Kotaku: Free Stuff

Free EoJ Cards Next Friday

Mike Fahey — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:00:00 MDT

Sony is sorry that the 2nd set of Eye of Judgment cards were subject to delay in North America, and to make up for it, they're giving away three rare cards next Friday. The Eye of Judgment Set 2 Promo cards to be exact, a set of three special cards that form a big image when placed together. To get the cards, watch the Official PlayStation Blog next Friday, and be one of the first few hundred who registers with their mailing address for your chance to get your hands on these three rarities. I'll be keeping an eye out myself, and I'll be sure to let you guys know when sign ups start...once I've registered, of course.

THE EYE OF JUDGMENT- FREE CARD FRIDAY! [Official PlayStation Blog]

Microsoft Handing Out XNA (And Lots of Other Stuff) To Students

Maggie Greene — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:30:36 MST

As I logged into my school email account this past week, only to be greeted with the news that some libraries are way too protective over their microfilm (damn you, Yale!), a little item on the news section of our login page caught my eye. Microsoft is giving away several full-fledged programs to college students, hoping to lure them away from Adobe-powered and open source software; in addition to Visual Studio Professional Edition and Expression Studio, they're also handing out XNA Game Studio 2.0, including a 12 month trial subscription to XNA Creators Club (plus some other stuff). Under the initiative titled 'DreamSpark,' they're hoping to rope in people early on, with the hopes of reaping the financial benefits later.

DreamSpark is simple, it's all about giving students Microsoft professional-level developer and design tools at no charge so you can chase your dreams and create the next big breakthrough in technology - or just get a head start on your career.
Who can get this right now?

We are kicking this off in 11 countries/regions, giving DreamSpark to millions of students in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium. If you are not residing in one of the countries listed keep checking back, we will be adding more countries throughout the year.

There's more information over at the DreamSpark website, plus you can find out if you're eligible and all that good stuff.

EA Handing Out Free Games For Rock Band Guitar Snafu

Maggie Greene — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 10:00:08 MST

A bunch of Kotakuites have forwarded an email from 'The Rock Band Team' apologizing for the 'unacceptably long delay' in getting replacement guitars to customers, and promising a 'FREE EA game' (as of yet unnamed). In a world of spectacularly shitty customer service, it's always nice to see some attempts at making up for glitches in the system. So if you're patiently waiting for a guitar replacement, looks like a new guitar and an unnamed game may be headed your way:

Greetings Rocker,
Congratulations on your purchase of Rock Band!

After reviewing our records, we see that your recent request for a replacement guitar has been subject to an unacceptably long delay due to a late shipment from our manufacturer.

By the time you receive this, your replacement guitar should be on its way to you. However, the Rock Band team is committed to providing a world-class customer experience and we do not believe we have met this commitment in connection with your request. As a token of our appreciation for your patience and understanding, we will be offering you a FREE EA game. Details will follow shortly.

We are sorry if your first experience with Rock Band has not met your expectations. We hope our gift will show you how committed we are to your satisfaction.

Thank you,

The Rock Band Team

Get Yer New New New New Wii-Straps For Free

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:00:49 MDT

For those still flailing wildly during Wii Sports, good news. Nintendo has released the fourth version of its Wii-mote strap and giving them away. For free! Remember, these have little lock thingy that keeps the strap from loosening. Nintendo's packaging the updated straps with its products and is also giving out four per serial number to those who need them. How nice of them! Just provide the necessary info on the Nintendo site. I'm curious: Do people continue to swing their Wii-mote around all crazy like?
Request one here [Nintendo via Infendo]

Level5 Backs Up Soccer RPG with Cool TGS Schwag

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:00:57 MDT

Besides a new Professor Layton game, Level5 also announced a soccer RPG calledd Inazuma Eleven. The game centers around a junior high school team that has gotten an exchange student from Australia. Original teams can be created and exchanged with friends via Wi-Fi. Players use the touch pen to draw lines for passing and tap the touch screen to shoot. There are a thousand-plus characters as well! The game features comical, unrealistic soccer moves like the "God Hand" in which a huge hand blocks the goal. The music is being done by Yasunori Mitsuda, who worked on Chrono Trigger before getting ulcers. While the release date hasn't been announced, TGS attendees have an opportunity to snag a demo cartridge that not only features Inazuma Eleven but also an original mini story Professor Layton and the London Holiday. Called "Level5 Premium Silver," expect this limited edition cart to be snapped up FAST!
Level5's Soccer Game [Famitsu]

Unbrick Those Bricked PSPs

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:00:58 MDT

Got a "bricked" PSP? Good for you. Homebrewers NOObz are here to help with a free "Pandora's Battery" program to unbrick PSPs. According to NOObz:

It's the culmination of years of behind-the-scenes research and development by some of the top names in PSP hacking, under the name of the Prometheus project.

