FAL SINGLESHOT HEADSHOT

if you guys dont know. i have went to on-pause to write.

on-pause.blogspot.com

my adventure with my halo3 preorder!

Ok here is goes. One of my paydays last month i got paid then i cashed my check and ran to hastings (local video store) here to preorder my copy of halo 3! I was all jacked up and couldnt wait to get my little resevation card. Got to the store walked all the way to the game section, grabbed my halo3 reservation card. Then, walked to the registers at the front of the store. Noticed there was a line to hell! I didnt notice this when i walked in cause i was so jacked up..lol.

So i stood in line for what seemed like i should have just walked out with a copy since i had been waiting for what seem lik a month. I finally got to the registers and the lady at the registers preordered my copy and i asked her if they were going to have any of the legendary editions of the game. so i could get my halo fanboy hands all over the mini helmet. She told me "I dont know but if we do you can just change your reservation to that." I thought ok well I am going to reserve this now and call in and fix it later.. which was cool. Well, the next day i walk into target and find that they are giving away the halo heroclix with the reservation of the game.. i was like sweet! although, they didnt have legendary copies to get i decided to go for the collectors edition and get the little hero clix guys to hold my halo fanboyism at bay. I walked to the electronics dept. and slapped my 10 bucks up there to get my game reserved with the hero clix. The dept manager sold me the reservation and gave me his gamertag which funny enough was fake.. thats another story. I walked out happy and i figured target was the way to go since i could get those little halo dudes. So just for curiousity i was in hastings for another reason about a few days later. I asked the register clerk if they were preordering halo 3 legenary and she responded yes and i said i had the game preordered previously and i was told i could just change the preorder if i wanted. She agreed and took my name and she had told me that b4 she got off she would switch my preorder to the legendary. I was stoked! I agreed and i walked out of hasting dreaming of sept 24th that following month. I had a bad feeling about my preorder so that next day i called hastings and asked for the games dept. The guy came on the phone and said his little scripted intro. then asked my if i would like to preorder halo 2!! Thats right halo 2!! and of course with all my fanboy (dont you diss halo) attitude.. i said. " YOU MEAN HALO 3?!! ". Then, he said suprised and giggling. "Oh you got me!! i ment to say halo 3." Well then i asked the guy if he could check on the preorder i had done for the legendary edition. He had told me that it wasnt done.. I was inragged and i told the guy about what the register lady said. He informed me the reason it didnt get done was because you have to put more money down to preorder it cause it is way more exspensive. I agreed and that night after work i ran down to hastings for the 3rd time. Yes the third time! Corrected the problem with the preorder. Then took a breath of relief and walked out the store. Then the next day i remembered about the target preorder i instantly looked at the card and knew that i had two games preordered. well needless to say i wanted the best of both worlds. i wanted the little halo dudes and the legendary. So since the reservation card at target is meirly a gift card i figured i would use the ten bucks to get the little halo dudes. now i just hope that the little halo dudes dont cost mor than ten bucks.. well thats my wicked battle of jsut trying to preorder halo 3.. next comes waiting in line and at the stroke of midnight getting the game in my hands and loving every minute of the end of the best trilogy of gaming. To finish the fight.

No Halo 3 co-op over XBL yet from bungie!

Yeah, you read that right. As of right now, Halo 3 co-op remains an offline only experience. CVG has the scoop from the latest issue of EGM. According to Bungie's Frank O'Connor, the team is still working on a way to properly implement online co-op. As Frank puts it, it's possible for players to be nearly a mile apart at certain points in the game, which makes online co-op a challenge. He notes that measures could be put into the game to prevent such vast separations, but that it "would make it not feel like Halo anymore." He concludes by saying that "If we can make it happen in a way that works well, we will - and if it works badly, we won't." Considering that the Bungie crew is currently putting the finishing touches on Halo 3, we imagine online co-op won't make it into the retail disc. Any hope of such a feature likely rests in the possibility of downloadable content. So, if you've been waiting to try out some four player online co-op, you may be waiting for a while.

In happier news, EGM confirms several new weapons and vehicles. There is a dual-wieldable Brute shotgun called the Mauler and the gravity hammer we saw at E3 is confirmed as well. New equipment includes the Flare -- essentially a flashbang -- and the Regenerator, which refills shields (presumably for all those near the device). Three new vehicles, the Prowler, Hornet, and Elephant, which is described as a Jawa Sandcrawler. Halo fans will know that a Prowler is a recon ship with stealth abilities, though it is probably too large to be a playable vehicle. Finally, the article reveals that there will be a remake of the popular Halo 2 multiplayer map, Lockout, called Guardian.

Peter Moore Resigns From Microsoft, Goes to EA. Don Mattrick Replaces Him.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Don Mattrick, a former president at Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), will lead the Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB), which includes overseeing the Xbox® and Games for Windows® businesses. Peter Moore, who currently serves as corporate vice president of IEB, has decided to move his family back to the Bay Area for personal reasons and has secured another opportunity in the video games industry.

Mattrick will take over as the senior vice president of IEB at Microsoft, effective July 30. Mattrick was the founder of Distinctive Software Inc., which operated as a private company from 1982 until its merger with EA in 1991. Mattrick held various senior positions within EA, most recently as president of Worldwide Studios, until his resignation in February 2006. In February 2007, Mattrick began working with the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft as an external advisor.

"Peter has contributed enormously to the games business since joining Microsoft in 2003 and we are sad to see him go," said Robbie Bach, president of Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "Since that time, he presided over the global launch of the Xbox 360™, spearheaded a revitalized and rebranded Games for Windows business, and helped steer the console's ascent."

Moore has decided to return with his family to Northern California, where they lived until he took the position at Microsoft. Moore will remain at Microsoft to assist in the transition through August and will then return to the San Francisco Bay area.

