Swag Saturday: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 controllers for all those holiday games
by Ben Gilbert 
{ Nov 14th 2009 at 6:30PM } 
With the holiday game release season officially upon us, it's quite possible that you'll find yourself (like us) jammed on a couch next to relatives who – at least passingly – show interest in the video games we know and love. Sometimes, these folks even ask to play alongside us, eschewing their morals for entertainment (for shame!). It's during these times that we reach for our second or third controller. But what if you only have one controller for your PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360? WHAT THEN?! Then you can turn to Swag Saturday for the possibility of winning one!
We've got one silver PS3 DualShock 3 and two Halo 3: ODST limited edition controllers to give away to three lucky readers. All you have to do is tell us a story about gaming with family during past holidays in the comments below. We get your crazy stories, you get our fancy controllers – talk about a win-win! Prize winners will be alerted by email early this week, so keep your ear to the internet, folks.
- Leave a comment telling us a story about gaming with family during past holidays.
- You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec, based on the outcome of the War of 1812)
- Limit 1 entry per person per day
- This entry period ends at 6:31PM ET on Sunday, November 15
- At that time, we'll randomly select three winners to receive one PS3 DualShock 3 (estimated $55 ARV) or one of two Halo 3: ODST limited edition Xbox 360 controllers (estimated $50 ARV each).
- For a list of complete rules, click here
[Image credit: Ewen and Donabel]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 29)
Uncontrol @ Nov 14th 2009 6:31PM
hahahahahhahaha that fucking picture
SaMav @ Nov 14th 2009 7:02PM
Is that Ben Gilbert?
Eric @ Nov 14th 2009 7:54PM
Last year for Christmas i invited all of my friends to my house to drink some beer and play some video games, after i pwned them all at NBA 08 they decided to bet, every time someone loses they pay $5 :P so after 4 hours of non stop drinking and gaming i finally walked out with $75 in my pocket!! :P lol i thought maybe that was because they were all wasted! but whatever i atleast i got some cash and i had some fun :P
ya good times.. good times... thank god we are doing it this year again lol!! :D
and i hope i get that sliver ps3 controller cuz i never win any of this giveaways and i want to win something this time :)
five8 @ Nov 14th 2009 9:21PM
best memory was when i was visiting family out of country and i played mike tyson's punch out on the nes. we were able to beat every single character except for mike tyson. we also played the crap out of super mario bros 3. good times.
averagejoe @ Nov 14th 2009 9:47PM
I received cod:mw and I decided to play against my sister, who beat me.
Spartan_458 @ Nov 14th 2009 11:51PM
My cousins and I used to spend a couple of days around Christmas at my grandma's house, and we would play Star Wars: The Clone Wars for the Xbox for hours. I don't know what was so fun about it, but I knew all the cheat codes and always got the super battle droid, which is the best character ever to have on the swarm levels. Good times.
DeepFriedSushi @ Nov 15th 2009 1:17AM
i play, they watch.
Aozora @ Nov 15th 2009 5:09AM
that picture is discusting!
robertmuehler @ Nov 15th 2009 6:28AM
Last year for Christmas I gave my parents a Wii as a present. It was great because I stopped by to visit and set it up for them, then immediately jumped into Wii Sports ....and I'm sad to say my mom beat me in tennis once -_-
Ben Gilbert @ Nov 15th 2009 10:26AM
@SaMav: That is not Ben Gilbert. I'm on Facebook, ya know. :)
SaMav @ Nov 15th 2009 12:43PM
@ Ben Gilbert: So is 427 other Ben Gilberts ;)
Paradox596 @ Nov 15th 2009 1:17PM
Got a ps1 and powerboat racing from my brother in law my first chrismas with him.
Played all day and he definietly bought his acceptance into the family
TonyTheTiger831 @ Nov 15th 2009 7:50PM
Creating sauna with 360s to play Halo for the whole day then opening presents in the very room is fun.
Misterlime @ Nov 16th 2009 3:01AM
Playing Gran Turismo at xmas time with my 80 year old grandma who never had a drivers license in her lifetime. Hilarious watching her get excited because she was finally "behind the wheel"
Radical Dylan @ Nov 14th 2009 6:32PM
My uncle brought his 360 over, and we connected it to another tv that we brought into the living room... and we both connected to live, and played mw together.. but on opposite teams... lol it was fun...
dentaku @ Nov 14th 2009 6:32PM
I pretty much used them to avoid having to talk to people at awkward family gatherings.
phinnvr6 @ Nov 14th 2009 6:33PM
me please
Megapixel @ Nov 16th 2009 3:51PM
Last christmas me and my morbidly obese cousin were playing Wi Fit. They told him he was obese... it was awkward.
Silicon Siren @ Nov 14th 2009 8:03PM
coolstorybro.jpg
coolj @ Nov 14th 2009 6:33PM
one time me and my bro played uncharted.... good story right.
casey fitzgerald @ Nov 14th 2009 9:04PM
This is the time of year my parents ask me to play some mario knowing full and well that I have an xbox. I know they are old but it is still frustrating.
jordanros @ Nov 14th 2009 6:34PM
everytime a call of duty comes out, brother and i play it. ok.
Sly @ Nov 14th 2009 7:43PM
last year, we played COD4 local multiplayer a lot. it was cool.
TomServo @ Nov 14th 2009 6:34PM
My mom loved Video Pinball on the Atari VCS (nee 2600).
She used to move her hands (with controller) around in the air, as if to influence the ball's movement. The sad thing... she'd tilt. It's as if the controller knew...
Paper @ Nov 14th 2009 6:35PM
Every year the sis and I play through Super mario world on the SNES between thanksgiving and christmas and always get 100% complete.