Here's how it works: Run "Pandora's Battery" on a working PSP, which will turn that PSP's battery into a "jigkick" battery &mdas; it cannot be used normally after that. Next, run a program to create an unbricker memory stick image and then install that image on your memory stick via PC. Then! Install that "jigkick" battery and that memory stick into any bricked PSP, and it will start up with 1.50 firmware. Perfect for homebrew! As we mentioned above, this program is totally free "to prevent small fortunes being made by leeches", so big applause to the homebrew folks who created it: Adrahil, Booster, Cswindle, Dark_AleX, Ditlew, Fanjita, Joek2100, Jim, Mathieulh, Nem, Psp250, Skylark and TyRaNiD.
Pandora'a Battery [NOObz! via PSP Fanboy via Aeropause]

Watch Pokemon, Get Pokemon

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 21:00:37 MDT

This is neat. No, this is clever — sneaky, even. At the Pokémon I saw over over the weekend, DS and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl owners received a free Darkrai pocket monster download. The entire theater was filled with kids — kids with DSes! Before the movie, there were also a couple Wii and DS game ads. Guess who was annoyed with me for A). Not bringing the DS Lite to the theater and B). For not buying Diamond and Pearl? Boy, these Pokémon Company people know what the heck they're doing!

Animatrix with Matrix Trilogy for XBLM

Kim Phu — Mon, 21 May 2007 14:40:00 MDT

The Ultimate Matrix Trilogy Collection is coming out this week that includes not only the complete Matrix series, but a little something special for the Xbox 360 people too:

When you purchase The Complete Matrix Trilogy, you will also receive a token in the box to download the entire Animatrix series from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace.

There's also downloadable HD trailers from the movies and favorite scenes that you can get for free. I for one loved the Animatrix and can only assume that for Matrix fans with a 360, it would be an added bonus to their DVD purchase. Kim Phu

The Ultimate Matrix Collection Arrives on HD DVD May 22 [Xbox via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

The Elite's Preloaded Content

Brian Crecente — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 08:55:40 MDT

The Xbox 360 Elite comes preloaded with eight videos, one Arcade Live game and three demos.

Hexic, of course, is the freebie game, but you also get a chance to check out Burnout Revenge, Kameo and Tomb Raider Legend.

The videos are mostly a collection of commercials, previews and shorts, but you do get a full 23-minute or so episode of the toon Justice League Unlimited. There's also three of those kinda cool Adidas soccer commercials, previews of Warren Miller and Step into Liquid, a crap Viva Pinata commercial and a 10 minute episode of UFC All Access.

Not bad for a first taste of the 360's video content. Of course you lose all of this if you already own a 360 and you transfer your old data to your new drive. So make sure to watch the stuff first. Brian Crecente

Father of Video Games "Had Enough" of New Fangled Gaming

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:00:25 MDT

Game site Gamasutra has a fantastic interview up with Father of Video Games Ralph Baer. Besides developing Pong, he also created the first commercial console (the Magnavox: Odyssey) and was the brains behind the first light gun. What does he think of today's games? Says Baer:

I don't play. Recently, one of my grandsons brought an Xbox with him, and we played a race game. Well, I couldn't manage that damn thumb joystick. I was always hitting the walls. I couldn't steer the car worth a damn. After about fifteen minutes, I said "Forget it , I've had enough."

But, what about the PlayStation 2? Everybody just loves the PS2.

More recently, somebody played a PS2 game with me — some kind of a game where you sail some kind of a boat. And I was always hitting the docks and the obstacles — just couldn't really control the stuff. At this age, my reflexes are much too slow. My eyeballs don't work as well as they used to, so I can't play those games.

