January 23rd 2009 9:22 pm PT

Link doesnt work major!

nice

US Only. Typical.

@DeathsKamikaze

I guess it’s not working cos we’re using the UK version of Xbox.com

screwed over again. We pay the most for Live and get sod all.

I’m more annoyed that the patch still didn’t fix anything, but I guess we shouldn’t expect so much being over 3,000 miles from the servers.

@Habenero Pepper
Yep, completely right. Im used to being screwed over now. I just dont buy much anymore.Its only 25k anyway

Got my hopes up, checked the linked looked great, then i got shot in the heart again, US residents only, Like others said

Yeah Major, where are you getting “win 25K” from? The only thing in the Official Rules for the 13 Days of Gears contest that even comes close to this is “Approximate Retail Value of all prizes combined: $26,610.35″.

Now as for what really is offered, I’d really love to get a chance at that sweet Samsung 40″ 1080p HDTV! It’s just a shame that you have to play on all 13 days in a row and the specific mode listed just to even get a chance at it.

LOL, they have to do this, to make more people play Gears, single player is enjoyable aka why I own both, but online is just crap :p fps online much faster pase etc.

25k?

25k of what?

Headline does not “say it all.”

Ok from the Official Rules:

4. WHAT IS/ARE THE PRIZE(S)?
Thirteen (13) Grand Prizes. A prize package that consists of the following:

* A Samsung 40″ 1080p flat panel LCD HDTV (Approximate Retail Value (ARV), $1000)
* A Locust Bust (ARV, $650)
* A red Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (ARV, $64.95)
* A Marcus Fenix bronze statue (ARV, $200)
* Gears of War 2 video game soundtrack (ARV, $12)
* Gears of War Aspho Fields novel (ARV $10),
* A 12″ x 18″ Gears of War 2 promotional poster autographed by members of the Epic development team
* An in-game Golden Hammerburst and Lancer weapon

Total ARV of each Grand Prize: [$1,936.95]

Sixty-Five (65) Daily Prizes Available (five (5) Daily Prize Winners Per Daily Prize Period). A prize package that consists of the following items:

* Gears of War 2 video game soundtrack (ARV, $12)
* Gears of War Aspho Fields novel (ARV, $10)
* A 12″ x 18″ Gears of War 2 promotional poster autographed by members of the Epic development team
* An in-game Golden Hammerburst and Lancer weapon

Total ARV of each Daily Prize: $22
Approximate Retail Value of all prizes combined: $26,610.35

Ok call me crazy, but I don’t see anywhere in that where one person can “win 25K”. Were you maybe thinking of a different contest, Major?

With this i wouldn’t doubt if gears of war 2 was number 1 for the first time in the next top 10 xD;

US only again… sweet

I love these kind of promotions. I won some free Microsoft points from one of the Halo 3 promotions they did.

Aww… I already traded it for Skate 2. Ah well… I think I got a better deal anyway…

What does ‘Friday the 13th’ have to do with Gears of War? Ah, whatever. Contests are contests.

My system just red ringed, can I get a prize by default sense I can’t play? >:(

give the rest of us some sort of competition to win stuff

I agree with Broxy Bear.

uhg no thnx I’m not gonna bother myself…..

Larry, can you confirm if playing in Training Ground with bots will fulfill the requirements? Thanks.

Oh boy, another, US only contest because Xbox doesnt give a rats behind about their Canadian members…I mean is it seriously that hard to add a “What’s 2 + 2?” to a US contest to make it legal in Canada? Shesh.

Hey Major Nelson, to whom do I send the offical nastygrams?
First the promise of Netflix (yes I have a membership) but PYSCH you’re Canadian you cant have one now more and more contests BUT sorry people north of the border, sucks to be you.

think you need to put as normal USA ONLY on it.

You couldn’t give me that stuff for free to play GoW2.

That game is over. Trading it in me thinkks.

Such a shame, the first was amazing.

aw come on, why not open this to the rest of the world >.< starting to take the P*ss now

I thought the whole point of Live was to unite people around the world, These constant US only incentives just do the exact opposite and make people from the UK,Canada and Europe feel like second class users.

Anon 12: you forgot the Middle East. there’s a freakin thread about 1000s demanding Live in the mid-east >_>

Only open to the US, huh?

That’s a shocker…

Cue the “I have your passed concerns on to the relevant people” standard response posted when enough people say (quite rightly) that it’s another example of X-box live’s U.S Bias.

