Marty Blog Big 100: Post & Win

Martin · 15 years (9:58 AM · Dec 23, 2008)

I know, I know - this technically isn't my 100th post. Well, no matter - I've been busy with things, and haven't had time to lead up to 100 before my holiday vacation, so I'll make an exception and we'll do the raffle at post 95. It is a good time to be charitable, after all.

I am happy to say that Marty Blog is still going strong into the final weeks of 2008, and I am pleased with the way the year has gone for the blog. I've been able to (semi) consistently post here about things that I care about and find interesting. I've had a great time talking about these things with members of the GMC and Reflect Communities here. And I've even moved past the default theme (and hopefully will move past my current theme with something better in 2009). In short, it's been a fun year, and I look forward to a continuation of that for the next.

Anyway, enough of the formal stuff - you're probably reading this because you want in on the commemorative raffle, and frankly, I don't blame you. So here goes!

To help celebrate the continuation of Marty Blog, and to give back to everyone who's helped make the blog fun for me, I've put together another little raffle - Marty Blog's second Post & Win!

What can you win?

The grand prize for the raffle is a brand new (digital) copy of BioWare's awesomely fun action-RPG, Mass Effect! If you've already got a copy of Mass Effect, or if it's not really your thing, I'll also let you sub in any other single game of equal or lesser value ($30) that's currently on Steam.

Additionally, second and third prize winners will be chosen, and each will be able to choose from any single game currently on Steam for $15 or less and $5 or less respectively. Steam's catalog has grown impressively since the last raffle, and there are some great new games available now, so there should be something for just about everyone there, for each prize value.

Finally, I've got a spare copy of Half-Life 2 + HL2: Episode 1 just sitting in my Steam account, ready to be gifted. If you're interested in that as well, say so in your post, and once the winners have been chosen, I'll take all the losers (you're all winners to me... really) and do one final drawing for this lovely prize. This one is non-negotiable because it's actually just an extra copy I have.

Note: Many of the games on Steam, including Mass Effect and Half-Life 2, are rated Mature by the ESRB, and may contain violence or sex. I have no way of verifying people's age, so I will assume that if you enter the raffle, you are 18 or older, or you have your parent's permission to play games of this nature.

How do you enter?

Simply post a comment below (make sure to enter an email address I can contact you with in the appropriate area of the comment form). Feel free to post suggestions, criticism, long manifestos of support and encouragement, dear John letters, requests for personal advice, announcements about the sentry gun you just built, or whatever else you can think of. Everything is welcome!

Your name will only be entered into the raffle once, no matter how many comments you leave, and registered users of the site who comment will have a slightly higher chance of being chosen.

Entrants must have a Steam account, or must be willing to register for one if they win. Steam is free, it's a great service, and I am happy to promote it. If you win and I am unable to award you your prize within a reasonable amount of time, the item will be re-raffled. Apologies to anyone who lives outside of the U.S. or who doesn't have access to Steam or it's catalog of games.

Attempts at entering your name into the raffle more than once (or any other kind of cheating) will result in your name, and all aliases thought to be associated with you, removed from the drawing. And of course, Marty Blog reserves all rights to make the final decision on the validity of any entry.

Entries close at the end of the holiday weekend - Sunday, December 28th at 11:59 PM PST - so be sure to make your comment before then! Winners will be announced the following day. I wanted to have winners announced before then, but I figured I'd give everyone out there a chance to enter, and of course, I'd also like to give myself some time off over the next few days. Win/win.

Thanks again to everyone out there who reads Marty Blog now and then. I truly appreciate your visits to this site, and I hope that the site remains fun and enjoyable to you as we move into the future! And yes, I know I recycled that from my previous Post & Win, but I think it's still very applicable. I hope you all have happy holidays this season!

35 Comments

  • Bryan says:

    I’ma win :3

  • Sam says:

    Nice new layout (I read in a reader software, don’t often visit the blog). Good luck all :)

  • Zakreon says:

    Visiting the Marty Blog is always fun, seeing your take on modern issues, and you know, Fred, your as good a writer as an artist! You can do anything!

    Even FLY! (WARNING: No you probably can’t fly, do not attempt)

  • mischiephX says:

    Nothing like giving unto others! Merry Christmas!!

  • BenRK says:

    Well, time to try this again, huh? As I already have Half-Life2, Episode 1, and Episode 2, don’t bother putting me in for the secondary prize. Anyway, congratulations on… nearing your 100th post!

  • Zeno says:

    My first time entering a competition online…I think.. Merry christmas!

  • Xxypher says:

    Wow, I just realized that I don’t post on your blogs much at all.
    Well, Merry Christmas Marty.

  • Dmaster270 says:

    Nice way to end the year. Also, um, I don’t seem to have any of the half-lifes so uh, I”ll enter with that too. ALso, are you doing the same thing you did last time? Members get a bigger chance of winning :whistle:

  • CoolGamrSms says:

    I won last time (second place, at least), so I won’t enter again.

    Merry Christmas though!

