Taco Bell Playstation 4 Giveaway Contest Review October 3, 2013

Okay. They’re doing it again. Taco Bell and Sony have once again partnered up to tie a huge early console giveaway to their Five Buck Box.

Anyone who picks up a Taco Bell Five Buck Box (and there are two currently available at my local Taco Bell) during the span of this promotional period has the chance to win a Playstation 4 early. In order to enter the contest, you just have to text the secret code printed on the side of your Five Buck Box to Taco Bell from your cellphone and send a follow up text to accept the contest’s terms of service. You’ll get a text back almost immediately with the notification if you won or not.

Now, I mentioned before that Sony and Taco Bell have done something like this before.  In fact, they did almost the exact same kind of promotion just before the Playstation Vita was released.  That promotion ended with a huge black eye for Taco Bell, as many legitimate winners complained about being falsely denied their prizes due to an insecure prize website.  Taco Bell’s Vita site was slow and made it very difficult for winners to redeem their prize.

In case you were wondering if Taco Bell ironed out the glitches from the last time around read on.  The fact that Taco Bell chose not to have redemption through a website was probably a smart move.  The downside is of course that you will need to have a cell phone with a text message plan and be willing to pay applicable texting rates to redeem your code.  I have to say that the text message system was working perfectly fine when I entered the contest.  It was extremely convenient to enter the contest, much more convenient than if I was entering online.

Once again, I’m glad that this promotion exists because it is honestly encouraging to see video gaming front and center in a mainstream business like Taco Bell.  The chance to get an early Playstation 4, one of the three major consoles in this future generation, is nothing to slouch at.  In case you’re wondering, I didn’t win but you can’t base the merits of a contest based on the fact that you won.  Let’s face it, the odds don’t look good that you will win.  Taco Bell promises they are awarding a winner every fifteen minutes.  If you’re feeling lucky, pick up a Five Buck Box and enter.

Apple TV Review July 22, 2013

Clarification:  After checking the model numbers of my device I would just like to clarify to anyone reading this review that this is a review of the Third Generation Apple TV (Second Revision).

Before I start this review I would like to ask you, the consumer, a few questions.  Do you have a 720p or 1080p HDMI equipped HDTV?  Do you have an iTunes account or plan to create one to purchase or redeem prepaid codes for music, TV shows or movies?  Do you already own a current generation Apple device like an Apple iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or a recent Mac-equipped computer like the iMac, MacBook, or Mac Pro?  Well, if you do, keep reading.

Now that we have the baseline requirements out of the way, lets talk about extras.  Extra points will be awarded if you already have a digital surround system.  Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter if it uses HDMI or optical for digital audio.  Finally, you should have a wireless home network.  WiFi is not a requirement of the Apple TV as it will work with a wired home network, but if you have an iDevice, you’ll need a wireless network to get it to stream to the Apple TV.

The Apple TV is a set-top streaming box which offers full digital streams of purchased or redeemed iTunes content, as well as access to other typical streaming video providers like HBO GO, WatchESPN, YouTube, or Amazon Instant Video.  I understand that many of these optional programs are already offered in other stream capable devices, game consoles, and Smart TVs, but the Apple TV offers you one hell of a fantastic capability that no other device I’ve seen on the market will offer, and that is the ability to wirelessly stream video and audio content from a compatible iDevice to your HDTV and Home Theater System.

Before we start talking about installation, there are a few limitations that prospective users need to be aware of.  The current generation Apple TV is only equipped with HDMI video output.  Video can output from the Apple TV in either 720p HD or 1080p HD, depending on your HDTV model.  Yes, I said HDTV model, not TV model.  That means if you are still using Standard Definition TV or HDTV without HDMI input, the Apple TV is not something you’ll be able to use.  I know this will probably detract many who do not own HDMI-equipped HDTVs, but I believe that all new TVs on the market must come HDMI equipped now, so any future new HDTV you purchase should be Apple TV ready out of the box.

When you first open the package up you’ll notice that the Apple TV is small, VERY small.  That’s because it is simply designed to stream content.  I would equate it more to an OnLive set top box or something similar.  When all you need to do is stream, there’s no need for a lot of hardware.  Because it is so small, it should fit on your TV stand without much issue, even if it is crowded with other devices.  Packaging is very similar in style to an iPhone or iPad’s.  Just unwrap the package, pull the top off like the top to a shoebox, and your device will be perfectly wrapped right on top.  The Apple TV only comes with a power cable along with the device, so you’ll need to have some HDMI cable already available before installing it.

