Some of you are curious about Shadowrun. This trailer isn't really public right now except for the fact that I'm linking you to it.

small @ 22MB 
large @ 77MB

"We've teamed up with Ziff-Davis, the publishers behind Games for Windows: TOM, to give away 25,000 free 1-year subscriptions (to US readers only ... sorry!). How free? You won't need to provide your credit card information; your subscription won't be automatically renewed at the end of the year; and you will need to "opt-in" to renew your subscription before receiving any bill for the magazine. Free."

Appears to be hitch free. No credit card info. Not automatically renewed at end of the 12 months. I think it's legit.

Disclaimer: This information is unconfirmed and may be a hoax. Furthermore, it has received mass attention on fatwallet, digg, cheap ass gamers, and IGN boards. If you plan to buy any of these at the sale price you should be there early or hope to be extremely lucky. Lastly, local BestBuys will not have all of the below games in stock, so don't expect to find every single one on the list.

BestBuy is reportedly having a clearance sale on games tomorrow, some as cheap as $1.99. The most expensive games on the list are $9.99 (like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, normally a $69.99 pricetag). The Halo 2 Collector's Edition is also $9.99. Platforms include Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, PSP, Gamecube, PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360. Below is the complete list.

Finally, Major League Gaming (MLG) goes next gen. MLG has added Rainbow Six Vegas as an official game on their circuit. Scores of teams will have the chance to turn "pro" by playing R6V. This also means that MLG is finally incorporating the XBOX 360 platform in their events.

It's about time. HALO 2 was released in 2004. The XBOX which is the most dominate platform at MLG was released in 2001. You can bet that this tournament is a "feeler" for the upcoming release of HALO 3, likely to be released in November of 2007. Although HALO 2 is backwards compatible with the XBOX 360, MLG has not made the move to the XBOX 360 platform. HALO 3 will be exclusive to the XBOX 360 platform.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37773

By: Charlie Demerjian

ONE WAY TO FEND OFF the death spiral for a console is to develop a exclusive killer app. If you have a game that will be a blockbuster, you can go to one of the console makers and say, "We will only put this out for your system if we get a bribe."
That bribe is usually lowered or no kickbacks per disk. If the studio that made Halo was not owned by MS, they could go to MS and say "We figure we will sell 10 million copies of the 360 version of Halo 3 and seven million of the PS3 version. We will not do a PS3 version if you make it worth our while not to, say no fee per disk so we can pocket that $10 per unit and an ad budget worth $5 million".

What are your initial thoughts about the full version of this game?

The following information was provided by one Gamestop manager in Oceanside, California. I have no evidence to suggest it applies to every game retailer in the US, but it is conceivable that it might.

I'm one of the losers who had to purchase Crackdown to get in on the Halo 3 Beta. Not taking any chances, I pre-ordered my copy. Today I went to pick it up when my local Gamestop opened at 10 AM. After getting my copy I asked the manager, whom I have talked with before and appears to really enjoy discussing video game retailing, how many copies of Crackdown she had for general sale that included the Halo 3 Beta. Zero.

Update: Except for the Bungie friends and family members, EVERYONE will start on the HALO 3 beta at the same time. This means that Crackdowners are supposed to get in at the same time as everyone else. Also, there is no NDA with this software.

It is confirmed by Microsoft Game Studios in an interview with Game Informer. The purpose of the HALO 3 beta will be to put stress on their systems. "You want to make sure that you know where your bottlenecks are and you attack those bottlenecks prior to going live with the retail version". "It will scale over time" said Phil Spenscer of MGS. Microsoft also suggests that "hundreds of thousands of people" will play the beta.

Something new and exciting is happening to the way you experience games. On February 12, Xbox® is teaming up with Old Spice to bring you Xbox Rewards and the Old Spice Experience Challenge.

Xbox Rewards offers casual and hardcore gamers alike the chance to earn actual rewards for doing what they enjoy—playing games, earning achievements, and having fun. Xbox Rewards is a free program, but in order to register you will need to have a valid Windows Live™ ID with your Xbox Live® gamercard linked.

The program is launching in the U.S. only, and you must be 13 years or older to participate.

This audio-less and anti-climatic video gives a brief glimpse of some of the weapons in Halo 3 (alpha build). The MA5C assault rifle is here, replacing the MA5B, and has a slower rate of fire, presumably at the benefit of more damage per round. The M6D pistol is also back (from Halo 1) with fewer rounds available per magazine. We also get a glimpse at the new ATV, the Mongoose. Check out the video after the break.

I was discussing upcoming XBOX 360 games with FoulBreed and we had the revelation that this year is going to be expensive for those of us wanting to play all the new "revolutionary" games.

Games I am sure I want:

Halo 3
Crackdown
Assassin's Creed
Bioshock
Forza 2
Oblivion Shivering Isles Expansion Pack

Games I might want:

GRAW 2
Mass Effect
The Darkness
PGR 4

Games that may or may not make 2007 that I probably want:

Shadowrun
Too Human
Halo Wars

Decided to dig through my old motorcycle riding gear that I no longer need and sell it on Ebay to help finance this habit (my gear for sale on eBay).

