Gigabyte, makers of all things gaming, have decided to celebrate the launch of Metro: Last Light by offering the games.on.net readers the chance to gear up and take on the unforgiving underground of the Russian metro.

That’s right: win this competition, and you walk away with a brand new Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660… and a brand-new Aivia Osmium mechanical gaming keyboard (with Cherry Brown MX switches). With these babies attached to your rig, you’ll have everything you need to crush the mutants into submission.

But wait! There’s more!

These are the special Metro: Last Light editions of the GTX 660 — so you’ll score yourself a free copy of the game as well! Very nice.

There are two prize packs to win, and each one contains the card (with copy of the game) and keyboard — so don’t delay!

Wondering how good Metro: Last Light looks on PC? Why not check out our detailed, nine-minute long video review and see for yourself!

Holy crap! How can I enter?

Good question! To enter this competition, all you need to do is in 150 words or less, describe one of the mutated creatures now living in the radioactive Russian underground. It can’t be an existing Metro enemy, it has to be something you made up. It can be as serious or zany as you like: the two most creative entries as selected by our judges will walk away with the prize.

Leave your entry as a comment on this article below. Remember! 150 words or less. This competition is also open to Australian residents only.

What else do I need to know?

This competition runs from now until 11:59 PM Adelaide time on Sunday 26 May. It is governed by the terms and conditions on this page.

We’ve been carefully evaluating the entries to our BenQ Gaming Monitor giveaway, where three lucky people will be heading home with a brand new BenQ RL2450H gaming monitor. These monitors were custom-made in accordance with the direction from some of South Korea’s top StarCraft II players, resulting in an experience powered by a dynamic contrast booster to adjust levels on the fly and keep you at maximum alertness.

But enough about that! Who are the winners? Well I’m very pleased to announce, after much deliberation, that our winners are…

Writing Category

We had a lot of great entries and tales of terror in this category, but unfortunately there could be only one. And our winner, with the worst sob story of them all, is assa46.

I currently have only 1 monitor (21″ BENQ-G2220HD) the fact that is tiny is only half of my problem, whenever I am playing a game, midway through the screen goes black and I usually die before I can turn it back on. It has been doing this for over a year now, I can’t even play games now without the worry of it shutting off. Getting a new monitor would be really great and I would be able to return to gaming once again.

A tiny 21″ monitor that blacks out in the middle of games? We must help this person. assa46, a shiny new 24″ BenQ RL2450H is on its way to you.

Drawing Category

Once again some very stellar entries in this one, but the judges felt that forum regular a3gis‘ entry showed a truly terrifying scenario of global extinction should the man lose at a game of Solitaire.

Congratulations, a3gis! Please don’t kill us all.

Video Category

Very few entries comparatively in this category, but all of them top notch — unfortunately, only one entry could win and it was tarvang whose madcap jumping and arm-flapping genuinely told the judges that he was the one who would get the most excited.

Some great runner-up entries from xsphera and AuV2 Jason, respectively. Check them out!

Tarvang, if you could please post a follow-up video once your monitor arrives showing the real happy-dance in action, that would be perfect.

Congratulations to all the winners!

I’ll be contacting you by private message on the forum shortly to organise your prize collection. Thanks to everybody who entered, and thanks to BenQ for supplying the prizes. Look out for our next competition very soon.

This competition is now closed! Thanks to everyone who entered.

Thanks to BenQ, we’re giving away three — count ‘em, three — brand-new BenQ RL2450H RTS gaming monitors to our adorable gaming audience. These monitors were custom-made in accordance with the direction from some of South Korea’s top StarCraft II players, resulting in an experience powered by a dynamic contrast booster to adjust levels on the fly and keep you at maximum alertness.

Want to know more? Here’s our comprehensive review!

How do I get one?

Good question! There are three different categories in this competition, and you can only enter one of them. Choose wisely! Your options are:

WRITING:

In 150 words or less, leave a comment that explains how much your current monitor is ruining your life and why you desperately, desperately need to replace it with a fully-sick BenQ RL2450H.

DRAWING:

Draw and post an image in Microsoft Paint (or equivalent, no Photoshop wizardry please) that shows just how angry you get when you lose at a game — a loss that might have been prevented, if only you had a BenQ RL2450H.

Host that image up on the internet (sites like imgur.com are ideal) and post it (or a link to it) in the comments below.

VIDEO:

Record a video of yourself that shows just how excited you’d be if you won a new BenQ RL2450H gaming monitor! Host it up on YouTube (or similar) and leave a link to it in the comments below. No time limit on the videos, but if we get bored and leave, it’ll probably hurt your chances of winning.

What else do I need to know?

The competition closes at 11:59 PM on Wednesday May 15. It is governed by the Terms and Conditions available here. It is open to Australian residents only. Other than that, you’re good to go!

Good luck!

It’s time to finally unveil the winners of our massive BioShock Infinite PC Gaming Giveaway!

With 240 entries, we had to take our time going through them all — imagining them in action, doing Photoshop mockups, running around the room making “zap!” noises and generally thoroughly making sure that we made the right choices. But now, we’ve had to choose just two people to walk away with these most excellent prizes.

Those people are:

FIRST PRIZE: Hobomaster

MAGNETISM

Skyline Superiority
Your SkyHook(TM) may be a terrific tool, but sometimes the power of those magnets doesn’t quite give you the pull you truly desire. For a minor expenditure of salts, your problems can be solved! Any skyrail is accessible from any distance, provided you have a clear line of sight. Not only is this convenient, it can save you from a nasty fall, if you’re quick with your fingers!

Hobomaster walks away with:

• SAPPHIRE HD 7970 3GB GDDR5
• BioShock Infinite PC Ultimate Songbird Edition (Completely sold out in Australia, no longer available to the public)
• The Ultimate Songbird Edition includes: a PC copy of the game, a Songbird Statue, art book, Handyman figurine, lithographic print, a ‘Murder of Crows’ keychain, downloadable content – including the soundtrack – and three pieces of in-game gear
• Replica Skyhook (Do not insert it into the faces of your enemies)
• BioShock Infinite action figure
• 2 x BioShock Infinite T-shirts

SECOND PRIZE: doublefrost

Introducing, ‘Dustman’:
Flavour Text: ‘No Palm Without Dust’

Hold: Booker siphons every hotdog, booze-bottle, and silver dollar from his surroundings into a swirling vacuum of trash. All items in the area will be torn free of their moorings and whisked away into his waiting coat pockets.

doublefrost takes home:

• SAPPHIRE HD 7790 1GB GDDR5
• BioShock Infinite PC Premium Edition (Completely sold out in Australia, no longer available to the public)
• The Premium Edition includes: a PC copy of the game, art book, Handyman figurine, lithographic print, a ‘Murder of Crows’ keychain, and downloadable content, including the soundtrack and three pieces of in-game gear
• BioShock Infinite action figure
• 2 x BioShock Infinite T-shirts

Please join me in congratulating Hobomaster and doublefrost on their win!

