Y'all read this.

[SpaceGhost2K]

First, just to get a "huh?" out of you...



OK, on to business.

I posted some information in the Database forum about some fixes that will be done. The whole site went through an upgrade and in the process, part of the database went wonky. Specifically, it had to do with the part that rotates the plates to their correct orientation, not working with the new display program. Everything in there is just like it was, but I can't add or edit anything. I'm stuck at 1,090 plates when I have plenty to push us over 1,100. Probably 1,150 now that I think about it.

Anyway, along with that update, I mentioned that I have some plates to give away. We're thinking of it as a Christmas giveaway, but it's a little more complicated than that. Two of the faceplates were given to us with the promise that we would take this opportunity to get the word out about the GAMES and not just throw the plates out there. Whatever it is that I end up doing, it will be something like the 2K Scavenger Hunt we did for the Civilization Revolution plates.

On one hand, it would have been nice to just do a random Christmas giveaway. On the other hand, these things are for promoting the games and we want to support that idea. So I'm not sure if I will have a separate mini-contest for each plate, or one contest where you have to do a lot of things to cover all of the plates. We've got a week or so to figure it out.

So what do I have that is awesome?

Two "Supreme Commander" plates, courtesy of our friends at Aspyr. Aspyr has confirmed that there were only 250 of these plates made.
Two "Rise of the Argonauts" plates, courtesy of Codemasters. Codemasters has confirmed that there were 980 of these plates made.
An unknown quantity of yellow "Naruto: Rise of a Ninja" plates. Kamshaft has them and I don't know how many he has to give away.
An unknown quantity of "Call of Duty 4" plates. Kamshaft has these as well.
One "E305 Rings of Light" plate.
Up to five "FIFA 2006 World Cup Germany" plates, part of a lot that I bought.

The top two plates are the ones we for sure need to check out the site and talk a bit about the games. I would suggest registering on their forums, also. (Sorry for the bad grammar. I haven't had my coffee yet.)

Also about the contest... I will be sending out links through the MVP Gamertag connection to try to get other gamersites to spread the word about our contest. Remember, this isn't about finding people to compete with you for the free plates. It's about finding people to join and strengthen the community.

Lastly, back to the plate that I pictured at the top of this post.

Cool, huh?

(Gee, should I leave it at that or talk more about it?)

I'm going to try to help the people who created this plate make some other plates. They are looking for artists to create designs while I am going to see what I can do on the licensing end of it to get permission to make plates that feature known Intellectual Properties.

Think of it as a Cafe Press-style of site where you can upload an image and have a plate made from it, or choose from a selection of plates by other people. My hopes are that in addition to images custom designed by these "other people," we will be able to secure licensed artwork for games, movies, tv shows, bands, and even high schools. Or think of it like this: Kamshaft would make a design for an Xbox Addict faceplate and upload it. Then people could buy one if them wanted one. XBA wouldn't have to buy 500 or 5,000 plates. One guy could buy one plate.

This is totally in the "What can we do, what can't we do?" stage, so don't ask a lot of questions because I don't have the answers yet.

There are twenty five million 360's out there and the biggest trick is going to be, how do we let those people know that we are offering this service?

It also means that if someone like myself, mypainteffects, artistpavel, air effex or other customizers do a plate design that people like, they don't have to try to hand produce plates. They can create the image and we'll make the plate. Obviously, in some cases, people will want the art done by the guy (ie Pavel's $200 creations). In most cases though, people just want the image on a plate and don't really care who does it or how it gets there. The people who can get it onto the plate in the cleanest, least expensive way, are going to be the ones to sell the plate. Hopefully, that will be us.

[gameking28]

Cool stuff. If all goes well this could be pretty awesome!

[Variation-XBA]

That's awesome Spacey, hope you come up with some cool contest ideas

[BananaMan]

Sell me that plate that you posted a picture of and I'll hug you.

I've never been into the whole faceplate thing but that one is sick!

[SpaceGhost2K]

Sell me that plate that you posted a picture of and I'll hug you.

I've never been into the whole faceplate thing but that one is sick!

Hang tight and there will be a way soon where you can get one. I don't think they take hugs, though.

[Floppy Brown]

Pretty neat idea !

But i was just wondering about the "value" of those faceplates.
For now, any custom faceplate which has been made is considered as "rare".
So if i make a .jpg and have it printed on a faceplate, it'd be weird that i would be "rare" even if it has only been issued once.
It's not that important but i was wondering...

[JakofallAces]

sweet spacey you should have a trivia contest or something or maybe even a most insults or yo mama contest or even a sign up and win contest but all have to vote on someone else worthy or receiving prize

[SpaceGhost2K]

Pretty neat idea !

But i was just wondering about the "value" of those faceplates.
For now, any custom faceplate which has been made is considered as "rare".
So if i make a .jpg and have it printed on a faceplate, it'd be weird that i would be "rare" even if it has only been issued once.
It's not that important but i was wondering...

I guess you could think of it like any kind of art. Painter Thomas Kincade sells originals and gets insane amounts of money for them, where prints of the originals are more accessible to most buyers. I would expect that most of the collectors in here would want originals, but the masses would like plates that cost less and were more durable.

[JakofallAces]

I guess you could think of it like any kind of art. Painter Thomas Kincade sells originals and gets insane amounts of money for them, where prints of the originals are more accessible to most buyers. I would expect that most of the collectors in here would want originals, but the masses would like plates that cost less and were more durable.

its like supply and demand, why make 5 and sell them each for 100 dollars when you could make one and copy it 500 times and sell each for 10 dollars