Expo Icrontic is a celebration of community, friendship, shared hobbies, and BLAH BLAH BLAH WHERE ARE THE PRIZES?
We are blessed every year with some amazing sponsors, and one of the big things our sponsors do for us is provide tons of prizes and swag for us to give away to attendees of the Expo. This year is no different, and we’re excited to share the love.
NOCTUA
Noctua is one of the premium names in PC cooling. Designed in Austria with pride, their fans and heatsinks are some of the best out there, backed by review after review and award after award. Our friends at Noctua are sending over some goodies for attendees: five NF-F12 fans and five tubes of NT-H1 thermal compound will be available as prizes to five lucky PC builders.
SLAPPA
SLAPPA makes fantastic bags. Period. We’ve reviewed them, we believe in them, we’ve bought them. This year they will be sending a mix of SLAPPA products for us to give away: a SLAPPA Stovepipe backpack, two Kampus backpacks, three DS cases, and three PSP cases.
ECS
ECS is another awesome Icrontic sponsor. Not only do they send Expo prizes every year, they also sponsored our recent Computex coverage. Besides being an awesome sponsor, they’ve been coming out with a string of very compelling performance motherboards that are redefining what the ECS name means for enthusiasts. This year, they’re sending along one of their Nonstop Technology motherboards, the Z77H2-A2X Golden Edition. They’re also sending along their GeForce GTS450 card, the NGTS450-1GPL-F. On top of that, they’re providing keychains, stickers, and even a gold plated USB stick. Last but not least they’re providing one of their awesome (I have one. Trust me, it’s awesome) LAN backpacks.
THQ
THQ wut? THQ has the distinction of being the home of several Icrontic alumni, including both of Icrontic’s former GPU reporters, Sledgehammer70 and UPSLynx. Sledge is now the community manager for the awesome Darksiders II and Bobby tallMiller is now the community manager for the massively anticipated Company of Heroes 2. At any rate, THQ sent along a ton of games for both PC and Xbox 360. So good!
ADATA
ADATA is a first-time sponsor for Expo Icrontic, and we’re super excited to have them on board. They’ll be sending Kobe and Rose from their hilariously cool official NBA USB keychain drives, which are 4gb USB 2 flash drives that are also waterproof. They’ll also be sending along an SH93 500gb drive, which is a rubberized external USB 2.0 drive that is waterproof up to 1 meter for 30 minutes, as well as shockproof (passed US Military MIL-STD-810F 516.5 drop test) and features a wrap-around USB cord. On top of that, we’re also getting a 64gb SX900 SSD, a SATA 6 SandForce-based drive, to give to one lucky winner!
ROCCAT
ROCCAT is a relatively new player in the North American market, but they’ve been making a splash with PC gamers with a bold and innovative product lineup. Our recent reviews of the Kone+ mouse and Isku keyboard as well as the Kave 5.1 headset have left us wanting more from the European peripheral company. They’ve sent along three of their Kova + Max Performance gaming mice, five of their awesome Taito mousing surfaces, and five of their Sense high-performance gaming mousepads.
GENIUS
Another first for Expo Icrontic, Genius is offering up two of their DeathTaker gaming mice, featuring nine buttons for RTS/MMO optimization, a 5700 dpi sensor, adjustable weights, and a fresh RGB backlight LED system. We’re also getting two of their Cavimanus 7.1 virtual surround sound gaming headsets with vibration. We’ve also got hats, really awesome embroidered polos, and wristbands for lucky winners.
TITAN BOOKS
Thanks to CB Droege and Titan Books for this next one: Titan has graciously agreed to send along five copies of their awesome book Aliens: Colonial Marine Technical Manual. This will be a must for any Aliens universe fan: An entire book of diagrams, technical schematics and plans, and a detailed look at the guns, vehicles and ships of the USCMC.
THERMALTAKE
Our buddies at Thermaltake have done it again. They love the Icrontic community and have been long-time supporters of Expo Icrontic. How much do they love us? Check out what they’re sending along for prizes: First, we have the Water2.0 Performer, their new sealed watercooling system. We’re getting two of those. If water’s not your thing, they’re also sending along two Frio Extreme coolers. Want a small desktop fan? They’re sending a ton of Mobile Fan 12 units. Looking for a new case? Their top-of-the-line Armor Revo “Snow Edition” might be of interest to you. If white’s not your color, there’s always the Chaser Mk I case as well. Whew, I think that’s everything.
