Another year, another Valentine's Day! Most of you probably hate this celebration, and consider it a waste of time and money. Instead of buying a present for your girlfriend, you could well use that money for something better, a new game for example. Or you could invite her to a Gears of War tournament instead.

GamingAngels.com is organizing a special Gears of War tournament for couples, because they think that this game has appeal to both genders. Couples will be required to play against other couples and they could win a dinner for two. If your better half lives in a different state, then the dinner price will be split between the two of you and each of you will get one gift certificate. So, it is not an all-you can-eat buffet.

The contest will be held on random Gears of War multiplayer maps and the first round tournaments matches will be set before actual play begins. In 2 vs 2 rooms, the winner will be the best out of 5. The timeline for the tournament goes a little something like this:

January 10th open contest and start taking names.
February 2nd stop taking entries
February 5th Tournament bracket is posted and couples are emailed their matches.
February 17th 12pm pacific - first round of play
February 17th 4pm pacific - second round of play
February 18th 12pm pacific - third round of play
February 18th 4pm pacific - final round

Because Gears of War is rated M, the tournament is opened only to mature ages couples. They HAVE to be male and female couples. You are not necessarily required to play with your girlfriend/boyfriend. You can ask for help from your cousin, sister, friend and even your grandma if she can bear to see Marcus Fenix bleed.

During play, you have to keep your microphone open, but if you don't have someone to play with, know that there are 6 open slots for single-player waiting to be matched. Only 16 teams are allowed to play this contest but if there are a lot of entries, the number of teams can be extended to 24.