You want to know who gives the best tours? Like the greatest, informative (but not dull), lively (but not coy) tours? That’s Game Informer Editor in Chief Andy McNamara. He and the rest of the noble GI crew have been kind enough to let us give away a visit to the offices – check out people’s desks (sounds silly, but totally worth it), learn that they don’t really get to play video games all day (but a good portion of it, sure), and see the vault in all of its amazing glory! Maybe, you should ask them how much they like this post written by one of their former editors. I think the’ll particularly enjoy the run-on sentences and the other ones that start with pronouns… or parenthetical… or something.

Anyway, the office is great and you’ll tool around for an hour with Andy and it really is a good time. Say hi, though, it’s intimidating on both sides!

The GI crew also went through their stash of swag for the year and bundled up some amazing stuff that we’ve worked into a number of different packages for the night. Keep an eye out for:

• 10 two-year subscriptions
• some sweet polo shirts
• Blik Super Mario Bros. wall graphics
• Games (PS3, 360, and Wii)
• a War Beast guitar!
• StarCraft II messenger bag
• Zelda Wii accessory kit
• and a couple more surprises!

Game Informer rules! Thanks guys!

We think this means we’re cool, right? Nice! (And, finally, we still have some high school scars between us).

l’etoile listed us among some really amazing events this weekend in our fair city, but we’re part of their first-ever Field Trip (use the buddy system). They’ll start out at the Weisman’s amazing opening and then head over to Be Excellent at The 501 Club. See you guys there!

There’s a Facebook event for the Field Trip, RSVP over here.

Oh Square Enix, you so crazy! We called, we mentioned the event we were organizing, and you said you’d help. That’s great! We were jazzed. Then the boxes came. We’re short a supurlative with a higher level than jazzed… beside ourselves? …jealous of whomever wins this haul? …kind of spazzy with excitement? All of those are too long. Anyway, you get the point. We have two lots – one for Final Fantasy VII and one for Kingdom Hearts, both alike in dignity.

The Final Fanasy VII pack:

• Final Fantasy VII Play Arts Cloud Strife and Hardy-DAYTONA bike figure
• Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Zach Fair figure
• Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Cloud Strife figure
• Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Aerith Gainsborough figure
• Final Fantasy VII Play Arts Vol. 2 Sephiroth figure
• Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII PSP
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Blu-Ray

Oh, and not to undersell, but there’s the Kingdom Hearts set too. What an embarrassment of amazing riches!

Some of you might know Claudio Sanchez from his wicked amazing band, Coheed and Cambria, but he’s a busy dude. A side project of sorts for him, called Kill Audio, is a comic series with cool vinyl toys to immortalize the great metal characters.

Thanks to one of our favorite local shops, Robot Love, we have one signed by the man himself just ready for you to win as a prize at Be Excellent to Each Other! Good luck and thanks so much, Robot Love. You rock! Might we suggest that you rock some Coheed on stage and then throw in some drawing tickets for the figure? Hint, hint

Ubisoft is our newest gaming donor and we’re so excited that they’re helping us out! We’re going to have two copies of the Prince of Persia collector’s edition strategy guide and art book and a copy of the game on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360! Look for them in the platform bundles we’ll have as prizes on Friday at Be Excellent to Each Other. Thanks so much Ubi, you rule!

The Art Institutes International Minneapolis really puts the spurs to it in their culinary track at the downtown school and they’ve gifted us with one of the kits you need to get behind the stove. This thing is crazy!

We have this in our house right now and the one pictured above has literally half of the goodies that our set does. It’s totally out of this world and comes in a super fancy, way professional, down right impressive case. As an extra bonus, we’ve also got a chef’s coat and hat, you fancy pants. You can win it Friday, so get some recipes ready, ’cause you’ll have all the gear you need! Thanks Art Institutes International Minneapolis!

We have a very, very special plan on a first-come, first-served basis. We’re calling it craft services, because that makes it sound pretty rock ‘n roll, but it’s easy to explain outside of the clever name:

• We have 24 blank, ready-to-be-customized Munny’s
• You can buy them at the event for $25 each and $20 of those will go straight to the charities
• We’ll have a bunch of markers, stamps, and stickers so you can chill out, drink a beer, and decorate your Munny

Oh, and one last thing!

• Everyone who buys a Munny (and only those who snag one) will be entered to win an amazing prize from the Art Institutes International, Minneapolis – one of the artists kits prepped for students starting an art education. Seriously, it’s way rad! (And did we mention it’s worth $500). Here’s what’s inside:

four drawing pads from gigantic down to big, sketch board, ruler, cutting mat, eight tubes of paint, 12 piece charcoal stick set, sharpie, blender, ebony pencil, three charcoal pencils, pencil sharpener, kneaded eraser, white eraser, pen nibs, 12 piece marker set, 12 piece colored pencil set, jumbo charcoal stick, four brushes for watercolors and acrylics, masking tape, x-acto knife with blades, india ink, 12 piece pencil set, four pigment liner sketch pen set, and a color wheel. Oh, and it all comes in a big, cool carry-able bag

We’ll get your contact info and let you know later if you won (more simply, you need not be present to win). Thanks so much to Robot Love, Art Institutes International Minneapolis, and the volunteers who are going to goad creativity right outta you all!

These are going to be an amazing prize for the lucky folks who attend Be Excellent to Each Other 2009. We have three original, inked comic pages from each of three amazing comic artists on original comic stock (so they’re big and heavy-weight paper and signed by each of the folks who worked on each page.

So, three large-scale pages each from:

• Pat Gleason (Green Lantern Corps)
• Doug Mahnke (Green Lantern, Final Crisis, Martian Manhunter: Requiem)
• Zander Cannon (Smax, The Replacement God)

While we don’t want to spoil the specifics, let’s just say that the pages we have feature some amazing <cough, Superman> heroes and villians doing their best <cough, Batman> crimefightin’

If you don’t know what an inked comic page looks like, here’s a sample:

The dimensions are somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 1/4 x 19 1/2 inches on cardstock, pencil and ink. Good luck at the event!

Uptown Theatre at Dusk Minneapolis, MN by puroticorico

Besides awesome Saturday midnight showings and one of the only balconies in a movie theater, the Landmark Uptown Theater has also been wonderfully generous by offering up four movie passes for Be Excellent to Each Other 2009. Thanks Uptown!

Galactic Pizza superheroes, as photographed for CNN Money

Who’s arguing, except that everyone always argues about the best pizza in any given town. We here at Be Excellent to Each Other can vouch for the “pizza” in a number of other metropolitan areas, and it, well, sucks. So, when the debate rages in Minneapolis, people might quibble on the top spot, but Galactic Pizza always pops up as a contender (and often as the rightful winner).

Truly, besides the amazing pies, they’re also a huge part of the local community and they’ve donated a $30 gift certificate for someone super lucky to win at Be Excellent to Each Other! If you’re an NPR member (no plug intended), that’ll get you two amazing large pizzas (If you’re not an NPR member, that will get you very near two large pizzas, equally amazing!)