unforum

[aliendial]

Thanks, GF3, we do understand and expected no less (or more). We'll talk about it next week!

[RedHatty]

News is finally coming in!
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=533857&st=247

One first prize winner. DHL is the delivery service, so look out for yellow trucks!

[RedHatty]

Sorry for double posting. I have a bad feeling that it may be a long time before the real winners are decided. In the Neowin forum, linked int he post above, it has become apparent that a First Prize winner is under 18. He is openly discussing on the forum how the paperwork is being done by his father even though the name is different and openly expressing how he could care less about the rules. Since we already know that these forums have been and probably continue to be monitored, I don't see anything good coming from this event.

It is a shame, and a lot of people, especially Microsoft, AMD & 42 Entertainment may get hurt from the potential bad publicity this mess will bring.

So keep your fingers crossed & stay patient I guess, it's probably gonna take a while to sort through the whole mess.

[thebruce]

wow this does seem like a big mess... in that thread it's mentioned that it's the wife of the 'player' who is receiving the meta prize, and now it's the player's father who is claiming his prize...
legally it sounds like he might have a case, but the point was also made that because of his willing and open confession to not really caring about the 'rules' since there might be a loophole in the 18+ thing, there could be much backlash about the game to MS/42/etc by people who don't feel he should win because of his age - ie, negative press.

I wouldn't want to be a person in charge of determining winners, that's for sure It's not just laws in this case, it's also market and press.

rock..........hard place
..........^them?

[SuperRob]

The Meta Prize thing is a completely different issue. AMD had stated that they'll put whatever the winner wants on the chip, so long as it will fit. The winner chose to put his wife's name, so for marketing purposes, they're calling her the "winner".

In Jason's case, he's intentionally defrauding the contest administrators to win a prize that he was ineligible to compete for in the first place. It's not a matter of paperwork ... the fraud was not in the affadavit (well, it is, but that's a different issue), the fraud was in his ignoring the rules and playing the game anyway.

He probably would have gotten away with it if the moron hadn't started bragging about it. Smartest people in the world, eh?

[konamouse]

The wife of a player was legitimately signed up for the game online. He may have done all the puzzle solving work (or forum posting/reading) but she entered the final answer (at his suggestion).

The fact that the Rocketship winner is under 18 disturbs me. That was part of the rules, right? And if the winner was not able to be contacted in 2 tries, they were going to the next person, right? Guess they should have included the phrase "or if deemed ineligible according to the contest the rules".

I set up an account for konashark and if he had won, he would have been collecting his prize (even though I did all the work)....he's over 18 and has his own computer email account in this house.

I'll guarentee more than a hundred entries were kids under 18. And more than a hundred were players who used email accounts for other folks in the home in order to increase their chances of winning something.

[thebruce]

oh yeah don't even start on the whole referral system fiasco...
contests that reward referrals simple for signing up new accounts really irk me. *shrug*

[blackhawk127]

jason is not the rocketship winner he only won one of the first prize packages. AKA first runner up. he gets to choose from one of the computer goodie packages, the rocketship winner is yet to be determined

[The_Voice777]

Editor's Note: Some or all of the claims in this post have been disputed by a representative of Marden-Kane. -SpaceBass


I agree that the whole finish to this Contest was handled poorly and unprofessionally. First the final night we have a 4 hour delay on getting the video up, then when they finally get it running it is of such poor quality, next you have a whole week after the contest is over before anyone was even notified that they won anything, which was supposed to be within a 48 hour time frame. Next you have the situation with a 15 year old kid being awarded a first place prize. There is no doubt that the next time Microsoft, 42 Entertainment and most of all Marden-Kane attempt to affiliate their names with any contest or marketing ploy, that instantly alarms and whistles will go off questioning the fairness and validity of the handling practices these companies have exhibited in the past.

I was suprised from the get go on this contest in reference to the prizes being offered and what a small amount the total ARV of everything was.

Microsoft is the largest and richest company in the world. There isnt but a handfull of computers in use that doesn't have windows, and now in the near future Microsoft will make billions off Vista and all they could offer for a total combined prize pool was half a million dollars?

Mark Burnett and AOL paid out 3 and a half million dollars in total prizes for the Gold Rush contest and I can guarentee you Microsoft has 20 times the assests and resources.

Marden-Kane was also much more responsible and professional during the Gold Rush saga, but in relation to this I must also say that since Gold Rush, MK has had a large turnover and even lost its company president Mr. Larry Gershman, who is an impeccible and very professional character who was very poignant and had a strict attention to detail. So it seems that Mk with its new staff has a long way to go in training and replacing the experience lost.

I did in fact have to place numerous phone calls to the agent in charge of this VP at MK, Rich Fascionalla (forgive spleeling if i slaughtered your name, cant be any worse than handling of this contest was slaughtered on your part!!) And through my conversations with him it was evident that he was so far out of the loop and just trying to make it through the day unscathed. I had to explain the rules and contact methods to him before he understood the proper way to resolve the problem I was calling about.

In respect to everyone I guess we all learned alot from this contest, players, sponsors, designers, judges and Microsoft themselves. Now lets just see where it leads to in the future.

Could be with all the bad publicity and the bitter taste left with many, Microsoft may have created their own Vanishing Point!!!!!

[L.Boomer]

I would venture to guess that this guy will be ruled ineligible, especially since he made it public knowledge on a message board that is certainly being watched by the people at Marden-Kane. If he never stated his intentions to commit the fraud, then they may have had a slim chance at getting around the system.

The whole reason Marden-Kane is involved in this is because running any kind of contest or sweepstakes these days opens up a big can of legal worms , and if it is not handled properly then the companies involved open themselves up to the possibility of numerous lawsuits and bad publicity that sort of defeats the purpose of the campaign all together.

[Codename 47]

Hey guys,

I've been lurking watching your progress on the meta game and I've gotta say I'm impressed. Think I'll be hanging around and playing some more ARG's as they start cause this one was fun!

I got a DHL pack the other day, popped it open and I'm one of the first prize winners Filled the affadavit out and sent it off to the States yesterday so should hopefully hear what package I won soon!

[thebruce]

Well I hope the package is delivered whether you're there to accept it or not... not like the phone call confusion for those of us at work all day.

[Tien_Le]

[NeowinRob]

Wow, you're from Northampton? I was born there ... Kingsley/Abington!

[blackhawk127]

OMG A WINNER WITH NO CONTROVERSY thats a first