You'd think Nintendo would've sent the 85 year-old Baer a free Wii by now. He's their new demographic. Brian Ashcraft

Baer Interview [Gamasutra via Insert Credit]

Sony Giving Away Free Stuff To PS3 Shoppers

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 06:00:04 MST

Back when I visited Sony's Ginza showroom, Sony gave me a big bag o' nuttin'. Japanese culture site Japundit blogs that Sony is now giving away schwag to entice customers. From Japundit:

Sony is giving away freebies to woo buyers to the new PlayStation 3 video game machine whose hefty price appears to be scaring away shoppers.

No word on what that schwag is. Unless it's money, not sure how it's gonna make a world of difference on the pricetag, though. Brian Ashcraft

Free PS3 Stuff [Japundit]

Want Lost Planet Event Tickets?

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 12:22:26 MST

For those who didn't win our Lost Planet competition (or even enter for that matter), we've got 25 tickets to give away for the Lost Planet event this Thursday, January 11th. The LP development team will be in attendance, and the event will feature a multiplayer tourney against the development team so that they can break in your noob ass. Master LEGO Builder Nathan Sawaya will be making block masterpieces off the cuff. There will also be t-shirt giveaways, a rock climbing wall, free food and drink, demo stations and humans!

The catch? It's in San Francisco.

Transportation is not included, so if you live near San Fran or really, really like to drive, email us today at tips@kotaku.com for free tickets. Title your email "San Francisco Lost Planet Event." Brian Ashcraft

Contest: Use Ice, Snow, Sand, Win Lost Planet

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:22:23 MST

Want Lost Planet? We've got ten, count 'em, ten copies of the Xbox 360 game to put in your greedy hands. Just handing them out ain't no contest though, but a giveaway. So here's our newest contest:

Using ice, snow or sand (for you warm weather folks) sculpt something game-related, snap a pic and send it our way to kotakucontest@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name and address as well as some info about your creation. We'll post the entries and from that select the winners. Contest ends January 5th, and the winners will be announced the following day. Like any contest, this one's got rules. Good luck and happy sculpting! Brian Ashcraft

Contest: F.E.A.R. Once More With Feeling!

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:22:28 MST

Okay, so last week, we had a super short F.E.A.R. contest. And this week, we're gonna do the same! We love giving away free stuff that much. Here's how it works: To enter, just send an email kotakucontest@gmail.com with the subject line Fear 360 Contest before Monday, December 4th. Easy, right? An email will be picked at random to win. By emailing your entry, you agree to our swell Contest Rules. One, two, three, GO!

Contest: Don't Be Afraid, Win FEAR!

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 10:22:23 MST

'Cause we just *heart* the happy looks when folks win stuff comes this F.E.A.R. contest. Gamespot's PC Shooter of the Year, F.E.A.R., has made its way to the Xbox 360 with new levels, new weapons and Xbox Live! And can be all yours for gratis.

Here's how:

To enter, just send an email kotakucontest@gmail.com with the subject line Fear 360 Contest before Monday, November 27th. An email will be picked at random to win. By emailing your entry, you agree to our swell Contest Rules. Get to it internet peoples!

Bunnyspatial for teh Win

Brian Crecente — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 09:00:28 MDT

Our first day's give-away wrapped up at midnight EST. I used Random.org to select the post to pick through for a winner. It turned out to be Ashcraft's post that featured the video showing the PSP and DS booting up:
The PSP Vs. DS Race

While there were a bunch of clever comments, the one we settled on as the best was by Bunnyspatial.

By the time the PSP finishes loading I'd be totally done in the bathroom. Where else should the winner of the handheld wars be determined than in the toilet? When I am at work and I need a quick gaming fix, I cannot afford to spend an extra two minutes in the bathroom. I need something I can turn on in a few seconds and be done with quickly, and why shouldn't I use the same standards for games as I do for the women I date? Now to be fair the PSP has much better porn clarity than the DS, but when you are in a dirty public bathroom and the guy in the next stall is trying to pass the entire country of Argentina loudly through his digestive tract and you can still work up the desire to watch porn, pixelated jubblies are the least of your worries. For straight up gaming, it is literally a matter of piss or get off the pot. Probably the most appropriate usage of that idiom since the original guy who sat on a pot refusing to pee.

Toilet gaming, we all do it but no one ever talks about it.

Don't forget to post comments. I'll be announcing what we are giving away today a little later on. Brian Crecente

July=A Prize a Day on Kotaku