But that’s not all!

Runners-up

Unfortunately we only have two prizes to give away, but there were some great entries that deserved to be shared.

tin-snips

Introducing the ‘Stooges Vigor’.

When using the Stooges Vigor, enemies will drop their weapons and act like they’re in a routine from The Three Stooges. They’ll poke, slap, punch and brawl themselves to death for your amusement! A handy trick when you want to explore a level unmolested, or just need a little entertainment after all of those near death experiences.

Tracer

The Higgs Vigor manipulates the Higgs Field around any object, decreasing or increasing it’s interaction, effectively meaning you can increase (primary mode) or decrease (secondary mode) mass. This changes the effects of gravity – enabling levitation or the reverse, including crushing bones and pulverizing objects. A particularly strong Higgs Vigor could possibility effect the interaction of celestial bodies, although no-one capable enough to make such modifications has ever survived long enough to harness this power.

A number of side effects occur when using the Higgs Vigor. Since all bodies without mass essentially travel at light-speed, it is also possible to increase or decrease the velocity at which an object and/or person can travel. The immediately practical outcomes are bending time (the theory of relativity) and manipulating light (increasing light particle mass to the point where it effectively stops); plus any other creative manipulations the user can dream of. Mastery of this Vigor requires significant practice and patience, something oft ignored leading to the downfall (and death, more often than not horrific in nature) of many ambitious users.

Kinky Kel

To assist in the need for a less violent and more infiltration based approach I’d set my Doppelganger Vigor to good use. Upon use of power on an enemy it would transform them to look like Booker so the enemy would spend time chasing and capturing them, allowing me easier movement throughout the city. Affects up to two people at one time. Duration lasts for 5 mins.

A side effect of this vigor sends a panic into the mind of the person changed causing them to run, thus creating a ‘chase’ for the authorities. Two levels of upgrades simply allow it to affect double the original amount affected and the second increases duration.

caitsith01

Enlightenment – unlike possession, which temporarily overwhelms the mind, enlightenment opens it and allows Booker to permanently recruit followers to his cause. A quick blast of knowledge instantaneously reveals the error of their ways to them, leading to a moment of epiphany. Naturally, as the deliverer of enlightenment the newly intellectually free citizens will follow Booker in his quest.

Using similar AI to Elizabeth, they will choose to fight by his side in increasingly huge mobs, reminiscent of the results of using the persuadertron in Syndicate. Booker can use his leadership to develop tactics for his new followers – such as asking them to take and hold a position, or create a distraction – adding significant complexity to the game. He can even ask them to use their apparent (to other citizens) normality to carry out actions which he would be unable to carry out without being attacked.

Timmy_Tim

My Vigor would be ‘The Vortex’. You may simply launch a small purple projectile at any direction which would have a momentary force explosion, pushing and stunning all those around it. This would affect both people and objects.

The wielder can choose to utilise this ability more cleverly. You can use this to collect enemy projectiles flying at you, or push victims into dangerous locations filled with traps.

manutd58

The “Spare Parts” Vigor. Depending on your location within the game:

Hold Click: Your arm mounted device will power up, the heat is almost too much to stand but just before it becomes too much a pulse wave is unleashed from the device, all hostile weaponry is stolen from your foes and turned into simple compounds (a Dust of some-kind) that integrate into your arm mounted device and superchargers the damage output for 3 seconds.

Yurtles

Twister: Unleash a miniature tornado that wanders the area at its own whim. The closer anything gets to it the stronger the pull. Bullets fired directly at it will be consumed, but further out it will apply a bend to their trajectory if they’re passing by it.

It’s deployable cover, crowd control, damage dealer and area excluder all at once. But beware, the power of the tornado is only exceeded by how exceptionally double edged it is. Make sure you’ve got a plan before letting one (or more?) of these loose.

xanarax

Bullet Magnet: When cast upon an enemy your bullets will always arc into them giving you 100% accuracy. Hide behind cover and fire your bullets out on a parabolic arc, stay hidden and stay safe.

As for it’s trap, drop it on the ground and fire into it, it will absorb all bullets and when an enemy stumbles into it the bullets will fire out in a large explosion of hot lead death, while the person who steps into it now becomes the bullet magnet.

Xebozone

RE-ANIMATION SALVATION! (That second chance to say goodbye)

[Target disintegrates into bones/ash after use]

Winners, look out for a PM from me shortly to grab your details. Congrats to everyone who won, and thanks to everybody who entered!

Look out for a new competition later in the week!

Did you know we are running a massive BioShock Infinite competition? Where you can win not only limited editions of the game but also stuff like the replica skyhook, which aren’t even available for sale anymore?

The first prize even includes a SAPPHIRE HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 card, so you can play BioShock as Irrational intended — at maximum settings.

Head on over to the competition page and enter! You’ve got six hours!

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED. Thanks to everybody who entered! The results are online here.

games.on.net and 2K have teamed up to give away two incredibly mad prizes, right here on this very website. That’s right — to celebrate the launch of BioShock Infinite, we’re giving away two awesome prize packs to get you up and running with all things BioShock in the proper PC gaming fashion. Check this out:

First Prize

Our first prize winner walks away with:

• SAPPHIRE HD 7970 3GB GDDR5
• BioShock Infinite PC Ultimate Songbird Edition (Completely sold out in Australia, no longer available to the public)
• The Ultimate Songbird Edition includes: a PC copy of the game, a Songbird Statue, art book, Handyman figurine, lithographic print, a ‘Murder of Crows’ keychain, downloadable content – including the soundtrack – and three pieces of in-game gear
• Replica Skyhook (Do not insert it into the faces of your enemies)
• BioShock Infinite action figure
• 2 x BioShock Infinite T-shirts

But that’s not all!

Second Prize

Our second prize winner will receive:

• SAPPHIRE HD 7790 1GB GDDR5
• BioShock Infinite PC Premium Edition (Completely sold out in Australia, no longer available to the public)
• The Premium Edition includes: a PC copy of the game, art book, Handyman figurine, lithographic print, a ‘Murder of Crows’ keychain, and downloadable content, including the soundtrack and three pieces of in-game gear
• BioShock Infinite action figure
• 2 x BioShock Infinite T-shirts

Dang!

Dang indeed. You can win these delightful prizes for yourself, simply by leaving a comment on this article that answers (in 200 words or less) the following question: “What new Vigor would you add in to BioShock Infinite, and how does it work?”

