It’s almost Valentine’s Day! And you know what that means! New product time!

Okay, I admit there isn’t really much of a correlation there, however it does not change the fact that one of our classic Halolz t-shirt designs is back with some all new art by resident Halolz lurker Sadface!

Pick one up today at Level Up Studios and give it to your sweetheart! She totally won’t be offended!

Well our SOPA blackout protest is over! The site went dark for over 20 hours (midnight to 9PM) to help raise awareness about the SOPA/PIPA legislation that they’re trying to force through.

Hopefully you guys had a chance to check out some of the information on our blackout page and took the time to contact your local Senator, but if not be sure to stop by AmericanCensorship.org to learn more about these internet crippling bills and what you can do to help prevent them from being passed!

Have we ever mentioned this amazing “Barrel Rollers” design by the talented Kari Fry that is available at Level Up Studios right now? No? Here is that amazing “Barrel Rollers” design  by the talented Kari Fry that is available at Level Up Studios RIGHT NOW! It comes in both t-shirt AND hoodie form!

Out of all the sports franchises in the Lylat System, no team has gone undefeated as many times as the Planet Corneria Barrel Rollers!

Could it be from the expert coaching of General Pepper? Or perhaps the sage advice of Peppy Hare? Either way the pilots of Star Fox are without a doubt the greatest sports team to double as their own mascots!

All units report in!

Hope you didn’t throw all your money away at the Wal-Mart on Black Friday… because there’s a huge sale going on at Level Up Studios RIGHT NOW! Have you ever wanted any of our amazing Halolz themed apparel? Well now’s the time to buy! Everything in the store is 20% off until Monday afternoon! Go go go!

Hey guys! The holiday season is coming up… which means Christmas! Which means shopping! Which means I’ve been doing a horrible job of promoting our amazing Halolz t-shirts!

Not to worry though, we’ve got plenty of new merch to promote! First up is our brand new redesign of our classic “Medics Do It From Behind” t-shirt! Featuring original artwork by Gentleman Heavy administrator Sadface, this shirt will guarantee you stay properly healed at all times!

I mean there’s nothing quite like the feeling of having a trained medic behind you!
ÜberCharge me doc!

Yes, finally… I have some contest runners-up to post! Sorry for the delay but Fred and I were out of town until Nov 7th for Youmacon and we fell a bit behind! It was a tough decision as we had a lot of favorites, but we decided to limit ourselves to ten runners-up this year:

Uber Pimpkin by CG
Nyan Over The Moon by ZombieFembot
Gish Pumpkin by OmeletGood
Hey Listen! by Kyasuri
Item Triforce by LadyFiede
TF2 Scream Fortress Pumpkin by K-Stop
GLaDOS by Sussi
The Crashers by Saxon216
Haberdashpionage by UDNTNOME
Locust Meatshield by XV Mr 14 VX

These folks all win a shirt of their choice from Level Up Studios!

Again, there were many more favorites we would’ve liked to pick… but we really had to limit ourselves! However if you submitted an entry this year and included a mailing address you’ll be receiving a small bonus prize just for entering!

Congrats to everyone for another successful year of vegetable artistry! You guys are truly amazing!

target=”_blank”>Yes! Yes! We’ve finally got some winners for ya! Emily, Fred and I put our collective heads together and have named the following entries as our grand prize winners! These winners will receive the respect of their peers, along with that juicy Level Up Studios store credit!

Our most creative winner this year was Primevil with his amazing pumpkin rendition of Metroid Prime 3′s Aurora Unit 313! You may remember some of his previous work when he won prizes in our first year and second year contest with his impressive Metroid themed carvings! Who knows what Metroid themed thing we’ll see next year!

Our most detailed winner this year was ceemdee, who for a second year swept the category with her incredibly beautiful carvings! We featured these three in particular because each judge had a favorite… Emily voted for “Bastion,” Fred voted for “Ico” and Shawn voted for “Minesweeper.” However you have to admit that all her entries were extremely well done!

And finally our most humorous winner this year was “Pumpkin Gaiden” by newcomer Sir Zebulon Anselm Löwe lll! His Ryu Hayabusa pumpkin literally destroyed the competition, along with most of his front yard!

Congratulations again to all our grand prize winners, and stay tuned for our next post where we will announce our eight runner-up winners!

Hoooooly crap… 50 entries even with my super last notice? I AM IMPRESSED.
Sorry we’re getting this up on the site… these guys take a lot longer to go through than you might think! Also, y’know… had to take the three year old trick or treating! Anyway here are this years amazing entries! Our judges this year… myself, Fred and Emily will pick our winners and announce them tomorrow! Good luck!