Hey Major, we get all these competitions posted on the My Xbox page, but none of them are for people outside the US. Can you stop posting them on our pages if we can’t enter them please? Or, even better, actually have some international competitions for a change. Cheers.

another contest for the US only, it would be really nice to see contents that are including other countries!? Really getting tired of contents and then following the link and finding that only the US Residents can register.

As a global brand it still amazes me that there are never any global competitions or anything similar for EMEA (and the rest of the world). I guess it’s a testament to the work and visibility that MajorNelson has. I have no idea who his European counterpart is. Perhaps he should be on one of your shows.

“The headline pretty much says it all”

…….apart from the fact it’s US Only. **** MS

WHY ARE THESE DAMN CONTESTS US ONLY!!!!

I AM A HARDCORE GEARS FAN / PLAYER TOO! Even more so than some of the future winners of these prizes.

OPEN UP THE DAMN CONTEST TO CANADA!!!!

So the most ONE (1) person can win is $1,936.95?? Is that right?

I hate to sound unpleasant but it is a bit frustrating to get your hopes up and then be unable to even enter (then again I now just ignore contests because it’s practically impossible for Australians to enter anything). Would it be practical for each regional microsoft office to set up a contest of their own? A few months back there was an Australian Gears 2 contest so it’s not without precedent.

Yet again, another US only event…..please bring these to the UK and other countries…….

The truth about non-US incentives is that there just isn’t the depth of community support in other countries like there is in the US. For example, poor Aceybongos has to look after not only the UK, but the dozen or so other countries that are Live-Enabled in Europe, plus the whole of the Middle East – plus all of Africa! How all those diverse countries with all the regulations/languages can have just one team look after them is totally crazy. Your biggest contries, with the most number of Gold Subscribers that bring MS the most revenue should have dedicated Community Members in the way that the US does. That way, no-one will feel left out.

@Huddy72 – it is Aceybongos but he looks after all of EMEA. His website is http://aceybongos.spaces.live.com/

wow, surprise surprise surprise, yet again it is an US only event, no UK, no canadians, no Aussies, no western-europeans.

Major, if Microsoft wants to gain a strong foothold in europe they must stop with this discrimination travesty, America isn’t 100% of the civilized world and with the current exchange rates MS makes a sh*tton more off each european live subscription than they do off an american subscription.
stop with all this US-exclusive nonsense, the rest of the world already has to put up with enough of the US’ messing about.

Major, please post these sort of messages on a US only site. I don’t want to be reminded yet again that I can’t enjoy the full extent of my xbox live service because US is too greedy to give us Canadians a chance at it. Thanks

All I ever read is that another competition in the U.S yet previously M$ say that europe is an important market, yeah only when it suits them
Important to make more money for higher costs, thats about it

To everyone not from the US. Don’t feel too bad, it may be 25k US but that is only 19,253.75 Euro and 18,401.22 Pounds.

I love this!

I wont be buying GoW3 now.
Other people should do the same.

leearco, I didn’t buy either of the first two and surely won’t be buying the third…lol

Bet there are contests in the UK, Canada and Europe the US can’t
enter.

Wah wah waaaaaah! If all you whiny foreigners don’t like the way MS is doing business, then go buy another console from Sony or Nintendo, who care even less about you.

Quicksilver4648:
that might be so, but we pay a whole lot more than you americans do for our Xbox live service, the least they could do is give us an equal treatment.
60€ a year for XBL: a whopping 78$!!!
60£ a year: that’s 73$

Australians are getting poor service for what they pay too.

if MS is gonna keep on charging us these prices instead of adjusting them to the rates, they might as well give us equal service.
how would you like it if we got better service than you while having to pay less than you?
you’d be quite cross too.

———-
60£ a year: that’s 73$
———-

correction to that, it’s supposed to be 83, it’s getting late, 2:29 am lol

Well this is crap u.s only stuff again.But gears 2,no thanks what a multiplayer mess.Like someone else said no gears 3 for me,Its about time m.s lower the live pricing in other countries as the ps3 is still free and yes it is getting better all the time(mate has one).Sony seem to care about other countries,and when they lower the ps3 price a bit more ill own one no doubt.Wake up m.s sony is gaining ground fast.

When is MS gonna cut Major Nelson? LOL!

US only, 18+ as usual. As much as I love contests, I really love contests I can enter. Maybe you should offset all of these with some that people in other countries and that are younger can enter.

I love the tagline that Major put up, “Update: To be clear, you can win your part in the $25,000 in prizes”. You mean, to be clear this is for US residents only. THAT’s what you should of put.

