All good suggestions. ThinkGeek is already on our list but hasen't responded in years past :(

newegg, best buy, eb games or gamestop, radio shack, turkey hill (donate some tea idk), maybe a local pizza shop (metros... ppl gotta eat you know), Maybe apple could chime in with a ipod or something.

Thanks for the ideas, nitro, but to anyone, please remember, coming up with ideas are one thing, but having a way to execute those ideas are another. Please keep in mind what Czar said in his OP:

Links to websites work the best but if anyone has "in's" with a certain company/site (personalized contact info) feel free to drop a PM for privacy reasons.

Otherwise, show me das links!

We can all rattle off a dozen companies without blinking, but if you have an "in" with a company in some way, that is the best (by a mile!) versus just trying the scattergun approach and contacting businesses cold.

Thanks for the ideas, nitro, but to anyone, please remember, coming up with ideas are one thing, but having a way to execute those ideas are another. Please keep in mind what Czar said in his OP:

Quote

Links to websites work the best but if anyone has "in's" with a certain company/site (personalized contact info) feel free to drop a PM for privacy reasons.

Otherwise, show me das links!

We can all rattle off a dozen companies without blinking, but if you have an "in" with a company in some way, that is the best (by a mile!) versus just trying the scattergun approach and contacting businesses cold.

Well, we can all point fingers, or some of us can do some leg work.  Here are some links for affiliate programs.  I assume they are mostly "web" affiliates, but it might assist getting a foot in the door.

Newegg
BestBuy
EB
Radio Scrap
Turkey Hill (Ice Cream?)
Apple (Good Luck)
Staples
Office Max

to be honest what ive done in the past is simply go to the local store of the company i want to sponsor my event and talk to the manager and believe it or not i was surprised at how many companies were willing to sponsor.  Some did have to contact the district manager for approval but a week of waiting and i got my answer.  I found applying on a site yields no results or even a reply most of the time but i did get nvidia to bite once.

I see that Alienware is a sponsor for the GXL.  And gamecorecon.com is also a sponsor of theirs.