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Halo 3 Multiplayer Documentary

The Halo 3 Beta is dated for May 16th at 12am through June 6th 12pm, according to Bungie.net. Now they have gone and released this multiplayer vidoc "Is Quisnam Protero Damno!" that shows a few new things like the shield grenade, trip mines, and talk about the revised battle rifle. Check it out.

I am soooo ready for this game. Bring on the all night frag-a-thon! Guess I will have to settle for a little Halo 2 for now ;)

Xbox 360 Controller Keyboard?

I was on Gamespot.com earlier and noticed a post about a keyboard add-on for the Xbox 360 controller. When I clicked the link to read the post, the link broke. Is the another case of Gamespot running a story and retracting it, as they did with the Spring 2007 Dashboard Update? It seems so, since the link is no longer on Gamespot.

So, I think the controller add-on looks great, though I would really like to know more information. Anyone have any links to some hot juicy rumors? Oh, and just so you know I am not going crazy and seeing things that are not there, check out a screen capture from Gamespot ;)

UPDATE** Engadget.com has an article up too, with a great picture (posted below). They posted the attachment will be released sometime this summer.





UPDATE** Major Nelson spilled the official beans on the keyboard and the Spring dashboard update. Both are formally announced.

UPDATE ***7/12/07 Microsoft has announced the keypad will be available September 4, 2007, check it out in Microsoft's Xbox Hardware Catalog.

Shadowrun Beta Impressions

I played Shadowrun years ago, the table top RPG that is. I also played the Sega Genesis and the SNES versions of the video game. So you can imagine my anticipation of this games arrival. I finally received an invite for the Shadowrun beta on the Xbox 360. I spent the day yesterday doing the tutorials. The game is very enjoyable, I have played as all the races available in the tutorials. I have yet to play in multi player mode though, the tutorials ended up taking a few hours to get through.

The game play is great. The different tech options such as enhanced vision, smart link, wired reflexes, and glider wings add quite a bit of tactics to how you can play the game. The magic options take things over the top! With healing, resurrection, and teleport added to your character, the playability and tactics both get a huge boost.

Each of the races have their own unique skills to bring to the mix as well. Things such as dwarves get to drain essence, a trolls skin hardens to armor if damaged, and elves have speed and personal healing. So choosing your race can give you access to some racial abilities that could very well help you to survey the match.

Shadowrun brings new dynamics to the gameplay that will make for fast paced multi player matches that are fun to play. I will be play testing the online matches throughout the week so if you already have the beta or get it this week look me up and we can check things out.

I do think this game would be so much more exciting with a persistent world to play in, something sandbox style that would allow you to travel anywhere and take jobs from the corporations, seek out new tech, magic, parties, etc. Instead of just a set of tutorials and a matchmaking lobby as it is now. Let's hope they add a single player campaign or online world to run around in, without it the game is just missing something.

Spring Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Preview?

Engadget.com has a post about Gamespot.com (via MyGamerCard.com) jumping the gun early and posting on the Spring Dashboard update preview.

Quote from the article:
* The update hits May 7th
* Your contact list will now integrate Windows Live Messenger, and show joinable session status
* Messenger contacts can see what game you're playing, and your gamertag
* Marketplace will now have its own blade, which will be skinned independent of your theme
* Users will now get inline achievement updates
* Low-power download mode and auto-shutdown
* You can watch partially downloaded movies
* You can text chat messenger six friends playing games watching movies
* Multiple tweaks on the user interface"

Check out the video:

Sounds like some interesting features headed our way, though I guess it could be a fake. What do you think?

Halo: Ghosts of Onyx Mass Market Debut

Tor Books announced they have released Halo: Ghosts of Onyx paperback to the mass market.

Quote from the Tor Press Release: "April 4, 2007 - Tor Books, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC—the largest publisher of science fiction in the world—in partnership with Bungie Studios, one of Microsoft Game Studios’ premiere first part game development studios, today announced the mass market release of Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.

