New Unlock Xbox contest offers $50k prize

'Splosion (Of Flavor!) Man.

$50,000 contract, like american idol's $1m recording deal. You still have to do work but you get paid to do it.

Oh, and its consulting, which means freelance, which means you "run a small business" according to the IRS. So you fork over a wopping 30% for taxes. So its a $35,000 job which hopefully doesnt take more than a year to make.

they are asking for IDEAS, not developed games.
you talk like they are going to force you to develop the game code for a year...
lol...

IDEAS do not take 1 year to think of, and they dont want a 'freelance' amatuer making a game, they probably already developers on contract to make these games.

and you really think it takes more than a year to fully complete some of the XBLA games?
lol...

damn people want to complain about free money...
but of course if your idea was that great, you could have made millions of dollars on it, but i dont see MS, Sony, EA, or activision signing you up anytime soon.

where do u suppose an IDEA will entail a year of work?
and btw any income earned in life 'LEGALLY' is taxed, so why does that even come into the equation when talking about free money.

when it comes to your job im sure you say how much you make before taxes and not after taxes, to make it sound like you are making more money ( we all do this )
we say we make $ 50,000 per year for example, instead of ' I make $ 35,000 a year because of taxes...' i dont see many people ever talk like that...

eh- anybody INVOLVED complaining about the idol 1 million contract? didnt think so. but internet posters sure find ways to... lol.

wayne- $ 50k for you.
( and to get technical im sure an IRS form 1099 misc would be issued for the services as a sub/independent contractor agreement. so work related expenses could still be deducted from the work of a sub/independent and would be taked under YOUR current tax rate. if you have a job you would file a normal tax return based upon the w-2, but you would also have to file the 1099 or just use the long form. tax rate will vary from 20% - 45% of your annual income. )
+ depending on your state, you would also have state taxes, here in California its about 7-%-10% of your annual income. in nevada it is 0%.

consulting does not equal actual work such as developing.
consulting always means ideas and talking.

Uh no, consulting means freelancing for a company, full time or part time. I was a consultant for the company I work for before I became an employee. Its a regular job but with much higher taxes, a self employed person who makes $50,000 a year isnt making nearly as much actual money as an employee that makes $50,000 a year, so its misleading to say so.

They wouldnt say "consulting project" if it wasnt a job, the winner will likely have to work with the development team through the whole development process as a game designer of some sort. Its not prize money, its a CONTRACT, which to some people is probably better than just regular prize money because they can claim it as experience as well.

Messed that sentence up but you get the point.

There's actually only one USA despite what you may have heard.

Thanks for clearing that up. I was really confused there.

I have heard this theory about this contest before from someone who had entered it the last go 'round. They had said that the five finalists were all rubbish and that many good ideas were left by the wayside.

My question is: do you have any solid proof of these claims? For instance, did you or someone you know enter the last contest with some amazing idea that didn't get picked and then some game studio, like Microsoft, Ninjabee or another, went on to produce said game without giving you a cut? Because if there is proof of this then I would for sure pay heed to your claims... otherwise I can believe nothing but that they really are looking to produce the best games from the best entrants possible.

At least I'd like to hope so.