Kotaku: blacksite: area 51

Harvey Smith Leaves Midway

Mike Fahey — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:00:33 MST

Here's some news that comes as absolutely no surprise. Days after discussing what a cluster f*** developing Blacksite: Area 51 turned out to be at the Montreal International Game Summit 2007, Harvey Smith is leaving his post as the creative director of Midway Austin, which he has held since November 2004. A senior member of the Austin Team confirmed the departure with GameTap, and while no specific reasons were cited, they explained that the departure was "by mutual agreement between Harvey and the studio." Of course that could mean anything from exclaiming, "My job here is done!" and rushing boldly out the door to, "You're not going to work here anymore, okay?" "Okay." While Smith obviously was unhappy with the working conditions at the company, I'd daresay the sudden drop off in sales once the game's designer badmouthed the project was an equally determining force. Fear not for Harvey, however. As the lead designer on the original Deus Ex, I can think of any number of projects he'd be perfect for.

Harvey Smith and Midway Austin Part Ways [GameTap]

Blacksite Designer Blames Himself

Mike Fahey — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:40:58 MST

In case you were still on the fence about whether or not to pick up a copy of Midway's Blacksite: Area 51, lets see how the game's designer Harvey Smith feels about the game.

"This project was so fucked up"

So that's probably a no. The comment came during a speech at the Montreal International Game Summit 2007 earlier this week, where Smith took the last few minutes to deliver a post-mortem on the game, which has been less than favorably received by critics and gamers. He explains that he wasn't all that excited about the project in the first place, and the lack of enthusiasm led to a lack of polish.

With a year to go, the game was disastrously off rails." There were long delays just getting Blacksite playable, and once it was he says, "it went straight from alpha to final."

Okay, definitely a no. Hit the link for more on a shining example of game development gone awry.

Blacksite's Harvey Smith Asks, Why The Low Scores [Wired's Game | Life via GamesIndustry.biz]

Our $3,000 Computer Contest WInner

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:00:10 MST

Whew! What. A. Contest. For those who missed it, we were giving away a BlackSite: Area 51 Alienware computer and loot. There was public shaming, an apology, fuckin' stormtroppers and luchadors. At the end of this long, long road there was a Quick Draw — where it's not only important to be quick, but also accurate. The question was:

Congrats on making it this far! Now, to ensure that we get a totally deserving winner, we've created this Quick Draw. Basically, the first person who can answer *correctly* what we ask, wins the computer. The others, well, you loose. Here's the question. Rather, here are the questions. Well, not here. But there. Yes, right down there, below this. So! If you are still reading this, you are probably wasting valuable time. Stop reading this and get on the question. ASAP!! 1). How many posts did Michael Fahey write in his first month at Kotaku? How many posts did Luke Plunkett write in his first month at Kotaku? Be sure to include the number of posts both editors wrote during that month *and* links to those posts.
Good luck! The clock is ticking away.

This was not a trick question. Some of the finalists fired back answers within minutes. Literally. Those were wrong. When they realized they were wrong, they sent new answers. Those weren't counted. This was a one bullet Quick Draw! Others sent in answers, but they were incorrect. We finally got the correct answers: Fahey (118 posts) and Luke (120 posts). The winner? dantemustdie. He's been to Hell and back to win this computer and came out clean in the end. Truly a deserving winner! Congrats dantemustdie. Shoot us an email so we can get you your loot!

BlackSite: Area 51 contest winner coming...

Brian Ashcraft — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 21:00:01 MST

BlackSite: Area 51 contest winner coming soon! The Quick Draw is going down this weekend with the very lucky 13 finalists duking it out in a delightful deathmatch. Check back Monday to find out who was victorious — and who wasn't.

Our Computer Contest Answers (Bring the Hate!)

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:00:01 MST

Some of you might have found this contest "easy." It's only easy if you don't take into consideration that you're playing for a pricey computer. If you think about that, then you realize: This contest was very hard. Remember at the beginning of this contest, when we said this was "sadistic"? We weren't joking. Heck, anyone who entered our PS3 contest can tell you that! It was. So feel free to hate us, but you knew what you were getting into. (And trust me, the finalists will have it bad, too.) We've put the answers after the jump for you to compare — dashing your dreams or inflating them. Onward!

