While you're waiting for the next Java4K competition, here's another Java competition to keep you busy: The Hydra Versus Dragon Coding Competition (http://www.n-brain.net/hydra-versus-dragon.htm).

Although the competition is not specifically a games competition, all the challenges are low-level system coding (no GUI coding or anything else to get in the way).

This competition pits teams of Java software developers against each other, in a battle to win more than $7000 in prizes, including a shiny new Mac Book Pro.

Unlike most competitions, the Hydra Versus Dragon competition is designed primarily as a spectator event. We're providing access to screencasts of actual coding sessions, which will be narrated by industry veterans. These screencasts will be broken down into short episodes, and delivered over the web. Viewers can vote for their favorite teams to help determine the winner of the competition.

Also unlike most competitions, we have made this competition fully collaborative: it's team against team, not developer against developer. Each member of the winning team receives the full suite of prizes. This means that developers can't win by raw skill alone -- they have to learn to work together in a team. Some will manage, others will crash and burn.

Visit the N-BRAIN website for more information (http://www.n-brain.net), or reply to this message if you have questions.