To enter the contest, you must do the following:

• Follow the GameNorth Twitter feed.

• Follow the Toshiba Canada Twitter feed.

• Retweet the GameNorth contest announcement tweet, found here, to your followers.

Performing these three steps will officially register you as an entrant in the contest and earn you for your first contest ballot. However, we’d like to give you a chance to earn three more! You’ll earn an additional ballot for doing each of the following:

• Comment on this article and make sure to include your Twitter name in the comment!

• Tweet the name of your favourite Canadian-made game on Twitter with the #GameNorthQosmioX500 hashtag. You can find a list of some great ones from our top ten as of 2009.

• ‘Like’ Toshiba Dojo on Facebook, and mention this contest on their wall, along with your Twitter account name!

Performing all of the aforementioned steps will earn you a total of four ballots, which will be randomly drawn on Friday, February 4 to determine who wins the Qosmio X500, as well as the envy of Canadian gamers across the nation.

Good luck!

Eligibility

You must be Canadian or a permanent resident of Canada, and 18 years of age or older to be eligible to enter this contest. Due to provincial sweepstakes laws, this contest is void in the province of Québec. For additional rules and regulations, please consult the GameNorth contest rules.

So, without further ado, we’d like to announce the winners of our Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection Giveaway, which will give five lucky readers the chance to enjoy this event while playing on all 19 of the Gears of War 2 DLC maps. Our winners are:

InsaneBreakout

Wick

Ian790

maidenfan666

AddyRuffs

Congratulations! We will be contacting you via the email address supplied with your contest entry comment, so be sure to keep an eye on your inbox. I’ll be doing my best to reach level 100 and earn my wings this weekend, so feel free to send me a friend request if you’d like to play. My Xbox LIVE gamertag is Ithilis. See you on the battlefield(s), Gears!

For those that haven’t caught wind of his zany plans, Rod will be awarding Gears of War 2 players with an experience points multiplier equal to the sum of his Twitter followers divided by 500. When he originally proposed the idea on Wednesday, July 14, he had 3000 followers. As of time of writing this article, he has 10,793, but chose to cap his campaign at 10,000 followers and a 20X experience points modifier. That’s a lot of XPs!

The Contest

To honour Rod’s crazy idea and his ongoing dedication to the Gears of War community, we’ve decided to award five lucky readers with Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection codes, giving them the chance to enjoy all 19 DLC maps while earning truckloads of XP!

To enter, simply tell us what excites you most about Epic’s upcoming Gears of War 3 by commenting on the article below. On the morning of Thursday, July 22, to coincide with the opening of the San Diego Comic Con, we’ll draw five names out of a hat and announce the winners. Remember: only Canadians need apply! You can still leave a comment if you’re not Canadian – as we’re always happy to hear and talk about Gears – you just won’t be eligible to win a prize.

For further rules and eligibility, please consult our official contest rules. Failure to comply with these rules will result in a merciless chainsawing. Canadian-style, of course.

Good luck!

The Operation Flashpoint Military Packs include a canteen, perfect for those long tours out in the bush, a handy, comouglaged shoudler bag, an Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising shirt, and a gorgeous map of the island of Skira, the fictional setting of Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.

In order to enter the contest, take a photograph of yourself engaging in some military-themed activities, or doing your best soldier impression (fatigues, camouflage, anything), and submit it, along with your name, to contests@gamenorth.ca. We’ll be selecting our four winners on Monday, November 30, 2009, so be sure to submit your photograph before then! The winners will be selected by staff vote, so be as creative as you can, and their photos will be featured in our article to announce the winners.

Additional contest rules, including eligibility, may be found here.

In addition to the grand prize, Xbox Canada will be awarding five Halo 3: ODST prize packs to runners-up. So get out your Spartan costume, give a camera to a friend, and get a little crazy, Canada! Best of luck to all who enter!

A chance to try it, you say? We hear you! So we have three beta keys to give away. To enter, simply leave a comment here with your favourite DotA hero. We will randomly draw winners on Saturday, July 25th, at 9:00 EDT and announce the winners at noon. We’re opening this one up to anyone in the world, with a huge disclaimer that we reserve the right to withdraw the prize if your authorities come threatening us with litigation or dismemberment. Also, to clarify, there is no purchase necessary to enter. You may not enter more than once, etc. Anyone caught cheating will be disqualified and their moms will be publicly insulted.