"While Peter will certainly be missed, we are delighted to have one of the industry's most talented and passionate veterans on board to lead the business," Bach said. "Don is well-known and respected throughout the industry for his deep knowledge, technical expertise and management savvy. Under Don's leadership, the games team is looking forward to embarking on our biggest holiday ever, with a wide-ranging roster of some of the most highly anticipated titles."

Mattrick brings 23 years of games industry and development experience to the strong Microsoft management team, having helped bring to life such celebrated game franchises as the "Need for Speed," "Harry Potter" and "The Sims" while at EA.

"Over the past two decades, and the past few months in particular, I've worked closely with many of Microsoft's top leaders and I've always been impressed by their talent, passion and commitment," said Mattrick. "I'm thrilled to join an already strong team that's delivering truly amazing gaming experiences to customers around the world. I've never been more excited about the future of the industry, and firmly believe Microsoft will lead the next great innovations in gaming."

Fly to space in a banshee!

You may have read some of Bungie's weekly updates about the number of things going on behind the scenes in Halo 3. Specifically, the sky you see in Halo 3 is much more complex than you might believe. The game engine simulates the pollution and other particles in the atmosphere that cause the sky to appear blue, when in actuality the sky is not blue at all. Granted, you won't ever notice this effect as you're playing a game of Slayer, but it is there. As proof of this, we present to you this video of a Banshee flying far into the sky of Valhalla. The Banshee flies so high that it actually pierces the cloud cover and reaches an altitude at which the sky is no longer blue and stars are visible. Honestly, it's pretty serene up there. Just a little food for thought the next time you waste some fool with the Spartan Laser.

Evidence of new aircraft in Halo 3!

You may recall the fuss created by a group of modders last week, in which several things were discovered inside the Halo 3 beta code. There were mentions of new medals, weapons, and vehicles. In particular, the code snippets lead many to believe there would be new aircraft, specifically the Chopper, Pelican, and Phantom. Well, kiddies, throw another log on the rumor fire, as a new medal has been uncovered. This medal is awarded to those who "board an aircraft." We have to note, as did our tipster, that the medal says "aircraft" and not "Banshee." Is this proof that their are more controllable aircraft in Halo 3? Hell no, but it's starting to look that way.Hit the "read" link to see a game of the Halo 3 beta with the mysterious medal.

Halo 3 four player co-op confirmed?

It looks like the beta code has revealed more info about how we'll be playing the campaign. Over at the 7th Columnist they dug up some error text in the Halo 3 beta code that could confirm four player co-op, which states "The party size is too large to start the game. Up to 4 players may play coop on Xbox Live or System Link". Does this confirm four player co-op in campaign? Well, not just yet ... but we'll be an optimistic bunch and cross our fingers and toes. Anyone thinking four player co-op over Xbox Live would be the greatest thing since, say, sliced bread?

Get into custom game menus in H3 beta!!

The fellas over at Hushed Casket are reporting that while playing the Halo 3 beta some players have experienced a network error, causing a weird bug to occur, which ultimately displays a hidden custom game settings menu. The custom games menu is chalk full of options, including the ability to change players' speed, ammunition count, recharge rate, motion tracker range, and even gravity settings. Don't believe us? Take a look at all the screenshots that Hushed Casket has unearthed and a full list of custom gametype options after the break. But don't get too excited, because the Halo 3 beta custom gametypes menu is only for looks and does not allow you to make a game with the options. Which is too bad, because we so wanted to play a few rounds of Tankball.

Modders accidentally leak Halo 3 information!

A Halo modding community has accidentally made various hidden game files public, found by retrieving hidden data in the Halo 3 Beta code. They reveal new weapons, vehicles and equipment and also suggest new modes and rankings for the full single and multiplayer game.Before we go any further, a warning: the following are in no way official or confirmed features of Halo 3, but they do appear in the Halo 3 Beta code in some form too complicated for us to comprehend or explain. I'm just the messenger.

New equipment:Instacover, Smoke (suggested this might be a smoke grenade?), Jammer
New vehicles: Chopper, Pelican, Shadow
New weapons: Flamethrower, Claymore Grenade
New mode:Infection (described as "Destroy the Flood or become infected. Score points for killing flood or big points for infecting a human. The player with the most points wins."
New rankings:The highest rankings are now Killpocalypse and Killionaire, instead of Double Kill and Triple Kill.
A reference to a map editor has also been found, a returning feature from Halo 2!Its about damn time but, it may be refrence to in house map builder for bungie.

The information has since been removed from the bungie forum in question.

snes emulator made with xna released!!

i knew it was a matter of time b4 any emulator for the 360 was made with xna .. since it is c programming.. its a great big step in the direction of homebrew on the 360 ... next? ps2? pxs? n64? .. haha only time will tell!

XNA SharpNES 2nd Release - Full Speed, Save Games and Rom Navigation
>> 'Lone Coder' released a new version of XNA SharpNES - a indie NES emulator for Xbox 360 made with Microsoft's 'XNA Game Studio Express'.What's new/fixed:* Second controller fixed (Yea for Luigi fans!)* Made thumbstick work as an alternate control* Battery saves are stored to disk (Be sure to exit the emu or it won't save)* Crude rom navigation* Emu remembers which rom was last loaded and will load it up* Minor performance improvements* Emu runs at full speed when not being debuggedWhat's Still Missing:* Real Rom Loading Menu* Sound (Might I suggest humming along or retro game music from the 360)* Full Mapper Support
Official Site: http://code.google.com/p/xnasharpnes/
Download: here (latest release) subversion rep. (latest code) (requires Microsoft's 'Creators Club' account ($99/12m or $49/4m) to run on Xbox360)