Play & Win On XBox LIVE – Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Halo Anniversary

It’s not too late to take advantage of the current XBox LIVE Play & Win contests. Microsoft has two promotions going on: one for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and one for Halo Anniversary Edition.

In simple terms, download the special gamer pics to register for FREE. Then play the games online A LOT. Play lots and maybe YOU can win!

Here are the specifics:

Assassin’s Creed Revelations Play & Win On XBox LIVE – Win Turtle Beach Gear!

Play & Win Contests On XBox LIVE

The Halo Anniversary Play & Win ends December 5th so your best bet is to log 10 hours or more of online multiplayer ASAP. With Play & Win, the winners seem to be random but each hour of online gameplay is another chance to win. Let’s get busy!

What are the current Play & Win prizes, you ask?

You can win one of ten prizes of 10,000 Microsoft Points with Halo Anniversary. With Assassin’s Creed Revelations, you can win premium (read “over-priced”) Turtle Beach gear or 1600 Microsoft Points. I reckon your chances are better with Halo seeing how more people are probably going for the Turtle Beach gear.

Good luck and happy huntin’! 8)

UPDATE: Don’t forget to log onto Assassin’s Creed: Revelations before Monday, December 19th 11:59pm PDT (December 20th 2:59am EDT) to enter a chance to win one of the many prizes up for grabs (estimated value over $4000).

Modern Warfare 3 And Call Of Duty Elite: Love It And Hate It

First and foremost, let’s be clear: you can play Modern Warfare 3 without ponying up $50 for the Call of Duty Elite subscription. The thing is, it’s not really optional. Call of Duty Elite can simply be described as the only way to play Modern Warfare 3 at it’s full potential; otherwise, many reviews point to MW3 as Modern Warfare 2.5 – really?

With Call of Duty Elite, you get a year;s worth of free DLCs, which almost pays for itself. You also get access to full stats, advanced clan management, and social networking features. All fine and dandy but the thing that really burns me is that dedicated, moderated servers will only be available to Call of Duty Elite subscribers.

To me, it feels like Call of Duty Elite is a forced upsell. Sure, you don’t need it, but, without it, you’re getting the watered-down experience. Modders, boosters, and cheaters will have full reign in the free “servers”. Seems like bad news to me.

Gaming Clan Series: Don’t Ph33r Twitter And Blogs

My Gaming Clan Leadership Lessons From A Newb remains one of the most popular articles on Y3B and one of the favorites on top Google SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).  I say that not to impress anyone but, rather, to impress upon you that there is a huge interest in the following:

• social media strategy
• gaming clan skills
• effective communication
• transferable skills for video game geeks
• leadership skills for gaming clans

Bridging the gap between the technology and “soft side” of social gaming clans is one of those pursuits I did simply because I believe in the message and have a bit of experience with it.  What’s more important is that I am a newb, like you, because we’re all learning every day.  Even with the Nipples of Fate rocking hard since the nineties,  we remain humbled because there are always opportunities for growth and improvement.

So, today I am here to share with you a very important message that I am going to turn into my proverbial dead horse (YAY!):

ATTENTION GAMING CLANS:  Do not ph33r Twitter and blogs.

I’ve received countless messages via XBox LIVE, Twitter, WordPress, and more where clan leaders share their frustrations with clan members that are giving them pushback with their social media strategy.

Why is it that people are social media agnostics – especially in gaming clans, where communication is crucial!?

For those paying attention, you know I’ve already shared my top reasons and tips for using Twitter (for social media agnostics).    Here, I’d like to discuss the benefits of Twitter and blogs for gaming clans.

Join The N-o-F Network On Facebook And Yahoo!

The theme of this week has been plugging in and promoting like CRAZY!

We’re setting the stage for upcoming content releases, Fantasy Football, and other fun stuff.  We may even launch a Facebook Fan Page centered around our official NoF blog/eZine.   Of course, before we do all that fun stuff, we need to rally the troops and get as many people involved as possible.

Let’s start by having everyone join our Facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/EhnOhEff

Now, you don’t have to be a member of our social gaming clan to join the gorup.  We’re looking to expand our network to friends, family, and supporters..  From there, you can join our official gaming divisions, project groups, street team, or whatever tickles your fancy.

If e-mail is more your bag (or you’re just one of the many people leaving Facebook.. to go to Google+ perhaps), join our Yahoo! Group by e-mailing n-o-f-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or signing into Yahoo! and finding us.  As part of the perks of joining our mailing list you’ll have access to plenty of apps and cool members-only areas, including…

• Private swapping and selling of stuff you don’t really want anymore.
• Shared calendars and event reminders.
• Reviews and recommendations for web sites, services, and more!
• Photo galleries and links to rich-media resources.

We’re constantly tweaking our community resources so we need active people like YOU to help shape our network into something people want and will use.  We’re really excited about these new changes (they have been, after all, over ten years in the making).  Looking forward to having you join us!

The Evolution Of NoF: From Tribe To Community

When I look back at all the years NoF has thrived, I am filled with great pride and joy.  I’ve made some good friends, built some business relationships, and learned a lot.  More importantly, we have built a great community.  Of course, as with any endeavor, you can’t please everyone.

Some would say that NoF has devolved, which I find ironic considering the people that are saying that are the very same people that have often abandoned us, refused to follow procedures, or just didn’t ever buy into our vision.  As a Business Consultant and a bit of an Internet Entrepreneur, one of the things I help businesses do is build communities.  Each case has to be treated differently because there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Fortunately, I’ve learned a lot from well over ten years of helping to lead our humble “little” gaming clan.  We’ve grown from a tribe to a community.  To me, that’s a very big thing..  But we’re still working out the kinks.  Certainly, such a big change is a culture shock so now is the part where people drop off and some reminisce about “the good ‘ol days”.  It’s to be expected.

Allow me to share this stream-of-conscious account of NoF’s evolution and how it may apply to your organization…