Ready for GERSTMAS 2013? Want to contribute to the giveaway?

==Gerstmas 2013 is now open for entries. Please see this new thread from this point forward!==

If you're not familiar with Gerstmas, refer to last year's thread:

Gerstmas 2013 is only six or seven weeks away (first half of January), so I wanted to start preparations and make a couple requests:

[1] Gerstmas 2012 was very successful. We were able to give away 100 games to GiantBomb members. As I mentioned, I want to top that this year. And as some of you mentioned, you wanted to contribute to it. As of today, I already have over 100 games to give away that I have bought throughout the year, but I think we can double that if some of you still want to provide some keys and codes.

Since the holiday sales at Steam, GOG, and elsewhere begin today, I wanted to use this as a reminder to all of you to keep an eye out for those sales and consider getting some extra copies of neat games when they're really low-priced.

If you have the actual codes, you can just email them to me. If you buy them on Steam, you can either get the codes yourself, send them to me by the "send via email..." option of Steam, so I can then select "Add gift to inventory" instead of accepting it, when you send it to me. If you PM me, I will provide you my email address upon request. Also, if you are a developer or otherwise have bulk codes to give away, please let me know and we can figure it out!

I will include your name as a contributor to the give-away, unless you specifically request to remain anonymous.

Also, as you will see from last year, the process is quite transparent. I list exactly what is being given away, who wins, and what they win. I even have a google doc's spreadsheet with a ton of details on it. The only reason I don't make that public is that it includes Steam IDs which people might not want given out.

[2] As you can see from the 2012 Gerstmas thread, it's a little sparse and bland. I'd like to dress it up a bit. If you're the artistic type, I would love it if you would contribute any of the following for use in the giveaway and promotion of it.

• A cool banner promoting Gerstmas. This would go at the top of the thread and others could use it to link back to Gerstmas from wherever they want.
• A couple cool avatar images that people could use on GiantBomb. One for winners of a Gerstmas game and one for people who helped provide games for the giveaway. A third one for anyone who simply just entered their name to the Gerstmas drawing would be nifty, too. Remember, this whole thing is about having fun and "sharing the wealth", so why not spread a little whimsy and shit?
• You can also be totally creative in any other way that you like -- maybe make a video, a commercial, a jingle. Whatever you want!

Just make whatever you like, post it into this thread, and we'll start tying it all together in the next month, leading up to the final couple of pre-Gerstmas weeks!

[3] If you are a GiantBomb staff member and would like to contribute in any way (mention it on the podcast, on twitter, pin this thread somewhere, contact me about anything -- whatever it is) please feel free to PM me or drop a note in here. We can use all the participation we can get and it'd be great to see this expand to surprise even more duders with unexpected gifts this year!

DATES: Just an update to say that entries will probably open for the drawing shortly after January 5th (after all the sales have officially ended). You can keep contributing games until that point. Once entries are open, we'll keep them open for 7-10 days and then officially begin drawing names. This is about the same time-frame that I did everything last year, so that'll probably be what we stick with going forward.

I got a copy of Civilization 5 and Torchlight on Steam that I can give if you want. Just PM me the info for whomever wins it.

@crusader8463 said:

I got a copy of Civilization 5 and Torchlight on Steam that I can give if you want. Just PM me the info for whomever wins it.

Cool. That'll work, too. If anyway can guarantee that they'll keep the copies of the games they want to give, I can just "connect the people" when the drawing happens. I'll just have to trust that they won't take forever to make the "hand-off", because with so many games, we tended to do only a few at a time . . . then way for confirmations that people received and redeemed their games. Then pull a few more names and do it again.

I wish it was as easy to get actual KEYs after purchasing on Steam as it is on GOG, where it just gives them to you. Gaah.

Seeing as how I still play the game I got from last year's Gerstmas, hell yeah I'll contribute. A happy Gerstmas, Shoemukkah, Kwanzavella, and Festdavis (the holiday for the restdavis) to all!

I've got Frozen Synapse, Nuclear Dawn, and 3 Dota 2 keys in my inventory.

@ShaggE said:

Seeing as how I still play the game I got from last year's Gerstmas, hell yeah I'll contribute. A happy Gerstmas, Shoemukkah, Kwanzavella, and Festdavis (the holiday for the restdavis) to all!