(For those of you who are confused, a ‘Vigor’ is identical to the ‘Plasmids’ from the first BioShock — or if that still doesn’t help, think of them as magic powers you cast out of your hand through science somehow.)

Remember! 200 words or less. It doesn’t have to be serious, or even fit in with the theme of the game, but we’ll be trying to imagine how it would work in game and judging accordingly. Feel free to describe how it works, if there’s a separate effect when you hold-and-release rather than just click, that sort of thing. It’s up to you.

The best entries, as judged by us, will win the prizes.

What else should I know?

This competition is open from now until 11:59 PM on Monday 6 May, and is open to Australian residents only. It is governed by the Terms and Conditions listed on this page.

Get cracking! If you’d like to see our video review of BioShock Infinite, click here — or for a bunch of hi-res screenshots showing why playing the game on PC is the only way to play, click here instead.

Our competition to give away five Creative Soundblaster Wireless 3D Gaming Headsets has drawn to a close — and now it’s time to announce the winners. As always it was a hard slog going through so many terrifying and frankly upsetting entries, but we’re very happy to inform you that the following five people will soon be replacing their truly awful audio setups with sweet cans courtesy of Creative.

First Prize

Our first prize winner is Rodrie3 — with his winning combination of two foamless cans sticky-taped to a bendy plastic ruler, we were moved to tears by the thought that any man (or woman) should have to wear such a hideous contraption while gaming. Disgusting.

Rodrie3 walks away with Creative’s premier wireless headset, a Soundblaster Recon 3D Omega — with hardware-accelerated THX TruStudio Pro sound, a proprietary Scout Mode to let you hear enemies from further away, booming 50mm neodynium magnet drivers and cross-platform compatibility with your consoles as well, the Recon 3D Omega is a sweet piece of kit.

Runners-Up

Our four runners-up will each receive the excellent Soundblaster Tactic 3D RAGE, a thoroughly excellent piece of kit which you can read our review of right here. The Tactic 3D Rage comes with 16 hours battery life, a 50mm neodynium magnet drivers for excellent sound, and an impressive range.

In no particular order: Burty13 impressed with his Macgyver-starring entry, a tragedy of blu-tac and masking tape.

We also enjoyed blahman3000‘s entry, a shining example of inspiration under the pressure of a LAN. A truly awful audio setup, and one we’ll be glad to correct.

games.on.net regular Wyld caught our eye with these headphones, snapped off on both sides and held back together with blu-tac. Awful. And leading a guild on raids with these, no less? Shameful! Something must be done.

Last but by no means least, mensly blew our minds with the hoops he leaps through to get his headphones working every day. Jerry-rigging a console headset to your PC through an Xbox controller and an adapter? No more!

Congratulations to all our winners! You’ll soon be listening in style, thanks to Creative. We’ll be contacting you by forum PM very soon to grab your details.

Thanks to everybody who entered and thanks again for Creative for the prizes! Please join me in congratulating our winners.

Did you know that we are giving away five awesome Creative Soundblaster 3D Wireless headsets?

You didn’t? Because we are, in fact, giving away five awesome Creative Soundblaster 3D Wireless headsets, and the competition ends tonight. Tonight! At 11:59PM ACT.

So if you like to win one of the five awesome Creative Soundblaster 3D Wireless headsets that we’re giving away, all you need to do is head on over to our competition page and enter. It’s as simple as taking a photograph!

Okay, get cracking!

Thanks to Creative, we’ve got five excellent wireless gaming headsets to give away — and we want to give them away to you. Yes, you! Or possibly you.

Our first prize winner will walk away with Creative’s premier wireless headset, a Soundblaster Recon 3D Omega — with hardware-accelerated THX TruStudio Pro sound, a proprietary Scout Mode to let you hear enemies from further away, booming 50mm neodynium magnet drivers and cross-platform compatibility with your consoles as well, the Recon 3D Omega is a sweet piece of kit.

Four runners up will each receive the excellent Soundblaster Tactic 3D RAGE, a thoroughly excellent piece of kit which you can read our review of right here. The Tactic 3D Rage comes with 16 hours battery life, a 50mm neodynium magnet drivers for excellent sound, and an impressive range.

How do I win?

Good question! To win, you need to show us why you need these headphones more than anybody else. So! Take a photograph of your current pair of headphones, upload it to an image-hosting site (imgur.com is a good one) and post it (or a link to it) in the comments section of this article. The more pitiful the photograph, the better — so use your imagination!

We will judge the entries and award these new headphones to those who are most in need of sweet new audio. Bonus points if yours are cracked, covered in cobwebs or just plain smashed into a thousand pieces and eaten by your dog. Use your imagination! You may use Photoshop (or similar), but please base your entry on a photograph of your actual headphones.

How long do I have?

Entries close at 11:59PM ACST (that’s Adelaide time) on Thursday 18 April. One entry per person only! And, as always, this competition is only open to Australian residents.

Terms and Conditions

Read the full Terms and Conditions at this link.

Good luck!

Thanks to the small fact that over five hundred of you entered our massive Crysis 3/ASUS AMD giveaway, we ended up completely missing our deadline to have all the winners sorted and announced. Please accept my apologies; I am only human and my bones are so weak. Now, though, the sorting has been finished — and we are ready to hand out the prizes. Let’s begin.

First Prize

An ASUS AMD RADEON HD 7970, a PC Hunter Edition of Crysis 3 and a Crysis 3 shirt

Nacimota – GPU Toolbox Mode

Enter a world of limitless possibilities by taking full control of the graphics card.

Make the CELL soldiers think they need glasses by enabling Depth of Field or destroy their vision entirely with Bloom and Lens Flares that would burn even J. J. Abrams’ retinas!

Torture your enemies by gradually reducing their polygon count until they resemble origami lepers!

In the event of poisoning, activate Anaglyph 3D mode to quickly induce vomiting!

Rage-quit in style by triggering the BSoD of your choice! Today’s favourite is IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Second and Third Prizes

An ASUS AMD RADEON HD 7850-DC2-2GD5, a PC Hunter Edition of Crysis 3 and a Crysis 3 shirt each

Aphyosis – Overcharge Mode

Suit energy is discharged at a high rate, arcing onto any nearby metal objects, enemies and incoming bullets. Arcs can continue a limited distance and vaporize bullets, but on depletion of suit energy leave the soldier in a vulnerable state as the rapid discharge requires longer to recover from.

The more targets/objects surrounding the player, the faster the suit drains power and produces more arcs. In practice, use in a enclosed, metallic or dense environment would create a violent AOE effect for nearby enemies. In a open area, the suit depletion would be slower, but would vaporize enemy fire and potentially arc back to the enemy if close enough.

