MMO developer Aeria Games is offering one lucky Pi Story player the chance to be the creator of the official Pi Story MySpace page and also to take home an iPod Shuffle if you can create the most “decorative and entertaining” page for the game.

Described as a “2D Anime Casual MMORPG”, Pi Story centres around a Tower of Babel-esque story line that has the gods’ apostles recruit you into trying to piece back together “Pi”, the great egg and origin of us all. Expansion, greed, and bickering led to the egg shattering and the dispersal of the human race. It’s up to you to gather the pieces and return the world to a period of harmony.

So, if you think you’ve got what it takes, here are the rules:

1. Create a temporary Pi Story MySpace
2. Players will need to send their code to a Game Master after completion
3. All entries will be property of Aeria Games
4. Entries must be received no later than 12 p.m. PDT 7/21/08
5. Players will vote for a winner on the most artistic and decorative MySpace Page

First prize gets you the Shuffle and 2000 Aeria Points, second gets you 2000 Aeria Points, and third nabs you 1000 Aeria Points.

Image Courtesy of Aeria Games & Entertainment Inc.

I think this amounts to outright bribery. In order to generate the latest wave of interest for Street Fighter IV , Capcom is appealing directly to the ego of gamers (the what? that exists?) by offering a chance to appear as one of the background characters in the upcoming game. All fans have to do is write into Capcom (contest@capcom.com) with a compelling reason that you should be included in the game.

It’s really that easy. Present your case in any form you choose, impress Capcom, and win the opportunity to have your face appear right in the path of one of Ryu’s hadouken.

Read Capcom’s Unity blog for more info.

Image courtesy of Capcom

Unreal Engine 3 developer Epic Games has teamed up with Intel to put some serious cash on the table for aspiring developers. The competition’s name: the ‘$1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest, states pretty clearly what’s involved. All you have to do is use your mad modding skillz in one of a wide range of categories to create add-ins for UT3. Whether you’ve got a map, a weapon, or a full gameplay overhaul, Epic and intel want to see what aspiring devs have up their sleeves. The products of this competition will be available for download for UT3 players worldwide, so even if you don’t claim the grand prize, it’ll be a great whack of exposure.

Just what is the grand prize? A hard to come by (ie. extremely costly) Unreal Engine 3 developer license. Oh yeah! Can you think of a better tool to help launch a design career? Other prizes include Intel merchandise and cash.

Head on over to the Epic Games site to read the full press release and get more details at the official site if you’re interested in taking part. An Unreal Engine 3 license is certainly nothing to sneeze at, so good luck to you all!

Via | Epic Games

Image Courtesy of Midway Games Inc.

Impressive yes, oddly hideous? Also yes. Nintendo had asked a company called Crystal Icing, who will essentially cover almost any object with Swarovski crystals, to create a couple of blingin’ Wii to give away to the winners of the Super Smash Bros. Brawl Competition. The result?

A brawl to end them all. They created a Wii depicting Mario on one side, and Bowser on the other, all made out of over 20,000 crystals. If the Wii were available in stores, you could expect the retail price to hover somewhere in the range of $4000. Four grand for a machine who’s hardware costs less than a tenth of that? No thanks! But they’re still amazingly creative and very well done.

Via | Kotaku

I suck at Guitar Hero almost as much as I suck at playing a real guitar. I’m okay with that, and I’ve come to grips with the fact that I don’t have an ounce of musical talent in my body. That’s why I leave the playing to pros like 16-year old Chris Chike from Minnesota, who set a Guinness World Record for “Highest Score for a Single Song on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock”.

Playing in NYC as part of a contest for the record, and to celebrate the launch of Guinness Gamer’s Edition, Chike nearly aced (97%) DragonForce’s “Through the Fire and Flames” on expert difficulty (??!) for a whopping score of 840,647 points.

Prepare to be humbled:

Via | GameSpot

Think you’re the hottest thing to grace the PvP arenas since, well, evah? Maybe it’s time you put your money where your mouth is and join up for Blizzard’s first foray into the eSports realm: the 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Tournaments.

Beginning in April there will be two rounds of online qualifiers for each zone listed below, and allow players to step onto dedicated realms and into the armor of an instantly created level 70, epic-sporting avatar. Fun enough in and of itself, but up for grabs is an awesome $200,000 in cash prizes. Teams will square off 3v3, with the top 4 teams from each round advancing into the regional finals. The prize breakdown looks like this:

• $27,000+ cash prizes at each regional tournament
• $120,000 cash prizes at the global championship
• $75,000 dollars grand prize

Just think of how many monthly subscriptions that could buy…

Now these ain’t for the faint of heart. You’re going to have to hand over some of your hard earned cash to take part in these tournaments (€15/£12 in Europe; 20,000 won in South Korea; $20 in North America; and NT$450 in the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau). More details can be found on the Blizzard Tournament FAQ site and I’m assuming there will be more and more information oozing out as April approaches.