Ah, you got Dungeons of Dredmore! Glad you're enjoying it. Drop me a PM when you get a chance with whatever your sales-hauls are that you want to kick in. I haven't even started with the holidays. Everything we have so far is literally from between the end of last Gerstmas and today. :D

Also, ++ for the DOCTORSTEEL icon!

@Branthog: Yepyep, great game. And yay for Doctor Steel recognition! :D

I've got a gift for Airmech 2 and The ship... want any of those?

@Soap said:

I've got a gift for Airmech 2 and The ship... want any of those?

Yep, anything anyone has is great. This is more about sharing a little luck and sales goodies with everyone else; not so much about having to give out $60 games. :)

Also, The Ship is pretty good. :)

Oh hey, Autumn Steam Sale. Guess what? I'll contribute! Let me just figure out what to get.

Alright, I have The Walking Dead, Terraria and Hotline Miami, all of which I will contribute to the Gertsmas.

EDIT: I also have two Dota 2 keys, if those are still useful at all.

I have a DOTA 2 Key that I have no intention of using.

I've got an Airmech gift, and two 75% off codes for Nexuiz Duel Mode, all on Steam.

Is this like a canned food drive for games?

When Bastion and Solar 2 go on sale...

you will probably get some copies of those.

Just posting so I remember to send a few codes once I get home.

EDIT: There we go, sent you codes for DE3 with DLC, Just Cause 2 and Hitman 4.

Can we donate Xbox codes?

I have a copy of Civilization 5 that I totally wanna give to a duder! May have something else to give in a day or two, too, idk!

I have copies of Portal, Terraria, The Ship (2-pack) and Frozen Synapse that I would like to give away. They've been sitting in my inventory for too long! I have a copy of Wanderlust: Rebirth too, although I wouldn't really recommend anyone to play it. I may have a couple Torchlights to give away too. I'll make sure first then I'll PM you.

I've got two plump Dota 2s over here to bestow unto ye.

I have a copy of the original Torchlight I can gift via Steam.

@Branthog:

I have a bunch of DOTA 2 keys.

@Branthog: I don't have any games to give away right now, but I have an Amazon code for $10 off the PS3 or 360 version of Assassin's Creed III. Is that something you'd be interested in?

Can we please get a pic of Jeff in a Santa suit? That's really all I want for Gerstmas

@Branthog:

I could spare a "Unique Gift URL" for the THQ HumbleBundle if there is any interest? (Word of warning: I don't know if it will be a German key for Saint's Row 3 or not...)

I got a copy of Sanctum and Mount & Blade Collection that I'd give out!

@YOU_DIED said:

Can we please get a pic of Jeff in a Santa suit? That's really all I want for Gerstmas

"All I Want for Gerstmas" sounds like a song someone should make happen.

@Branthog: I can provide the Metro 2033 Steam key I have.

@Branthog: I got spare Steam keys from Humble Bundle 7 for Binding of Isaac + DLC and Dungeon Defender + DLC.

I can probably drop codes for Metro 2033 and The Binding of Isaac with DLC.

@ShaggE said:

Seeing as how I still play the game I got from last year's Gerstmas, hell yeah I'll contribute. A happy Gerstmas, Shoemukkah, Kwanzavella, and Festdavis (the holiday for the restdavis) to all!

Oh that last pun is so good....so good.

I just bought purchased Walking Dead (good thing it was a flash deal community choice). PM me whoever wins the game and I'll add as friend on Steam to gift.

EDIT: Fixing words.

Warhammer 40k code ready to be given to someone who needs it.  
 
The one from the THQ bundle. 

I have a copy of Dirt 2 that you can have on Steam, it may be older but if Ryan every so often keeps talking about it you can bet its pretty decent (and it is).

@Branthog

I had some money last week, If I knew earlier I would love to gave something. Probably after Christmas I have some gift to give! Also can I be in the giveaway.

I've got a Titan Quest and Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War Steam keys to give away.

