A little
faster than Take-Two would have liked
Wade McGilberry just won a million dollars playing a
video game in a Take-Two promotion. The 23-year-old from Mobile, Alabama, accomplished the
feat in just an hour and a half, becoming the first to pitch a perfect game in
Take-Two's "Major League Baseball 2K10." He and his wife, Katy, plan
to pay off their mortgage and start a family with the winnings.
Wade has not been able to duplicate his feat since March
2, the day he bought the game at its midnight launch and played it
after coming
home from his job as a records keeper for 401(k) retirement plans. (So
not only does he play boring games, but he also has a boring job.
sub.ed.) Take-Two offered the $1 million prize to the first person
to pitch a perfect game. The outfit had been hoping that it would take
a bit
longer for someone to crack the game as they were hoping to milk the
promotion
a bit more.
Jason Argent, vice president of marketing at Take-Two's
2K Sports business, said the company didn't know how many times the feat has
been accomplished in the video game. Certainly no one among the game's
developers has been able to do it. McGilberry said that when he bought the game, his wife
suggested that he take the day off work so he could get a head start on the
competition. This alone would have meant that she should be preserved
in plastic as an example to other gamer's wives.
McGilberry thought about it and still went to work. When he came home, he set up a video recording, started playing and
achieved the perfect game after "five or six attempts."