I played some Battlefield 2142 multiplayer some more tonight and here's a little rundown of the command system in place. Long story short: being a commander is FUN! At the beginning of the game you get a chance to apply for the position of commander of your team. The computer will decide whether or not you will be accepted as the current commander based on the military rank of all of the people who applied. If you don't get accepted you have a chance to disgrace your whole family tree, call mutiny and let your team vote you into the position.

Now, as commander you get to run around like everyone else, but the real fun begins when you find a hidden spot to lay down and switch to

Unless you've been specifically invited into the HALO 3 beta, you will need to have the Crackdown disc in your drive if you're going to play the beta. Yes you'll download it to your hard drive, but you'll only be able to launch HALO 3 beta via a menu in Crackdown. The HALO 3 beta won't show up in your "Games > Demos and More" blade on your XBOX 360.

My guess is that you'll be able to rent Crackdown and play the beta so long as you have the disc in your drive.

I also guess that Crackdown'ers will be the last group to get to participate in the H3 beta until, if ever, it goes wide open to the public.

[Updated and Edited] Over the past couple weeks, I've been doing some gaming pc research and decided on purchasing one of the top of the line video cards that will last me a good while. But before I buy it, I've found that those cards will not fit on my current motherboard. I've got a Dell e510/5150, the heat sink on the cpu is blocking the way. Therefore, I plan on building a new gaming pc out of some parts from my Dell, and a new motherboard. Below are some findings from a little bit of research and discussion with rapture and dirtyJ on the best hardware to get into. Nvidia has the top of the line card right now with the 8800gtx, ATI is close on their heels with an upcoming card described

Update: You WILL need to have the disc in the drive to play the H3 beta. See here: http://hushedcasket.com/node/1752

Initially, I had wondered if you would download the beta by entering a redemption code in the XBL marketplace. It appears the above pic is the definitive answer. Apparently in the "downloads" section of the Crackdown menu you'll find the option to download the Halo 3 beta. This answers a couple of minor, nagging questions.

Microsoft has issued some new guidelines that are sure to impact us soon. The good news is that we can earn more Gamescore points per game. The bad news is that the game developers can control WHEN they make all the Gamerscore points available and 1000-1250 total points might not be available on the retail disc. From Microsoft:

1. All regular disc-based games MUST have 1,000 Gamerscore in the base game. This means that any consumer who buys a retail game will have the opportunity to unlock the full 1,000 Gamerscore without having to pay for any add-on content. Note that a publisher may decide to deliver a portion of this Gamerscore via add-on content, but the add-on content will always be free to the consumer.

2. Game publishers will have the option to deliver another 250 incremental Gamerscore on top of the 1,000 via add-on content from Marketplace. This add-on content could be either free or paid. So if you complete a game and earn the full 1,000 GS, you could by getting new add-on content earn up to a total of 1,250 points from a game.

3. Xbox Live Arcade games will operate in similar fashion, but given the size of these titles they will allow you to earn up to 200 Gamerscore from every game and up to another 50 points from add-on content.

“A perfect example of this is the recent release of Crackdown, which has delivered 900 Gamerscore today on the retail game disc. The remaining Gamerscore in Crackdown will be made available, for free, via a future content update. A number of the title's future Achievements will likely be based on some of the amazing feats executed through the streets of Pacific City, as well as the exciting additional content that Realtime Worlds currently has up its sleeve.” – MS’s Gamerscore blog

That sounded weird at first. So, I reverted back to guideline #1 and TFA. It looks like you are guaranteed the opportunity to unlock 1000 Gamerscore points on all retail games without having to pay extra. But, the 1000 Gamerscore points don’t have to be available on the disc. They just have to be offered for free at a later time via downloaded add-ons from the Marketplace. So, Crackdown will have 100 Gamerscore points hanging out there as a free add-on made available after the release.

Bungie has posted it's next H3 weapon slot. This latest edition to the series gives details about the Spartan Laser...

"The latest in our series of Halo 3 weapon and equipment slots, the Spartan Laser is one of the most exciting new weapons in the UNSC arsenal. Read on for new info on what may be the most destructive weapon you will ever wield."

...very interesting.

Just how close are FASA Studios and Bungie Studios? There should be some obvious connections since they are both working at Microsoft Game Studios. After searching through some screenshots of Shadowrun over at Gamespot, I noticed a familiar grin smiling back at me. It looks like the minigun in Shadowrun has a similar (perhaps the same) texture that's found on the flamethrower in HALO PC. Notice the same curves outlining the mouth on both weapons. The flamethrower made its first public appearance in Gearbox's port of HALO. However, the flamethrower was actually in the original HALO code on the XBOX title. Was this texture there? Wasn't there an old minigun in an alpha build of HALO and didn't it look a lot like Shadowrun's minigun?