Chris Miller @ Nov 14th 2009 6:36PM
Opening up my SNES on Christmas day, bundled with the big box version of Earthbound. I played it non-stop, and to this day, Earthbound is still my all-time favorite game.
Mass @ Nov 14th 2009 6:36PM
Last year for Christmas I finally upgraded my little brothers gaming rig, he'd had a PS2 for years and wanted to play all the new games for the last several years, see my brother has Down Syndrome and is unfortunately on a fixed budget. I'd gotten a generous x-mas bonus, and went crazy, got him XBL, every sport game he'd missed (his fav) and then videoed his reaction. Best X-Mas ever, I spent the rest of the day getting pwned in Madden.
Durden @ Nov 14th 2009 6:53PM
I enjoyed that story. You're a good brother.
MrAlex @ Nov 14th 2009 7:42PM
This guy deserves to win.
Jonathan @ Nov 14th 2009 10:38PM
Do you have the vid on Youtube or something? That's an awesome thing to do, I respect that.
ValexIV @ Nov 15th 2009 12:51PM
Just give him both of the 360 controllers. He really deserves them.
jason k @ Nov 15th 2009 7:26PM
Mass FTW
DirtyHands @ Nov 14th 2009 6:35PM
I game alone on holidays while the women cook.
drew @ Nov 14th 2009 6:35PM
Rock Band always brings the family together at my house. Everyone gets impressed that I play on Expert (even if I totally fail and don't get a 100% and stuff). This year will probably be The Beatles. That should be fun!
Yan @ Nov 14th 2009 6:36PM
When I was a wee lad, the holiday get-togethers would take place at my folks apartment in Brooklyn. One such New Years, the men in the family all pitched in to purchase a brand new NES - the unit that came with the Zapper and Mario/Duck Hunt combo. As a child, I was ecstatic to be able to play video games... it's a shame all the adults were hogging it to play Duck Hunt. That's one of the last times I remember seeing all of the men look like a group of happy children, all huddled around the television.
That's also the same holiday where I stumbled upon my very first "cheat code" - you could control the duck if there was an NES controller plugged into the second slot. It was fun torturing the guys by keeping the duck in one corner when you heard comments like "It'll move back to center in a moment. Just wait!"
haran_elessar @ Nov 14th 2009 6:37PM
it was Christmas and we played videogames...good times
Trep @ Nov 14th 2009 6:36PM
For easter one year, we got Mario Kart 64 (do I need to go further!?), we were excited to play it, and she always used Yoshi, me Toad. It matched cause she had a green controller, and I had a blue one. Then, she got mad at me for beating her, so she made me always have to finish second in the race. If I ever beat her, she would hit me. She would also hit harder if I saved the speed boosts until right near the end, and beat her at the last second. :(
C.A. @ Nov 14th 2009 6:36PM
Last Christmas my whole family played wii bowling for 4 hours straight. It was pretty awesome because my parents don't game. I've since sold my wii because of the game drought before Mad World. Requirement met.
DriveBy @ Nov 14th 2009 6:36PM
Gaming WITH the family? Well, they were in the same house...
I think.
heatseeker4474 @ Nov 14th 2009 6:37PM
I brought my gamecube down to florida, my sister and I played mario kart double dash with my cousins, but now i have a playstation and an xbox 360 so I need those controllers, (I got them like 3 months ago so i dont have like any controllers)
LazD @ Nov 14th 2009 6:39PM
I remember when I got my first game console, PS1. My dad said all he got was socks. He told me to open my grandmas gift and it was a ps1. I didnt know how to hook it up and so we returned it and got a N64. So much fun playing super mario 64, and Mario party....Fun stuff. Thats my story.
IcelandTerrorist (stormtrooper190) @ Nov 15th 2009 8:17AM
wait a minute you knew how to set up a N64 but not a PS1? thats like knowing how to set up a samsung DVD player and not a Pilips DVD player.
Buzzlebee @ Nov 14th 2009 6:38PM
My family is mostly the sort that watches A Christmas Story over and over again on the holidays, but last Christmas I brought a 360 and Halo 3 with me. My cousins had submitted to the Halo obsession back with the original Xbox and they jumped into Halo 3 easy enough, it was when I convinced my slightly tipsy great-uncle to give it a shot that it became an odd family adventure. Unfortunately they didn't have the mythical wi-fi about or else I would have jumped online and seen what would happen, but having a sixty+ year old man cursing at his grandchildren is almost as enjoyable. ;D
Mr. Bennett @ Nov 14th 2009 6:37PM
Pretty much the only gaming with the family involves actual cards...but an extra controller could change that...
Ernesto @ Nov 14th 2009 6:41PM
Rocked out in Guitar hero world tour on Xmas.
Greg @ Nov 14th 2009 6:37PM
Playing Christmas morning on the Magnavox Odyssey
darvank @ Nov 14th 2009 6:38PM
Last Thanksgiving I went to my girlfriend mother house I forgot my psp and was quite shocked to see that her mother bought herself a Wii. Now mind you wii doesn't have the graphic's of some of my other systems ps3/xbox 360 but when all the guest came I was really shocked to see allot of the older people who normally don't play games per-take in playing Guitar Hero World Tour and Ragging Rabbits the night turned out much better than I thought it would be. People singing, others looking to rent games from Blockbuster . I'm sure nintendo made some holiday sales from her guest.
Special Agent Steve @ Nov 14th 2009 9:18PM
But the Wii has the same power as the PSP- it worked out perfectly for you.
Bernie @ Nov 14th 2009 6:38PM
One of my controllers actually just broke. This would assuage that problem.
Markez @ Nov 14th 2009 6:38PM
Always Mario Party, Brawl, and Perfect Dark over the holidays.