VERIZON WIRELESS
One thing that we always need at our events is MORE BANDWIDTH. Finally, in 2012, we’re at a point where OTA internet is faster than wired (Verizon LTE saved Nick’s ass at CES, for example). In the past, we’ve struggled with up to 70 people all trying to connect to the internet at once, with their PCs, mobiles, and laptops. Those struggles are likely a thing of the past, as Verizon Wireless will be providing Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi to bring multiple LTE connections to our event. On top of that, they’ll also have a data rep on hand to let attendees check out some of the newest devices and tablets and answer any questions.
OCZ TECHNOLOGY
Icrontic and OCZ, sittin’ in a tree. Well, sometimes it feels like that, because they’re so good to us. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they make amazing products and our community members recommend and use them all over the place… well, at any rate, OCZ is once again being awesome and providing us with some phenomenal swag: An OCZ Agility3 60gb SSD, an OCZ ZS 750w PSU, and of course the coveted Behemoth mousepads… let’s not forget that there have almost been fistfights over OCZ Behemoth mouse pads. By some odd confluence of circumstances, they are extremely coveted prizes every year.There’s also going to be T-shirts, case badges, notepads, screwdriver kits, and posters.
FUTUREMARK
Even though FGS got sold to Rovio, Futuremark is still around and about to release a slew of awesome new benchmarks. They’ve always been awesome to us during Expo season, and this year is no exception. We’ll be getting a bunch of Futuremark benchmark codes for full versions of their benchmarks to give away, as well as T-shirts and an EVGA GT 550 TI video card!
SEAGATE
Hey everyone, this is good timing: June is Backup Awareness Month. When’s the last time you, (or your parents, or your Aunt, or your sister) backed up your important stuff, and even more importantly, when’s the last time you tested it? Seagate keeps making it easier and easier, especially with their hot-off-the-press Backup Plus line that backs up even your Facebook photos and videos as well as your Flickr stuff. Earlier this year we reviewed their awesome GoFlex Satellite drives, and the good news is: they were kind enough to offer up two of the 500gb units for prizes this year.
RAIDMAX
Our friends at RAIDMAX are sending over a Seiran case, which we reviewed in November (and awarded our Stamp of Approval). Some of the best features include a gigantic side fan, a nice front fan, a removable dust cover on the bottom intake, a decent drive mounting system, and a truly remarkable front bay panel latch system. On top of that, they’re also sending along a 630w PSU from their Hybrid line: The Hybrid RX-630SS. This is a modular, black power supply with a big LED-lit fan (the light is switchable).
EA GAMES
Every single year, without fail, EA Games Community Outreach smiles at us and says, “enjoy”, and sends us a handful of console games to give away, and they’re always a hot item at the prize table. I remember in 2009 how many people were fighting over getting a copy of Boom Blox.
This year we have four Xbox 360 titles: Family Game Night 4: The Game Show, which contains five classic family favorite franchises presented in new ways—CONNECT 4 Basketball, YATZHEE! Bowling, SCRABBLE Flash, BOP-IT Boptagon, and SORRY! Sliders. With Kinect support and local multiplayer, this game is hilarious fun for your family. SKATE 3 is the third in the award-winning franchise and features new team-based play as well as the ability to become a mogul of your own skating team. SSX modernizes the massively popular classic snowboarding franchise, Finally, Shift 2 Unleashed Limited Edition sets the bar for realistic racing on the Xbox 360, featuring vehicle and track degradation, exhilarating sense of speed, and tons of vehicle and track options.
AMD
Our friends at AMD come through once again for the Icrontic crew. This year, they’ll be sending along two GPUs—the first is a AMD Radeon HD 7850, and the second is the new 900MHz AMD Radeon HD 7750. You’ll be able to play games on high resolutions with multiple monitors, and your games will look fantastic.
YELP
Yelp is back! Every year they provide the awesome swag bags for all of our attendees, and often you’ll find cool Yelp swag. Since we do the Tastes of Detroit Food Tour, using the free Yelp app on your mobile (Android and iOS) to check in and review the restaurants you visit is a blast. You can also sign up for their newsletter, the Weekly Yelp; I’m not just saying that because they’re a sponsor, either: The Weekly Yelp newsletter comes only once a week, is not spammy, and introduces me to buzz about local restaurants. I find it very useful, and I’ve discovered more than one cool new place in my hometown because of it. Thanks, Yelp!
A sincere thanks to all of our awesome sponsors! We’ll add more as they come on board!