The Advent of A Million Bucks

I now have a million dollar reason to play a video game. For the first time, a company is offering one million buckaroos for a video game contest, and it’s gotten me quite motivated to spend more quality time with my Xbox.

The Advent Rising “Race To Save Humanity” contest is offering a grand prize of $1,000,000 to those that find the hidden “A” icon within the game. A new icon is dropped into the game once a week via Xbox Live. Majesco Entertainment, maker of Advent Rising, provides a new clue each week to find the icon over the contest’s six-week period. Other prizes available are one year Xbox Live subscriptions, SoBe drinks and products, and other cash denomination prizes. Only one lucky winner will receive the million dollars.

Majesco made a smart business move doing this contest. It’s created quite a buzz in the media, and since it will run for six weeks, it’ll keep gamers involved with it for at least that long and generate more sales. Advent Rising is also the first of a trilogy, so getting players involved in this first one is important for the game’s awareness for the rest of the trilogy.

In Advent Rising, you play the game through the eyes of Giddeon Wyeth, a space pilot assigned to accompany an ambassador to an alien ship to make first contact. These aliens view humans as gods, but they actually came to warn the human race about another alien race called the Seekers. The Seekers’ mission is to eliminate all human life. You go through the game with all sorts of futuristic weapons and vehicles similar to other third-person shooter games, such as Halo/Halo 2, while you battle the Seekers. The graphics are good, and you don’t have to worry too much about targeting with its easy-to-use auto-targeting feature.

Advent Rising is available exclusively on the Xbox and you can only participate in the contest with Xbox Live. Specially-marked packages of Advent Rising come with a free two-month trial of Xbox Live, so that will cover you for the contest if you don’t want to pay full-pop for the $50 a year Xbox Live subscription. It’s rated T for Teen and available at your nearest Toys n’ Joys or Toyriffic store for about $50. For more information about Advent Rising and the contest, check out www.adventtrilogy.com.

I don’t make any claims that Advent Rising is the greatest game in the world, and it’s certainly no comparison to the quality of Halo or Halo 2, but if you want to try for the million dollars, it could pay off.