I rarely shop at GameStop, but sometimes I forget why that is and wander in, false hopes high, only to be quickly reminded of how much they hate games and the people who play them. I did that at the mall this weekend, and almost bought a "new" game until I was informed by the employee that the sticker-covered case with no disc inside that I picked up off the shelf was the one I was about to take home. I put the game back and decided to write a song to remind myself why I should never set foot in there again.

But I went one step further and created a contest to go with it to remind and encourage others to try other options, especially when it comes to used games. In that spirit, I'm giving away a few used games of my own, as well as a limited edition Paul Frank Parappa the Rapper t-shirt that I won in a contest myself. If you're a Paul Frank or Parappa the Rapper fan, this is one of the only ways to get your hands on this t-shirt.

So here's how the contest works: use the song "Man I Hate GameStop" in any way to make a video about why and how much you hate GameStop. You don't have to make a music video of the entire song, you don't even have to use the entire song. You could play the song in the background while you talk, or just use a clip of it for your intro. As long as the song can be identified in your video to make it obvious it was made specifically for this contest, that's all that matters. Upload your video to YouTube and submit it as a video response to this one.

One grand prize winner will receive the Paul Frank Parappa t-shirt that I'm wearing in the video, and two runners up will receive a game of their choice from my GameTZ "available" list. Everyone who enters will receive my username for the game trading hub GameTZ.com, even before the contest ends. If you see a game you really want and you happen to win, you can choose a game instead of the Parappa t-shirt. All three winning entries will be ranked according to the bravery, honesty, and creativity displayed in their videos, and game choices will proceed in that order. If the grand prize winner forfeits the t-shirt to choose a game, the next runner up may choose the shirt instead of a game, and so on for 3rd place.

For lyrics and a downloadable mp3, visit:

http://journalrhythm.blogspot.com/2009/05/man-i-hate-game... (less info)