Joystiq pumpkin-carving contest (win Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles!)

by Christopher Grant { Oct 23rd 2007 at 12:00PM }

Next week is Halloween, which means many of you are putting the finishing touches on your video game-themed costumes, while decorating your haunted mansions with video game-themed jack-o'-lanterns. Since you're already at it, why not enter our pumpkin-carving contest for a chance to win the perfect Halloween game, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles? We're giving away ten copies of the beautiful 2.5D PSP game, a remake of the heretofore Japan-only Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, to the winners. Did we mention it also includes the PC Engine Duo original and a new port of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? Well, it does. So get carving!

The rules are simple:

Carve a video-game themed pumpkin.
Send a picture of your pumpkin, in .jpg format, to contests AAT joystiq DAWT com. (Be sure to take an additional picture with the word "joystiq" written on a piece of paper somewhere. If you're selected as a winner, we'll ask to see this other photo to ensure that you haven't submitted someone else's carving as your own.)
Deadline for entries is noon Eastern Time Monday, October 29. Twenty-five (25) finalists will be selected by Joystiq staffers based equally on creativity and originality. Out of those finalists, ten (10) winners will be selected based on reader votes.
You may enter as many carved pumpkins as you like, so long as they're all somehow related to video games.

For the full details, peruse the official rules here.

Tags: Castlevania, Dracula-X-Chronicles, JPCC, Konami

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

GRANTED @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:10PM

where did i put that photoshop err i mean pumpkin.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:23PM

What is a pumpking?

A pumpking is nothing but a miserable little pile of secrets.

Donald @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:27PM

But enough talk. Have at you!

Hirsbrunner @ Oct 23rd 2007 12:29PM

That's one tiny pumpkin. Damn drought.

LAZoftheTamarinds @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:44PM

HaHa. LOL!

Knoxximus @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:33PM

Has anyone else noticed that Dracula in the PSP game's art work is a dead ringer for Iga? Really? Just me? Coincidence?

Brello @ Oct 23rd 2007 2:46PM

I'm going to end up having to buy a PSP just to play this one release. Hopefully something else I want for it will surface soon.

Noshino @ Oct 23rd 2007 6:17PM

http://www.metacritic.com/games/psp/scores/

I would recommend you AT LEAST give the first 30 a try, you have been missing a lot of awesome games

Ratchet the Lombax @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:31PM

I refuse to partake in the mindless slaughter of thousands of innocent pumpkins for entertainment purposes. If it was for food or shelter then yes that's ok, plus I'm not very good at carving pumpkins :).

LAZoftheTamarinds @ Oct 23rd 2007 3:43PM

I hate carving pumpkins! The main reason is that I'm not good at it and it's messy.
Can I carve an ORANGE? There cheaper and the same color as a pumpkin.

inio @ Oct 23rd 2007 4:34PM

Does the pumpkin need to be hand-carved, or can it be CNC milled or otherwise robotically carved so long as the design being carved is original?

Christopher Grant @ Oct 23rd 2007 6:29PM

CNC carved sounds fine to me ... if you have a CNC router. :P

gonk @ Oct 23rd 2007 6:49PM

ugh, i'm too lazy to carve a pumpkin and I probably wouldn't win anyway, and I'd have to get a psp to play this

mikers @ Oct 24th 2007 9:47PM

I would just like to point out the current person up to win is a cheater: http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/pixel.php
Using some one else's template while fun, and looks cool, is cheating when benefiting from some one else's work. Nothing wrong when cutting with templates, but I think common sense implies the art work should be original if you wish to claim a prize from it. Or I guess if you can go through life feeling that is ok, hopefully karma will catch up to you. Give credit where do.

mykalson @ Oct 24th 2007 11:50PM

Yes, my wife's carved a bunch of things from their page. I'm not entering(already have the game), but if you actualy *read* the instructions, it doesn't say anything about the design having to be original, just that you should carve a pumpkin.

That being said, one of the judging criteria is 'originality'. I'm sure that there will be tons of people submitting zombiepumpkin designs, so I think when judging commences, all those people will *probably* get the originality points deducted.

Of course, someone could get lucky and submit a stencil that no one else uses. Either way, it's all for fun anyway, right?