1). http://kotaku.com/gaming/halo/fancy-gold+tinted-wearable-halo-helmet-315472.php
2). http://kotaku.com/gaming/hot-tears-of-shame/pikachus-lady-business-exposed-311665.php

3). http://kotaku.com/gaming/prize/japanese-dude-wins-100-xbox-360-games-309574.php
93 disc-based games
7 Xbox LIVE Arcade titles
100 games total

4). http://kotaku.com/gaming/notag/leave-luck-to-heaven-tattoo-307339.php#c2567325

5). http://kotaku.com/gaming/tgs07/attack-of-the-clones-and-ash-303218.php
They marched with eight stormtroopers.

6). http://kotaku.com/gaming/tgs07/docomo-cellphone-bowling-302751.php
Sprit

7). http://kotaku.com/gaming/swag/obligatory-picture-of-a-bag-296519.php
IBM

8). http://kotaku.com/gaming/gc07/pony-friends-more-mature-more-gruesome-than-originally-thought-292495.php
Grenades

9). http://kotaku.com/gaming/entertain-friends-and-family/make-your-own-atari-2600-labels-288022.php
Fuckin' Birds

10). http://kotaku.com/gaming/contest/ps3-contest-the-answers-249042.php
16 cone hats

That last one was a MAJOR HINT. There were 8 stormtroppers — not 13, 9, 6 or 7 or 7.2 or 7-but-maybe-8-I'm-not-sure. There were eight in that clip. For those of you who found clips elsewhere, you're eagerness is appreciated, but wrong. And for those bitching and moaning about that stormtropper sliver, here's the logic: If Han Solo shot that stormtropper sliver with a blaster, you'd say he shot a stormtrooper. Over 25 percent of our contestants got this correct (but loads of them fucked up elsewhere). All those people probably miscounted cone hats! So, if you said eight, chances are your chances are good to be picked by Mini-Bash. Those lucky 13 will be notified throughout the day. Don't ask me if you were picked unless you totally want me to hate you. Like some of you hate me right now.

Plunkett offered up this funny: "You look pretty sliver for a stormtrooper."

Here's How It's Gonna Go Down...

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:00:59 MST

The contest is closed to entries. All that's left is to pick some finalists and have them battle it out in a bloody quick draw death match. Should be fun! Right up there, that's the semi-finalists. There were a lot of entries in the contest and not every one was correct. Here's how it's going to go down: Mini-Bash is going to select 13 finalists from that Spider-Man bowl. Those 13 finalists will then be sent emails, asking for their Kotaku commenter names. Don't have a comment account as of yesterday? Though luck, you'll be disqualified. We were serious about not giving this computer away to some random person. Those 13 finalists will have exactly 15 hours to respond to our email. Failing to do so will result in disqualification.

Regarding the Quick Draw Deathmatch, we will send an email at 9am this Saturday Japan Time. We repeat JAPAN TIME. Don't know what time that is where you live and don't care! The first finalist who can answer the email correctly wins the computer. The others, they lose. But for now, don't think about that. Think about the fact that your fate is in the hands of a 4 year-old who wears luchador pajamas. Good luck!

Oh, and check back later today for the correct answers.

No More Contest Entries, M'kay?

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:00:02 MST

Starting at midnight EST time, we ceased accepting entries for our BlackSite: Area 51 contest. Check back in the morning for info on how this is going to play out. Until then, check out what we're giving away. Specs after the jump!

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 8MB Cache 1066MHz FSB Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 - With no Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling and 1000 Watt SLI Capable Power Supply - Space Black Chassis Customization : Alienware® Standard System Lighting - Astral Blue High-Performance Liquid Cooling: Alienware® Standard System Cooling

Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard

Memory: High-Performance 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 1GB - 2 x 512MB System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 18X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer w/ Nero Software Suite Graphics Processor: Single Graphics Processors - 768MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GTX

Monitor: No Monitor

Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio

Keyboard: Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard Mouse : Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel

Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!

Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $100 Value - FREE!

