run." Not too shabby. If publishers keep putting out things like this and the Fallout 3 Survival Edition, which comes with a replica of the Pip-Boy 3000, then how long until Resident Evil ships with a replica of the T-Virus in a collectible plexiglas case? We'd hit it.
X3F has 100 Battlefield: Bad Company demo codes to give away
Do you want to try Battlefield Bad Company without having to pre-order the game (which is currently the only way to demo it)? Do you have an Xbox 360? Our sister site X3F has managed to nab 100 demo codes and are giving away the first 50 today. Enter by 10:00pm Eastern tonight. The other 50 will be given away tomorrow. Click here to enter.
Fallout 3 pre-orders come with soundtrack CD
There are plenty of reasons to pre-order Fallout 3. Maybe there's a cute checkout boy/girl at your local game retailer that you'll take any opportunity to see or, maybe, it's because Fallout 3 is almost certainly going to be completely and utterly rad. Either way, those that lay a five-spot on the game at their local GameStop are going to be walking away with a five-song Fallout 3 soundtrack disc, according to Bethesda's official blog.As you can see here, there are a few licensed tracks as well as some originals by recently-announced scorer Inon Zur. As you can also see above it's gorgeous and we want it so bad and please Fallout 3 just come out today oh please please we need this please. Please.
The merits of WoW clothing
My weekend so far has been packed full of nerdisms, as I'm currently squeezed into a one bedroom apartment with five of my guildmates. Most of us had never met in person before this week, so a couple of us took the obvious route of wearing a Warcraft t-shirt at the various bus stations and airports as a 'hey, it's me!' sign.Friendly ribbing demanded at least a few accusations of rampant nerdery because of said shirts(most of them coming from the girl wearing a Super Mario shirt, nice try). It made me start to wonder, is wearing WoW swag really that nerdy? Is it a bad thing? I don't think so, personally. To me, it's pretty much the same as wearing a t-shirt of your favorite band. Of course, there are people that think band shirts are corny, so who knows? It's just a little sign that you're a fan, and it certainly helps that my WoW shirt is incredibly comfortable.What about you guys? Do you own WoW gear? If you don't, do you think it's silly? Do you feel the same about band shirts and things like that, or just WoW?
NIS offers contest to win a game and viral candy
While that may sound disgusting, it's not. In fact, we find this Puchi Puchi Virus candy to be almost as appetizing as the budget priced game due out this summer. Now, though, there's a chance for you to get your hands on both the delicious snack and the game it's themed after. In order to promote their upcoming game, NIS is having two contests, in which the prize is a Puchi Puchi Anti-Virus kit. The kit include anti-virus pills (aka candy), information about Puchi Puchi Virus, and the game itself. The deadline for both contests is May 20th. For one, you must draw your own version of an infected person, name it, and send in the artwork. For the other, you must come up with your own "wacky" virus, name it, and write about what it does.If you're interested in entering, just click the "read" link below for more information. Gallery: Puchi Puchi Virus [Via GamerTell]
Valkyria Chronicles swag littering streets upon Japanese launch
If you're going to be in Japan for the release of Sega's upcoming tactical RPG shooter Valkyria Chronicles on April 24th, you may as well go pick up the game in Akihabara so you have a chance to score some sweet swag. You take your receipt from purchase to Sega GiGO and you might get a messenger bag, a t-shirt, promotional postcard, or an autographed piece of art. Even if you don't get to Japan for this, look around on eBay in a few weeks!
The things we do to get you swag: Bourne Conspiracy strings us along
"Are you Mr. Stern, by chance?" A built man in a black suit asked, standing in front of a black Cadillac. His black sunglasses evenly split M.I.B. and The Matrix.I'd just stumbled into the daylight after an afternoon meeting near San Francisco's Union Square. I'd been standing on the sidewalk for a moment, shifting my attention between my notebook, phone, and this man. I'd stolen glances like I was meeting a blind date, wondering if this was my contact but not quite approaching himI confirmed my identity, and he motioned me over to the sedan. "I'll be taking you to the drop zone," he said and then was silent.A few weeks earlier, FedEx dropped off an unmarked, prepaid mobile phone. The carbon-copy shipping slip gave no origin address or FedEx account number. I called the delivery company and asked for more details, and all they could dig up was the location the phone was picked up. Some place called "Vivendi University" according to the agent. And so the marketing stunt began.%Gallery-20464%
Chaos, Panic, Disorder: WAR CE pre-order rundown
As tumultuous as the delay has been for the Warhammer Online fan community, an even bigger headache has loomed in the minds of many. One of the biggest details to come from the announcement of the Collector's Edition and its myriad of goodies was that those who put in a pre-order for the CE would get early access to the Open Beta and a head start on the rest of the Warhammer fanatics when it finally comes time for release sometime this fall.That's all well and good, but who could have anticipated the sheer number of discrepancies and problems that have arisen from these simple perks? Different retailers are handling the distribution of codes differently, there are gaping holes in the system that allow for exploitation, players are reporting on bunk codes, orcs and dwarves living together, mass hysteria! Having navigated this minefield ourselves in the quest for that delicious artbook, we thought we'd give you a bit of a rundown on the situation.
