To celebrate its new range of gaming laptops, Kotaku teamed up with Acer to give away a 15-inch Predator gaming laptop. Featuring two rear-exhaust fans and an extra cooling module that slips into the optical drive, this laptop is built for the most extreme gaming scenarios.
All you had to do to win was tell us your most extreme gaming scenario in 200 words or less. The best response would receive the Predator laptop.
And the winner is BeansMcCloud! Here’s his touching story:
The most extreme and memorable moment wasn’t a great gaming feat or a marathon but a simple day of gaming several years back – with my mother. A person who had never played games or understood why her introverted son was so obsessed with them.
Having brought in a couple of DS’s loaded with Mario Kart – after a few rounds, she had like picked up shooting blue shells like a champion. Why is this moment extreme – well she was terminally ill. From her hospital bed, for a few hours we forgot about the cancer, the pain, the suffering and just enjoyed each other’s company. I’ve never laughed so hard after being trumped so badly always afternoon.
It is a simple memory that reminds me why gaming is special. I think she understood her son a bit better that day and it provided me with one of most poignant and beautiful recollections of her life. She passed away shortly after from complications with her treatment.
RIP mum – love always
Here are the full specs of the laptop BeansMcCloud is getting:
- Windows 10
- 15.6″ LCD screen
- Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ
- NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M with 4 GB of dedicated GDDR5 VRAM
- 16 GB of DDR4 system memory
- 256GB SSD & 1000GB HDD
- 8-cell Li-ion battery
- Blu-ray Disc RE drive
- 802.11ac WLAN
- Frostcore fan module
- HD Camera
Thanks for entering everyone!
Comments
38 responses to “So Who Won The $2999 Acer Predator Gaming Laptop?”
Congrats BeansMcCloud! That’s one hell of a prize! Enjoy! 😀
Well deserved winner. congrats mate.
Damn – was crushed to know I didn’t win…
Then i read the winner and felt lie an ass.
Well deserved.
Enjoy it, mate.
Congratulations.
Yep, I thought my story about my wife was pretty good, but it can’t compete with that level of feels. The cost of that laptop to him is a lot higher than $2999.
Yeah me too.
Back to trying to resurrect my dead laptop.
Mine is so close to gone it’s stupid.
I don’t even have a spacebar any more.
#daughtergate
My laptop has a floppy drive, so don’t complain too much 😉
That’s what… he said?
Poor fella.
Can’t believe I didn’t win again! 🙁
I really need to start entering these competitions…
so to start sincerely Congrats to the winner.
and not take anything away from him/her at all….but….
On that note it bothers me so much that these contests are always won by peoples emotional stories about there kids or parents.
As a person without kids or parents it seems like an unfair advantage because people judging the stories never look past the “feels”.
There were much funnier/better/more entertaining stories in that list.
Signed
Emotionally not interested
It is what it is.
But also, it’s not the case that only emotionally hard hitting stories win. Look at the Lego competition from January: http://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/01/who-won-a-double-pass-to-the-lego-dc-comics-exhibition/
I was really proud of mine.. it was funny AND emotionalish… I got to make fun of my wife, so there way that.
And it has Garrus with a lightsabre.
Awesome.
Mine had it all… fighting! Stabbings! Someone getting their nose broken by a keyboard!
Obviously didn’t meet the necessary emotions quota though…
I just want someone to acknowledge mine – so you’re the winner, buddy
http://tinypic.com/r/1075f7p/9
Seriously.. i put hours into that damn thing. Which is hard to tell with all the damn spelling errors.
BAHAHAHA
just say something along the lines of “that’ll do pig, that’ll do”
Man, you had an infographic and you still didn’t win!
haha yeah – but thems the breaks.
You can’t always win a wildcard. 🙂
BTW how come you haven’t commented on articles much lately? I thought you vanished but your history says you just live inside TAY now :O
It’s mainly been due to work. I just pop into Tay here and there, but have commented in a few others. Also, don’t have any current gen consoles at the moment so don’t follow the news as much as I once did 🙂
The problem with this kind of complaint is, even if you might be technically right – and I don’t necessarily concede that you are – it will always just seem like sour grapes.
Best to move on.
Yeah. Can’t agree more.
At least it wasn’t a completely shit entry that won. There is reason to this.
Well said!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks this way. When this competition started, I didn’t even try to enter because I knew someone with a sad story would win. Same thing happened with one of the PS4 giveaways.
Congrats
A sad story, but is it really “extreme”, or creative for that matter? If we were trying to convince kotaku why we should get the laptop over others it would be appropriate I guess, but this entry – whilst sad – doesnt exactly fit the question over a large number of others I read.
Well, “extreme” is a subjective term. Personally, connecting emotionally with your mother, on her deathbed, using the medium of games, seems to fit the term “extreme gaming”. I think he’s a deserved winner.
I’d agree with this.
It isn’t waterproof to withstand the tears from all the feels, so I’d say they were using a different definition of extreme
Congrats to the winner!
However not really the ‘extreme’ I thought the competition was asking for :/
Congrats to BeansMcCloud!
I agree
I work with marketing teams and any competitions that have any strong emotional components are thrown out. Its just because the judges cannot make a decision based on knowledge but rather emotions
Yeah i can say that choosing this kind of story was bound to happen, but the guy wrote a nice piece.
But i would say next time they should exclude (clearly stated in rules) these kinds of stories as one would get emotionally attached and would choose something on the line of this (especially if personally going through or have gone through similar situation) rather than being objective to the writing.
I would just judge that it was a well written piece.
I like how the competition terms changed to accommodate the most “extreme” gaming “scenario” rather than the most intense gaming experience, as it was on the original post. Half of this entry doesn’t actually make sense. I’m glad some guy with a dead mom got a laptop, but this entire thing is a sham and technically illegal.
But whatever.
Well done, kid.
Rather disappointed. My laptop’s a piece of crap and I really need a new one soon. On the other hand, I’d say the winner deserves it. That’s a pretty nice little story.
Extreme? c’mon people told amazing stories of extreme moments and this won? Not taking shots at him and I wish him well, but seriously the first thing that comes to mind when someone says extreme is dangerous,adrenaline pumping,have me on the edge of seat type of shit this story makes me want to cry.
I didn’t even enter but well done to the winner – great story. I lost my dog, uncle and one of my best mates (all quickly and unexpectedly) late last year so i can certainly relate – it’s never nice to lose someone so close. Glad you have that little gaming sesh memory to make you smile when u need it most 🙂
I still don’t understand what “extreme gaming” is… :\
What happened to “We’ll showcase some of the best entries”?
I’m crying foul. We all have or know someone who has died of cancer. Anything of this degree should be thrown out. It appeals to the judges feelings rather than the “extreme gaming” story itself. So much for a competition… you need to re-evaluate what you mean by “extreme” and set some decent rules. There were some really good ones on here that would of been great winners
Hey guys,
you spelled ‘Skinja’ wrong at the top the article.
just so you know.