Gamertell

I’ve seen some pretty crazy contests in my time, but never one so - permanent. See, Codemasters has this game called Rise of the Argonauts. And it decided a contest would be a great way to promote the game in the UK. But not just any contest, a contest that helps revitalize the name Jason. You know, like as in Jason and the Argonauts.

So if someone in the UK named their son Jason, they can enter to possibly win a bunch of Codemasters games. Of course, you can’t just email in and say, “Look! My son’s Jason!” You have to actually send a copy of your son’s birth certificate. Actually, it could be a daughter named Jason too - the site just says to send in the “child’s” birth certificate.

And you can’t pop up and say, “My name’s Jason! Let me in!” The kid has to have been born between January 1 and February 13, 2009. The contest ends on March 17, 2009, and the winner gets Rise of the Argonauts, Bella Sera, Emergency Mayhem, Race Driver GRID and Turning Point. If a game is available on multiple platforms, the winner gets to choose which version he or she wants.

Of course, this now begs the question - would you name your kid after a video game character for free stuff? Let’s say Square Enix will give you a free copy of every Final Fantasy game in print if you named your kid Cloud. Would you do it? It probably wouldn’t be too bad for the little boy or girl. Yes, boy or girl. Cloud’s one of those names that really could go either way. And the kid could always bluff and say, “Video game nerds? Heavens no - my parents are just former hippies.” See, it’d work.

What if Nintendo would give you a free Wii and games if you named your son Mario? Wait, no, not Mario. That’s too normal. Link. If you name your son Link or your daughter Zelda, you’d get free Nintendo swag. Would you do it? I think with that contest, we’d see a lot more little Zeldas than Links.

Of course, there are quite a few die-hard fanboys and girls out there, so I’m sure that, if they were given the proper motivation, they’d name their kids after any character. If the right publisher was holding a contest with a free system or year’s worth of games as prizes, I’m sure there’d be parents willing to name their offspring Ganondorf, Bowser or Sephiroth. I think I even have some friends who would get pregnant just to enter a contest like that.

Read [Electronic Theater] Also Read [GamesKnights.com] Site [Bring Back Jason]