There have been several large gaming competitions in the past in which gamers won awesome prizes. One of the biggest in the history of gaming was Atari's Swordquest competition back in the early 1980s.
However, Square Enix has announced a prize so big that it blew the Swordquest competition out of the water . . . and onto a private island. That's right. Gamers who have pre-ordered Square Enix's new game "Just Cause 3" have a chance to win a private island worth US$50,000.
USA Today reports that there are stipulations surrounding the prize. First, gamers have to pre-order "Just Cause 3: Day 1 Edition", which is set for release on Dec. 1. Second, Square Enix does not necessarily commit to the island being tropical by nature, inhabitable or accessible by any other means other than boat. Winners will also have to be responsible for any related expenses, including attorney's fees, escrow and closing costs. Moreover, Square Enix reserves the right to change any part of the grand prize at any time at their discretion. Lastly, if the winner doesn't want the island, he or she can simply choose to take a cash prize of US$50,000.
With that being said, the official website of "Just Cause 3" states that players will need to register online, after which they have 90 days to collect as much chaos points as possible. To rack up these chaos points, players will have to cause as much destruction within the game as possible. With gamers these days, that doesn't seem to be too difficult. The winner of the contest will be revealed in March of 2016.
It has yet to be determined if the announcement of the "Win Your Own Island" contest has made any difference in the number of pre-order sales of "Just Cause 3", but developer Square Enix expects the results to show very soon. "Just Cause 3" will put players back into the role of Rico Rodriguez on the imaginary island of Medici, which, according to the game's story, is somewhere in the Mediterranean.
Gamers will use all of Rico's supplies of guns, explosives, vehicles and his ever-trusty grappling hook to spread chaos in Medici. Square Enix believes that this contest will be highly competitive, especially considering Rico's destructive capabilities.
Would you want to have your own island? What would you do with it once you finally have one? Let us know in the comments below.