Consult the contest rules here (ignore the eligibility, except for Quebec – sorry, you’re still not allowed).

“We have always admired the love and support fans have shown Croteam and the Serious Sam franchise,” said a shy, unassuming spokesperson for Devolver Digital. “This is a fantastic way to get gamers involved in Serious Sam HD and give our fans a chance to contribute to the game itself.”

So how does one enter their finely-crafted line for a chance to hear it in Serious Sam HD? Simply log on to Twitter and send a brilliant quip to @devolverdigital between July 15 and July 30. Croteam themselves will comb over all the entries and choose the winning line, and Devolver Digital will announce it to all of their followers in early August.

“I never get any thanks for the wonderfully poetic and emotionally layered lines I write for Sam ‘Serious’ Stone,” said an overworked and underpaid writer at Croteam “So guess what? Let someone else take a crack at it and see how hard it is. These witty remarks don’t write themselves you know.”

So break out those whet stones and start sharpening that wit, as we’d love to get some of that renowned Canadian humour into the game. If you need any help, feel free to leave a one-liner or two in our comments below, and we’d be glad to rate it for you!

And without further ado, the winner of GameNorth’s Canada Day 2009 Microsoft Points contest is..

Kirk!

Kirk entered the contest with the following comment, sharing his plans to celebrate our nation’s birthday:

“I plan on going to Chingcousy Park and watching all the festivities. I hear that there will be some live music. I of course will be spending time with friends and family. Of course watching the fireworks.”

Congratulations Kirk!

And the winners of our Canada Day 2009 Aztaka contest are..

Bio Synysys, Kamaka, and kiekko!

Congratulations to all three!

The winners entered the contest with the following comments, sharing what they love most about Canada:

Bio Synysys:
“I love How Americans think we live in igoos, ice skate to school/work, and how beavers are our national army. I love our national sport of lacrosse and hockey.”

Kamaka:
“Love the ethnic diversity in Canada, the food, the sights, the beer lol. Pretty much everything about Canada! What a great place to live!”

kiekko:
“The freedom and the beauty that surrounds us.”

All three win a copy of Aztaka from Canadian developer Citérémis, and will get a taste of some amazing home-grown talent!

This year on July 7, a special 7-on-7 playlist will be played by dozens of Bungie employees. If you manage to beat them, you will be rewarded with the Recon armour. But even if you aren’t one of those hardcore players who watch all the MLG events via live stream and mathematically calculate the BR spread in your spare time, Bungie will be awarding Recon armour for funny or silly antics. In addition to these methods and the usual ways to acquire the armour, there will also be hidden parameters that can be achieved!

So be sure to slap on your Spartan suit come July 7th and take part in the Bungie Day festivities because you never know who you might run into. Recon armour will soon be available to all who complete the Vidmaster Achievements in Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST, so give it a shot and try to get it while it’s still rare!

Oh, and if you see kM NiGhTMaRE on the other team you should just drop out of the lobby and save yourself 7 minutes.

With Canada turning 142 years old today, we originally wanted to give away 142 Microsoft Points. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to find something worth purchasing on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 142 Microsoft Points, and Microsoft doesn’t sell them in that denomination anyways. So, we decided to multiply that value by ten, giving us the more attractive sum of 1420 Microsoft Points. Sadly, Microsoft doesn’t sell Microsoft Points in THAT denomination either. Sure, there was a 1400 Microsoft Points card, but that would involve rounding down, and we hate rounding things down at GameNorth. Instead, we decided to bump it up to 2800 Microsoft Points!

To enter the contest, simply comment on this article and tell us how you plan to spend (or spent) Canada Day this year. On Friday July 3rd, 10am Eastern Standard Time, we will randomly select one of the comments and award the Microsoft Points to the author. All comments written up to the time of the draw will be considered eligible!

For rules and eligibility, please read our official contest rules. Failure to comply with these rules will result in disqualification from the contest and potential exile from the nation of Canada.