Hooking up an Apple TV is quite easy,  In fact, you can watch my short How-To video and see for yourself how easy it is to install, even if you have a High-Definition Home Theater system.  Just plug a HDMI cable into the back of the Apple TV and then to the back of your HDTV.  If you have an older digital Home Theater system, the Apple TV has a single optical audio connection which can do 5.1 Dolby Digital, or you have a newer HDMI-equipped Home Theater, plug the Apple TV directly into it with a HDMI cable, and keep the Home Theater connected to your HDTV.

Once it’s connected, push any button on the Apple TV remote to start it up.  The initial setup is quite easy.  Just give the Apple TV your WiFi information if you intend to use its Wireless connection, but if you prefer, you can simply plug a network cable into the back of it.  Regardless of what connection option you choose, you’re going to want to have the device connected in some way to a network equipped with High-Speed Internet.  This will allow you to make full use of the device’s apps, perform system updates, and give you access to all your purchased and redeemed iTunes content.

I cannot in good conscience write this review without covering what I believe is the best feature of the Apple TV, AirPlay.  I cannot stress how incredible it is to be able to stream audio and video content from my iPhone to my Home Theater wirelessly with the push of a button.  I was one of the first people to buy the iPhone HDMI adapter so I could at least have some kind of wired capability to plug my iPhone into my HDTV and surround system.  Now I can stream whatever I want instantaneously without having to.  I can tell you this, audio quality is just as good as it was when it was wired.  Most of your content, in particular your music, will output as 2-channel PCM stereo, but the Apple TV will output 5.1 Dolby Digital audio if your content and setup supports it.  As for video, an iPhone 4 had a limit of 720p HD for any streamed video content through a wired HDMI connection, now I can stream online videos from my iPhone 4 in 1080p HD.  On top of that, AirPlay is compatible with a lot more third party apps than the HDMI adapter was, like Google’s official YouTube app, allowing me to stream video content from apps and programs that I previously couldn’t.  This was a tremendous improvement over the wired solution.

If you have the latest iPhone or iPad, you can also make use of an awesome feature called AirPlay Mirroring.  With mirroring enabled, you can wirelessly transmit EVERYTHING that is currently visible and audible on your device to your HDTV with the push of a few buttons.  With a double-tap of the home button, a swipe over to the volume control, and the tap of a new button which will magically appear whenever the iDevice is on the same network as the Apple TV, you can instantly mirror your device.  This is a fantastic option for someone interested in doing a presentation to a large crowd of people, like students.  Imagine being a teacher who needs to show their students the lesson plan they created with their iPad.  With the tap of a button, it will stream your content to any screen the Apple TV is connected to.  Having an iPhone 4, I can’t make use of this feature yet, but now I’m really looking forward to upgrading my phone so I can do even more.

The user has the ability to name their Apple TV whatever they want during setup, so don’t worry about having multiple Apple TVs running on the same network.  Your iDevice will give you a list of any Apple TVs it can connect to, and you will be able to select the one you want from that drop down menu.  By default the Apple TV will stream all content it is told to, but AirPlay features can be password protected at the user’s request so for example your sister can be locked out of streaming embarrassing content to your HDTV while you are watching HBO GO or WatchESPN content with your friends.

Even if you don’t have an iDevice, you still will be able to use AirPlay from any computer with iTunes installed, so you can still stream your music and videos that are on your laptop or desktop, so long as they’re iTunes compatible.  This is not usually a problem I’ve seen with audio files, but I have certainly seen it as an issue with video, as there are a lot of video file formats that iTunes does not support.

