A few days ago, we told you about the free beta slots being given away by NCSoft for all their contest winners. But for those who weren't fortunate enough to win any of the previous contests held by the company for Tabula Rasa, you'll be glad to know that there's one more way for you to get that much sought-after slot...by being as creatively smart-assed and funny as you can in PlanetTR's photo caption contest!

Yep, you got that right. Now we know there are a lot of wisecrackers among you guys out there, so this should be your perfect chance to flaunt your wit and comic side and have a chance to get into the beta! Still don't get our drift? See that image above? That was created by Harlequin and should give you an idea of what they're looking for.

So yeah, your entries will be judged based on humor, creativity, and artistic merit. Contestants are also allowed to send multiple entries, so the more witty captions you can come up with, the better! More contest details can be found behind that read link below, so for interested parties, you might wanna start clicking away.

Oh, and shoot, we almost forgot the exclusive screenshot! Here's the "stolen," and thus very rarely seen screenshot released by PlanetTR. Enjoy!

Tabula Rasa's Community Manager, CuppaJo, has just posted an important reminder regarding invitations to the upcoming beta. So if you're interested in getting into the beta, read on.

CuppaJo announced that they have sent beta invitations to all of their contest winners. No, there's no specific contest being referred to, this announcement covers all the Tabula Rasa contests held by NCSoft. So if you're sure you've won one of their contests one time or another and didn't get an invite, make sure you do the following:

• Check your PlayNC account and verify your email address. This is the email address we would have sent the invite to.
• Check your spam and junk filters. Sometimes mail from PlayNC is filtered by accident.
• Check the contest rules of the contest you won. The contest rules should state explicitly that a Tabula Rasa Beta Slot was a prize.
• If the contest was hosted by someone other than NCsoft, check with the contest sponsor to make sure your info was sent to us.
  

Now, after doing all those things and your invite is still nowhere to be found, you can then contact CuppaJo via cuppajo@ncsoft.com. Just make sure you include the name of the contest you won, your PlayNC account name, and your full name and age.

If this post's title struck you in a snap and you think you got creative juices to share, we're more than glad to tell you that your artsy fartsy ass is in luck. Why? Because the Tabula Rasa team is currently looking for experienced artists to join their team!

Yeah huh! If you're willing to work full time in Austin, Texas and have relevant working experience as a Concept Artist, Environment Artist, or a Lighting Artist, you might just be the Neo that NCSoft is looking for.

No need to head to NCSoft's Austin office, simply visit the company's website to get the full details on their job openings and other whatnots. Interested parties (and more importantly qualified candidates) can send in their resume, salary history, and URL to online portfolio to jobs@ncaustin.com.

More info can be found by clicking on the Read link below, so if you're willing to share your creative juices, go on and click away.

Been itching to have a meet and greet with Tabula Rasa's CuppaJo? Well then head on to Austin Texas, the Live Music Capital of the World (or so they say), and get a chance to meet NCSoft's CuppaJo and Cricket!

To celebrate the City of Heroes/Villains Double Exp Weekend, Silent MercX will be broadcasting his show on January 27 (7-9 Eastern, 6-8 Central) live from Austin's Tek Republik gaming center. And joining him will be community coordinators CuppaJo and Cricket, so this is your chance to get the lowdown on your favorite NCSoft games.

SilentMerc will be at TekRepublic from 5 - 9 p.m. Central (6-10 Eastern) and on the following hours:

• 10am-12am Monday-Thursday, 10am-2am Friday-Saturday, 12pm-12am Sunday
• For contact details: 512.459.2244
• Dunno where to go? Here's where they'll be at: 5310 Burnet Road Suite 106 Austin, TX 78756 (behind the Shell Station on NW corner of North Loop)

Well there ya have it! So if you wanna get the latest dibs on your favorite NCSoft games from the two kickass community coordinators, make sure you tune in (or better yet be in Austin) to w00t radio on the mentioned times.

Surely, y'all have heard that NCSoft has opened the beta sign-ups for Tabula Rasa, so we won't talk about that anymore. Instead, we'll just give you guys a little heads up on how you can get more info about the upcoming beta.

How?Well, all you have to do is tune in to w00t radio this Wednesday, January 10, and listen in as TR's Community Manager CuppaJo talks about the beta as well as general tips and a primer on the game. And, AND, w00t radio will also be giving away beta slots for the game, and you do wanna get into the beta, don't you?

You might wanna mark your calendars and set your alarms for this because some of the male bloggers here at QJ might beat you to those slots. (Some of them have been getting these silly schoolboy crushes on CuppaJo, for some strange reason, so they'll surely tune in. But because I don't wanna have lunch alone, I won't drop names. Harhar.) So anyway, make sure you catch the TR interview with CuppaJo this Wednesday, 7-9 p.m. EST on w00t radio. You never know, you might get lucky and snag a slot for the beta.

For those not in the know, Playboy has been running a yearly nude (or sometimes semi-nude) portfolio of hot video game characters for three years now. According to Scott Alexander, Playboy's Senior Editor, this is their way of injecting the video game culture into the magazine (read: getting the geeky hardcore gamers into buying Playboys).

Now, this year's Playboy Women of Gaming photo spread features nude female characters from different games gracing the front of the Playboy Mansion. Included in the list of virtual hotness are the following characters:

• Sarah Morrison from Tabula Rasa
• Jessica McRae from Scarface: The World Is Yours
• Lida and Persephone from God of War II
  
• Alica Claus from Bullet Witch
  
• Dr. Jasmine Lin from TimeShift
  
• Enrica Villablanca from Splinter Cell: Double Agent (Wii, PC, Xbox360)
  

Sorry to disappoint you guys, but we don't have pictures of this year's photo spread. And the one pic we got (see image above) was cut out from the neck up, which, I really don't think we even have to explain to you why it was cut that way. Alexander explains further that good old Hef (Hugh Hefner, THE Playboy guru himself, for those who don't speak Playboy lingo) has always been a hardcore gamer. Hmmm...interesting. We've always known the man as a player, but as a gamer?

Apparently, Hefner even has a high-profile, real techy game room in the mansion which has everything from pinball machines down to the latest gaming whatnots (we wonder if he already has a PS3 and Wii in there?). Alexander says that combining video games and Playboy is the perfect move for the magazine because "the demographics for video games are a good match with the average Playboy reader..." and that "...tech is a huge part of men’s lives. The constituency of gaming and Playboy are almost exact."

So if you've got the hots for sizzling virtual babes (and you are of mature age, and it's not illegal in your state, and yada yada), you can check out Playboy's Women of Gaming photo spread and satiate those voyeuristic cravings of yours. A shame though, Samus didn't make it to this year's spread. Maybe next year?

After dwelling in an intergalactic war-torn era, Tabula Rasa has decided to invade the Myspace community instead! Now you can get in touch with the rest of the Tabula Rasa-loving community and get fast updates on the ins and outs of the game.

The TR Myspace site is also constantly updated so you'll get the latest news and updates from their account, as well as access to the RSS feed. The guys managing the account will keep you up to date with the stuff that's been going on in terms of the game's development and whatever changes they have made.

You can view the Tabula Rasa page by clicking here; so go on, add them up and have them on your friend space!

Preorder: [Tabula Rasa]