Worlds Best App Contest Winners

Question

It’s time to announce the winning applications for MSN® Messenger’s Worlds Best App Contest, which MSN ran from September through December 31^st, 2005. 

 

There were a lot of great entries, hard work and interesting new ideas for building new applications and games within Messenger.  Submitted applications were judged based on the official rules and judging criteria which included creativity, launches during the contest, suitability for the medium and best use of other MSN services.  The following identified winning applications still subject to verification and acceptance of their winning prizes:

 

Grand Prize: Pool—It’s cool.

 

1^st prize Games: Hide and Seek

1^st prize non-game: Noteasic

 

2^nd Prize Games:

   Tankwars

   Rockhopper’s Race for Fish

   Connect Four

   Othello!

   Quatro

 

* note: the author of Tankwars also wrote the very popular Messenger Quest.  While multiple submissions were allowed each person is eligible for 1 prize.  Tankwars edged out Messenger Quest.

 

2^nd Prize Non-Games:

Let's Meet

Shared Search

Virtual Address Book

Spot-a-UFO

Blog IM Interview

3^rd Prize Games:

GO Game

Battleships

3D Tic-Tac-Toe

Sudoku Sniper

Cartoon Memory

Game of the Generals

Dactis

Let's Play Chess

Maverick V-Pool

Hangman

Memory

Buzzword Bingo

Survival Tournament

Scissor Stone Paper

Chingo

Ahorcado for MSN Messenger

9 Ball

Boter kaas en Eieren

8 ball world cup

4x4

Finar

3^rd Prize non-Games:

  Web Sharing

  t4im (translator for instant messenger)

  CodeTalk

  Free Job Boards

  Whisper

  Abu-Hilal Arabic Keyboard

  eBay Search

  EmoPic

  ShoppingTogether

  UTA

  Math Pastebin

  Subject Suggestion

 

Congratulations to all of the winners, and from everyone on the Messenger team thank you all for your hard work, creative ideas, and participation in Messenger’s 1^st development contest.

 

Winners will be contacted in writing by Gage, the agency coordinating the contest to verify the winners and their acceptance of the prizes.  Please contact me with any questions.

 

Todd

Answer 1

Congratulations for all!!!! CONGRATULATIONS \o/

Answer 2

Congratulations to everyone from me too!

Answer 3

Congratulations to everybody and thanks! ;-)

Answer 4

First of all, congratulations to Juzzi, the grand price winner!!!

Of course also congratulations to all the other developers who won a price! I'm very happy to see I've also won (3rd place but well, I won something!!) and I would like to thank the whole MSN Messenger Activity team for organizing such a contest and making it available for us all to develop such nice applications. Thanks!

Answer 5

Congrats to everyone! Had my suspicions about Pool as I saw how fast it rose up the ranks, and its a great game!

Thanks Todd and the team for awarding my little Connect 4 game second place, you've put a smile on my face on this dreary, damp london monday morning!

Answer 6

Congrats to all!
The competition was awesome and surprising!

Where can we look for updates if the MSN Team has more contests?

After hearing some of the complaints, suggestions, and seeing what features of the Activity API were most used... can the MSN Team mention any changes to the Activity API that we can expect to see?

Answer 7

Good job to everyone who entered, i'm definatley pleased about getting second place. Congrats to Juzzi though, you made an awsome game and you definatley deserved to win the grand prize!

Hopefully there will be other contests like this, it was a good experience and pretty fun too .

Answer 8

how about everyone that's participate tell own's resume and contest entrie?

Answer 9

     Congratulations to everyone!!!! :D I'm a happy 3rd place winner, but hey, the experience is what counts!!! Not bad for an electronic guy that never took a programming course ;)

      (Just between us, my game gets more traffic than my employer's web site)

     Thank you Microsoft for providing cool platforms to develop with!!!! Keep the good work!!!