I know there are some people who prefer to use sound docks or perhaps a Bluetooth-equipped portable speaker system to get better sound quality from their portable device.  In my opinion, nothing compares sound-wise to a properly wired Home Theater system.  Because of that, I try to integrate any kind of audio solution for portable devices into my own Home Theater, opposed to having docks throughout my house.  That’s why I used the Apple HDMI adapter, so I could connect my iPhone to my Home Theater.  The other problem I’ve noticed with docks is that while they were fine when Apple was using their own proprietary charging port on the wide majority of their iDevices, they are no longer using it with their latest iPhones and iPads, rendering these legacy docks unusable for anyone who upgrades.  I know that Apple has released an adapter for people still using third-party charging devices, but I have noticed a kind of hit or miss with them.  While I have seen them work for charge, only half of the adapters a family member of mine uses actually are capable of transmitting sound or video through the adapter.  On top of that, what happens if Apple decides to change their charge port again?  Are they going to release another adapter for their adapter?  By using WiFi to stream your content instead of a wired adapter, it saves me from having to buy new adapters when I upgrade my iPhone to a newer model, and kind of future-proofs the Apple TV.

When you’re done, just switch inputs to something else.  There’s no reason to turn it off.  The device is designed to run continuously, and only put itself into sleep when it is not in use, so don’t worry about leaving it on accidently.  You can manually put the Apple TV into a sleep mode from the options menu, but its not needed.  Its a good idea to keep the unit running in case you plan to stream anything from your iDevice.

Just like with other online-connected devices, you’re going to need to perform device updates every once in a while.  However, I have not seen them released on a frequent basis.  I updated it once when I installed it, and since then I haven’t had to update it once.  In fact, the device worked fine on its launch firmware, and only was updated because I chose to update it.  Granted, I never tried to use any of the streaming apps before I updated it, so I may have gotten a prompt to update before using them had I not updated it as soon as I turned it on.

The Apple TV also has a pretty nifty failsafe in case its software breaks for any reason.  There is a USB port in the back of the device that is designed for system restoration in case the device stops working.  Simply connect the Apple TV to any computer with iTunes installed and perform a restore.  It should work exactly as it does with iDevices, and let me tell you something, that restoration and backup feature on iTunes has saved my iDevice on more than one occasion, and I’m really happy its a feature the Apple TV takes advantage of.

Its got a hefty set of initial requirements, but for most people interested in buying an Apple TV, I believe these are pretty reasonable requirements.  In fact, I meet all those requirements and I freaking love this thing.  I don’t purchase movies through iTunes, but I have redeemed several through Digital Copy codes included with Blu-Ray Disc movies that I purchased over the years, and it was a nice bonus that I could wirelessly stream movies that I had redeemed through the Apple TV without having to go to my shelf and pop the disc into my PS3.  To me, AirPlay alone makes the Apple TV worth the $99 US price tag, and I can’t imagine having to go back to plugging my iPhone back into my stereo whenever I want to listen to a single song on it!  It also stops me from having to buy new adapters every time I update my iDevice!

In short, if you meet the requirements above, get an Apple TV, you’ll be glad you did.

Wireless Hotspot Portable Device Comparison July 7, 2013

Let’s face it, we live in an age where everyone carries a digital device with them, be it a smartphone, laptop or portable gaming console and gamers are probably the most likely to carry these devices.  Not every digital device is equipped with a cellular modem which can offer wireless internet access based on their reception, so a lot of people rely on wireless hotspots provided by businesses to get their personal devices online while they shop, eat or work.  The most common wireless hotspot I’ve seen in businesses must be the AT&T hotspot.  These are WiFi-equipped hotspots which are provided by AT&T and you can usually find them in a wide array of popular businesses ranging from your local neighborhood McDonald’s to Starbucks, Barnes & Noble Bookstores or AT&T stores.

AT&T hotspots offer free connections to AT&T wireless customers for WiFi equipped cell phones or other portable devices.  If you’re an AT&T customer, access is easy.  If you have a cell phone on the AT&T wireless service, your cell phone will automatically connect to the AT&T WiFi hotspot if your device’s WiFi antenna is turned on.  No login page comes up and there’s no password to input, your phone is seamlessly connected as soon as WiFi is enabled.  For anyone who happens to use an AT&T iPhone, the process of getting online could not be simpler, and if you happen to be at a Starbucks, you can unlock some exclusive content and music through the official Starbucks app while your device is connected to the hotspot.

