A couple of CAD-related announcements to start the day.

First of all, Digital Overload registration prices go up to $45 on Friday (from $40). We’ve announced our first two sponsors, Crucial and Zboard, who will be giving away prizes at the event. I’ll have my own fair share of prizes to give away to attendees, like CAD merchandise and even some CAD original artwork. Also I’m planning on making some special goodies that only attendees get, like a mini-comic book or a limited edition poster or something.

We’ll have PC gaming, console gaming, and even tabletop gaming for you to spend your entire weekend on. So check it out.

Also, I want to talk about CAD Premium for a moment. While the animation will be a huge part of CAD Premium, that’s not all the membership will get you. Starting in January it will give you access to exclusive comic strips, wallpapers and sketches each month that won’t be available elsewhere. And then in February the animation begins, which will be included in the CAD Premium content area.

Also, for the end of the year, we’re working on giving people who signed up for the membership the opportunity to buy the CAD Animation DVD, loaded with extras, for a much cheaper price than it will be retail. Just something to think about while you can still sign up the membership for 45% off before December 31st. Not a bad christmas gift for a CAD fan, I would imagine.

Winter-een-mas is right around the corner, and as I mentioned, after Christmas we’ll start getting into it. The Winter-een-mas season doesn’t start until January, with the holiday lasting the last seven days of the month.

However, we only make Winter-een-mas t-shirts available once a year, and they are limited editions for that year. Last year’s design was rather popular. I’ve just finished up the design for 2006 and I’m pretty happy with it. Also, given the season, I’ve decided they will be long-sleeve shirts this time. They will be on presale very shortly, so that they can be shipped and in your hands in time for Winter-een-mas.

Oh, and speaking of Winter-een-mas… I’m going to be in Boston attending Vericon right smack dab in the middle of the holiday. And what’s more, they’re going to be holding celebratory Winter-een-mas events. So you can game for the holiday with me and others, and also come pester me with questions in all sorts of panels. It’ll be fun!

I’ve decided to stop caring about Dead or Alive 4’s release date. It only leads to disappointment. When the thing is actually on the shelves, when someone actually has it in their hands, in their system, drop me an email, and then I’ll start caring again.

I’m a little bit surprised… this christmas season is somewhat lackluster for games. We got the Xbox 360, which is wonderful, but I’m not feeling the love from the other systems. And I can only imaging that come Q1 2006, we’ll hit another nasty dry spell like we did this past year, until the eventual release of Oblivion which will quench us all.