Play N Trade giving away $6000 in “Christmas in July” prizes

Jun 25, 2010 by Dan Taylor    1 Comment     Posted under: Games, Technology

Christmas in July. Who doesn’t love a little mid summer gaming goodness? But playing the same old games on the same old gear only goes so far. Thanks to video games retailer Play N Trade your summer could shape up to be an EPIC win.

In their “Christmas in July” giveaway, Play N Trade is giving 16 lucky winners a randomly selected video game. However, it’s not just Play N Trade that’s in with the goods. There’s a $4,400 Origin Genesis PC up for grabs. If you’re not familiar with Origin, think back a few years to Alienware pre-Dell phase. Remember how sweet those machines were? Well the team at Origin IS the original Alienware team.

Logitech has jumped on board as well with 3 gaming bundles including a G15 gaming keyboard, G500 gaming mouse, and the G35 surround sound headset worth $300 each. Last, but certainly not least, 2 winners will receive a Logitech G13 advanced game board, retail value $80.

The available titles that Play N Trade will be giving away:

• PS3 UFC 2010
• NDS Book Worm
• PC Borderlands
• PC Dragon Age Awakening
• PC Shrek Forever After
• PC Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway
• PC Assassin’s Creed
• PC FarCry 2
• PC Rainbow Six Vegas 2
• PC Code of Honor 2
• PC Art of Murder: Hunt for the Puppeteer
• PC Art of Murder: FBI Confidential
• PC Chronicles of Mystery
• PC Zuma’s Revenge
• PC Plants vs Zombies
• PC Escape Rosecliff Island

“The Christmas in July giveaway is something we are very pleased to offer,” says Play N Trade CEO, Larry Plotnick. “After experiencing increased sales growth and unprecedented support from gamers nationwide during the past few years, we think it’s only natural for us to reciprocate with an exciting giveaway.”

The contest runs through July 27, 2010 and is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, Play N Trade will be running in store discounts on various games and peripherals throughout the month of July.

The Play N Trade “Christmas in July” giveaway is being held in cooperation from popular gaming site Avault.com, and includes sponsorship of The Avault Podcast, Stevie FTW and The Evil Ed Podcast, as well as a number of other prominent video game media properties.

To enter The Play N Trade “Christmas in July” giveaway, head on over to avault.com/christmas, give ‘em your deets, and say your prayers until July 28th. And no worries, they’re not there to collect your email address. As per the Terms and Conditions:

The operating company does not maintain any mailing lists, will not send you unsolicited emails, and takes reasonable measures to keep the information disclosed secure.

Wow … better than EA or Sony.

Merry Christmas…sh**ter was full!

Dec 7, 2009 by Dan Taylor    22 Comments    Posted under: Humor

Some of you might already know about my love of Christmas films.  I have about 7-8 that I go through during the holiday season, but one always remains the climax: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.  While packed to the hilt with comedic gems, there’s one character, and one scene in particular that always does it for me.  ”Now how about some eggnog, Clark?”

Let InvisibleHand guide you to better buying

Oct 21, 2009 by Dan Taylor    37 Comments    Posted under: Technology

It’s not too often that I get really jazzed about browser plugins, but this one, InvisbleHand is simply too genius NOT to get jazzed about. The concept is simple enough, but no one’s gone the distance to actually write the script. Until now.

InvisibleHand is a firefox addon that will let you know when a product you’re viewing is available elsewhere at a lower price. If you’re like me, you might go to one of the big guys first to have detailed product descriptions, images, etc., and then likely begin the Googling to find it at a better price. InvisibleHand does the work for you (and probably does a better job).

When browsing for products on the big ones, Best Buy, Amazon, Overstock, Borders, etc., InvisibleHand will slide open from the toolbar alerting you that the item you’re looking at could be purchased elsewhere on the cheap.

Not only will InvisibleHand give you the absolute rock bottom price, but also present you with options from other retailers, sorted by price.

In this example, I chose a MBP, but the plugin works with a wide variety of popular electronics, toys, games, books, home improvement, DIY gear, etc. The full list is here.

I put InvisibleHand through it’s paces, even looking for some rather obscure gear on Crutchfield, and the plugin performed beautifully. The largest savings I (would have) recorded was a decent $123.87 on an HD video camera. And all of this for free? Bonus!

Check out InvisibleHand today, and get the Christmas savings going on early this year!

Update: the good folks over at invisible hand are doing a great job with their PR, and just sent me (and 200 of you) an exclusive beta key for their upcoming version.  Leave a comment below, and I’ll ping the code on over to you.

ATMs to spit out Amazon.com gift cards

Oct 8, 2008 by Dan Taylor    8 Comments    Posted under: News, Technology

Hey kids!  It’s just about that time of the year to start thinking about….wait for it…..wait for it…..yes, it’s time to start thinking about Christmas.  Now, if you’re like my mother, Christmas is pretty much as all year thing, as I believe she starts her holiday shopping sometime around mid-june/early july.  Only a few years back did I eventually figure out why I was getting shorts and sunscreen at Christmas.  Granted, if I grew up in Southern California, this might have been appropriate, but upstate New York?

Our lovely friends over at Amazon.com have struck a deal with Better ATM Services and will be distributing Amazon.com gift cards in the US via ATM machines using ATM’s patented technology.  Better ATM Services will be distributing the cards via subcontractors Automated Cash Management Systems and APTUS Financial.

If a handy dandy Amazon.com gift card wasn’t enough, the two ISO’s will also be spitting out a complimentary $25 restaurant.com card to sweeten the deal.  Dallas Texas based Columbus Data Services will be providing the transaction processing services for the whole shebang.  Personally, an Amazon.com card that I can pick up at a 7-11 on the way home after work in that great moment of “Oh crap, I need a stocking stuffer…what do I do now?” is pretty darn sweet as it is.  Kicking in a free dinner is certainly better than a sharp stick in the eye.

“Tough economic times mean consumers will increasingly demand more value,” said Better ATM Services chief executive Todd Nuttall. “Gift cards with coupons and incentives distributed through ATMs provide just that.”

While amazon.com shoppers can certainly buy gift cards on the site itself, we all know that during the holiday season, a physical object in hand always garners more thanks than a printout of a $25 credit.  The cards coming out of said ATMs will be immediately valid and can be used the minute you arrive home (or near a wireless connection).

In wide ranging market of prepaid cards, the Boston based TowerGroup estimated that approximately $80 billion was spent on gift cards in 2006.  With Wall Street and Banks dropping like flies, it should be a VERY interesting holiday shopping season.  Who knows.  Perhaps amazon.com has hit this one right on the head with offering convenience and value tied to a site 99% of the world is familiar with and offers 99% of everything anyone could ever want.

…and I can just hear it now. “Put your hands in the air, and gimme your amazon.com gift cards.”

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