Because I own a Nintendo 3DS I like to keep tabs on the local businesses in my area that offer an AT&T mobile hotspot.  A cool bonus of the AT&T hotspot is that it does offer exclusive features to anyone connected to the hotspot with a 3DS in the form of access to the Nintendo Zone.  Nintendo Zone is a special feature in the 3DS (and possibly DSi) operating system which can be accessed through specially marked Nintendo Zone hotspots.  When your 3DS is connected to the Nintendo Zone, you can access special features you normally wouldn’t have access to like exclusive quizzes, Nintendo videos, or exclusive Pokémon content.  I have no idea if all the AT&T hotspots offer Nintendo Zone access right not, but it looks like that may be the case.  I don’t know if this is through some kind of deal Nintendo has made with AT&T or the retailers.  In fact, I remember all the rest stops on my road trip through Massachusetts were all set up for wireless and they all offered my 3DS Nintendo Zone access.

Last night, Twitch and I were hanging out at Barnes & Noble and checking out the stock of books.  Before I rang up my book purchase, I told Twitch to wait for me in the Café.  After I rang up my purchase I met back up with Twitch in the Café as he tried to connect his PS Vita to the hotspot to surf the web.  Twitch was having problems.  While he was able to manually connect his WiFi-only Vita to the hotspot, he was unable to get it online or access the Playstation Network with it.  I offered him a few troubleshooting tips to help him connect (like to open a webpage in the device’s browser and see if it brings up some kind of login prompt), but he said that didn’t work.  Apparently, the hotspot just wasn’t able to allow his Vita online, or Twitch was unable to figure out how to get it online.  Because I didn’t operate the Vita myself or see what Twitch was doing, I can’t be sure of who was at fault, Twitch, the hotspot or the Vita, but I know that Twitch is quite technically capable and if he wasn’t able to figure out how to get his device online through the hotspot it must have been because the hotspot wouldn’t allow it.  I would be interested to see if someone who has a Vita armed with a 3G data plan from AT&T would have the same problem.

Traditionally, I don’t allow my iPhone to access wireless networks I don’t operate or aren’t operated by people I trust, so I decided to try a different approach.  I happened to bring my Nintendo 3DS with me as well, so I decided to check the hotspot for myself.  I pulled out my 3DS and opened it up to see a full internet connection to the Cafe’s hotspot, as well as the notification that I had access to Nintendo Zone.  After browsing the videos, Twitch and I took a quiz together and I was satisfied the hotspot worked.  I have no idea why Twitch wasn’t able to access it with his Vita.

Your mileage on a hotspot may vary.  Just remember a hotspot’s bandwidth is shared among all the connected customers.  The more users doing tasks on it the more other user’s internet speeds will be impacted.  On Friday night, I had noticed a bit slower performance on Nintendo Zone than I had previously experienced at a different venue, but at no time did the network drop out my connection completely.  I have noticed in some heavy-traffic areas that can happen.  I don’t know what is next for Nintendo’s plans for the Nintendo Zone or how much longer AT&T will offer access through their hotspots, but I can imagine if Nintendo ever decided to make a Pokémon MMO for the 3DS, having this hotspot infrastructure already in place would be a great benefit to users who would want to play the MMO on the go.

Playstation Home, Three Years Later June 17, 2013

When I was notified by the Playstation 3’s News Bar that they were offering some unique content for BEYOND: Two Souls in Playstation Home, I decided that now was the time to brush off the cobwebs from that particular section of my Playstation 3’s Hard Drive and log back into Playstation Home for the first time in over three years.

Playstation Home has a very interesting history. First announced shortly around the time of the PS3’s launch, Playstation Home is a free Massively Multiplayer world akin to Second Life. You can access Home and explore all of the event spaces being offered, visit movie theaters to watch exclusive content with others, purchase clothes or items for your avatar, and create and decorate your own personal space. To join in, all you need is a Playstation 3 and Playstation Network account. I was actually one of the original beta testers for the service, so I know just how much the service has changed since its early days, and I was curious to see just how the service looked all these years later, and if all my content was still there.

Upon launching Home, I noticed immediately I had to patch it. I was concerned that years later I was looking for a patch with a download size in the gigs but actually I don’t think I had to download more than 50MB in new content off the bat. Once I was patched the program booted up for the first time. It notified me that since I was using an older version of the program at launch, it had to take all the saved content from my Playstation 3’s HD and move them to the cloud so it could keep a more accurate record of my unlocked content across multiple consoles. Since I have PS3s in multiple rooms (because lets face it, it’s still the best Blu-Ray Player currently on the market) I immediately quit the program in fear that the Playstation Home content it was going to save to the cloud was not actually the content I had accumulated three years ago, and I went to my original PS3 and began the patching process on that one instead.