    ^_^

  • Tahnok says:

    I sure wouldn’t mind winning that, or another Steam game!

  • BenRK says:

    Well, I’ve changed my mind about the second prize. Put me in for that too. I have plans if I get the second one. Heck, I have plans if I get the first one too!

  • Hey dude, congrats :)

    I wish I had enough money to give away prizes as often as you do. In fact, this is the first one of your competitions I have actually entered. They should all be this easy to enter :)

    As for the question that is asked in the page header, the answer is no. Try guessing the question :)

    And we can be members? Members of what? I’m a member of reflex games, but I haven’t used it in ages. Maybe make it Mac compatable :P.

    But anyway, it’s christmas here (barely), so Marry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Chag Sameach (yeah, I googled it). Oh and you said something about mentioning something in my post about a certain thing. I don’t remember, but this is me mentioning it. I’m always up for free stuff.

    Oh, a joke would round this off. Um, well I was going through customs the other day, and the customs officer read my form thingy and said to me “Oh, you’re a writer, what do you write?”. I replied “Wrongs”. :) Ok, now one for the people who didn’t get it:

    Where do you find a dog with no legs?

    Where you left it.

    Ok, I’m done. Peace out.

    -Dave

  • When I said a member, I meant as a subscriber to the blog. You can sign up in the little menu at the upper right hand side of the site.

  • Dmaster270 says:

    I’m so angry! My cruddy computer with a nic gfx card, is below the minimum requirements with the gfx card, and the good computer with over 2 gigs of ram doesn’t have enough processing power. GAH.

  • dangerous_dave says:

    “When I said a member, I meant as a subscriber to the blog. You can sign up in the little menu at the upper right hand side of the site”

    Oh wow, didn’t know I could do that. I think I’ve done it right, I clicked “register” and followed the instructions.

  • Dmaster270 says:

    @Dangerous_dave
    Now all you need is a gravatar!

  • dangerous_dave says:

    A what? Man, I think I’m living in the stone age…

  • Dmaster270 says:

    google gravatar it’s how me and fred got avatars on [s]blog[/s] any blog powerd by gravatar.

  • Mattthew_H says:

    Well, I have Dial-up, so I doubt I’d be able to download any of the games.
    But still, I would like to congratulate you on a successfull blog, merry Christmas and a happy new year!

    Oh, now about the blog? Well, I think it is a great place to find examples, get a different opinion about things, but most of the time, the same, it’s always a great place to come and read your posts – your a good writer, it’s interesting to read your posts.

    I wish you the best of luck with the competition and the future!

  • dangerous_dave says:

    “google gravatar it

  • xot says:

    Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Festivus/Saturnalia/Yule/Bodhi/Yalda/Long Night!

    Bought myself The Orange Box for Christmas and am absolutely loving it. Valve and Steam FTW.

    To get a Gravatar, go to gravatar.com and sign up. It will associate an avatar with your email address. When you post on any Gravatar enabled blog using that email address, your avatar will appear automatically.

  • Dmaster270 says:

    if you get first: you can get the orange box
    if you get second: you can get alot of things
    if you get third: you can get portal or bioshock.

  • dangerous_dave says:

    “To get a Gravatar, go to gravatar.com and sign up. It will associate an avatar with your email address. When you post on any Gravatar enabled blog using that email address, your avatar will appear automatically.”

    Thanks for that. Now the problem is it wont let me have a “_” in my name. It’s a very important character, so I don’t think I will get one afterall.

  • Dmaster270 says:

    Username or Email? Username it doesn’t matter. Email, uh, your screwed.

  • Dmaster270 says:

    bah, it takes to long for it to change your avatar, so I’m making this post so that everyone can see my new one, and if it doesn’t show it, then I are angry.

  • dangerous_dave says:

    Username. It said I can’t have a _ in my username.

  • Dmaster270 says:

    doesn’t matter with username, I’ve made a post on a different blog with a username other than Dmaster270 and it showed my Avatar. Besides, you login with your email

  • Emmanuel Barroga says:

    Hey, hey, hey.

  • dangerous_dave says:

    Oh, I see. Ok, so I just log in to the gravatar site and it should work? Hopefully that means this will work :).

  • Nick Z (aka Gamr) says:

    Hey, hey, hey. Greetings from Universal Studios in Florida! Good luck to everyone!

  • Dmaster270 says:

    @Dangerous_Dave
    Yup it works.

    By any chance, for my Gravatar, a Pie Face, or a Ninja with a Coffee Cup?

  • Dmaster270 says:

    Only 2 hours, and 49 minutes remain, off to watch a movie and then come back. :grin:

  • Entries are closed now – winners will be announced tomorrow!

    Also – be sure to respond to any winner notifications ASAP – Xot has informed me that there’s a huge sale going on on Steam. The best deal of the day looks like BioShock for a measly $5!

  • Yourself says:

    Bogus! I can’t go out of town for anything. And here I go getting a Steam account for the Orange Box too. You suck. >:(

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