The first in a three novel series from Tor, Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, was written by Eric Nylund. Nylund authored two of the previous Halo® novels, Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike. Halo: Ghosts of Onyx takes readers deep into crucial events that unfold during the Halo and Halo 2 timelines, expanding the characters and story of the Halo Universe as fans eagerly await the arrival of Halo 3 later this year.

Originally released as a trade paperback in November 2006, Halo: Ghosts of Onyx debuted as a New York Times Bestseller, remaining on the list for 11 straight weeks and going on to become an international bestseller. At least two more novels will follow over the next few years, each exploring the game’s rich universe, characters and mythos."

Have you read this book yet? Well, I am a self professed Halo fanboy and I am totally ashamed to say I have not read it yet. I think it may just be time to remedy that situation. If you feel the same way, click the picture of the book to be taken to Amazon.com and buy yourself a copy.

Via - Team Xbox

Redefining the Platformer?

Joystiq has a post up about Roy Block, a video game that uses blocks pressed against a screen as the user interface. The game, by Sebastian Schmieg, was for a class project and uses a camera to track where and when the blocks move, then the character on screen moves accordingly. Sebastian mentions on his website future development is not planned but says he would like to work on scaling up to larger blocks that could have more functionality and a bigger screen with the possibility of collaboration between a couple of players if he gets the chance. Check out the video:

To find out more click on through to Roy Block

Interested in creating games? Check out 15 Great XNA Tutorial Sites

Through My Dining Room Window

I am entering a contest over at Fuelmyblog.com to win a digital camera. So the rules state it is an interpretation to the theme "Through the Window" and I must post the photo on my blog. Without further ado, here it is.

A while back I was sitting at my dining room table watching the snow fall, it does not snow here often. I noticed movement and saw a squirrel moving through the neighbor's trees towards my yard. I snatched up my camera as he jumped into my tree and kept moving across my yard. This is one of the resulting phtotos I captured of the squirrel in it's mad dash through the trees. This is the entry photo, to see the full sized version (1024x768), click the photo.

So while your here, click through and check out the rest of the entries. Some really great photos entered so far.

April Fools! - Posts, Articles, and Pranks

April first, the traditional day of pranks and jokes. According to Wikipedia, April Fools origins are not really know.

Quote from Wikipedia: The origin of this custom has been much disputed. Many theories have been suggested. What seems certain is that it is in some way or other a relic of those once universal festivities held at the vernal equinox, which, beginning on old New Year's Day, the 25th of March, ended on the 2nd of April.

I am not much of a prank person so I usually don't try to pull pranks on others and end up ignoring the festivities of the day but today my RSS reader is full of April Fools jokes from various blogs. I thought I would post links to some of the more blatant pranks, stories, posts, and articles.

Engadget gets in on the fun with "Wii-volution" HDMI enabled, 160GB HDD packing Wii, Art Lebedev's Vilcus dactyloadapter, and Naked Steve Jobs accosted by Greenpeace

Team Xbox has quite a few April Fools posts: Sony Announces PlayStation 3 Global Recall, Microsoft and Nintendo Announce Wii60 Bundle, Microsoft Announces Halo 3 P.I.M.P. Edition, Microsoft Announces HOMEless, and Microsoft Planning Xbox 360 Brute Edition.

Slashdot has posted Nvidia To Recall Every 8800 GTX/GTS Card, Mozilla Foundation Sues Microsoft Over Tabbed Browsing, Google Introduces Gmail Paper, and The Pirate Bay Finds Permanent Home

Unfortunately that is all I have time for today. If you are wondering what the 10 best April Fools hoaxes are, check out this article over at Breitbart.com,

Quote from the article: "Here are 10 of the top April Fool's Day pranks ever pulled off, as judged by the San Diego-based Museum of Hoaxes for their notoriety, absurdity, and number of people duped."

So there you have it, April Fools 2007 from a few sites around the Internet. If you happen to see some juicy Aprils Fools posts I missed, please post them in the comments. I do get a kick out of a good joke :) Oh, if I was fooled and some of these posts are real I apologize, this day can be tough for the receiving end of the jokes.