Use would need to be judged finely, as overcharge could leave the soldier vulnerable if used poorly. Alternatively, correct use could provide a lethal edge in a aggressive assault or when leaving cover.

schkorpio – Maximum Life Coach

You realise that the “bad guys” aren’t really bad guys; they’re just doing their job. You can disarm any career challenged opponent with your earnest look of empathy mixed with a hint of disappointment.

Approaching the misguided fellow – once he is in melee range you can hold the crouch button, which engages “I’m a good listener” mode.

You both sit down on a beautifully rendered moss covered rock, and have a one on one, man to man chat about where things started to go wrong in his life, and what prompted a series of negative life choices which eventually led him to work for such an evil corporation. He cries, and you put your nanosuit covered finger over his lips and say “shhhhhhh”. You give him a man hug and whisper in his ear: “let it all out, you’ll feel better”.

Runners-Up (in no particular order)

These fine people take home a PC Hunter Edition of Crysis 3 and a Crysis 3 t-shirt

lithian – Sticky Hands Mode

You’re a busy man. An important man. A man with places to go, despots to depose, and alien hordes to send packing.

You need to be able to stalk prey, flip vehicles and toss enemies like ragdolls. Maybe you’ll also wear that nanosuit into a bar and buy a lady a drink, the kind with a little umbrella.
You can’t afford to look shabby, and nothing ruins a black nanosuit like cat hair.

Introducing Sticky Hands (TM) mode, developed by a secretive, underground defense company for cat lovers everywhere. Simply activate Sticky Hands, pat down your suit, and let our futuristic military tech do the rest!

Whether you’re leaving for a night on the town or a suicide mission on a tropical island, you want to be able to pet Mr Whiskers goodbye and still look your best. Buy Sticky Hands today, and have the confidence to be you.

tacticalkent – Maximum Intelligence

Estimated courses of enemies appear, health, armor and weapon status is displayed beside them and recommended use of weapons is shown. The mode also displays cones of vision, hearing ranges and level of suspicion/skepticism in the enemies personality, allowing the player to know exactly how to play to their style.

DarthLondar – Wireframe Mode

Can’t handle all those fancy graphics? Turn on wire frame mode and get rid of those pesky GPU intensive textures! No need to worry about fill rate anymore! Watch your frames per second fly through the roof! Comes complete with 16bit colour scheme for improved performance!

Relaxed_Possum – Maximum Commander

This mode is a complete reconfiguration of the suit to provide advanced construction capability. The suit can produce mass extractors and energy generators which provide the resources to allow the further construction of land, sea & air factories and a number of defensive and auxiliary structures. The suit then allows the wearer complete control over the automated buildings as well as the robotic army they produce. To facilitate effective battle control the suit launches a high altitude UAV providing complete strategic zoom over the battlefield. Once enough energy has been generated the suit may also deploy the D-gun providing massive direct damage to any enemy it hits. The Maximum Commander mode can provide supreme dominance over any battlefield; has been responsible for planetary annihilation and has even been rumoured to be capable of total annihilation.

Darth Robbo – Call of Honour Mode

User gains several abilities:

1. Able to regenerate damaged tissue and superficial damage within seconds by staying out of the line of fire. Even deep shrapnel wounds from grenades are healed magically.
2. Tunnel vision is activated, which forces the user to follow a straight path, indicated by large neon arrows and brightly-coloured objective markers. The Nanosuit also props up invisible walls and inexplicably non-opening doors to ‘assist’ the user.
3. The Nanosuit also injects endorphins into the user’s cerebral cortex, in order to block out the trauma of murdering thousands of soldiers simply following orders. This allows the user to focus on sweet killstreaks and deploying UAVs and bomb runs.
4. Lastly, the state-of-the-art visor adjusts colour and hue in the environment to a more dull, grey/brown mixture similar to the contents of a soiled nappy. This is known as the ‘Next-Gen Filter”.

Fireslide – Maximum/Minimum Mass

Having the ability to rapidly increase or decrease the mass of the armor & wearer. In the proximity of an explosion? Shift to maximum mass to retain your position like a stoic rock, or shift to minimum mass and be blown around like a leaf on the wind. Once you are up there above your enemies, increase mass and fall on them from above mario style. Combine maximum mass and maximum speed to turn into an unstoppable juggernaut, plowing through paper thin walls or doors, or minimum mass and maximum speed to run across water like a graceful lizard. The possibilities are endless.

SonicFRAG – Doughnut Mode

Your Nanosuit is now… doughnuts!
Hungry? Just rip off some of that doughy meaty suit to snack on! It grows right back!
Awww why am I so tasty? Lure enemies with the mighty scent of fresh sugary yeast!
Attack! Hot syrupy wonder nozzle – for external use only!
Double Glazed choc defend! Crunchy chocolate coating deflecting projectiles win!
The all-in-one sugary treat mode is now wearable! Do so at your own risk… of protection!

Honourable mentions

Without blowing this article out too far, I’d like to name some of the other entries that we thought were superb. Our congratulations to Specimen, J-Me, libbaz, SomeXspeC, MacrossFiru, Element, Shuth, meph3x6, our_mate, skitzor, Siveth, WhiteKnight210, Giraffe, jncord, The Rockodile and Ragee for their excellent entries.

Thanks to everybody who entered! Winners, you should receive a PM from me momentarily asking for your details so that we can get your prizes organised. Massive thanks to EA, ASUS, and AMD for supporting this excellent competition, and congratulations again to all the winners!

Have you seen our massive Crysis 3 and ASUS AMD card giveway? Probably, it’s on the background of the site right now. I’d be worried if you missed it!

But have you entered? If you haven’t, you have until midnight tonight (Adelaide time) to do so.

With over 460 entries, this is one of our biggest competitions ever — and with some great prizes to give away including an ASUS AMD RADEON HD 7970, that’s no surprise!

Get on over there now. Go on! Get.

With thanks to the good folks at ASUS, AMD and EA, we’ve got 10 copies of Crysis 3: Hunter Edition on PC and three shiny new ASUS RADEON HD cards to give away! Oh, and a bunch of sweet Crysis 3 t-shirts, too. How can you win this amazing prize? Read on!

What I am winning?

Our first prize is an ASUS AMD RADEON HD 7970. The 7970 comes with 28nm GPUs and 3GB GDDR5, as well as a GPU Tweak utility, PCI-E 3 connectivity and AMD Eyefinity support. First prize winner also goes home with a PC Hunter Edition of Crysis 3 and a sweet, sweet t-shirt.

Second and third prize winners will each walk away with a ASUS AMD RADEON HD 7850-DC2-2GD5, which features DirectCU thermal direct-contact heatpipes for 20% cooler and quieter performance, a GPU Tweak utility, PCI-E 3.0 and AMD Eyefinity support. These lucky people will also go home with their PC Hunter Edition of Crysis 3 and a t-shirt.

