UPDATE: Contest now closed! A list of winners can be found here. If you’re on that list, but didn’t get an e-mail from me, let me know right away!

I must admit I was feeling some pressure when I saw all the Billy Joel DLC codes being given away. Don’t ask me why, but I fretted about it for the longest time. I’m only human; I wanted to –

You know, I’m going to stop right there with the awful puns. But never fear, I’m going to let you continue. If you’d like to win a code for that Billy Joel DLC pack, that is. Yes, as with the Bon Jovi giveaway, I’ve been handed a pack of download codes for 360 to give away to you, courtesy of our friends at Harmonix. And as with the Bon Jovi giveaway, entering to win one is pretty easy. Continue reading →

The Bon Jovi DLC contest is now over, and the winners have been chosen via Random.org. They are:

darley, William Suckin, Shedders, Nate, Paulgasm, StopKran, Mitch, dlauthor, Micah, and Martin Walker. Check your e-mails, people, you should find a code inside!

If you won but haven’t received your code, drop me a line and include the e-mail address you used in your original comment, and I’ll re-send the code. Thanks to all who participated — all 226 of you! — and don’t forget to thank Harmonix for making the codes available to you.

Ladies and gentlemen and Little Sisters, the time has come at last to announce the winners of last week’s Six Degrees contests!

Monday‘s challenge was met with shocking quickness by Tommy, who correctly pointed out that Dave Coulier dated Alanis Morissette, whose song “You Oughta Know” featured guitar by Dave Navarro, who was married to Carmen Electra.

On Tuesday, Erin Thompson answered almost as quickly, noting that Lisa Marie Presley was married to Michael Jackson, whose “Beat It” featured a guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen, who was married to Valerie Bertinelli. Interesting side note: Wikipedia claims Valerie Bertinelli also actually sang backup on “Beat It,” so I would have accepted answers that left Eddie out of the equation entirely.

Wednesday‘s linkage was answered first by pksage, who observed that Ivana Miličević’s brother, Tomo Miličević, is the guitarist for 30 Seconds to Mars (with several songs in The Vault), which also features Jared Leto, whose relationship with Cameron Diaz was apparently more well-known than I’d thought.

Thursday is where things got tricky. Several of you came tantalizingly close to the correct answer, but it took Mike to put it all together: Jennifer Garner quoted and sang along with Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield” in the film 13 Going on 30. Pat’s husband Neil Giraldo played guitar on that track, and also played guitar on “Jesse’s Girl” by Rick Springfield, who dated a very young Linda Blair.

And so, we come to Friday. It took a few days, but the challenge was answered correctly: Robert Patrick (the T-1000) is the older brother of Richard Patrick, singer and guitarist for Filter. Filter’s song “Take a Picture” features backing vocals by D’arcy Wretzky, original bassist for the Smashing Pumpkins. Several of the Pumpkins tracks in The Vault were produced by Butch Vig, drummer for Garbage. He played on any Garbage track with Shirley Manson…who played the T-1001 in The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Trouble is, the puzzle was solved by the same Mike who conquered Thursday’s challenge, and the rules clearly state that except for Monday’s contest you can win only once. Therefore, I’ve chosen to award Friday’s haul to DJ Pooka, who came up with a connection that, in spite of not strictly following the rules, provides a well-reasoned and defensible link between Patrick and Manson.

Winners, please e-mail me your mailing addresses from the same e-mail address you used to leave your answers, and I’ll get your prizes out to you just as soon as I can.

Here’s hoping everyone had fun with this — I know I sure did.

Folks, you have impressed the hell out of me with your quick answers and obvious dedication to research. However! Thursday’s and Friday’s challenges have still not been answered correctly. Now, since I know many of you may be sitting down at your computers today for the first time in a week or more, I’m going to extend the deadline for another day or two. If the correct answers haven’t been submitted by tomorrow, I’ll start dropping hints via Twitter. Deal?

I’ll hold off on confirming the correct answers (and thus, the winners) until they’ve all been solved. Because I like suspense, that’s why.

Happy New Year!

Well folks, we’ve come to the end of our giveaway. But I’ve saved the best for last: It’s a Grand Theft Auto IV mega-pack. Included in today’s prize package:

• Four GTA4 logo stickers.
• Four character stickers.
• One GTA4 logo t-shirt, in M (it’s a fairly large M)
• Five in-game logo stickers: tw@ Internet Cafe, Liberty City Swingers, Pißwasser, Burger Shot, and City of Liberty Police Department.
• One Liberty City Swingers foam finger in an, uh, unusual configuration (link is probably not work-safe).
• And one ceramic statuette of the Statue of Happiness, about seven inches tall. Here’s a closeup:

Of course, I’m not going to hand out such a huge pile of prime game swag without making you work for it. So here’s the deal: Continue reading →

The prizes are getting bigger, so I’m going to make this one a bit harder. Today you’re playing for a Sony-themed pile of sweet goodies:

• Two poker chips, one with the SOE logo, one with the Pirates of the Burning Sea logo.
• One InFamous “Guide to Empire City,” featuring art and hints from the game.
• One SOCOM: Tactical Strike carabiner keyring with compass.
• One Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds golf ball and tee set, featuring three Pinnacle Gold balls, five tees, and a divot repair tool, all emblazoned with the game’s logo.
• One large Resistance: Retribution poster featuring the Eiffel Tower. (See a shot of the whole thing here.)
• One pair of Clank-head cuff links.
• And one Heavenly Sword letter opener, complete with wooden stand.

Want to make this swag your own? Continue reading →