Sorry for the late updates to this. I've been very busy and have just finished catching up on the inventory spreadsheet. I'll be opening Gerstmas 2013 up for entries in the next couple weeks, so if you have stuff to kick in, please be sure to do so. Drop me a note, here, and then send gift the game to my Steam account (mentioned in the first post of this thread). I can then add it to my inventory and then gift it to winners, when their names are drawn (also, gifting it to me so I can gift it onward actually makes it easier so I can keep track of who has and hasn't responded and move on to the next winner as fast as possible).

(If a game won't let you gift it to me (I'm not sure if that's the case with DOTA 2 or not), then let me know and you can just give me the code that I'll send to the winners, instead of doing it from my Steam inventory.)

Just in case: If I've missed a response to anyone or including anyone's games, please let me know. I got a flood of PMs on various things in the past few weeks and it might have gotten lost in the mix.

@Soap said:

I've got a gift for Airmech 2 and The ship... want any of those?

@Kaiserreich said:

I've got Frozen Synapse, Nuclear Dawn, and 3 Dota 2 keys in my inventory.

@UnrealDP said:

I have a copy of Civilization 5 that I totally wanna give to a duder! May have something else to give in a day or two, too, idk!

@audioBusting said:

I have copies of Portal, Terraria, The Ship (2-pack) and Frozen Synapse that I would like to give away. They've been sitting in my inventory for too long! I have a copy of Wanderlust: Rebirth too, although I wouldn't really recommend anyone to play it. I may have a couple Torchlights to give away too. I'll make sure first then I'll PM you.

@Fattony12000 said:

I've got two plump Dota 2s over here to bestow unto ye.

@HansKisaragi said:

Iv got Civ 5 I can give away on steam.

@amarriner said:

I have a copy of the original Torchlight I can gift via Steam.

@ALTF4_FOR_COLORS said:

@Branthog:

I have a bunch of DOTA 2 keys.

@shadows_kill said:

I got a copy of Sanctum and Mount & Blade Collection that I'd give out!

@Subjugation said:

@Branthog: I can provide the Metro 2033 Steam key I have.

@Rappelsiini said:

@Branthog: I got spare Steam keys from Humble Bundle 7 for Binding of Isaac + DLC and Dungeon Defender + DLC.

@Ghostiet said:

I can probably drop codes for Metro 2033 and The Binding of Isaac with DLC.

@The_Laughing_Man said:

Warhammer 40k code ready to be given to someone who needs it. The one from the THQ bundle.

@Optix12 said:

I have a copy of Dirt 2 that you can have on Steam, it may be older but if Ryan every so often keeps talking about it you can bet its pretty decent (and it is).

@Godlyawesomeguy said:

I've got a Titan Quest and Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War Steam keys to give away.

@zyn said:

I just bought purchased Walking Dead (good thing it was a flash deal community choice). PM me whoever wins the game and I'll add as friend on Steam to gift.

EDIT: Fixing words.

Awesome. If you guys are still interested, hit me up on the account in my first message and gift them to me and I'll include them in the giveaway with credit to you. Thanks! (You don't have to gift them to me, but if you do, it makes the process much easier, since I know for sure that the game is still available until I gift it out and it makes it easier for me to keep track of who has redeemed the gift, who has responded, what games should go back into the pot for the next batch of winners, etc).

ALSO: If you want to keep the game in your inventory, rather than gifting it to me in the interim, then please confirm in a message in this thread that the game(s) are still available and that you haven't given it out or anything over the holidays. I just don't want to end up in the situation where I have more winners than games and the only quantity I can absolutely be 100% sure about is what's in my account at the moment, of course.

THANKS!

@VierasTalo said:

Just posting so I remember to send a few codes once I get home.

EDIT: There we go, sent you codes for DE3 with DLC, Just Cause 2 and Hitman 4.

Got them in the inventory list (assuming they haven't already been given out since you sent them to me?). Much appreciated!

@mandude said:

Can we donate Xbox codes?

Definitely. I hadn't thought about codes for console games, but if you have those available, just drop me a note with the names of the games and the codes and I'll put them on the list.

@Legend said:

@Branthog Are you going to use steamgifts.com this year? It might make the process easier for you. You can create your own group on Steam, ask people to join, then remove people who won so that they don't enter another giveaway.