Seven more runners-up will all go home with a PC Hunter Edition of Crysis 3, and a fully sick t-shirt.

Dang! How do I win?

Entering is easy! Simply leave a comment on this article that explains, in 150 words or less, what new mode the Crysis nanosuit should have. We already have armour, speed, and stealth — but that’s boring. What extra mode should the suit have to make gameplay even better?

Answers can be funny, serious, satirical, or even completely insane — the 10 most creative entries will walk away with the prizes. No images allowed though!

Please remember this competition is only open to Australian residents.

What else do I need to know?

This competition runs from now until 11:59 PM ACDT on February 28 (Adelaide time). It is governed by the Terms and Conditions listed on this page.

Good luck, and have fun!

Did you enter our massive Aliens: Colonial Marines PC Collectors Edition Giveaway? No? Why not! In any case, there’s no time for recriminations. The competition is closed, but with 164 entries, judging was bound to take a while — so without any further ado, we present to you the ten worthy winners of this competition. Take a look inside!

New prototype weapons for the Colonial Marines

PfhorLoop

The Weyland-Yutani Executive Executioner Android (WYEEA – pronounced WEEEEYEEEAAAAAAA). Immediately terminating any Weyland-Yutani executive within 5km of an xenomorph nest has been shown to reduce the chance of xenomorphs being captured and then accidentally released in a failed bio weapons program by as much as 96%. This has been found to save more Colonial Marine casualties than any conceivable weapon directed at the xenomorphs themselves.

DaForce

USCM Weapons (experimental) Division introduces the M42A3 “Sharp Stick” Xenomorph Protection Device. Made from hardened Nano SteelTM (Weylan Yutani Bio Weapons Div.) is effectively a biomolecular acid proof bayonet, suitable for mounting upon M41A1 Pulse Rifles and other USCM rifles. No longer are Marines forced to expend ammo in an “eat this!” scenario. Simply place the muzzle of your weapon into any Xenomorph orrifice and release the trigger mechanism flinging 2 feet of “Sharp Stick” into the target. The 700 fpm extension speed will crush and pulverise any Xeno armour with ease and the retraction cleaning mechanism also keeps that pesky acid away from your face. Available now! Purchase today and keep it handy for close encounters!

Enki

The Soda Bomb is a small projectile containing large quantities of compressed rapid-expanding foam mixed with baking soda. When fired, it embeds itself into Xenomorph dermal tissue and pumps its contents into the target’s body. The foam will expand almost immediately within the body cavity causing massive swelling and internal organ and dermal tissue rupturing, while the baking soda simultaneously neutralises the acidic blood. Picture stepping on an overfilled custard doughnut. The foam then hardens rapidly, rendering target almost completely immobile should initial effects prove non-fatal, allowing significantly decreasing risks to personnel as they carry out additional termination procedures.

spkypwnsuall

WL-Y Mag-net Launcher Mk2: After horrible design flaws of the Mk1, such as missing the magnet components and being as strong as a wet paper bag, The Mag-net launcher is back with vengeance!

Designed with safety of captives in mind, and not much of a budget to work with, the new Mag-net launcher Mk2 comes with all the features you need to capture xenomorphs for your warfare needs without removing all their limbs and getting acid everywhere. By simply firing a remotely detonated net with magnetic seals, any xeno caught in your firing line will be pinned to the stations wall so fast you won’t have time to say “Ease down Ripley!” Of course, how you get it home is your problem. Not ours.

“Because giving Weyland-Yutani employees a weapon to capture more xenomorphs is a bright idea right?”

*Stock, trigger and ammunition not included.

Vid

M9000 sUnglasses. Direct from Weyland industries… putting the Sun in U…

These special glasses come with built in quip launchers so that all your sarcastic and pun filled lines can be delivered with ease. Try putting them on then delivering the line…it really works! Xenomorphs will simply explode with your wit! Their one weakness is a well delivered pun! Not only do they look cool they are also effective and blocking out the nasty weapon flashes from various weapons. Try combined with the flame thrower. The built in fans will keep your forehead lovely and cool while toasting Xenomorphs.

(c) Weyland Industries, batteries not included. Warning: extended use may result in own television show and memes, you’re THAT cool…

New breeds of xenomorph

zan121

A ventriloquist xeno that can quickly adapt to the acoustic environment of any space. It utilises its environment to reflect confusing or disorienting sounds. For example a marine might hear the sound of his friends beeping motion detector behind him when he is actually long deceased. or the scream of a xeno behind him at all times.

Markamus

Enormous Wounded Xeno. A giant heavily wounded alien, bleeding all over the place, which just crawls around bleeding everywhere, corroding everything with its highly acidic blood. Especially dangerous on military installations, it slowly dissolves structures, until occupants have no defensive advantage.

When the Enormous Wounded Xeno comes into contact with hostiles, it bleeds so hard that jets of blood spray out in every direction and when killed, bleeds even more than before. Like if you burst an above-ground pool. The Enormous Wounded Xeno is also the first Xenomorph to exhibit emotion, which takes the form of bleeding a lot.

Tajin

The Hateomorph. A tiny but very vicious xenomorph breed that jumps on the hand of unaware Marines like a facehugger would jump on your face. Once it has its victim in its glovelive grasp, it will force him to log into the forums where all the cool Colonial Marines hang out (like GON) and post hater comments about how Marines are just ripped off from WH40k or even Starcraft.

If you look carefully, you might sometimes spot screams for help (in very tiny letters) hidden in their posts. Though the hateomorph will immediately edit them out if he notices them.

Mr.Gomez

A new xenomorph: After “impregnation” by a face hugger this xeno, instead of killing its victim, acts as an advanced parasitic symbiote. The xeno grows inside the marine, quickly taking over the brain, absorbing all the memories, skills, mannerisms etc. The host cant survive without the xeno now, all organs of the body are entwined and synced with each other, body and soul the host has become a slave.. a unique appendage from the xeno comes out of the hosts mouth to “impregnate” other unfortunate victims, therefore becoming self sustaining away from the hive. this xeno can covertly destroy an entire platoon of marines from the inside out, towards the end the remaining marines wont know who is friend or foe..

meji

**Classified Weyland-Yutani**
Re: Research station 72a
New Xenomorph classification

Communication has been lost, previous Colonial Marine Recovery teams have failed to contain the situation sufficiently. Scientists of the facility were using Xenomorph DNA as a means to recreate extinct species of animals. Routine reports stopped shortly after a breakthrough. Remote access of security systems revealed a cause; Xenomorphs, seemingly crossbred with dinosaurs. Many species were identified; large, dangerous creatures, more impervious to weapons while appearing to retain their cruel intelligence.