All the whining in the world isn’t going to change the US only thing. MS will just keep on doing whatever they want, like they always have. SO DEAL WITH IT!

C’mon guys, we should be used to being ignored by Microsoft by now… We may as well just get used to it.

Oh, and by the way Major, any news on a dashboard fix for the majority of users who have to put up with a painfully slow marketplace, constant friendslist/guide freezing and Party’s dropping everyone? I know it’s not just me and the people I play with that have this issue… just a simple “we are aware of the problem and are working on it” would be nice…. cheers!

Nice I will enter this contest, it looks good.

“Bet there are contests in the UK, Canada and Europe the US can’t enter.”

uhh….such as?

@zeDuffMan: They are there alright. How about Xtival’08, that was all about Europe and advertised on the UK pages of Xbox.com? Aceybongos mentioned it, too. Major Nelson is all about US so the rest of the world could just as well ignore him and settle with the closest equivalent instead.

Will the kid win who bridges host then lag switches each round, runs over to enemy spawn and blows their heads off while they cant move?

It’s not a fair competition! How can you choose from tens of thousands of exactly equal host-glitching kids!

Glitch glitch glitch glitch glitch glitch glitch. Epic should be ashamed of themselves, but I guess when you drive a Lambo and sleep in a pile of cash you’re several stages beyond shame.

Epic are the Paris Hilton of gaming; Spending money they didnt earn, full of nasty surprises and offers nothing but BS to their fans.

@Joergen8
Haha the Paris Hilton of gaming, so true.

Joergen8, why do you care? You can’t even enter into the contest! *snicker*

@anon22: Xtival? don’t make me laugh man, that was just a frakking joke, the US has a fricking contest each gorram weak, are we only gonna get one each year? expensive lottery ticket if you ask me, 60€ or even £ for a gold subscription.

Once again M$ is showing its xenophobia by releasing details on a US only competition on a website that is aimed at the ENTIRE xbox live community.

Is our money not good enough for you? Or is it just a case of letting the rest of the world prop up the service for the “home country” to get all the goodies.

I know I’m gonna get flamed for speaking out by people who will inevitably start spouting rubish like “Microsoft is an American company so it should treat us better”. But the simple fact of the matter is the UK pay more for every aspect of xbox gaming and recieves considerably less than our cousins from accross the pond.

It’s also worth noting that everytime Major Nelson and Co post something that is US only and the complaints start flooding in he never ever responds.

Slowly my love of xbox and xbox live is being eroded by this xenophobic attitude towards the rest of the world. Come on just realise that there is a big old world outside of the USA and we are all paying to keep xbox live afloat.

Anon22: I dont care for the competition because I wouldnt play GoW2 even if it was avaialble. I just played it to try out the patch and got lagged and switched three games in a row. The game is just not worth the angst, have to go back to GoW1 for my gears fix from now on.

MetalGearFloppy: Wow right this moment you have exactly 100.000 gamerscore. What are the odds of that happening! Or did you plan it somehow? Congrats!

hey if you play during this event ure chances of winning are high becouse nobody plays this game

@ JohnnyricoMC

where you getting £60 a year from for live ?

Its £40, or if you know where to look, £24.

I was wondering, does it matter how you play these game types to be able to win prize?

Like, do I have to pla these game types in matchmaking or am I aloud to play private matches or matches with bots so long as Im on Live?

@JohnnyricoMC: I merely pointed out that there are competitions outside US. Sure, a lot less, a lot smaller, and they don’t get much promotion at all, but they are still there and more often than just once per year.

Simply keep an eye on Xbox.com in your region and catch them as they come. Major Nelson only promotes US competitions so you’re not going to get a heads up about them here.

To put it another way, if people spent half the time they spend whining about not having competitions to actually seek their own out, they would both find them and have a good chance to win something, thanks to that poor promoting. And this is coming from someone who also lives in Europe and outside UK – the country that still gets the best out of the scraps Europe is given…

To bad the game is crap….

Dear Microsoft,

There are other countries outside the US. Perhaps you could come to Australia and sample our lovely lifestyle, lag and lack of Xbox competitions to see how we feel about these things.

Dear Major,

Whilst I love your updates, could you mark US only on the US only comps please?

KTHNXBAI.

Would have been great – if only I could enter it in AUSTRALIA

What the smeg do I pay such high LIVE costs for????

@pferris: Beats us. Because you feel it’s worth it?

I’m onside with the comments about international lovin’…..where is it?