I just took a look at it and it's not accepting my account properly (it keeps saying my account shouldn't be set to private, which it isn't). I'll probably have to do it manually, like last year. It's a hassle, but I'm too lazy to write a script to do it all, too. :)

Okay, I'll send the Walking Dead to you.

Good luck to those participating!

Glad you are still doing this! I sent you a friend request on Steam to send you my games.

Thanks, guys.

This is going to be interesting to oversee. It was a challenge to conduct, last year, because we were talking about 100 games to 100 people and you can only draw so many names at a time (otherwise, you lose track of what is available by the time the next group of people get to choose a game). It took weeks. This year, I think we're looking at around 350 games to 220 people (yes, you read that correctly). Even if I can process ten winners per day, that is almost a month! Toss into the mix the weighting system I'm implementing (so that previous winners can still participate, but give people who haven't won a higher chance to win), multiple vendors (Steam, GOG, Desura, Humble Bundle), and contributed games from all of you guys -- and it's taking on a life of its own!

We'll be ready to accept entries in a few days and drawing will begin on the 8th. As soon as we open for entries, I'll update Ryan and crew to see if we can get them to spread some comments via twitter and maybe the podcast again, like they did last year. I'll update this thread with a URL to the "open for entries" thread, when I start it at that point.

@PatVB said:

@Branthog: I don't have any games to give away right now, but I have an Amazon code for $10 off the PS3 or 360 version of Assassin's Creed III. Is that something you'd be interested in?

I wouldn't mind doing that, but I think it might be more fitting for one of the community "giveaways/trades" that I see where people trade discounts on Steam and other services. It'd be ideal for that, I think. (But if you still want to and it doesn't expire in the near future, I'd totally go ahead and add it to the giveaway, if you like!).

@Legend said:

@Branthog Are you going to use steamgifts.com this year? It might make the process easier for you. You can create your own group on Steam, ask people to join, then remove people who won so that they don't enter another giveaway.

My account finally seems to be working, but now that I can take a look at the process, I don't think it'll work for our purposes. It only lets you do one giveaway at a time (one game/set of games to one winner). I need to be able to give away hundreds of games to hundreds of people -- with as much automation as possible -- and it looks like I'm still going to have to do this all by hand, for now. :)

@Branthog: I couldn't send you most of the games because it says you already own them, can you PM me an e-mail to send them to?

@Kaiserreich said:

@Branthog: I couldn't send you most of the games because it says you already own them, can you PM me an e-mail to send them to?

Yeah, I didn't realize that it behaved differently between "send directly through steam" and "send by email". I guess in one, it says "sorry, dude already owns it" and the other just lets you send it and then lets me have an option to add it to inventory, instead of my personal library. C'mon, Valve, it's been nine years! :D

I'll drop you a PM with the addy.

Looking at your games list on steam it seems you have Dirt 2 and dota 2 so Im gonna have the same problem that Kaiserreich will have. Any chance you could also send me a pm of the email address?

@Optix12 said:

Looking at your games list on steam it seems you have Dirt 2 and dota 2 so Im gonna have the same problem that Kaiserreich will have. Any chance you could also send me a pm of the email address?

Sent and thanks! :)

I'm going to pin this for awhile because I think it's awesome...this is going to be a big one! In fact I think it's so awesome I contributed some games to the pool:

• L.A. Noire
• Limbo
• Just Cause 2
• A gift code forHumble Bundle 7with a high enough donation to get all bonus games and any others that may be added soon
• Binding of Isaac+ DLC
• Closure
• Shank 2
• Indie Game - The Movie
• Snapshot
• Legend of Grimrock
• Dungeon Defenders

@Branthog: :) Thanks and sent!

I have a copy of Cogs that I can gift someone.

@Branthog said:

@Kaiserreich said:

@Branthog: I couldn't send you most of the games because it says you already own them, can you PM me an e-mail to send them to?

Yeah, I didn't realize that it behaved differently between "send directly through steam" and "send by email". I guess in one, it says "sorry, dude already owns it" and the other just lets you send it and then lets me have an option to add it to inventory, instead of my personal library. C'mon, Nintendo Valve, it's been nine years! :D

I've got a Steam code for Shank 2.