Of alarm was a pteranodon-xenomorph hybrid, aloft on leathery wings, it’s long arms adorned with vast talons and a beak lined with vicious teeth. From upon high it dives upon it’s prey at phenomenal speeds. Telemetry indicates that the motion sensors are ineffective at early warning for it’s attacks. Extreme caution is advised when entering areas, particularly open areas, known to host this xenomorph.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks to SEGA and Gearbox for supplying the prizes! Winners, please check your forum PMs very shortly for a message from me so I can grab your details. Thanks again, everybody!

Our massive Gigabyte Blowout Competition is now over, and what a competition it was! With nearly 170 entries, including some amazing cakes and illustrations, it was harder than ever before to pick the winners. But winners had to be picked, and so here we present to you the best of the best, including some very wonderful honourable mentions.

Thanks to everybody who entered for helping to make this such an amazing competition! My one regret is that we didn’t have 170 graphics cards to give away.

Winners, please check your forum PM’s very shortly for details on how to claim your prizes!

Drawing Category

WINNER: Nizbort

Honourable Mention: Eggheart

Honourable Mention: spaztik

Honourable Mention: rymick

Special mention also to WhiteRAZOR, whose excellent long-form entry couldn’t quite fit on this page!

Writing Category

WINNER: pportmann

My best ever piece of hardware was exactly that: hardware. A ¾ inch zinc plated hex nut. What does this have to do with gaming? Well, many years ago, FPS games didn’t have the option of auto-run like you whippersnappers have now, so we used to weight the shift key down with a sizeable hex nut so we’d always be running. So many memories playing Doom using the chainsaw to take out the other players across coax cable spread from room to room. Unfortunately, I no longer possess the nut, but even today, we still recall the good old days of how something so simple made a great game better… I guess you could say we all put our nuts on the line back then.

Honourable Mention: meji

My Radeon 9700 Pro, on opening it boomed “SWEAR FEALTY!” I thrust the box to the sky and intoned “Sure!” Nestled into his AGP throne he roared; “MOAR POWA!”, a hungry and savagely beautiful silicon beast.

That Lord of Gaming was nestled back into his box, now at peace, and was safely stored away. There he rests, in death still the Messiah of Gaming.

Honourable Mention: exe3

Failin’ on live, I felt I wasn’t burnin’ rubber.
Everyone’s staring as I cross the line-a last-a.
I need a machine to make me go a whole lot fasta.
Need to go a lot more fasta.
I’m a Logi man.
Not Fanatec their pricings high.
A Logi man.
The Thrustmaster ain’t worth my time.
A Logi man.
Logitech
G-27
You’re all mad cause my wheel is awesome!
Jelly mad. HEY! You’re jelly mad. HEY!
You’re all mad cause my wheel is awesome!
Jelly mad. HEY! You’re jelly mad. HEY!
You can race me but it always ends the same.
OP Racing Wheel
O-O-O-O-OP
Painful I know.
Losing to me I know.
Not long ago it was me in last place I know.
Painful I know.
The tides have turned I know.
Maybe maybe it’s time for my skill to show.
You know what i’m saying?
O-O-O-O-OP
OP Racing Wheel

Honourable Mention: stage

The finest piece of hardware I ever had the pleasure to own was my Logitech MX-1000 Wireless Laser Mouse. This bulky high-tech marvel beautifully fit my oafish oversized hand. It served me well through FPSs and MMOs, enduring millions of clicks; when the left mouse button wore out, I salvaged a replacement switch rather than even consider replacing the mouse, for by this time the MX-1000 was venerable indeed and no longer sold. The comfortable coating was long since worn off, plastic beneath worn smooth from years of service, and the aluminium badge on the rear had been dissolved in half by my sweat before falling off. Sadly, when the middle mouse button was worn out I could not find a replacement, and had to retire my right hand tool of choice. The mouse I use now is technically far superior, yet I can’t help but miss that magnificent mouse.

Baking Category

WINNER: Tyderian

Honourable Mention: Makena

Honourable Mention: WhiteKnight210

Honourable Mention: rbrook

Please join me in giving our winners and all our honourable mentions a big round of applause!

Hey, you there! Do you like shooting aliens? In the bowels of spaceships and the dark corridors of abandoned buildings? Of course you do. What about also being those aliens in multiplayer and shredding the faces of your friends? You can do that also, in Aliens: Colonial Marines, which is heading our way on February 12. To celebrate, SEGA have given us 10 Collectors Editions of the game on PC to give away, and even thrown in a bunch of shirts for our lucky winners as well.

How do I enter?

Leave a comment describing in 150 words or less either:

a) A new type of weapon for the Colonial Marines to use against the xenomorphs, or
b) A new breed of xenomorph, bred specifically to defeat Colonial Marines

The five best entries from each category will win. Entries don’t have to be serious (although serious is fine!) so feel free to be funny, deadpan, sardonic, surreal or even absolutely insane. Please note that no images are allowed, however — just words.

So what’s in the Collectors Edition?

Check this:

• High Quality Resin Powerloader Figurine (approx. 16.5 CM tall) in Limited Edition Xeno Hive Box
• USCM Dossier
• Exlusive in game content:
  
  • Four Playable Movie Characters
  • Additional Marines Character Customization Options
  • Ripley’s Flamethrower
  • Exclusive Multiplayer Weapons
  • Sonic Electronic Ball Breakers
  • Phase Plasma Rifle
  • Exclusive Game Level
  • USCM Academy Firing Range
• Mission Brief
• USS Sephora Schematic
• Recruitment Card
• LV-426 Recon Photo
• USCM Iron-on Badges
• USCM Graduation Certificate

Things to know

This competition is open until 11:59 PM ACDT (Adelaide time) on Wednesday 6 February 2013 and is open to Australian residents only.

It is governed by the Terms and Conditions listed on this page.

Good luck!

If you somehow missed our competition to win an ASTRO A40 headset and Far Cry 3 then we’ve got good news for you: it’s not too late.

The competition ends today, so get yourself over to our Facebook page for all the details on how to enter.

Good luck!

This competition is now over! Click here to see the winners!

Thanks to the excellent folks at Gigabyte, we’ve got ourselves a bunch of fantastic hardware to give away — and we want to give it away to you. We’ve got three prize packs up for grabs, each of which contains a brand-spanking-new Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7970 Windforce Series as well as an Aivia Osmium Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (check out our review right here).

Oh wow, I need this. How do I enter?!

There are three different categories in this competition. You may only enter this competition once so make sure you pick the category you want to enter.

Please be aware this competition is open to Australian residents only.