#1 – Bastion by ceemdee
#2 – Pumpkin Spy by Adrian Nunez
#3 – Halloween Invaders by Baron Von Snugglemittens
#4 – Dood-O-Lantern by Truzyxx
#5 – Castlevania by Fredrik Fedic Ivansson
#6 – Army Of Darkness by HeyMama555
#7 – FFT: Nanten Knights by Lightwolf21
#8 – AU 313 by Primevil
#9 – Archimedes, no! by suicid3clutch
#10 – Doom II by ceemdee
#11 – Gordon Freeman by Emily
#12 – Gish Pumpkin by OmeletGood
#13 – Bob-ombkin by Doc Powers & TransPM
#14 – Link by G. E. Wolf
#15 – Decepta-kin by British Dave
#16 – Angry Bird by StacMaster-S
#17 – TF2 Scream Fortress Pumpkin by K-Stop
#18 – The Crashers by Saxon216
#19 – Zinger by CornballCoder
#20 – Zombie Mario by Jack Edmonds
#21 – Who’s that pokemon! by Baron Von Snugglemittens
#22 – Space Invader by LoneSilverwind
#23 – Haberdashpionage by UDNTNOME
#24 – GLaDOS by Sussi
#25 – Pumpkin Gaiden by Sir Zebulon Anselm Löwe lll
#26 – Uber Pimpkin by CG
#27 – Pumpkin Creeper by Eskay 64
#28 – Pumpkin Creeper by Yvonneay
#29 – Oni by ceemdee
#30 – Nyan Over The Moon by ZombieFembot
#31 – Super Meat Boy by LoneSilverwind
#32 – Logotronic by StarYoshi
#33 – L.A. Noire by ceemdee
#34 – Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter Pumpkin by Minzy
#35 – Portal Cover by G. E. Wolf
#36 – Layton vs Wright by Flake & Zelda
#37 – Hey Listen! by Kyasuri
#38 – Sad Creep by Fred “Trunks” Wood
#39 – Nyan Pumpkin by Nichola Tahenakos
#40 – Worms by ceemdee
#41 – Item Triforce by LadyFiede
#42 – The Dig by ceemdee
#43 – Locust Meatshield by XV Mr 14 VX
#44 – Minesweeper by ceemdee
#45 – Magicka by ceemdee
#46 – My Little Halloween by Adrian Nunez
#47 – Catching Venusaur by Artzcreator
#48 – Ico by ceemdee
#49 – Outlaws by ceemdee
#50 – Oregon Trail by ceemdee

What do you mean Halloween is in three days? That… can’t be right. I mean, surely I would have posted information about our annual Halolzween Pumpkin Carving Contest far sooner than that! Wait I didn’t? Fffffffffffffffff (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Oh wait, no… this was totally intentional! For this is The Fourth Annual SPEED RUN Halolzween Pumpkin Carving Contest! Yes! This totally intentional contest will test your skills in last minute pumpkin video game pumpkin carving! Are you up to the challenge? Probably not but lets do it anyway!

So what are the rules this year? Same as last year for the most part… take pics of your totally original, made yourself video game themed pumpkin carving, send it in to our special contest email halolzween[at]halolz.com, then sit back and let the Level Up Studios themed prizes roll in! Well okay it’s a little more complicated than that, be sure to check out all the rules below.

Prizes this year will be awarded a little differently than last year (last year things got super confusing between all the categories and places). This year we will be awarding one “grand prize” to an entry in each of the following catagories:

• Most Creative (the most interesting, original or unusual entry)
• Most Detailed (the most artistic, complex, or technically difficult entry)
• Most Humorous (lolololol)

One winner from each of these categories will receive $100 in Level Up Studios store credit!

Then after that we will award an undetermined number of runners up an “Honorable Mention” prize of one Level Up Studios t-shirt or poster of their choice! The number of runners up chosen will be entirely dependent on the number of entries received in this lightning round contest!

Then finally all other entrants will receive a mystery “participant” prize just for entering! Because everyone deserves a prize on Halloween, right?

And now for the most important part of all… the official submission rules:

How to enter:
Step 1: Create an amazing video game themed Halloween pumpkin. Carve it, paint it… there is really no limit to what you can do, as long as there’s a pumpkin in there somewhere! (Other fruits and vegetables are permissible as entries if used creatively)
Step 2: Hand write or print out a sign that says “Halolz.com” to place next to the entry for at least one of the photos that you send in (so that we know that your entry is original and not taken from somewhere off the web). If you don’t do this your entry will be invalid!
Step 3: Take at least one digital photo (however the more the better, and usually at least one with lights on and on with lights off is a good idea) and email it to halolzween[at]halolz.com. Be sure to include: a name for your pumpkin, your real name or nickname that you want shown with your entry on the site and your mailing address for any prizes you might win!
Step 4: All entries must be received by midnight EST on Oct 30th. (Winners will be announced on the 31st).

Additional rules and tips:
• If you send in multiple photos of your work we will post the ones we think look best.
• All entries MUST have at least one photo showing a Halolz.com sign to prevent cheating. There are many video game pumpkin pictures already out there on the internet and if you do not follow this rule we have to assume the pumpkin is not your own work.
• Entries that use a pre-made carving template (like the ones Scott gives out every year) will be accepted, but the odds of you actually winning anything will be extremely low and you will not be eligible for a participation prize!
• Non-video game themed pumpkins will be accepted into the gallery but they are ineligible to win grand prizes.
• You may enter as many pumpkins as you want!

I think that covers all the rules! Good luck!

[An important side note, I have to admit that we had mixed results with fulfilling prizes to winners last year. Of course I am entirely to blame for that, we had A LOT of prize winners, we launched our brand new store around that time, and honestly several contest prize winners fell through the cracks. I have the full winners list here, so if you are one of the people who did not receive a prize from 2010, please email us at the halolzween[at]halolz.com email and we will resolve all outstanding prizes and get you some bonus gifts as well! Thanks!]

See you there! Or maybe not? I’ve never been to Georgia so maybe no one actually lives there? Prove me wrong!