The first issue struck me immediately, and that was that I needed to create a new Home avatar. I had taken great pains to create a virtual duplicate of myself way back in the day, and I was worried that if my Home avatar was no longer on file that most of the rest of my purchased content or unlockable items was gone as well.

Once I had created my new avatar it immediately loaded Sony’s Virtual E3 2013 booth, which coincided with their special Home promotion for E3. While I hadn’t been an attendee at E3 this year, it had reminded me a lot of their booth back in 2011, and looked like it could have been a pretty decent virtual replica. You could check out different booths on you own, view screenshots from each of the featured games, take your picture with the statues, or complete quests for exclusive items and downloads. Let me tell you, you could not have picked a more perfect place to start a fresh player on their first visit to Home, or a long-time player who was visiting again after many years.

After exploring the booth for a few minutes, I noticed a quest board near the big screen was calling to me. When I accessed the board it had a long list of quests for me to do while at the event, with each one involving a different featured booth in the space. Each quest, if completed, promised to give me access to unique Home items like clothing for my avatar, as well as download codes in the Playstation Store for things like exclusive dynamic PS3 themes. To help me on my quest, I unlocked a special interactive Playstation Vita for my avatar, which I could screw around with all I wanted while in the E3 space. In the early beta test for Playstation Home, you had access to a fully interactive Playstation Portable. It was the perfect tool in Home, as you could customize it to your liking, and use it to decorate your virtual space, kind of like how I remembered the main character doing in one of my favorite books I read when I was a kid. Well, the PSP function may be gone now, but seeing an interactive Vita reminded me of those good times.

Within no time I completed the first quest and unlocked the first new content for my avatar in years. I decided to open up my trophy case and take a closer look at what I had unlocked and was shocked to discover that while my avatar hadn’t been carried over from the previous version of Home, all of my avatar’s unlocked and purchased content had indeed survived. I dug a little deeper to see if my Home spaces were still intact, and they were, which was fantastic. I changed the default shirt for my avatar to something from my old collection, put some behind the head headphones on him because that was the style for headphones back in the day, and continued with my E3 quest.

Completing all the quests at this year’s virtual E3 space was no quick task. I must’ve devoted at least three hours in one night to making sure I visited each and every booth, watched all the provided videos, and unlocked all the quests. I have to say, I haven’t had this much fun exploring and unlocking new content in a game in quite a while. Late into the night, I had completed all of the individual quests at the E3 booth, and decided to complete the final quest the following day.

After I rested, I decided to go back into Home and after finishing the final quest, see just how much the service had changed. I immediately noticed that none of my original Home downloads were still in the PS3s HD, or if they were, they were no longer compatible. That meant any new area that I explored had to be redownloaded. While this may have been because some of the content had been changed so radically, my home spaces hadn’t changed at all, which left me puzzled as to why I had to redownload the content. With the final quest item unlocked in the virtual E3 booth, I set out on a journey to visit as many of the different virtual spaces the system offered to unlock more new content for my avatar, and to have a great time doing it.

The updated interface made exploring Home a breeze. Push the Start button on your controller, and it pulls up a menu where you can access pretty much anything Home offered. I noticed immediately that some of the spaces I loved from back in the day were no longer in place, like the inFAMOUS space, and others had been changed completely like the Uncharted space. Say what you will but I missed Sully’s Bar. However, there were a ton of new spaces I had never seen before that I could access now. In fact, far more spaces were up than I could ever have imagined seeing. I have to admit that there were so many I just couldn’t visit them all. That was hardly something I could say back during the initial beta release.

Some great spaces that come to mind include the Konami Lounge, which looked a lot like an upscale penthouse. You could explore the space for Konami points, although I have no idea what I could do with them. There were signs up all over the place for some of Konami’s games from a few years ago, which kind of made me think that Konami hadn’t updated the space’s appearance in quite a while. However, there were still a lot of virtual people hanging out in it, especially on the interactive DDR dance floor.

Another great space I remembered was the Cantina Bar, which sadly didn’t offer anything so far as unlockable content, but was a pretty decent replica of the Cantina in the original Star Wars, complete with droid scanner and the classic tunes. The video screen didn’t work anymore, and I think the fact that Lucasarts has been shut down might have something to do with that.