1. Writing

In 150 words or less, tell us about the best piece of hardware you’ve ever owned. Graphics card, mouse, dodgy old yellow monitor, it doesn’t matter — why do you love it, what makes it special to you, and do you still have it lying around? The best entry will win the prize for this category.

2. Drawing

If words aren’t your thing, you can draw us a picture. The picture must show what you would look like and how you would feel if you were to win this category: draw yourself screaming in excitement for example, or perhaps triumphantly riding a unicorn. It’s up to you.

The drawing must be done in MS Paint (or the equivalent Mac/Linux program) and must feature the games.on.net logo drawn somewhere on it (to prove you didn’t just steal the picture). Upload the drawing to an image host (such as imgur) and leave it in the comments – the best drawing will win the prize for this category! You may only submit one drawing.

3. Baking

Bake a cake for us! To prove you really made it and didn’t just steal a photo from the internet, the cake must have the games.on.net logo on it somewhere. Take a photo of yourself with the cake, upload it to an image host (such as imgur) and leave it in the comments. The most impressive cake will take home the prize in this category. You may submit up to three (3) photos of your cake in order to show it off from various angles.

There will be one winner in each category, and three winners in total. Each winner takes home a prize pack with both the card and the keyboard in it!

Your entry must be submitted as a comment on this article, using the following format:

CATEGORY: Writing / Drawing / Baking (use only the one you’re entering in)

ENTRY: Your entry here (words or a picture)

How long do I have?

The competition is open from now until 11:59 PM ACDT (Adelaide time) on Tuesday 22nd January. Winners will be chosen and announced before the end of that week.

Terms and Conditions

This competition is governed by the terms and conditions listed on this page.

Good luck!

Welcome to 2013! Our friends at ASTRO and Ubisoft have asked us if we’d like to help give away an ASTRO A40 gaming headset, as well as some copies of Far Cry 3 to go along with it — and naturally, we thought this sounded like a pretty good idea. They’ve asked us to do the whole thing over Facebook, so head on over to our Facebook page for all the details on how to enter.

What’s so good about the ASTRO A40? Check out our review. Well, what’s so good about Far Cry 3 then? Don’t worry! We’ve got a review of that too.

(If you don’t have Facebook, don’t worry! We have some more competitions coming up very shortly that will explode your non-Facebooking-mind!)

This weekend marks the first free trial weekend for Guild Wars 2, when the lands of Tyria are expected to be flooded by people whose friends have gifted them a weekend pass code. But what if you don’t have a friend to give you a referral code? What then?

Well, never fear: games.on.net is here to help you out. Simply head on over here to this forum thread and post a reply telling us, in 50 words or less, why you think Guild Wars 2 sounds like fun and why you’d like to play.

That’s all there is to it! Head on over there and let us know. We’ve got 50 keys to give away and we’re just waiting for you. Move! You don’t want to miss out on The Lost Shores Event, do you?

The trial runs from right now through to 5:00 PM Sydney time on Monday November 19.

How do I redeem my key?

Visit register.guildwars2.com to create an account and put in your key. You can then download the client from there, or from our file library instead. (You’ll need to patch it, but why not save yourself 14 GB?)

With 127 entries in our second great Razer giveaway, it was always going to be a tough call to pick only five of the best. Many themes pervaded our contest: audio spam, weapon switching, complex WoW macros, and even a few of you placing calls to the significant other (or significant mother) to help you out with refreshments.

But now, after hours of arduous elimination, we’re finally ready to reveal the winners.

RKazza

RKazza’s macro reminds us of the value of using the right audio spam at the right time.

Dream macro setup:

1. ‘Still Alive’ Portal song for those times where it turns into a thrilling game of hide-and-seek. It happens more than not.

2. Obligatory obnoxious voice commands including but not limited to jokes about the opposing team’s lack of intelligence and theoretical weight of their mothers.

3. Recordings of a high pitched whine sound that can be emulated by twelve year olds on xbox live, and includes common phrases and words such as ‘!$@#’, ‘^@%!’, and ‘!$@#@ !@# #@$^!%@ !@#’.

With the addition of a Razer Naga Mouse and BlackWidow keyboard, these essential commands shall be summarily binded onto the plethora of buttons it provides, for swift provocations and general trolling of campers, spawn campers, and people-who-kill-me-again-and-again (aka pros), alike.

B4RK

Common courtesy is all-too-lacking on multiplayer servers these days. B4RK’s gentle heart shows that sometimes technology should be used for the betterment of mankind.

I’d macro the “Thank You” communication for Battlefield 3. Everytime someone heals me, I end up wasting a precious half of a second thanking them. With this macro, I could show common courtesy without making myself an easy target!

Kishimojin

Sometimes, the right audio spam at the right time is what a game needs. Sometimes, what’s needed is the wrong audio spam, at the wrong time. Kishimojin understands.

Favourite macro ever was one I set up for WoW. Playing as a mage, during a first boss of Blackwing Descent, Raid Leader calls out TIME WARP. Hit the key and all raid members proceed to have their eardrums assaulted by rocky horror Time Warp chorus on 400x volume over vent. Hilarity ensues. Needless to say first attempt was a wipe. Good times.

Kingsdragon

Of course saying the wrong thing can have its consequences. Kingsdragon’s favourite macros are designed to punish you for speaking out, like a tiny police-state run from the comfort of a keyboard (only not really).

I have three macro’s set up, one I hit and it records sound (M1) and the other I hit and it plays said recorded sound (M2). So if someone is saying ‘F**king zombies!* I record that (M1), then hit my own macro (M3) which says “Your mum… (M2) f**king zombies!” Endless hilarity!

Pulviriza

Last but not last, Pulviriza reminds us that the simplest macros — and the simplest approach — are often the best.

When I play Pyro on TF2, if I’m holding down W, then the flamethrower’s on. It’s the only way to play.

Thanks to everybody who entered, and thanks to Razer for supplying the keyboards and mice to give away! Winners, look for a PM from us shortly to get your details. Thanks again everybody, and look out for our next competition very soon.

UPDATE: All our keys are now gone!

Right now, there’s three important things you need to know. The first is that games.on.net is giving away 100 keys to the Crysis 3 multiplayer alpha test, which finishes this Saturday. The second thing is that we’ve got Crysis 3 multiplayer servers running right now, just waiting for you. Yes, you.

Check out all the details below, and remember – the Crysis 3 alpha client files are now live on our file mirror! Click here for the details.

Can I run Crysis 3?!

Let’s check! Here’s the specs:

Minimum Specs
Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM
Dual core CPU
2GB Memory (3Gb on Vista)

Example minimum 1 (NVidia/Intel)
NVidia GTS 450
Intel Core2 Duo 2.4Ghz (E6600)

Example minimum 2 (AMD)
AMD Radeon HD5770
AMD Athlon64 X2 2.7Ghz (5200+)

Recommended Specs
Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
DirectX11 graphics card with1GB Video RAM
Quad core CPU
4GB Memory

Example recommended 1 (NVidia/Intel)
NVidia GTX560
Intel Core i3-530

Example recommended 2 (AMD)
AMD Radeon HD5870
AMD Phenom II X2 565

When is the test happening?

