Contests

Just a reminder that we are running yet another giveaway contest here at Big Download. Some of you reading this have a chance to win a free download code via Steam for the just released Shattered Horizon, the multiplayer zero-g space based first person shooter.

Do you want a chance to check out this new and innovative game from developer Futuremark Games Studio? Of course you do. Then head over to our contest page, make sure you are eligible to enter our contest and if you are put down a comment on that page. You still have until 11:59 pm Eastern Time on Monday to get your entry in place.

It's been a few days since our last giveaway so it's time we gave our Big Download readers a chance to win something cool. In this case we got three Steam download codes to give out that will let the winners download the full version of Shattered Horizon, the just released multiplayer first person shooter from developer Futuremark Games Studios.

As with most of our contests, entering the giveaway is simple:

• To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
• The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on November 9
  
• You may enter only once.
• Three winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Those three winners will be sent a Steam code that can be use to download a full copy of Shattered Horizon (valued at $19.99 each)
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.
• Also keep in mind that this game can only be run on Windows Vista or Windows 7 with at least a DirectX10 based graphics card.

Our thanks to Futuremark Games Studio for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.

While certain upcoming military shooters have yet to reveal if they will have any mod tools, Codemasters' recently released Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising game has a full mission editor for anyone to make their own maps and missions in the game. Now PC processor maker Intel will be rewarding folks who come up with the best missions for the game in a new contest.

People who own the game can use the mission editor to submitted their creations to the contest (they have to have, among other things, an Intel i7 processor as one of the mission's objectives). Deadline for entries is November 29. After the top 12 are decided by the game's community via their votes, the winners will be determined by a jury of people from Codemasters, Intel and others. The people who create the top two missions will each receive a gaming PC valued at over $2,000.

If we were to judge a competition by simple the number of entries received, then the 2010 edition of the Independent Games Festival is already a huge hit. The 12th annual indie games competition had 306 entries for its Main Competition, which is its highest number in its history.

You can check out all of the entries at the IGF's official web site.All the games submitted will be reviewed by over 150 judges. The finalists will be named in several categories in January and the winners will be named in a ceremony to be held at the Game Developers Conference in March 2010 in San Fransisco.

Saga is a free-to-play online fantasy real-time strategy game, where player command armies to battle and wield devastating spells. From today until November 13th, you will get a free bonus unit called the Ice Drake if you sign up for a new account. Sign up today and have fun!

"SAGA is the world's first collectible MMORTS. SAGA has over 100 troops types and 50 spells to collect. Build your empire by developing your main city or expand by conquering outlying terrifies. Join your friends in cooperative mode or battle solo on over a thousand quests online. Fight boss monsters for Epic Loot rewards.

The Ice Drake is a neutral unit usable by any faction. A terrible flying monstrosity immune from ground melee attacks it instills fear in the hearts of the bravest warrior.

Download the Saga Install Client (505 MB)
Sign up for a free Saga account

The economic recession has caused a number of pro PC gaming leagues in the past few years to close their operations but one that has stayed afloat is the World Cyber Games. This week the league, which started out in and is still based in Korea, announced that their grand finals, which is held in a different city each year, will be hosted by Los Angeles for the 2010 edition. The event will be held at the LA Convention Center, home of E3.

The World Cyber Games previously came to the US to hold its grand finals in 2004 (San Francisco) and 2007 (Seattle). The 2009 grand finals will be held on November 11-15 in Chengdu, China as hundred of players from around the world are expected to compete in a number of PC and Xbox 360 game tournaments. There's no word yet on exactly when the 2010 Los Angeles grand finals will be held.

BioWare is celebrating Halloween today with special holiday themed wallpapers for both of their upcoming games: the fantasy RPG Dragon Age: Origins and their sci-fi RPG Mass Effect 2. The Dragon Age: Origins wallpapers are pretty blatant but the one for Mass Effect 2 is a little bit more subtle.

Meanwhile the Warden's Quest tournament for Dragon Age: Origins that was held in London earlier this week is long over. The four man team from Hungary emerged as the winner of the tournament as they beat a four man team gathered from the BioWare community. The team from the US came in ninth out of 10 teams. Bummer.

If you like free things (and if you don't we recommend you see a doctor because you're odd) then you had better register for our latest giveaway contest. Today is the last day that you can enter to win one of five Steam download codes that we are giving out for Order of War, the recent WWII RTS game from developer Wargaming.net and publisher Square Enix.

So head over to the contest web page and enter now (if you are 18 years or older and a resident of the US and Canada, excluding Quebec of course). The deadline for entry is tonight at 11:59 Eastern time.