Finally, the last space I want to talk about was the x7 club, which is Sony’s virtual all-exclusive environment. Since I was an early beta tester I assumed I may have been able to get in, but sadly, access to the club is restricted to Playstation Plus members or users who have downloaded specific virtual items including a diamond/gold suit or a penthouse home space. After the Playstation hack from a few years ago, I will never put my credit card back into the Sony Network, so I wasn’t going to buy anything I needed to get myself in, but it sure looked fun if you were willing to spend the money. x7 promises that people who get in can unlock special free content and have access to stuff that other users can’t, which reminded me of Sony’s Gamer Advisory Panel back in the day.

I’ve also checked out a wide range of other spaces including the new Hub, Theater, Bowling Alley, and other content-specific spaces. Home is host to tons of virtual games, video, and unlockables. Its more content than I ever could have imagined. After exploring Home on my original PS3, I decided to see if my content had finally been moved across to my other PS3, and sure enough it had. Sony had the right mind to move Home data to the cloud, but it was a move I wish they had made day one. While my original avatar appearance was lost, my new avatar has inherited all of the content I achieved from back in the day making him somewhat akin to a little brother.

Can’t wait to see what new things Sony has in store for Playstation Home. I just know I’ll be visiting their virtual E3 booth next year!

Mountain Dew Halo 4 Double XP Promotion Review February 6, 2013

It’s no secret that one of the biggest promoters for many of the Halo games over the years has been Mountain Dew. It’s a green lime flavored soda which is actually caffeinated in a world where most lemon-lime sodas come without caffeine. Next to Bawls, I would probably consider it one of the most ubiquitous gamers drinks available, heck it’s even mentioned in the lyrics of Jonathan Coulton’s hit song “Code Monkey”. So Mountain Dew and games have quite a special relationship going on, and that relationship was strengthened with the release of Halo 4 and Mountain Dew’s newest promotion for it, the Double XP Giveaway.

For the release of Halo 4, Microsoft and Mountain Dew ran a very special cross promotion. Halo 4 players who purchased specially marked Mountain Dew products could find a code inside of the package which can be redeemed online and grant the soda drinker a predetermined amount of multiplayer matches where they could double the amount of xp they would normally earn when playing mutliplayer in Halo 4. The great thing was that there was a pretty wide selection of different versions of the soda that would have codes on it. You weren’t limited to just buying a 20oz bottle from 7-11, they had codes in 2 litre bottles and 12 pack cases as well. Branded sodas with double xp codes in them were very easy to find, they would have the Master Chief’s picture clearly displayed on them.

Code redemption was pretty easy for the most part. You could find a code under a bottle cap for a plastic bottle or printed on the inside of the case for a 12-pack. So long as your parents didn’t throw the packages out before you redeemed the code, they could be redeemed really quickly. You could then redeem the code on their Official Website, dewxp.com from a smartphone or personal computer. You would just need to log in through Facebook or create a Mountain Dew account before redeeming the codes. It was great to have a mobile specific site set up, because some times people will just pick up a 20oz soda on the go and prefer to throw out the empty bottle and cap before they get home to redeem the code. By having a mobile site, you could redeem the code as you’re drinking the soda from anywhere and toss it out when you’re done. The codes were pretty easy to read off the packages as well, which made redeeming them pretty simple.

However, it wasn’t enough to just redeem your codes online and play, there was an extra step to it. For that, you would need to be accessing the site from a personal computer or laptop. Once you visited the site from a normal computer, you would need to log into your Dew XP account, and link your Xbox Live Account to the site. Since the days of Halo 2, Xbox Live accounts are linked with Microsoft’s Live system, which uses the same email address and password you can use other Microsoft programs with like Messenger or Games for Windows. Once you were logged into Live through the Dew XP site, you could then redeem as many of the Double XP matches you had banked to Xbox Live. Since the accounts were not permanently locked, you could redeem double xp matches on multiple Xbox Live accounts, so long as you knew the username and password to the Live account it was tied to. Once the matches were applied to Xbox Live, you could pick up and play Halo 4 and automatically your multiplayer matches would start awarding you double xp.