     Say... Maybe we all should put our projects together and build an amusment e-park or something... just a though ;)

Answer 10

Congratulations to everyone! I'm amazed at the level and quality of the entries! I'm also humbled that people liked Notesaic! Thanks go to Todd and the rest of MSN staff for organizing the contest!  It was a neat contest and I look forward to checking out some of the other applications.

I was just wondering if anyone else has received their notice yet? Because I have yet to see anything in my email inbox or my real mailbox.

Congrats again!
Dan

Answer 11

No word here.  It took something like two weeks before I revieved my gift certificate for being one of the first five though, so I wouldn't worry about it yet.

Ah yes, and congrats!

Answer 12

Hey!

Do you get notified by email too??

Thanks anyway,
Greetings Glenn

Answer 13

Just know the result and glad to be 3rd prize. I thought I would have received the result through email.  Mine is 9 ball.  Congratulations to all the winners!

Answer 14

Did anyone get any updates about their prizes?

Answer 15

I got my notification via FedEx today (2/20/06)
Location: Florida, USA.

Answer 16

    Well, I'm currently in a bussines trip, but apparently a nice bright package arrived at my home. I'm really looking forward to open it!!!!! :D

 

 

 

 

 

Answer 17

I received today... anyone knows if WE have to pay the FEDEX back???

Tarkh.... better you get early, because you need send feedback until 3, March or the prize will be forfeit!

Thanks in advance!
Rafael

Answer 18

Got my notification today (21/2/06) via FedEx in the UK.

---

I've got a couple of questions about the "Affidavit of Eligibility and Release" that we have to sign to claim our prizes, it seems to have been designed purely for people in the US to sign, and I'm a bit confused about a couple of things, and I don't want to cause any problems by filling it in incorrectly.

Firstly, the form starts by asking for a "State of..." and "County of...", I presume that we treat this like the "State" field in most web forms and leave it blank if we're not in the US, or do I enter my County or Country into one of those fields?

Then it asks for a "Social Security Number", I guess the closest British equivalent would be our "National Insurance Number" but this isn't a number that we ever normally give away to any organisation other than the government, and our employer. Never normally to a private organisation, in fact I'm pretty sure we're specifically advised to never give it away to anyone else. Is this something that's required from non-US citizens?

And lastly the requirement to get a "Notary Public" to sign the form seems a bit excessive!

You're welcome to contact me privately with answers to any of this if it would be best taken offline, or if there's an email address that I ought to be contacting with these questions please let me know.

Answer 19

Yeah, I got mine too. Unfortunatley with my haste I ripped part of the return envelope thinking it was something else enclosed rather than an empty. 

It's a shame we gotta spend £100 getting the Affidavit notarized though.

rgdonato, from what I can see its paid for (for the return trip, should have an 'International Air Waybill' there somewhere).

Answer 20

Hmm.. That's strange, I haven't received mine and I'm much closer to USA than you guys are (I'm in Vancouver, Canada) and I can drive to Washington in an hour or so. I guess I'll just have to wait a little longer. Do they leave a note on your door knob if you are not at home? I'm almost always at work so it would be impossible for them to catch me at home.

Answer 21

I got my notification yesterday (22-02-2006) in Spain and I also have some questions about the Affidavit of Eligibility and Release form we have to fill.

I'm from Spain, and have the same doubt than GAThrawn about what to put in State Of and Country of fields. I guess "country of"=Spain and "State of"=Madrid (autonomous region).

The same question about social security number: The usual id asked in Spain is our DNI, the official document that identifies everyone.

In the employer (if applicable) do we have to fill the company we are working at? I mean, I took part in the contest on my own, I don't know if I have to put the company I work for in this field.

And I don't know if there will be any problem if I go to a notary here in Spain...

I think I'll telephone to ask all this questions but it would be great if you could help us!

Thanks in advance
Lechal

Answer 22

Basically you have to fill that out with a lawyer / soliciter who is a Notary Public (atleast thats what i've had to do, and what it looks like you have to do). You dont fill all of that in yourself.

