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Last year's free Xbox Live Arcade game from the Unlock Xbox contest, Dash of Destruction, may not have been the best game we ever played, but it was certainly far from the worst. Also, it had that whole costing nothing thing going for it, so that helped our opinions considerably. This year, our chances of getting a fun game have doubled, with the contest's 1,500 competitors vying for two spots rather than one.

The final eight contestants have been culled from the initial submissions (listed after the break), and are now available to be voted on over at the contest's website, ultimately determining three game ideas to be given final pitches at Microsoft. From there, we get two XBLA games full of Doritos' "bold, intense" branding -- and at the very least some free Achievements.

Microsoft and Doritos have announced that the "Unlock Xbox" competition – in which gamers compete to have their game ideas developed into a full-fledged XBLA title – is back. Xbox gamers will likely remember Dash of Destruction, the winner of the first competition, likely because it was free and offered some of the easiest Achievements around. Things are a little bit different this year, as there will be not one but two winners, both of which will see their ideas developed into an XBLA title. In addition, the fan-selected grand prize winner will receive a "$50,000 gaming consultant project for Doritos." We're not really sure what that means, but there's probably a lot of nacho cheese dust involved.

If you think you've got a gameplay idea that can top dinosaurs eating Dorito trucks (UNLIKELY!), head on over to the official Unlock Xbox site and sign up. Entries will be accepted until October 4.

If this looks like a game that should be free, well, it's because it is free. The game, you may recall, is Dash of Destruction, the winner of last year's Xbox Live Arcade Doritos promotion. After a year and change in the hands of developer NinjaBee, tasked with the rather expensive Flash-to-XBLA conversion (it costs your credibility, you know), the "game" is regrettably here. Unfortunately for NinjaBee, thirteen months of stalling was not enough time for the higher power to forget. See what happens when you bet your soul? And lose.

Thankfully, continuing in the proud tradition of Yaris (R.I.P.), Dash of Destruction will be offered to us for exactly 0. This one's on Doritos -- muchas gracias little golden ones!

After months of submitting, waiting, revealing, more waiting, playing and some final waiting the Doritos sponsored Unlock Xbox contest has officially come to an end. And we survived. The winning submission ended up being Mike Borland's dinosaur delivery game called DORITOS Dash of Destruction which will be fully developed and placed onto the Xbox Live Arcade sometime early next year for all to enjoy. You can preview what Dash of Destruction has to offer by trying out the demo over at the Unlock Xbox website. We aren't sure how (for the lack of a better word) cheesy the game will end up being, but it'll be free and will be used to market a product. So really ... how bad could it be? ::cough:: Yaris ::cough::

The finalists were played, the votes were tallied, and only one of the five weaksauce Doritos flash titles would be turned into an actual, factual Xbox Live Arcade title, thanks to Doritos' Unlock Xbox Competition. Announced today was the official winner: Mike Borland will be taking his game concept, Doritos Dash of Destruction, to Ninjabee Studios to be turned into a fully-working XBLA game.

Dash of Destruction has players taking on the role of either a T-Rex or a Doritos truck, in a race around a city to see who can win: the Doritos truck (by making it safely out of the city) or the T-Rex (by eating the Doritos truck). The concept is cute, but the execution on the Unlock Xbox website is practically unplayable.

Like the other four finalists, the Flash-based demo of the game was developed by advergame studio Blockdot. Clearly Blockdot had a lot on its plate while developing these demos, as they all suffer from numerous glitches and other results of rushed coding. It's clear that voting must have been based more on the concepts than the final games. Here's hoping Ninjabee -- whose previous titles include Outpost Kaloki X, Eets, and Band of Bugs -- can turn Doritos Dash of Destruction into something a bit more polished.

The call went out for submissions, finalists were chosen and now here's the chance to actually play the final beta designs in Doritos' Unlock Xbox contest. Here's an opportunity to test the games and chose your favorite. The whole process is pretty much painless and the winning design will become a full fledged game available on XBLA for free next summer. So, play the games and pick the one you wouldn't mind getting for free next year. If you want to learn more about the finalists you can always watch some bio videos produced about them. Sure, in the grand scheme it's advergaming, but at least more heart went into it than Yaris.

The somewhat controversial Doritos sponsored Unlock Xbox contest wrapped some two months ago and now we've been sent word that the voting phase has just begun. If you hop on over to the Unlock Xbox website, you'll be able to play the five finalists' games in their beta state and get your vote on. Though, the five games (Monkeys From Mt. Doritos, Doritos Dash of Destruction, Ultimate Dodgeball Championship, Rythum Racing and PB's Quest for Flavor) can only be demoed online in your internet browser, so for now you'll have to garner an opinion playing them that way. Some of these XBLA games are a bit shameful, some are surprisingly good, but only one can win and only the Xbox 360 community can decide. Cast your vote wisely fanboys, we don't want to have to go through another Yaris experience next year ... eesh.