Last Day to Enter for $3000 Computer!

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 07:30:19 MST

If you want this (and want it bad), make sure you read this. Contest closes to entries November 12th at midnight EST. That's TONIGHT. To all those who entered, good luck!

Week in Games: Super Mario Galaxy Edition

fdemarco — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:00:00 MST

We had a little break last week, but the cork popped out of the dam and the flood of games has begun anew. Super Mario Galaxy, Assassin's Creed and Umbrella Chronicles are all on my list of things to buy and eventually not get to play because I have too many other things to play. What's topping your list this week?

Super Mario Galaxy (WII)
It'sa Mario again... in space!

Assassin's Creed (X360, PS3)
Altair is da man in 1191.

Crysis (PC)
Fight aliens!

BlackSite: Area 51 (X360, PC)
Fight more aliens!

Need for Speed ProStreet (PC, X360, PS3, PS2, WII, DS)
Race around the world in your custom car.

WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 (X360, PS2, WII, PS3, PSP, DS)
Wrestlemania. Wait, that's something else...

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (X360, PS3, PC)
Co-op killing.

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (PS2)
Dragon Ball Z. Still going.

SimCity Societies (PC)
Learn how buildings shape society.

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (WII)
A zombie massacre on rails.

Soldier of Fortune: Payback (X360, PC)
The game based on the magazine based on killing and guns.

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 (WII, PSP)
Invade WWII with your Wii Zapper.

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (WII, DS)
Rayman's Raving Rabbids return.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (PSP)
My money is on Aliens because they look cooler.

Have a Look at the $3000 Prize Computer

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 22:00:01 MST

You've heard about it, so here it is. This is the BlackSite: Area 51 computer and loot we are giving away. Pretty slick! If you want this (and want it bad), make sure you read this. Contest closes to entries November 12th at midnight EST. To all those who entered, good luck!

This Weekend, Enter Our Contest

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 07:00:40 MST

Don't forget! We are totally giving away a BlackSite: Area 51 gaming PC from Alienware. The winner will also get an Area 51 t-shirt, an "eyeblack" patch, a copy of Midway's Stranglehold PC and a copy of BlackSite: Area 51. Previously, we were just giving away the Area 51 machine, but now you get the game, too! Consider this deal sweetened. The computer is a $3,000 dollar machine, making this one of the most expensive things we've given away, so any bitching about the TOTALLY FREE AND AMAZING PRIZE will be met with the blunt end of the Ban Hammer.

Wanna win that computer? Read this. Do it. Contest closes to entries November 12th at midnight EST. Specs after the jump:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 8MB Cache 1066MHz FSB Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 - With no Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling and 1000 Watt SLI Capable Power Supply - Space Black Chassis Customization : Alienware® Standard System Lighting - Astral Blue High-Performance Liquid Cooling: Alienware® Standard System Cooling

Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard

Memory: High-Performance 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 1GB - 2 x 512MB System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 18X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer w/ Nero Software Suite Graphics Processor: Single Graphics Processors - 768MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GTX

Monitor: No Monitor

Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio

Keyboard: Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard Mouse : Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel

Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!

Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $100 Value - FREE!

Shamed Cheater Replies

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 23:00:50 MST

What's worse than cheating? Cheaters. Earlier this week, we publicly shamed David L. for posting all our contest answers on some forum. We worked hard on those questions and had to scramble to make the contest once again fair — which we have done. We know we're not perfect. We make mistakes (check our grammar). David L. isn't perfect either, and he's been brave enough to send me this:

Greetings and salutations.
This is Dave L. here, in reply to the public shame I was put through on your website. If you do not REMOVE said post RIGHT NOW my lawyers will tear you apa— Kidding.

I respect Kotaku enough to write an official apology, and considering you're the one that posted my shame I thought it a good idea to send to you. Many think this a bad idea on my part but who am I to follow advice? You're probably not interested so you can stop reading here but I felt the need to send anyway, if just to get my name out of a few Death Notes.

