Friday, the end of the standard work week, and the start of hopefully good things for your weekend. Being that Friday ususally brings good feelings, we're here to usher in some of those good feelings with some free stuff! As you know, we're going to be doing a give-away every Friday (when we can/remember). One of you will win said prize simply by telling us why it would mean the world to you. 

This week we're giving away a Salamander plushie from Lost Planet 2. In the picture above you can see said creature of grace cutely devouring Vital Suits, of which will then be doomed to be digested in the plush filled guts for 50 years. Leave a comment and tell us why it would mean the world to you! If you win, we'll send Sir Om Nom Nom to you. 

Who won the last give-away? Well, it was none other than Alex! What he said touched our hearts in that special place. No seriously. It did. "This hat is the essence of moisture...and moisture is the essence of beauty…

It has become apparent to us that sitting atop our mountain of Capcom game branded goods is no good. In fact, we should be handing these treasures out to people who will love it, fans, instead of letting it stay cramped in our desks. In the spirit of giving, we're introducing a new contest that, in theory, should re-occur each Friday. Since I cannot currently think of a better name, it's the Friday Give-Away! 

What it is: Every Friday we'll put up some piece of Capcom treasure that can be yours. 

How to win: Leave us a comment in the blog. Tell us why this particular item would mean the world to you. We'll go through the comments, pick our favorite, and send them the prize. 

Simple, right? Today's prize, and in fact the introductory prize, is a very hard to find STARS cap/hat. It's the only one I've seen in the office, and do not even know it's origins. So please, if you want this mysterious STARS head covering to rest comfortably on your noggin, write us in the comments to this blog. 

Next Friday we'll announce the winner, and announce a new item to be given away.

Don't you just love running across a little secret in a game that is a tip of the hat to you? We do. You'll see little easter eggs littered through Capcom games, all because we're fans too. Just thinking about finding a little morsel of goodness gets me wanting to go exploring for something I might have missed… That got us thinking, and since it's near easter, why don't you tell us your favorite Capcom easter eggs? 

I've included a couple of my person favorites to start you off, like the Tricell billboards in Bionic Commando, or the old school camera angle in Lost in Nightmares, and even a non-Capcom game, Frank West in Left 4 Dead. 

Leave a comment and tell us your favorite Capcom easter eggs!

I get a lot of questions about how our whole raffles and points systems work here on Capcom-Unity. Breaking it down is fairly simple, since you earn points on your activity here on the site. So what exactly earns you points, and how much? Well, here's a list of a few of the point earning actions below: 

Add a Blog Post • 30
Start a Forum Thread • 20
Posting Comment • 15
Sending Content to Friends • 15
Making a Forum Post • 15
Referring a New Member • 15
Sending a Network Invite • 15
Uploading a Video • 10
Joining a Group • 10
Uploading a Photo • 5
Updating Status • 5
Rating Content • 5
Voting on a Poll • 5

Aside from all of the above ways to earn points, you can also earn points by getting redeemable codes. Codes are given out in a variety of ways, but a common way is by participating in many of our online events, such as the live Ustreams. 

Our raffles are the place to spend these points. We stock our raffles with all sorts of prizes, from rare Capcom goods from Japan, games, and other awesome prizes you can only get here. All you need is some Capcom-Unity points to get some raffle tickets. For example, think of your points as "cash," and the every time you enter one of our raffles you're "buying" one raffle ticket. Winners of raffles are chosen at random. Of course, you can improve your chances of winning by getting more tickets, as there is no limit on how many times you enter.

The best part about this whole system is that it's absolutely free. You earn points for free, and if you win in our raffles, we ship the item to you for free. Can't beat that! 

Now go earn yourself some points, and be sure to check out the current raffles by clicking here!

The live show is over, but be sure to check out the recorded version!

This afternoon at about 1:30pm PST tune in live to the Ask Capcom Ustream! Christian Svensson (Sven) will be on to answer your burning questions. We'll be visiting some of the topics in the Ask Capcom forums, so if there's something you need to have answered, post it now! There will also be a few questions taken from the live chat, which you can find below (keep in mind we won't be taking questions from the chat until the show has started.)