MochiAds today announced that they are launching the “Flash Rock Star Games Contest” with Gaia Online. The contest is designed to recognize new talent among Flash game developers. Winners will be determined by Gaia’s community as well as a panel of judges over a three-month period. The winners will be awarded game development contracts from Gaia and receive over $25,000 worth of cash and prizes.

“This contest is a unique opportunity for Flash game developers to get the exposure they deserve,” said Mochi Media CEO Jameson Hsu. “There are a lot of talented developers out there, and we’re excited to bring them tools that increase community interaction with their games.”

The Gaia Audience Prizes will be determined during the month of April 2008. Contest entries will be showcased to members of the Gaia online community, who will play and vote on their favorite games. The games with the highest community score will determine the Audience Prize results.

Please visit the site to enter.

The “Call for Entries” is out for the best developed games Independent game developers have to offer. Now in its’ third year, this year’s contest promises to big bigger and better than ever beforewith more games and prizes. There are two catagories for game entries - General and Casual. The Winner of each catagory will receive a specially configured game development workstation and there are several prizes for Fianlists and Semi-Finalists. Also, to celebrate our upcoming generation of game developers, ECD Systems has added a special recognition award for student entries. Winner of the “Best Student Entry” will receive a cash scholarship award.

Voting begins March 14, 2008 so get your game entered early and help “Fuel the Fun”. If last year is an indication of what to expect, several million unique visitors will be coming to the site every month to play games and experience the latest and greatest developments of the Indie game development community. You see, the Indie Game Contest is not only a competition, it is an opportunity for Indie developers to showcase and promote their games and talents.

ECD Systems looks forward to assisting you and working with you. We truly wish you ALL the very best!

To submit a game, please visit the site

For the 5th Casual Gameplay Design Competition, you are asked to incorporate this theme: UPGRADE. You are free to interpret that theme any way you choose; however, the extent to which your game addresses the theme is left up to the competition judges to decide. Use your imagination and be creative. The best entries submitted to represent the competition will be chosen for judging. The game doesn’t have to be complex nor large in scope; in fact, since you will have only 8 weeks to complete your design, simple ideas are probably the way to go.

This contest is sponsored by Adobe, Gimme5games and Mochi Media. Additionally - on top of all the lush prizes - your entry could be selected for a development opportunity to appear on other platforms. Deadline is 3 March at 11:59pm (GMT - 5:00). Visit the site to learn more, including all specs.

I normally don’t focus in on one state for a contest entry, but this one is unusual. 38 Studios (www.38studios.com), a pioneering entertainment company dedicated to delivering a broad spectrum of entertainment products, today announced the 1st Annual Massachusetts Game Challenge (MGC). The contest, open to students studying game design at Massachusetts-area universities, invites the region’s upcoming talent to design a video game.

The unusual part of this contest is that Boston Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling, is the owner of 38 Studios. He challenges students, who must establish teams of no less than two and no more than three eligible members. Each team is strongly encouraged to contain members of varied disciplines of study such as engineering, art, and marketing.

The mission? Build a playable video game featuring the 38 Studios mascot and his alter ego, Mean Munch, as well as create additional characters for Munch’s “posse.” Top prize is $3,000 to each team member on the winning team. Deadline is 18 February 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

Microsoft has announced the launch of its 6th annual worldwide Imagine Cup competition with a total prize fund of USD 200,000. This year’s theme is “Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment”.

The Imagine Cup now incorporates nine categories, consisting of Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Development, Project Hoshimi: Programming Battle, IT Challenge, Algorithm, Photography, Short Film and Interface Design.

The competition is open to all college or university students in part-time or full-time education. Last year, more then 100,000 students from over 100 countries participated in the event. Deadline dates all vary on the category, but all must be received before the end of June 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

YoYo Games announces unique web 2.0 game design competition where the winner will walk away with $1,000. In the spirit of Web 2.0, the competition will be judged first and foremost by the YoYo Games community, although the final decision will lie with the staff at YoYo Games and the creator of Game Maker Professor Mark Overmars. First prize in the competition will go to the developer who displays the most creativity, ingenuity and skill in their entry. Second place will take home $500, and third place a still respectable $250.

The theme for this competition is “Winter.” The contest will close at midnight on the 23rd of December, 2007. Visit the site to learn more.