With summer mere weeks away from falling by the wayside and ushering in those cooler climates that herald the holidays, it seems like a fitting time to wrap up the big Christmas in July promotion that has been featured on this site over the last two months. For 22 loyal listeners and readers of this site and its related podcasts, they didn’t need to deck their malls to see it’s never too early to hang the holly – for Christmas did indeed come early this year. And for one lucky contestant, he got the shock of his life when Avault founder Angel Munoz rung him up one sleepy September morn and announced the Big Prize was headed his way.

A couple of months back, The Adrenaline Vault, Avault Podcast, Stevie FTW, and Evil Ed Podcast partnered with Play N Trade to launch a mammoth giveaway with over $6,000 in prizes on the line for a lucky few. The giveaway, co-sponsored by ORIGIN PC and Logitech, ultimately awarded 22 of our loyal readers and listeners with their share of the over $6,000 prize package.

It was with great pleasure that Angel was able to reach out to the great state of Michigan to award our Grand Prize winner. Austin Bullard, of Macomb, MI, will receive an ORIGIN GENESIS gaming PC valued at $4,400. When Editor Michele White spoke with Austin Thursday morning he expressed his excitement – while also proclaiming himself “dumbfounded, honestly.”

I had the chance to catch up with Austin and gauge his reactions to the contest, his gaming habits and of course the news that at the very least, his Gaming Life was about to change for the better.

While I have a couple of years on Austin (although not many – rest easy there are older dinosaurs than I lurking these halls of Avault – I KID! I KID!!!), I was happy to see that this twenty-something dude cut his teeth on a classic – diving head first into the hobby at the young age of 5 by exploring every corner of the Mushroom Kingdom in Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo. Through the years he’s gamed on all manner of consoles and PCs – with some favorites including the Command & Conquer series on the PC, the Metroid Prime games on the Gamecube, the Metal Gear Solid quartet of games that propelled the PS2/PS3 and many of the latest and greatest FPS titles on the Xbox 360, including the Halo series and Call of Duty games.

In an era where so many message boards are marred by flame wars; with console gamers declaring the PC dead and the PC warriors thumbing their nose at the consoles’ limited control schemes, it’s refreshing to learn that Austin doesn’t pledge allegiance to any particular faction. “The way I see it, it’s the game I’m after,” Austin responded when asked whether he prefers to play on a PC or nestled on the couch with a Sixaxis or 360 controller melded to his hand.