I entered your contest as any other might have, scouring the old posts like a kid fawning after his first game of Duck Hunt, looking for the next hint. It is when I found the answer to 4 did I realize that my friends over on the forums would probably be having the same troubles as I, so I brought it upon myself to assist them in a collaboration of sorts, and in turn get help myself. After finding everything, with the help of the forum, I collected them into a nice, neat package in the first post.

Then, writing up the email to submit to the contest, I scoured the original post of the contest only to see a certain rule I overlooked... The rule about posting elsewhere. Oops. (To be fair, that sucker is hidden amongst a lot of text that can be skipped to find out how to submit to enter)

By then the damage had been done, and could not be reversed. While something in the back of my head told me that I'd probably get banned from the contest, I figured I would take one for the community I'd been a part of for seven years and get the banhammer I knew would be coming my way.

So there you have it. My first contest entered and I botch the whole deal. For all the time you and the other editors devoted to the contest, making you work even harder to assure the fairness of it after my little posting of the answers, and to the visitors of Kotaku who devoted hours to legitimatly find the clues themselves, I apologize.

PS. A lot of people lie on the internet, but this isn't a lie.

PPS. Okami > Zelda

While the cheating wasn't appreciated, this is, David L. Thanks.

Win BlackSite: Area 51 Computer and Now Area 51 Game

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:00:14 MST

Reminder incoming! We are totally giving away a BlackSite: Area 51 gaming PC from Alienware. The winner will also get an Area 51 t-shirt, an "eyeblack" patch, a copy of Midway's Stranglehold PC and a copy of BlackSite: Area 51. Previously, we were just giving away the Area 51 machine, but now you get the game, too! Consider this deal sweetened. The computer is a $3,000 dollar machine, making this one of the most expensive things we've given away, so any bitching about the TOTALLY FREE AND AMAZING PRIZE will be met with the blunt end of the Ban Hammer.

Wanna win that computer? Read this. Do it. Contest closes to entries November 12th at midnight EST. Specs after the jump:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 8MB Cache 1066MHz FSB Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 - With no Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling and 1000 Watt SLI Capable Power Supply - Space Black Chassis Customization : Alienware® Standard System Lighting - Astral Blue High-Performance Liquid Cooling: Alienware® Standard System Cooling

Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard

Memory: High-Performance 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 1GB - 2 x 512MB System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 18X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer w/ Nero Software Suite Graphics Processor: Single Graphics Processors - 768MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GTX

Monitor: No Monitor

Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio

Keyboard: Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard Mouse : Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel

Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!

Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $100 Value - FREE!

$3,000 Computer Contest Reminder

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 05:00:07 MST

Don't forget! We are totally giving away a BlackSite: Area 51 gaming PC from Alienware. The winner will also get an Area 51 t-shirt, an "eyeblack" patch and a copy of Midway's Stranglehold PC. The computer is a $3,000 dollar machine, making this one of the most expensive things we've given away, so any bitching about the TOTALLY FREE AND AMAZING PRIZE will be met with the blunt end of the Ban Hammer.

Wanna win that computer? Read this. Do it. Contest closes to entries November 12th at midnight EST. Specs after the jump:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 8MB Cache 1066MHz FSB Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 - With no Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling and 1000 Watt SLI Capable Power Supply - Space Black Chassis Customization : Alienware® Standard System Lighting - Astral Blue High-Performance Liquid Cooling: Alienware® Standard System Cooling

Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard

Memory: High-Performance 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 1GB - 2 x 512MB System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 18X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer w/ Nero Software Suite Graphics Processor: Single Graphics Processors - 768MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GTX

Monitor: No Monitor

Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio

Keyboard: Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard Mouse : Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel

Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!

Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $100 Value - FREE!

Want that $3,000 Computer? Read This. All of it.

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:00:34 MST

Ahoy! We're giving away a BlackSite: Area 51 gaming PC from Alienware. The winner will also get an Area 51 t-shirt, an "eyeblack" patch and a copy of Midway's Stranglehold PC. The computer is a $3,000 dollar machine, making this one of the most expensive things we've given away, so any bitching about the TOTALLY FREE AND AMAZING PRIZE will be met with the blunt end of the Ban Hammer.