In many ways adver-games are better than real games, because in playing them you learn something ... about a product. It's like edutainment, but at the end you want to buy stuff. That synergy will be coming to an Xbox Live Arcade near you thanks to Doritos' "Unlock Xbox" contest, which asked gamers to devise an XBLA game that carried the "bold spirit" of the Doritos brand. Judging from this list of finalists, they'll be giving the creepy Burger King a run for his money. Behold:

• Doritos Dinosaur Dash by Mike Borland of Sewickley, PA
• Doritos Presents UDC: Ultimate Dodgeball Champions by Devan Moore of Panama City, FL
• Monkeys from Mt. Dorito by Juanito Lagasco, III of Algonquin, IL
• PB's Quest for Flavor by Jeremy Mattsen of Colorado Springs, CO
• Rythum Racing by Kenneth Parker of Warner Robins, GA

We know you have a lot of questions, like "Are the dinosaurs actually dashing for Doritos?," "Is Monkeys from Mt. Dorito the best name for a game ever?" and "Why is PB questing for flavor when there are so many delicious varieties of Doritos-brand snack chips so widely available?" The answers, in order, are "We certainly hope so," "Absolutely," and "We have no idea." Hope that helps.

[Via Gamasutra]

Major Nelson is back home from his North American mystery tour and so the Doritos team has now officially announced the five winners of the Unlock Xbox contest. The top five XBLA game ideas can be seen over on the official website in all their glory with winning game ideas including psychedelic effects, dinosaurs galore, chip hungry monkeys and some dodge-ball. These five winning entries have already scored their creators some sweet prizes and will now be made into game demos for everyone to try and vote on starting October 29th.

There you have it fanboys, one of these five game ideas will be making it onto the Xbox Live Arcade in the coming months for everyone to download and play. And as a consolation prize for those who submitted an idea that didn't get picked (and are a tad bitter), the Doritos folks are giving away an Xbox 360 bundle every day. See, it's not so bad.

If you entered your XBLA game idea into the Doritos sponsored Unlock Xbox contest be prepared, because winners will be getting a special visit soon. The Xbox community's very own Major Nelson is off on a mysterious trip around the country on a mission to surprise five lucky Unlock Xbox winners by stopping by their homes and telling them the good news. Major can't tell us exactly where he's headed, because that would of course ruin the whole "surprise" element, but be rest assured he's getting the first class travel treatment wherever he goes. And if you end up not getting a visit from Major, head over to the Unlock Xbox website August 20th when the top five better winning game ideas will be announced.

Not only is Doritos sponsoring the Unlock Xbox contest, but they're also rewarding gamers for snacking strong. Through July 22nd, when you head over to Snack Strong Productions and make your way to the Xbox 360 building (stupid flash) you can instantly win an Xbox 360 prize bundle. Heck, you don't even need a code from a Doritos bag to enter as one will be supplied. What's even better is that anyone who registers and plays will be emailed a 48 hour Xbox Live code just for playing. So, go register, get your free code and enter every day for a chance to win some hardware. Everyone's a winner when they Snack Strong ... or something like that.

[Via Xbox.com]

We advise US Xbox Live members to swim on over to the XBLM to download a few newly free themes and gamer pictures. Discovery Channel is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Shark Week by giving away a (somewhat bland) shark theme and a set of shark gamer pictures. And what more can we say, they're sharky? But if you hate sharks or just like Doritos, then you'll be pleased to know that there is also a free Unlock Xbox inspired theme and gamer picture set available too.

And allow us to vent a little here and point out that the Unlock Xbox theme bothers the heck out of us. Why? Because the background colors don't match the freakin' blade colors! It looks like the designers tried to match the colors, but got sort of confused by the time they painted the media blade. Hey theme makers, is it that hard to match a few colors? End rant.

Read - Free Shark Week downloads
Read - Free Unlock Xbox downloads

The guys at Penny Arcade seem a little perplexed as to the Unlock Xbox marketing campaign from Doritos. Apparently, putting together a videogame based on a tortilla chip is pushing the envelope for ridiculous ideas, intense experiences notwithstanding. While the idea of getting your Arcade title's concept published on Xbox Live Marketplace is definitely a cool one, the necessity to incorporate some Doritos branding into the gameplay does seem a little cheesy. Do you mind the product placement suggested for submissions to the contest, or do you think the opportunity is too good to complain about such details?

Doritos and video games don't normally go hand-in-hand, especially when the chips make your hands all greasy and stain the controllers. Nevertheless, Doritos is attempting to change that image with their Unlock Xbox contest, which will give snack-fans the opportunity to turn their video game concepts into actual, factual Xbox Live Arcade titles.

Would-be designers can submit their game ideas online at the contest's official website, along with additional pictures, video, and sound files to really drive the pitch home. All submitted ideas can be voted on by visitors to the site, with the top five designs being developed by XBLA teams, and then placed online for voting to determine the grand prize winner. The top design gets turned into an XBLA title, and will be available for free on the digital download service.

What's the catch? Well, the concepts have to be themed around the Doritos brand. That narrows down the possibilities a bit, but constraint is the mother of innovation. And there ARE a wide range of Doritos products, right?

You dream it. We build it. That's the slogan for the latest Doritos/Xbox contest called Unlock Xbox. The contest starts tomorrow and its overall goal is to get users to submit their video game ideas and create one of the coolest games evar! The catch is that your video game idea has to incorporate the Doritos brand in some way, so Nazi soldiers or dismemberments need not apply. Judges will choose the top five ideas which will be made into betas where people visiting the site will be able to download and critique the offerings. Then, a favorite will emerge and will win the right to be placed on the XBLA. Yes, you read the correctly. The winner will see their video game creation grace the XBLA as well as receive a great Xbox 360 gaming setup.

Start getting your ideas together, whip up something cool, and eat a few bags of Doritos, because there's prizes to be won and fame to be had. Just think, you could be the lead designer of your very own XBLA game ... w00t!