If you've been following the news of the video game industry, you probably know that Microsoft's new console, the Xbox 360, will be released on November 22. To promote it, Microsoft has teamed with Mountain Dew to bring us the "Every Ten Minutes" sweepstakes.

Here's how it works. You collect codes, either from bottle caps or stickers on 12-packs, and enter them online to be redeemed for points. You then allocate your points to a ten-minute time slot. Since the sweepstakes began and until October 31st, they randomly choose an entered code at each time slot and award its owner a 360.

In all, over 9000 Xbox 360's will be given away.

This campaign had me rather intrigued. By entering a crap load of points at one obscure 10 minute slot, I reasoned, my chances of winning would be relatively good. At its beginning, due to lack of advertising, some time slots had as few as a couple hundred registered points. If I bought 30 or 40 Mountain Dews, the ~$50 spent would be well worth it for a free $500 game console.

For nearly 1.5 months, I collected as many caps as I could muster. I would seek out friends and coworkers drinking Mountain Dew and ask, "Hey...can I have your cap?"

At one point I even threw down and bought an entire 24-piece tray from the backroom of a grocery store. This $30 expense was covered mostly by funds credited to the 8 in my wallet, so I hoped the numerological karma would bring me more fortune.

Unfortunately, it did not.

After saving up 38 total points, I put them all on 2am, Monday morning. The ten minutes came and went, only to award a 360 to some guy in Idaho. Damn.

There were about 1400 total registered codes. My 38 gave me somewhere around a 3% chance of winning. A long shot, yes, but still very much in the realm of the possible. In the end, despite the loss of funds, it was well worth the excitement.

Now I must decide if I actually want the 360 enough to buy it. Somehow I just don't think it will feel as special.