Anyone who posts answers on Kotaku or anywhere on the internet will be banned and made an example of. Here's your first mission:

While Crecente wasn't able to see out of his Halo 3 helmet, this guy was — and added an awesome visor. Thumbs up all around. Find him!

Send your answers, your address and ten correct links to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. Specs and some very important info after the jump.

Okay, if you clicked over, chances are you read Kotaku. Like really read it. And perhaps you want to win this great BlackSite: Area 51 computer. And hey, we want to give it to you, the reader. This is important: If you entered our contest, make damn sure you have a commenter account here. What's more, make damn sure it has comments in it. For those who have already entered, there is no need to send us your commenter account. For those who have already entered but don't have an account, create one and start commenting. If you were willing to spend your free time combing through the site, then you should have enough time to comment. At this point, you do not need to send us your commenter page.

This contest is going to be divided into two stages. The first stage is the scavenger hunt. The second stage is a "quick draw." We will randomly select 13 finalists. We will contact those finalists: If any of those finalists do not have a commenter page with comments on it, they will be disqualified. Immediately. If they do not respond to our email within 24 hours, they will be disqualified. New finalists will then be selected. What does that mean? Greater chances that you, Kotaku reader, will actually be a finalist and not some random person.

About the Lucky 13 Quick Draw: We will send those 13 finalists one question, which may be about anything game related or not. It could be a hard question or it could be an easy question. The important thing is speed and accuracy. The first contestant who sends in the correct answer wins the computer, the schwag and INTERNET FAME. The second stage of the contest will be on either Saturday November 17th or Sunday November 18th. The email question will not be posted on the site until the contest is over, hopefully ensuring an honest winner.

In case you haven't seen them, here are the computer specs:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 8MB Cache 1066MHz FSB Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 - With no Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling and 1000 Watt SLI Capable Power Supply - Space Black Chassis Customization : Alienware® Standard System Lighting - Astral Blue High-Performance Liquid Cooling: Alienware® Standard System Cooling

Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard

Memory: High-Performance 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 1GB - 2 x 512MB System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 18X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer w/ Nero Software Suite Graphics Processor: Single Graphics Processors - 768MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GTX

Monitor: No Monitor

Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio

Keyboard: Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard Mouse : Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel

Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!

Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $100 Value - FREE!

Compete for $3,000 BlackSite Computer [Update]

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 00:00:45 MST

Contest start! So, we're giving away a BlackSite: Area 51 gaming PC from Alienware. The winner will also get an Area 51 t-shirt, an "eyeblack" patch and a copy of Midway's Stranglehold PC. The computer is a $3,000 dollar machine, making this one of the most expensive things we've given away, so any bitching about the TOTALLY FREE AND AMAZING PRIZE will be met with the blunt end of the Ban Hammer.

The contest is based on Crecente's sadistic treasure hunts. Long-time readers will know what we're talking about. Basically, we give you a clue about a post we've done, and then y'all must go find it. If you find the correct post, there will be another clue, which you'll need to track down. And so on. This contest will have ten questions, or "Missions" as I call them. These missions are unnumbered, but if you are doing the contest correctly, they show flow into the next question, etc. The contest ends Monday November 11 at midnight EST. Send all your answers with links to kotakucontest@gmail.com with the word contest in the subject line. The winner will be randomly selected from the correct entries and announced Friday November 16.

Anyone who posts answers on Kotaku or anywhere on the internet will be banned and made an example of. Here's your first mission:

While Crecente wasn't able to see out of his Halo 3 helmet, this guy was — and added an awesome visor. Thumbs up all around. Find him!

Spent literally hours putting this together, trying to make this as hard and difficult as possible. Remember, nothing is free, so if you want this pricey loot, get to work!

Specs after the jump.

Eds Update: Quick note about the contest. Three things: Be sure to include your name and home address. Also, to enter this contest, you must be 18 years old and up. Also, if you are only sending us one link, you are wrong. Very, very wrong. Send us TEN links and correct answers.