Good luck, and check out our other Canada Day contest here.

To celebrate Canada Day, GameNorth and Citérémis will be awarding three lucky readers with the latest version of Aztaka. In order to enter the contest, simply comment on this article and tell us what you love most about Canada. On Friday July 3rd, 10am Eastern Standard Time, we will randomly select three of the comments and award the prizes to their respective authors. All comments written up to the time of the draw will be considered eligible!

For rules and eligibility, please read our official contest rules. Failure to comply with these rules will result in disqualification from the contest and possible humiliation.

And speaking of great Canadian games, check out our Top 10 Canadian Games list!

So be sure to check back here for some free stuff we think you’ll enjoy. What are your traditions for celebrating July 1st? Tell us in a comment!

To enter, applicants must submit a picture along with a brief 200 word synopsis. The official rules and regulations are available at the official site. The entries will then be posted and voted on by the community on July 20th, 2009. Top weapon designs will be selected and then two will be chosen by the development team.

So bust out the sketches of imaginary guns that you’ve been hiding with your alternate ending to Assassin’s Creed, and fire up the scanner for your chance to win. Remeber the atmosphere of the original Army of Two game because you probably don’t want to go too Ratchet and Clank with it.

Drumroll please!

And the winner is.. toomy-mon!

Randomly selected from a pool of thirty entrants, toomy-mon entered the contest with the following comment about Rosie, his favourite Valkyria Chronicles character:

“Rosie is my favourite character in the game. She has the best character growth development and seems to be more realistic than others. Add on a great singing voice which is a huge plus.”

And toomy-mon wasn’t alone in picking Rosie as their favourite character, four others did as well. However, earning six votes from our entrants and winning the title of most popular Valkyria Chronicles character in Canada, excluding the province of Quebec, is Alicia!

Able to solo entire missions on her own, I have to admit that I have a certain fondness for the adorable scout as well. When I discovered how easily she could topple an entire army, Alicia was front and centre in all of my battle strategies. Actually, she often WAS the battle strategy.

For those that are curious, the final character vote tally is as follows:

Alicia – 6
Rosie – 5
Selvaria – 4
Marina – 3
Vyse – 3
Welkin – 2
Catherine – 1
Edy – 1
Eleanor – 1
Isara – 1
Jann – 1
Wendy – 1
TANKS! – 1

That last vote for the tanks, from JDespatis, warmed my heart. You gotta love tanks!

If you have not entered yet, head on over to the original contest article and tell us who your favourite Valkyria Chronicles character is. You have to be Canadian to enter, and we’ll only accept one entry per person.

For those that are interested, everyone’s favourite scout Alicia leads the way with five votes, but Rosie and Selvaria are not far behind. Who will win the contest, and who will be voted the most popular Valkyria Chronicles character amongst Canadians not living in the province of Quebec? Tune in Monday morning to find out!

• Edy’s Mission – “Enter the Edy Detachment” – Edy and five squad members have been separated from Squad 7. In this new mission, players will have to use this small team to defend a small village from an Imperial Army attack.

• Selvaria’s Mission – “Behind Her Blue Flame” – No more Mr. Nice Guy. This DLC lets you play as the enemy. Play as Johann, an engineer assigned to Selvaria, in a mission that takes place right after the outbreak of Gallian battle lines.

In order to enter the contest, simply leave a comment on this article telling us who your favourite Valkyria Chronicles character is and why. On Monday June 22^nd, 10am, we’ll randomly select one of the comments and award the codes to the poster. All comments written up to the time of the draw will be considered eligible.

For rules and eligibility, please read our official contest rules. Failure to comply with these rules will result in disqualification.

Update: The awesome folks at SEGA have also given us a code for the third Valkyria Chronicles DLC, Hard EX Mode. We have added it to the contest prize so that our lucky winner will get the chance to experience all that this wonderful game has to offer!

• Hard EX Mode – This add-on introduces a new difficulty to the campaign. The Edelweiss will be unavailable and enemies will be more lethal than before. Clearly, this is a mode for the hardcore VC players out there.

Good luck!