It all goes live Friday 2nd November 8am GMT, and ends Saturday 10th November, midnight GMT.

Stop talking and give me a key!

Fair enough! To get a key, all you need to do is head over to this forum thread right here and post a reply saying “Please give me a Crysis 3 key!”. That’s it! We’ll then send you a key via PM which you can redeem in Origin. Pre-loading is available as of now.

What are you still reading this for? Get cracking!

Apologies for the delay, but we had a difficult time sorting out the winners of our Corsair SSD giveaway and have only now just been able to finalise everything! With over two hundred entries to choose from, sorting through them was a big task.

So without further ado, here are our official winning entries:

Throllax

My computer is so slow that Julius Caesar used it for a footstool, Da Vinci used it as a paperweight, and Newton, frustrated, used it to confirm his theory of gravity from the third-story window of his manor.

Roachless

My computer is so slow, the theme to “Chariots of Fire” plays during loading.

Throllax walks away with first prize with the Corsair Neutron GTX 240 GB, while Roachless takes home second place with the regular Corsair GTX 240 GB.

But with so many entries, we can’t get away without mentioning a few of the awesome runners-up!

Runners-up

siffar

My computer is so slow I use the boot sequence as a timer for halley’s comet’s return

CrypticSplicer

My PC is so slow I don’t understand the difference between a GIF and a JPEG image.

Rustkill

My computer is so slow that when scientists see it coming they are convinced it is exhibiting signs of redshift.

WitchKing

My computer is so slow that the load time of a program is unaffected when I disconnect the HDD.

drakaali

My computer is so slow I could use Australia Post to forward the HDD cache to the processor and it would get there faster.

Special mention must go to gorstrom, for his two-part entry making a joke about how his computer was so slow that it takes six days to post an entry — posted six days apart. Lovely stuff.

Thanks to everybody who entered and to everybody who liked us on Facebook! You’re all the best.

Update: All of today’s keys are gone, too! We’ll be sending them out shortly. Stay tuned next week!

Right now, there’s three important things you need to know. The first is that games.on.net is giving away 100 keys to the Crysis 3 multiplayer alpha test, starting this Friday. The second thing is that we’ve got Crysis 3 multiplayer servers spun up and ready to go, just waiting for you to play on when Friday comes around.

This is our second key giveaway! Look out for more starting next week, and remember – the Crysis 3 alpha client files are now live on our file mirror! Click here for the details.

Can I run Crysis 3?!

Let’s check! Here’s the specs:

Minimum Specs
Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM
Dual core CPU
2GB Memory (3Gb on Vista)

Example minimum 1 (NVidia/Intel)
NVidia GTS 450
Intel Core2 Duo 2.4Ghz (E6600)

Example minimum 2 (AMD)
AMD Radeon HD5770
AMD Athlon64 X2 2.7Ghz (5200+)

Recommended Specs
Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
DirectX11 graphics card with1GB Video RAM
Quad core CPU
4GB Memory

Example recommended 1 (NVidia/Intel)
NVidia GTX560
Intel Core i3-530

Example recommended 2 (AMD)
AMD Radeon HD5870
AMD Phenom II X2 565

When is the test happening?

It all goes live Friday 2nd November 8am GMT, and ends Saturday 10th November, midnight GMT.

Stop talking and give me a key!

Fair enough! To get a key, all you need to do is head over to this forum thread right here and post a reply saying “Please give me a Crysis 3 key!”. That’s it! We’ll then send you a key via PM which you can redeem in Origin. Pre-loading is available as of now.

What are you still reading this for? Get cracking!

UPDATE: All of today’s keys are gone! Please check back tomorrow, when we’ll have another 100 to give away!

UPDATE 2: The Crysis 3 alpha client files are now live on our file mirror! Click here for the details.

Right now, there’s three important things you need to know. The first is that games.on.net is giving away 100 keys to the Crysis 3 multiplayer alpha test, starting this Friday. The second thing is that we’ve got Crysis 3 multiplayer servers spun up and ready to go, just waiting for you to play on when Friday comes around.

The third thing — and possibly the most important — is that this is just the first key to give away. We’ve got another one coming up tomorrow, and more next week. So if you miss out, don’t worry — we’ve got you covered.

Can I run Crysis 3?!

Let’s check! Here’s the specs:

Minimum Specs
Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM
Dual core CPU
2GB Memory (3Gb on Vista)

Example minimum 1 (NVidia/Intel)
NVidia GTS 450
Intel Core2 Duo 2.4Ghz (E6600)

Example minimum 2 (AMD)
AMD Radeon HD5770
AMD Athlon64 X2 2.7Ghz (5200+)

Recommended Specs
Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
DirectX11 graphics card with1GB Video RAM
Quad core CPU
4GB Memory

Example recommended 1 (NVidia/Intel)
NVidia GTX560
Intel Core i3-530

Example recommended 2 (AMD)
AMD Radeon HD5870
AMD Phenom II X2 565

When is the test happening?

It all goes live Friday 2nd November 8am GMT, and ends Saturday 10th November, midnight GMT.

Stop talking and give me a key!

Fair enough! To get a key, all you need to do is head over to this forum thread right here and post a reply saying “Please give me a Crysis 3 key!”. That’s it! We’ll then send you a key via PM which you can redeem in Origin. Pre-loading is available as of now.

What are you still reading this for? Get cracking!

Our last Great Razer Giveaway was so successful that Razer would like to do it all over again! This time around, we’ve got five Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Keyboards as well as five Razer Naga MMO Mice to give away.

Aww, yes. How do I win?

Astute question! All you need to do to enter is, in 150 words or less, describe your favourite macro setup that you use in games. It can be a quickcast for your favourite MMO, a call-for-uber and weapon-switch for Team Fortress 2, or maybe just spraying out obnoxious voice commands over and over across the server. You awful person, you.

If you don’t have any macros set up, never fear! You can also describe what your ideal macro setup would be for your game if you had one — and maybe you’ll get the chance to make it all come true when you win yourself some of these excellent pieces of gaming hardware.

The five top entries, as chosen by our judges, will each walk away with a prize pack containing a BlackWidow mechanical keyboard and Naga mouse.

How long do I have?

The competition closes at 11:59PM (Adelaide time) on Sunday November 11. Winners will be chosen and announced the next day.

What else do I need to know?

Entries are governed by the Terms and Conditions listed on this page. Best of luck!