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 8MB Cache 1066MHz FSB Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 - With no Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling and 1000 Watt SLI Capable Power Supply - Space Black Chassis Customization : Alienware® Standard System Lighting - Astral Blue High-Performance Liquid Cooling: Alienware® Standard System Cooling

Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard

Memory: High-Performance 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 1GB - 2 x 512MB System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 18X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer w/ Nero Software Suite Graphics Processor: Single Graphics Processors - 768MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GTX

Monitor: No Monitor

Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio

Keyboard: Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard Mouse : Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel

Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!

Alienware Extras: AlienWiring - Exclusive Internal Wire Management - $100 Value - FREE!

BlackSite Goes Gold For 360, PC

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:40:35 MDT

Midway's first person shooter with nods to its arcade heritage BlackSite: Area 51 has finally gone gold. Well, the Xbox 360 and PC versions did. The PlayStation 3 version follows the current Midway release schedule formula, giving owners of Sony's console ample opportunity to weigh the review scores. The PS3 one should ship sometime in December. Mark and I found it surprisingly enjoyable, in an arcadey sort of way, when we played it at Games Convention this summer.

Blacksite: Area 51 ships on the twelfth of November, pitting it against Super Mario Galaxy, Assassin's Creed and Kane & Lynch, among many, many others. Good luck, boys!

We're Giving Away a $3,000 Gaming Computer

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:00:46 MDT

What do we love giving away more than games? Gaming systems. So, for our next contest we are giving away the computer version of Midway's BlackSite: Area 51 plus (yes, plus!) an Area 51 machine from Alienware (geddit? Area 51). That's right, our next contest will have a high-end gaming PC up for grabs. There's more! The winner will also get an Area 51 t-shirt, an "eyeblack" patch and a copy of Midway's Stranglehold PC. The computer is a $3,000 dollar machine, making this one of the most expensive things we've given away. Like, ever. Hit the jump for the machine's specs:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 8MB Cache 1066MHz FSB Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 - With no Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling and 1000 Watt SLI Capable Power Supply - Space Black Chassis Customization : Alienware® Standard System Lighting - Astral Blue High-Performance Liquid Cooling: Alienware® Standard System Cooling

Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard

Memory: High-Performance 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 1GB - 2 x 512MB System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ 8MB Cache Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 18X Dual Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Writer w/ Nero Software Suite Graphics Processor: Single Graphics Processors - 768MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GTX

Monitor: No Monitor

Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio

Keyboard: Alienware® USB Full-Size Keyboard Mouse : Alienware® Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel

Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service Alienware Extras: Alienware® Mousepad Alienware Extras: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - $100 Value - FREE!

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BlackSite [Official Site]

Midway Talks Stranglehold Problems, PS3 Future

Mark Wilson — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:40:23 MDT

Midway has been having some problems developing games for the PS3 alongside their Xbox 360 and PC versions. First we had Stranglehold PS3 get delayed, and now we're hearing that Blacksite: Area 51 may be late, too. Midway Chicago's studio head Mike Bilder worked on Stranglehold, and given the frequency of PS3 development issues, he thinks that workflows are going to change:

I think a lot of people and a lot of focus as far as games that we have internally that are going to be multi-SKU are trying to put the PS3 out in front now, make that your lead SKU. And in the same way I think a lot of people put the PS2 as their lead SKU in the last hardware generation, and then Xbox came after.

So will this just create a whole new set of issues?

The difficulty you run into there, at least in the last generation, was that the Xbox was considerably more powerful than the PS2, and you found that people didn't always take advantage of the hardware. Whereas with the PS3 and the 360, it's certainly more of a level playing field, so I don't think it's necessarily a negative to put the PS3 first. But it does help mitigate some of that risk in framerate, memory, technology, just the hardware differences.

I guess the subtext here is that Bilder sees Sony selling more units than Microsoft, just as we saw in the last generation. Getting Hard Boiled: Midway Chicago's Mike Bilder on Stranglehold [gamasutra]

BlackSite Scares Little Girls

Mike Fahey — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:00:46 MDT

Once again we revisit the universal truth that nothing is quite as creepy as little girls singing. TimeShift knows it, and BlackSite: Area 51 knows it as well. It might have something to do with the whole extra capital letter in the middle of the title connection. It bares further investigating - just not by me. Little girls seriously creep me out. The saddest thing about this whole commercial? It made me think of my first real date. Take from that what you will.