In commemoration of MapleStory's third anniversary, Nexon has announced a trio of events to take place in May all the way up to June. The winners of the video contest, the Nexon Game Card recharge lottery, or the GM shout out will all have prizes in store for them.

But first, let's tackle the heavyweights of giveaways: the video contest. The idea is that you've got to compose a movie revolving around the theme of MapleStory's third anniversary using your in-game character (and one that you're actively playing with - now don't be shy, you 4th job class legends, you) in order to qualify as an entry.

Send your creations up the Youtube or MySpace video streaming pools, and let them be known by the judges on Nexon's forums. Prizes for the most creative pieces are:

• Dell XPS Computer, Anniversary T-Shirt - First place
• Web Camera, Anniversary T-Shirt - Second place
• Video Card, Anniversary T-Shirt - Third place
• Gaming Keyboard, Anniversary T-Shirt - Fourth place
• iTCG set 1 to 3, Anniversary T-Shirt - Fifth place

Next up is the third iteration of the Nexon Game Card Surprise, and you probably already know the drill to this. Acquire a Nexon Game Card and recharge it within the period of May 7 to June 4, and automatically gain an entry to the raffling off of 25 limited edition Anniversary T-Shirts.

For the GM blog contest, players are invited to give their game opinions and even holler at their favorite blogging GMs. But only 30 patrons will be selected out of all those that visit and they'll be eligible to receive 10,000 Maple points to their chosen game character.

Interested? Well that ain't even HALF of what's coming to MapleStory players. Get ready for the other Special events to be stampeding their way to you like a pack of fireboars (and we aren't kidding about the fireboars bit):

• Big Puff Daddy monster to invade ALL towns
• Monster Transformations
• MapleStory Anniversary Hat - free in-game item for just one Maple Admin chat
• The return of the Fake Boss Monsters
• Super Cash Shop sale to last a whole month
• "Maple" weapon drops events and multipliers, plus 2x EXP scheds

Roll up a teleport scroll and head over to the official announcement post on Nexon's website. There's also a couple of contest rules that you'll have to familiarize with before trying your hand at these neat swags.

Scheds on the other events could be had by sorting through the page's latest announcements. More updates coming soon.