Well they just lifted the Shadowrun NDA Agreement - so if I get some time tonight I will try and put up some video and screenshots of the current state of the game. As requested in the official notice - anything I post is based on the current beta status -but you can check out the planned finished product shots Here.

Here is a copy of the notice I recieved via email today.

Hello!

Been enjoying the Shadowrun beta? Great. Now share the news! We’re lifting the NDA on coverage for and around the beta as of today. Feel free to post as much information as you like about the game. A couple of things to note, however:

· The beta is not representative of the game in its final form, as improvements are being made on a daily basis to balance the game, tweak levels, polish the interface and characters, etc. We are continuing to implement player feedback into the system and are putting the finishing touches on the title so we ask that you please keep this in mind as you share your thoughts on the beta. This is not final code.

· The art is not final in the beta and is therefore not indicative of what the final game will look like when it is finished, so in all fairness, we ask that you please make note of this in any mentions of the graphics. If you would like to point people towards more accurate art please send them to http://shadowrun.com/media/screenshots/

· Feel free to take your own screenshots to share with your readers. If you would like additional assets, feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to provide you with what you need.

Please let us know if you have any questions!

Cheers,

Piett

Well last night I got my first chance to try out Guitar Hero 2, and it was the xbox 360 version. I never bought a playstation 2, and only played one at a friends a few times (mostly just Tekken actually), so I have yet to play the ever so popular Guitar Hero.

I happened to be at my local Wal-mart and they had a demo unit set up, so I decided to give it a try. I found it quite a bit more difficult then I could every expect. I debated on getting this game when I heard it was coming out - but I think this demo sold me on it. Didn’t everyone want to be a rockstar when they were growing up? This is about as close as it is going to get

From what I hear it might be difficult to get a copy at release, so I am going to take a run by the store tomorrow and see if I still put a pre-order down for it.

Well I participated in yet another “All Nighter”, boy do I love these things. This one was a bit different then the previous all nighters though because the most that can participate in a single game is 2, (the other two were Gears of War and Lost Planet - so versus mode shooters with more player interaction). In any event me and my buddy Ymiris rolled up our sleeves and hit the streets for some Crackdown fun.

We both have all the gang bosses finished, so all that really is left to do is to create havoc and work on achievements. I had great plans for the night, such as getting the rest of the achievements I am missing - which unfortunately did not actually end up happening - but I did make quite a bit of progress towards my goals. Ymiris on the other hand pulled off 4 new achievements :). I spent most of my time just bouncing from rooftop to rooftop, finishing up some rooftop races, and picking up any orbs that I came across. I probably picked up 75 to 100 agility orbs last night (only about 90 to go!).

Towards the end of our session Ymiris would tell you that I was getting delirious - and honestly I think he is right. I started just saying random sentences, and after I finished, even I couldnt figure out what I was trying to say. I knew it was time to quit when I jumped and before I landed i actually started to fall asleep, I jumped up startled from the rumble of my controller from being shot at, I am not even sure how long I sat there half asleep and probably snoring in my friends ear via my headset.

There were also rumors running around the internet that a new download content (and the final 100 points) would be released during this all nighter, so we were anxiously looking for that - it either didnt happen, or we ended up quitting before it was finally released.

We ended the night with an interesting little glitch which allowed us to drive an invisible car all over Pacific City - nothing is funnier then an invisible exploding car while 2 characters are in it.

Play and Win Shooter / Gears of War

Well I finally got an achievement last night during my Gears of War session last night. It was one of the pretty simple achievements - Mix it Up - where you just need to be on the winning team of the 3 different game types. It was also brought to my attention that even though I thought I was going to get a 100 kills with a [insert weapon here] achievement, that there is not one for shotgun kills - which was what most all my achievements were based on, and the one I assumed was going to rack me another achievement, so that wasn’t very wise of me I would say. Thanks to Antediluvia for bringing this to light. This concludes the dates that you can recieve an entry in the Play & Win Shooter Contest, and I believe I should get an entry for each of the 3 days . . . winning is a long shot - but it doesn’t hurt to try (and those prizes are pretty smooth).