Answer 23

 

     Thanks for the info, Rafael!!!! I'll address that issue it first thing tomorrow!!!

 

 

 

Answer 24

    Well, I'm in Mississauga, Ontario, and I got my package on Tuesday 21st. I guess that the difference might reside in the fact that the Microsoft Canada Corporative HQ are 10 minutes away driving.

 

Answer 25

     I'm not exactly sure I'm comfortable sending neither my social insurance number nor the name of my employer (last thing I want is my boss finding out that I have time to spare). Also, getting a notarized copy of an affidavit is an expense that I cannot afford - I don't make that much money.

     The third prize that I won is cool indeed... but I won't be able to send all these information before the 3rd of March... I'm considering all my available options, which includes to withdraw from the contest... I wish there weren't so many requisites.

 

Answer 26

Before anyone does anything rash like withdrawing from the contest, I emailed the contest organizers about the issues for non-US prize winners, and they've been very quick getting back to me. Here's a couple of quotes from the emails I've received (slightly edited by me):

"You can ignore the affidavit we sent to you as it is the incorrect form for international (as you've noted).  We will be sending you new paperwork for you to return
...
Yes this applies to all international winners.  We will make adjustments on the return dates if necessary as we are responsible for the delay."

If anyone else has any questions or doubts I can highly recommend  emailing the 'admin' email address that's in the official rules you received as part of your winners pack, they've been very quick getting back to me and answered my questions without any problems.

Answer 27

Too late

Answer 28

That better not mean that the forms become invalid after spending all that money on them...

Answer 29

Congratulations to everyone. Thanks to you Todd and to the rest of Microsoft staff for organizing the contest.

 

I've won one of the (3rd Prize non-Games) for my application "Abu-Hilal Arabic Keyboard", but unfortunately I did not receive any e-mail  or mail notification. I find out about the "Worlds Best App Contest Winners" list from this Forum only by chance today (24 Feb. 2006).

 

I hope that you will send me an official Notification about my prize, and arrange to send me my prize to my mail Address given below:

 

Name: Shadi Abu Hilal

P. O. Box: 915 Telaa El-Ali

Postal Code: 11953

Amman, Jordan

 

 

Email Address: [e-mail]

 

 

---

Best regards,

 

Shadi Abu Hilal

Answer 30

Congratulations to everybody

And thnaks

Answer 31

I've also received my notification!! Can't wait till I got my prize! Unfortunatly it takes 4 - 6 weeks...

Answer 32

Same for me!
I didn`t hear anything yet neither...

Hope they`ll notice me soon...
And if they don`t have my adress or something I hope they will ask my by email or something...

Well, c yah latr

Answer 33

I've just received a mail confirming that the affidavit was for US winners and not international and that we will receive a new form soon and the deadline will be extended.

I think it would be a great idea if the sent us by mail the fedEx code of our package so we can have some information before it arrives. I asked them by mail but there's no answer to this.

L

Answer 34

Got the same email too, waiting for my FedEx package now!

Answer 35

I received a mail in answer to my questions. It said:

> If we are able to use the paperwork that you had notarized and returned to us,
we will do so. If new paperwork is required and there is an additional cost we
may be able to reimburse you.  If this step is necessary, we would need to
obtain a copy of your notary transaction receipt.

Now I've seen at FedEx.com that they have received my paperwork. I hope it's ok and they can send me my prize and I don't have to wait for new paperwork.

I asked them to send by mail the FedEx code for the packages they send, but had no answer for this. I think it would be great ;-)

L

Answer 36

Do you guys also receive an NFR (not for resale) version of VS 2005?I doubt its value. I heard it is given away for free in VS2005 launch tour and VS training classes.Btw, is NFR version allowed to be used in comercial environment? what do u guys think?

Answer 37

The copies of VS distributed as part of the contest are complete copies and can certainly be used in a commercial environment.  They are marked NFR since these were awarded as prizes, as opposed to purchased in a store or via a MS partner. 

Let me know if there are additional questions.

Todd Biggs
Windows Live