This Fall, 12 members of the NVIDIA Game Center Alliance (NGCA) participated in a unique worldwide launch of the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra. Each center was given a brand new, unreleased GeForce FX 5950 Ultra card, and given free reign to host their very own "best launch" events when the card was launched worldwide.

The game centers were all responsible for documenting their launch activities, press coverage, and any other launch-related media, and providing these results to NVIDIA. NVIDIA would then pick the NGCA member with the "best launch" of the GeForce FX 5050 Ultra. This center would receive 20 XFX GeForce FX 5950 Ultra graphics cards—to keep! The winning game center would also take home 20 copies of Final Fantasy® XI, and 20 copies of Call of Duty®!

The finalists included 2 centers from Canada: "Head 2 Head Games" and "Switchbox," as well as 2 from the United States: "Media Works" in Kentucky, and "Duckets Game Station" in Illinois. These 4 centers went over the top in promoting the new card at their centers, and made it quite difficult for us at NVIDIA to choose a clear winner.

We realized the hard work that went into each center's launch and wanted to ensure that we made the right decision when choosing the victor. So we gathered up every piece of media provided by each center, ranked each one by a 4-category matrix, and locked ourselves in a conference room on a Friday afternoon, vowing not to leave until we had reached the correct verdict!

We knew there had to be one winner. But we could not in good conscience deem the other three centers "losers," as they each had each put together such impressive and dedicated launch events. So NVIDIA decided to award the three second place runners-up another awesome prize package: 10 XFX GeForce FX 5700 Ultra's, 10 copies of Final Fantasy® XI, and 10 copies of Command and Conquer: Zero Hour®!


After evaluating the 4 centers' results, we were left with one clear winner in the end, though it was difficult to choose, as each center set itself apart from the others in its own special way. "Media Works," also known as the "Paducah Underground," took the prize as the center with the best launch, and took home the 20 XFX GeForce FX 5950 Ultra graphics cards and 40 game bundle!


Roddy Lyles, owner and founder of Media Works, set his center's launch apart with special promotional activities such as covering a car, truck and motorcycle in NVIDIA stickers, waving a custom-made NVIDIA flag at cars on the freeway outside his game center, featuring 3 characters dressed as our famous pixie, "Dawn", and also a local news report featuring the NVIDIA Launch event! Check out the pictures below, and download the video that Roddy created, showcasing the week's events!


Here's a list of the additional three finalists, and the events they hosted. Switchbox Gaming Center offered many awesome promotions during the launch week:
Duckets put on quite a show, and gathered the strength of its gaming community through these events: Head 2 Head Games put on quite a show during launch week. Here are some highlights from their events:

What's the card that has it all?
What's the card that beats 'em all?

Give it up to NVIDIA to bring out the best
The card that'll beat the rest

ATI is all in rage
Because NVIDIA let their beast out of its cage

128 don't cut it any more
The 5950 brings 256 to the floor

Maxin' out the stats and shootin' up the speed
Work for it - runs with so much ease

So what's the card that has it all?
The one that'll make us run to the mall!
5950 beats 'em all!

Congratulations to all 12 game centers for putting on some really great promotions during the launch week. Be sure to check out the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra at any of the 12 game centers below. OR, if you live near any of the 4 finalists mentioned above, you might want to check out their new hardware collections!