Even though Dragon Age: Origins is a single player game, developer BioWare and publisher EA have devised a way to create a special pre-release tournament for the upcoming fantasy RPG title. Dragon Age: Origins: Warden's Quest is scheduled to be held for 24 hours at the Debating Chamber at County Hall in London beginning on Wednesday at 10 am local time (that's 5 am ET).

10 teams of four players from all over the world have already been selected to participate in the event (presumably each team member will play their build of the game for a few hours). Stats will be collected through the day and at the end of the event the winning team that has the most experience and kills will receive $12,500 for each player. Not a bad way to spend a day.

Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux used to be a PC game developer with titles like Dungeon Keeper, Black and White and others under his command. Now he's moved away from PC gaming with Xbox/Xbox 360 titles like Fable and Fable II. Yet in a recent speech he named five games he felt were "revolutionary" and lo and behold two of them are PC exclusives.

According to That Video Game Blog, Molyneux made the comments during the annual BAFTA Video Games Lecture. One PC exclusive revolutionary game was Dune 2, considered to be the first ever RTS game. The other PC game exclusive is World of Warcraft which he said had a ""carrot dangling" design that made the player want to continue to play and level up. Now if we can just get Molyneux to be interested in PC games again.

It's time for another game giveaway here at Big Download and this time we have five Steam download codes to give away for the recent WWII RTS game Order of War. The game, from developer Wargaming.net and publisher Square Enix, had a new free content update this week that enabled a number of units and a gameplay mode that were previously pre-order exclusives.

As with most of our contests, entering the giveaway is simple:

• To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
• The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on October 27
  
• You may enter only once.
• Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• The winners will be sent a Steam code that can be use to download a full copy of Order of War (valued at $39.99 each)
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.

Our thanks to the game's PR company Maverick PR for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.
Download Order of War Demo (545 MB)

Monte Cristo Games' recently released city simulation game Cities Xl promises to not only have players build their dream city but also link with thousands of other players in a massively multiplayer "planet" full of of urban areas. Now Big Download is giving our readers the chance to win one of five Steam codes that will give them access to the full game.

As with most of our contests, entering the giveaway is simple:

• To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
• The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on October 18
  
• You may enter only once.
• Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• The winners will be sent a Steam code that can be use to download a full copy of Cities Xl (valued at $39.99 each)
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.

Our thanks to Monte Cristo Games for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.

More and more PC gamers use their laptops for either their secondary gaming rig or even their main one if they have a high-powered machine. But what if you still have a bulky mouse that's meant for a keyboard. Razer released their Orochi laptop themed gaming PC mouse recently and now Big Download is giving one of our readers a chance to win one. We will even throw in a Razer Kabuto gaming PC mouse pad to go along with it.

As with most of our contests, entering the giveaway is simple:

• To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
• The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on October 16
  
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• The winner will be sent a Razer Orochi gaming PC mouse (valued at $79.99) and a Razer Kabuto gaming PC mouse pad (valued at $19.99)
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.

Our thanks to Razer for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.

Remember that mysterious event that was supposed to happen yesterday in San Fransisco to promote Dark Void? Well it happened and that event turned out to be the introduction to a new contest to promote the upcoming action game from developer Airtight Games and publisher Capcom. The folks were taken to a nearby car dealership. But not just any car dealership. Its one where they sell the all-electric Tesla Roadster car.

And the contest? Capcom is giving away one of these puppies, valued at over $100,000, to anyone who enters their sweepstakes. Five first prizes get a chance to test drive the Roadster in Las Vegas during CES in January. The "link" between the car and the game is that Dark Void has famed "mad scientist" Nikola Tesla as a character in the game that your player character encounters. Capcom sent over some new screenshots from the game, some of which show Tesla. They also have a pretty funny commercial for the Tesla Roadster giveaway that you can see after the jump.

One of the most acclaimed indie game titles of recent memory has been Dyson, the strategy title that was once the subject of our Freeware Friday columns. Now the developers of Dyson are planning to release a full commercial version of the game but there's one catch; they are going to change the title.

Apparently the developers of the original game feel the current title (inspired by the famous physicist Freeman Dyson) is no longer appropriate for a full commercial release. So they are holding a contest to give their fans a chance to submit ideas for Dyson's new name with the winner getting a free copy of the renamed game. The full version of " The Game Formerly Known as Dyson" will be released on October 20. Direct2Drive currently has a pre-order offer for the game that takes off 25 percent from the game's price.