There were prize giveaways with the promotion as well, with each code redemption you would earn a few double xp matches banked to your Dew account, as well as a token to redeem for a chance to win a prize. It worked like a raffle, and the more codes you redeemed the more tickets you could put in and the better chances you could get in winning what you wanted. Some of the giveaways were for stuff the players could already have, like a copy of Halo 4, but since players could enter into drawings for only the specific prizes that they wanted, they wouldn’t have to worry about winning something they weren’t interested in.

As you can tell from this description, I had a few issues with this promotion. The first off was that double xp matches were limited only to War Games matches. That meant that they would not count for players who were only interested in playing Spartan Ops, which also earns xp for a player’s multiplayer avatar in Halo 4. I think this has something to do with War Games offering a more varied amount of xp per match based upon a player’s merits, and they might have been concerned that people would use the matches on Spartan Ops, play on Legendary, and break the game’s balance by earning way more xp than they would have otherwise. Still, for someone who prefers to play Spartan Ops over War Games, this was a little disappointing.

And please don’t get me started on Dew’s Official Double XP Site.

First off, I’m going to talk about the interface. It wasn’t very well designed and it lacked a lot of options that other sites will provide their users. For example, all double xp redeemers need to register an account with e-mail address. If you had participated in a Mountain Dew or Pepsi promotion in the past few years, in all likelihood you already had an account active that you just didn’t know about. If you can’t remember your password, you will just need to reset it. If you don’t like your password and want to change it, you can’t change it manually through the site, it still needed to be reset first. I didn’t like that for a few reasons. Most sites do offer users the ability to update their passwords or change them for security purposes. The user can be verified either by inputting their old password first or input a personal bit of information, like date of birth. Instead, there is no option for password change in any of the menus. There is just a link to click if you “forgot your password”, which if you click it, automatically invalidates your current password and fires you off an email with a new randomly generated one, which you can then change at your leisure. While it gets the job done (so long as your ISP didn’t confuse the password reset email for spam), it could have been done better. You also needed to take it upon yourself to make sure that all the personal information Dew had was still up to date, like mailing information, in case you won a prize.

The worst part was the site was broken quite a lot. I remember visiting it many times over the last fifteen days of the promotion. The reason why I would be visiting it that much was because I couldn’t link my Xbox Live Account to the site for some reason, and every day I had to keep trying and trying to link my already banked double xp. There is no excuse for having a promotion that fails at doing exactly what it is designed for. I understand that I was having issues over the last few weeks of the promotion, but the site should be fully operational the entire duration of the promotion. I can understand a site having an occassional hiccup, but there is no excuse if I am returning to a site daily for two weeks, and being denied access to essential features every day due to bad web design. Two days before the promotion wrapped up, the site became so unstable it would not allow me to redeem a code I had which was good for six matches. In fact, I was not able to redeem that code until the final day of the promotion.

What was especially disheartening about these issues was that there was a time limit on the promotion. Codes could not be redeemed on the site after January 31st, 2013, and if the codes weren’t banked and the matches weren’t used by that time, they would be phased out. It’s really tough to meet those deadlines if the site is broken and will not allow a user to redeem their codes leading up to the end of the promotion! On the final day was I finally able to redeem the last of my double xp codes and properly link all of my outstanding matches to my Xbox Live account. On that day I had eighteen matches I believed I needed to play in less than twelve hours or I would lose all the double xp matches I had earned over weeks of drinking Mountain Dew. I was able to do it, but it took a lot of Mountain Dew. In case you’re wondering, I won fifteen out of those eighteen matches. I’m pretty proud of that.

Now that the 31st of January has passed the promotion is over, and Mountain Dew has adjusted their previous policy. I have no idea if this has something to do with the issues that I was having on the final few weeks of the promotion, but I believe it does. While players are still no longer able to redeem double xp codes online, any matches that have already been banked on your Mountain Dew account can be applied to your Xbox Live account between now and March 31st, 2013. They also said that any outstanding double xp matches players have already banked on their Live accounts will still earn double xp until that day. So, they gave players a bit of an extension and the possibility for more double xp matches.

My issues with the promotion aside, I’m happy that Mountain Dew threw this promotion. It’s always nice when video games get some kind of cross promotional event with common products that gamers would like. I’ve always maintained that these kinds of promotions add a bit of legitimacy to gaming, as they can expose non gamers (like people who just like drinking Mountain Dew) to games. I mean, the same thing happens with movies all the time, and its nice that this is happening with gaming.

Just make a different site next time, Mountain Dew.