Blizzard Worldwide Invitational gets a goody bag
Preparations for the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational are in full swing. Tickets are on sale for the event, which will take place on June 28th and 29th in Paris, France. Of course, your ticket gives you access to both days, but what Blizzard event ticket wouldn't be complete without a good old fashioned goody bag? Blizzard goody bags usually contains some pretty awesome swag (check out the contents of the Blizzcon '07 goody bag if you need a refresher), and it looks like this bag won't be any different. So far, Blizzard has revealed that you can expect to find a beta key for an upcoming Blizzard game and an exclusive in-game pet for the World of Warcraft in your bag. There's no word on which game the beta will be, which makes me wonder if it might even be an as yet unannounced title. After all, They've told us that Starcraft 2 and Wrath of the Lich King will be playable at the event, so it might be a bit late to hand out beta keys for those games. Then again, perhaps I'm just really, really wishing for a new Diablo game. They're keeping mum on the identity of the in-game pet so far as well. We've already had 2 Murloc-related rewards from the Blizzcons, so with Wrath of the Lich King coming out, perhaps we'll see a pet Gorloc. Then again, Murlocs might be a little played out, so I'm going to root for a penguin, I think. Blizzard's promised to reveal more about the contents of the goody bag as the date of the Invitational draws nearer, so hopefully we'll have more news for you on that front soon. Of course, if the goody bag alone isn't quite enough, Blizzard's promised that there will be exclusive commemorative swag to win in contests or buy at the event as well, just like at last year's Blizzcon. Be sure to keep your browser tuned right here to WoW Insider, we'll let you in on all future loot announcements and all the Worldwide Invitational news as it happens.
PlayStation Portable plushies make good bedfellows
Sony Computer Entertainment Asia has unveiled a quirky selection of items for people willing to throw down the big bucks this Easter season. We weren't aware it was a big spending season, but there you have it. For spending a certain amount on select PlayStation products, around $256 (or $2000 HKD for those in Asia), you get the above PSP plushy pillow thing. Yes, you can hug your gaming addiction as you sleep. Spend more and you can get a polo shirt; even more and you'll get a windbreaker. We agree with Siliconera -- the plush PSP is the sexiest item of the lot. Also of note: the blow-up PS3 is just a retailer item, so you can't get that one.
SXSW08: SXSWag
My first task upon entering the Austin Convention Center was ... well, it was to challenge the Labyrinth of Press Registration (instead of a minotaur at the end, there is a nice-but-flustered volunteer). But after that! I went for the swag bag. I just wasn't carrying enough stuff! It's stuff. How could I resist? SXSW Interactive is not strictly about video games, and the free stuff in this bag is similarly focused on interactive technology in general. Microsoft is promoting their Flash-like Silverlight browser plugin, Opera's pushing, uh, Opera (via koozie!) and Fuze is putting their marketing effort behind their thirst-quenching technology. By far the most enjoyable bit of swag was Adobe's ad-filled fortune cookies. Or, as I like to call them, breakfast. I am literally a consumer of their ad material!I laid out everything that wasn't an advertising flier and took pictures to provide you with the immersive SXSW swag bag experience. Check our gallery and imagine what it must feel like to have things from a convention!%Gallery-17911%
All your base announcements are belong to us
If you've ever taken a character to at least level 10 in Tabula Rasa, chances are you've found your way to Foreas Base in The Divide. Assuming you actually had your sound turned on, you've probably heard a couple of the base announcements that have amused players since the game's release. (And if you haven't, they've conveniently uploaded them to their website for your listening pleasure.) In a world of lore largely devoted to the burdensome task of preserving the human race in the face of a a tireless alien foe, the Foreas Base announcements are one of the true bright spots in the game, with their dry humor and frequent Christopher Walken impressions.That's why we were so excited to see the announcement of a new contest in this week's Weekend Wrapup. The Tabula Rasa Base Announcement Contest, as its known, calls for players to come up with the most witty, amusing base announcement they can think of, and record it for the Destination Games team's to judge. All announcements are required to be under fifty words in length, devoid of copyrighted material or phrases, and preferably PG-13. Submissions will be judged based on originality, creativity, quality, and presentation. Grammar counts! The winner will get their announcement recorded and put in the game, while runners up will get some free Tabula Rasa swag. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
Today's most edible swag: Puchi Puchi Virus candies
If there's one thing we enjoy more than getting free stuff in the mail here at Joystiq, it's getting stuff that is both free and edible, which is why we were only too happy when a package showed up today from NIS America promoting the publisher's upcoming foray into the world of casual gaming with Jaleco's Puchi Puchi Virus. We'll admit we had our misgivings about the change in direction, particularly given the company's traditionally niche role-playing and strategy roots, but if all of their side quests turn out as milk chocolate covered in a thin candy shell, we may well have to revise our stance altogether. Were we not thinking with our stomachs, the notion of consuming food based around a puzzle game with 'virus' in the title could be cause for concern. Also sealed in the box, aptly labeled 'Anti-Virus Kit,' is the game as well, so expect impressions soon -- assuming the candies themselves do not do us in.%Gallery-16732%
