I've been selected as one of the Top 8 in this year's Unlock Xbox contest. What this means is that out of 1500 entries, my game idea, The Artifact, has been selected as one of the eight best. Now it's up to America to vote in the Top 3, through Xbox Live and the Unlock Xbox website.You do have to register, but after that every vote you place earns you a chance at winning a 360. A new 360 is given out each day, and you can vote once a day, so you get 30 chances at winning a 360 if you vote every day. If you have a 360, you can actually vote twice a day, one on the site and once on Xbox Live, giving you 60 chances at winning a 360.This whole thing started on October 1st, my twenty-third birthday. I was playing 360 with my brother when I spotted an ad for the Unlock Xbox contest. I switched the display over to my computer, checked out the rules, and decided this was my chance to get my idea out there. The only problem was I had 3 days to do it in because the contest ended on the 4th. I knew there was no time to waste so I grabbed my sketch pad, and my Wacom Tablet, and I got to work. I was literally working 10 hour days to get this thing done, most of which was spent drawing diagrams frame by frame. I put everything I had into my two minute pitch and it paid off because I made the Top 10.The Top 10? Didn't I say Top 8 earlier? Well, we started with 10. Doritos actually flew all 10 of us out to Seattle, all expenses paid, they loaded us up with prizes and best of all gave us the chance to pitch our idea to industry insiders. You can see my pitch at the link, as well as the judges reaction to my pitch. After all ten of us pitched our ideas, two of us were eliminated. And that's how we ended up with eight.Seattle was amazing, I could probably write a book about those 4 days. I ate food I've never had, I played games I've always wanted to play in the Arcade (most notably F-Zero AX), and best of all I met 10 great people who are also passionate about games. Honestly, everyone was really cool and all of the finalists were extremely nice people. We all stuck together and helped each other out, this was definitely not a cut throat competition. As I said throughout "Solidarity man, it's all about solidarity".Every vote counts, and every vote is appreciated. You can vote at the website and on Xbox Live. I would encourage you to check out all the pitches and really decide which games you'd like to play because the Top Two get their games made and everyone on Xbox Live gets to download them for free off XBLA, so it's in your best interest to pick something you like. I'd love it if you dig my idea and you want to vote for me, but definitely give all of them consideration.So yeah, right now I'm kind of in shock seeing my whole thing up on the website for people to see, so I'm probably leaving a ton out. If you guys have any questions about the contest or about my game idea, post them up here and I'll answer them for you.