We asked you Freeks to share your best excuses to stay home “sick” and play your favorite video games. You answered. We got over 90 videos from you! It was fun. And your videos were… entertaining. Some of them were extremely… messed up. All of these ellipses are making me sound… stupid.

Anyway, Gamer’s PayDay is over and the grand prize winner is Jesse Carson with 345 "Likes"! Jesse wins $500 to stay home from work, a copy of MW3 and our Perfect Arsenal Pack (more on that later!).

Our three runners-up are Ben Phillips, Ryan Randall and Brian Lembke. You guys win a copy of Modern Warfare 3 and our Perfect Arsenal Pack. Congrats, guys! We’ll be in touch.

If you didn’t win this time, we’d like to thank you for having some fun with us anyway. Here’s a discount code worth 10% off anything in our store (including the new FPS Freek ELITE!) that you can use yourself or share with your friends. Enter code “payday” at checkout for the discount to be applied.

Here is the winning video from ­­­­­­­­Jesse:

A couple of weeks before the release of Gears of War 3, Gears of War: The Board Game will hit store shelves. You see, it's a board game with all of the excitement of Gears of War the video game—except it's probably not even close to as exciting. Sadly, I still totally want it. Fantasy Flight Games makes a pretty good case with this trailer and, honestly, the little figurines would make a great addition to my ongoing army vs. Indians vs. firemen vs. cowboys war I have going on in my sandbox.

I got dibs on Cole Train!

According to Amazon.com, Gears of War: The Board Game releases on August 31^st for about $80.

Epic Games

• Collect multiplayer experience by playing Horde mode. Players currently gain experience at this rate:
  • 50 points per completed Casual wave
  • 75 points per completed Normal wave
  • 100 points per completed Hardcore wave
  • 125 points per completed Insane wave
• Ability to restart Public Horde from the current failed wave, instead of having to start over from wave 1
• Allows the host to boot players from a Public Horde
• Adds a message at the end of the match to explain to players that they should wait before quitting, so they avoid penalties for quitting early
• Adds support for the new campaign chapter, "Road to Ruin"
• Adds 13 new achievements worth 325 points. All of the new achievements require the Dark Corners Map Pack, a set of seven new maps and a deleted campaign chapter to be released July 28. The 13 new achievements are:
  • "My Way or the Highway" (25 points): Without being detected, complete the "Road to Ruin" deleted scene after choosing the stealth option.
  • "Highway to Hell" (25 points): Complete the "Road to Ruin" deleted scene after choosing the guns-blazing option.
  • "Two for the Road" (25 points): Complete the "Road to Ruin" deleted scene in co-op as either Marcus or Dom.
  • "Be Careful What You Wish For" (10 points): Reach level 5 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 10 on the War Machine map in Horde (any difficulty).
  • "Ride It All Night Long" (10 points): Reach level 10 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 10 on the Highway map in Horde (any difficulty).
  • "No, But His Face Rings a Bell" (15 points): Reach level 15 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 20 on the Sanctuary map in Horde (any difficulty).
  • "Lost in Transition" (20 points): Reach level 20 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 20 on the Way Station map in Horde (any difficulty).
  • "Like Father, Like Gun" (30 points): Reach level 30 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 30 on the Allfathers Garden map in Horde (any difficulty).
  • "Am I Only Dreaming?" (40 points): Reach level 40 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 40 on the Memorial map in Horde (any difficulty).
  • "Blood on the Sand" (50 points): Reach level 50 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 50 on the Nowhere map in Horde (any difficulty).
  • "Afraid of the Dark" (20 points): Play a multiplayer match on each of the seven Dark Corners Map Pack maps (any mode).
  • "Did Not Go Gentle" (30 points): Win a multiplayer match on each of the seven Dark Corners Map Pack maps (any mode)
  • "Is it Hot or Is That Just You?" (25 points): Kill 25 Bloodmounts with a Scorcher Flamethrower while playing Horde on a Dark Corners Map Pack map (any difficulty).