Via | Blizzard.com

Make your directorial debut with Master Chief and win a trip to Hollywood thanks to a Microsoft contest encouraging European 360 owners to get creative with one of the most iconic figures in the business.

Avid fans and travel lovers alike have until March 21st, 2008 to come up with their own take on “unseen adventures” of Master Chief. You can use a camcorder, in-game adventures, animation, claymation….they don’t really care, as long as you’re portraying Master Chief outside of the Halo universe.

All you have to do, Euro friends, is go to this site, upload your video before the deadline, and cross your fingers that your video will be chosen as the best from your country, allowing you to go through to the finals judged by Bungie Studios. The overall winner will be treated to a one month study period at the New York Film Academy for some formal film-making training, and everything is paid for: flights, hotel, car rental and a cool $2K cash spending money. Terms and conditions, as well as more info, can be found at the linked site above.

Bungie seems pretty excited to see what people come up with. Says Brian Jarrard:

“This competition is a great way to showcase the creativity and passion that drives the Halo fan community. We can’t wait to see how people infuse their own style and personality into Master Chief and deliver a whole new take on the Halo phenomenon. May the best Spartan win!”

I’m think that a day in the life of MC might be kind of fun. The drudgery of trying to shower with his armor on, shaving beneath his helmet visor, organizing and reorganizing his weapon collection….hhrmm….too bad I’m in North America.

Via | GamesPress.com

Think you have what it takes to be a casual game designer? Well step up to the plate and take a swing at cash prizes and instant recognition thanks to Jay is Games, Gimme5games and Mochi Media. All you have to do is create a Flash based game (v. 6+)related to the theme “Upgrade”. That’s it. No further guidelines, no restrictions. Think of it as a completely blank Flash canvas upon which to work your magic.

This little competition, officially called the 5th Casual Gameplay Design Competitionis currently underway and submissions are being accepted until March 3rd, 2008, giving all of you with aspirations of design glory plenty of time to put together a Flash masterpiece.

Up for grabs:

• 1st Place - $3500 and an Adobe Flash CS3 Pro license
• 2nd Place - $1750 and an Adobe Flash CS3 Pro license
• 3rd Place - $1000 and an Adobe Flash CS3 Pro license
• Other prizes based on popularity and creativity

For more information, see the competition announcement here.

What’s cooler than a combination of retro games and world travel? Not much, which is why an online contest promoting Big Tom Spiced Tomato Juice has got me firing away despite its obviously marketing laced intentions.

In a take off Space Invaders, the makers of Big Tom have created Spice Invaders: Attack of the Insipid Liquids where you have to keep your bottle of T-Juice out of the line of fire of lesser beverages like beer and Coke by sliding along a wooden bar top and mashing the fire button to destroy your unhealthy foes.

Cute little game to be sure, but a rip-off is a rip-off and I normally wouldn’t mention this one, except that the player scoring the highest will win a trip for two to the messy, mangled world of Spain’s La Tomatina Festival next year. There’s no end date given for the contest, but I’m assuming it’s open for a while because 2009 is a long way off.

Not familiar with the tomato flinging festival? Watch this:

And if you don’t win the big trip, there’s still plenty of other prizes to be run, like a monthly reward of a whack of Big Tom tomato juice delivered right to your door, and a weekly shot at a “bloody different” Big Tom t-shirt.

I love differing perspectives. they make the world go ’round and keep life from being dull and, well, lifeless.

Take, for example, the WoW laptop (Alliance edition) from Dell….

Price? $4,500 — STARTER. Are you kidding me? Would you pay that much for that hunk of Khorium?? I sure an heck wouldn’t. It better be the best damn laptop ever made for that much, but surprisingly, it’s got a few gaping wounds, which are nicely summarized by Alice over in Wonderland, detailing the fact that it’s tech specs don’t even outdo her year-old Vaio, and musing about the complete and utter lack of choice when it comes to graphics cards, presumably an important little component for those of us looking to lay the smack down.

Personally, I’d find someone who would decal my case for me, or construct add-ons. At most you’d be looking at a couple hundred dollars, rather than a year’s tuition. Or, the other option, and an easy one at that, is simply to win yourself one. If you’re a die-hard WoW fan that simply MUST have this gem of a system, head over to WOW Insider and enter their contest by stating your allegiance to the Horde or the Alliance in the comment section. Other goodies are also included and their post lists them off like a holiday gift from heaven.