Shadowrun Beta

I recently recieved my beta invitation to Shadowrun, but haven’t dedicated a ton of time to it as of yet. Of course in the invitation the NDA was restated that not much else can be said except “Yes, I am playing the beta”. So until the NDA is lifted dont expect to hear a ton more about that. You can keep track of my play time on the game in my Live Eye Profile as you can see at the moment I have only played about an hour or so. Over at 360friendspot we have about 62 current live eye members in the beta and being tracked by our tool, you can see an overview of those users at the Shadow Run Beta Profile Page

360Friendspot / LiveEye

Speaking of 360friendspot and The Live Eye, last night I spent a good amount of time updating some queries after seeing a bunch of sleeping records in the SQL Activity Monitor. This was a hope that what might be causing the slowness or hanging of the site was related to SQL table locks - since I was definately getting time out errors and transactions were hanging out here sleeping. If that resolves, or at least partially resolves the performance issues - I am going to be extremely pleased, but also upset that I didnt find it sooner. I am sure there are more things to optimize - but maybe I am at least going in the right direction at this point.

Crackdown All Nighter, and Rumors

Finally - Happy St Patricks day, and look for an update from my all nighter activities at a later date. Achievements and random video goodness will most likely come of it. There is A rumor posted in my comments about this all nighter being a time that they release some new content or the final 100 points - no clue what that user based it on - but I am all for it!

I added a new video to my youtube collection. This one was taken directly from the xbox with a capture device i had - the only catch is you have to play in non-HD. But its alot easier than stacking up a pile of books, setting my camera on it and then pointing it towards my televison screen. I just have to figure out why the sound didnt come through….

A bit late on releasing the news on this contest - but better late then never I guess you could say. Essentially you just play Gears of War, anytime between March 14 and 16. Each day you play versus mode you get 1 entry into the contest, so play all 3 days (like I plan to do) and you get 3 entries.

The prize is pretty impressive: (worth aproximately $770)

• A Three-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription Card
• Xbox 360™ VIP Accessories Kit
• Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
• Xbox 360 Play and Charge Kit
• Xbox Live Vision
• Xbox 360 Quick Charge Kit
• Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote
• Xbox 360 Wireless Networking Adapter
• Xbox 360 Wireless Headset
• Xbox 360 Memory Unit (64MB)
• Limited Edition Xbox 360 Aluminum Carrying Case
• Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel
• Xbox 360 HD DVD Player.

I played it a bit last night - and I have yet to recieve any of those online achievements….yeah I suck. I would have played more but about midnight my internet connection dropped right in the middle of a game I was actually winning

view the contest page: Here

So the more I think about XNA the more I start to get really interested in developing a game, perhaps for the contest perhaps just for friends, I really don’t know - but its on my mind lately. The problem at hand is I have yet to come up with an actual game idea to work with, I had a few ideas, but nothing that has really got me thinking it would be worth the effort - or anyone would even want to play it. The fact that my C# and graphical experience is somewhat limited probably doesnt help either, clearly I am fighting an uphill battle BUT if anyone else that is interested in developing a XNA game and is looking for a partner, get a hold of me. Sure its a long shot, but maybe one of you loyal readers will get me off my butt and put something together

Those of you that know me know that I have 2 kids and my son is getting old enough to want to play xbox, but not quite old enough to really get it (he will be 2 in a few weeks). At this point if I turn on my xbox when he is awake, it goes something like this.

• He starts shouting GAME!!!! GAME!!! and running around the room like the most insane animal you have ever seen
• He then needs to have a controller (and it HAS to be the wireless one, he refuses to touch the wired controller - or my original xbox controller)
• Then I have to plug in and use the wired controller to play, as he sits in his little blue chair so excited that we are playing together

On some occasions (when its nap time) he just passes right out sitting in that chair. This picture is over at my Family blog, but I wanted to share this picture with those of you that read my random postings.

Well since I definately dont keep up with current web development technologies, especially when it comes to CSS, I have no clue why but my old theme did not look very good in firefox at all. So I have switched over to a new theme and will probably insert a few changes here and there - hopefully without breaking it

Thanks to Trapper for pointing this out to me here!

Well I cannot tell you the number of quarters I dumped into this arcade classic with my little brother, but it definately would have been enough to buy the upcoming Live arcade release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. After all the recent arcade purchases I made I was planning on holding off on any new arcade releases for a bit….but this one is very tempting. Rumor has it, we should all be able to chow down some pizzas and attack shredder in co-op goodness this week.