The latest episode of 1-800-Magic, from the demented minds that brought you Red Vs. Blue, has hit the airwaves ... er ... internetwaves? The story continues to evolve as the characters learn to deal with magic (and tech support). Oh, and there is a rather protracted argument with a tree (whose name is Frank). And we can't forget the trolls continuing to look for the perfect attack phrase ("smoke 'em" is the new hotness this week). Rather than spoil anything else, why not have a look for yourself and tell us what you think? Be warned though, the video is NSFW on account of some salty language. Check it out after the break.
The generous gents over at Xbox 360 Achievements are giving away a copy of Shadowrun to celebrate the 250,000th post on their forums. To enter all you need to do is post your gamertag on this thread, though registration is required. This is definitely a pretty good deal, then again, when is anything free not one? Speaking of free giveaways, we'll be announcing the winner of our The Darknesscontest soon, so stay tuned.
Posted Jun 25th 2007 2:15PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
On the latest OXM podcast, Shadowrun's own Mitch Gitelman (who we had a chat with on our Fancast) talked with the guys and expressed his anger with how the game's reviews are being calculated. Gitelman's argument is that most of the Shadowrun reviews agree that the game is an innovative, fun and unique FPS experience, but deduct points due to its lack of campaign and a $59.99 price tag. He goes on to say that the game should be reviewed for what it is and not how much it costs as they never said a campaign would be included. It's an interesting argument to say the least as Shadowrun's reviews tend to lean towards what the game isn't. But what say you fellow fanboy? Should reviews take a game's price into consideration or should the content and just the content be rated? It's a difficult topic to tackle, so we're interested in hearing what you think.
This week's Live Top Ten let the dust settle from last week's onslaught of demos. The top three remained unchanged, with Guitar Hero II moving into fourth, pushing the Shadowrun demo down. One of the other demos from last week, Tenchu Z remains in the same spot, and the Arcade game, Prince of Persia actually moved up to eighth. Also, though its demo has been on the list for the past week, the retail version of Shadowrun has made it on the top ten list, and will hopefully continue to climb. Full breakdown of the list after the break.
We always knew that teleportations are accompanied by a BAMF! sound effect -- caused by the rushing of air into the newly created vacuum. What we didn't know, however, was that teleportation is also accompanied by the hearty smell of bacon. At least, that's what the newest episode of 1-800-Magic tells us. Episode 2, cleverly subtitled "The Second Episode," is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace. Of course, it's been available online for a week, but we likes our "high resmolutions."
So, what do you think of this new series from the creators of Red Vs. Blue?
This week Circuit City is offering all kinds of deals, some we've seen before while others are new. But be sure to note that most (if not all) are in-store only deals, so let's get to it. This week they brought back two deals including the two free HD DVD offer with the purchase of the Xbox 360 HD DVD player and the 4' tall Master Chief wall graphic with a Halo 3 preorder. For new deals we have a free tshirt with the purchase of Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia and an offer for our PC fanboys. This week you can get Halo 2 Vista for $39.99 and with the purchase you'll get Shadowrun Vista for free! Two PC games for $40, not too shabby at all. So, that's it and be sure to remember that most of these deals aren't available online. Happy spending!
Chris Paladino has kindly offered up some Shadowrun tips with video on the frees. In the video, he plays a Dwarf, and in this particular round, focuses on defense, and shows the art of Quick Casting. Quick Casting is casting magic (or throwing grenades/AMGs) without having it bound to a bumper/left trigger. To do this you hold B, select Magic or Tech, then your spell/nade, and pulling the right trigger. He uses this technique with Strangle, whilst having Tree and Resurrect assigned to his left trigger and right bumper, respectively.
That's fine for the purpose of this video, but note that Tree and Res are the the easiest to Quick Cast, since, you can hold the direction for Magic (left) before hitting B. So if you are holding left and strafing, hit B, you're automatically selecting Tree of Life at that point, and can pull the right trigger and cast. Res is slightly higher on the radial menu, but on the left side. Conversely, nades are on the 3 o'clock position, so Quick Casting them is just as simple. All in all, good tips on the use of Strangle, and Quick Casting, and the price tag certainly is easier to swallow, so thank you, Chris.
Do you use Quick Casting when playing Shadowrun? If so, on what Magic or Tech (noting it only works on the nades)?
This week's live top ten has a third of the list devoted to digitally distributed demonstration content. Of those demos, Shadowrun came all the way in fourth, with Tenchu Z down in 7th, and the Overlord demo rounding out the list in tenth. Without the Halo 3 Beta there to hog the list, Forza moved up all the way to second, behind Gears of War.Crackdown proved it had some staying power without the help of the aforementioned beta, as it maintained the middle ground at fifth. Also, Prince of Persia managed to make the list at ninth. Speaking of the list, you can find that after the break. Enjoy.
Welcome back to another edition of X3F Achievements 101, where we take a look at the last 7 days in Achievement whoring of yours truly and any observations or interesting tidbits that got discovered along the way. This week saw a good jump in Gamerscore, as I plowed through a couple of mediocre games with some straightforward Achievements, along with others that require special attention to obtain. So, we'll take a look at Superman Returns, Eragon, and touch on a teensy bit of Shadowrun.
In an interview with Infinity Ward's studio head Grant Collier, IGN discussed everything Call of Duty 4 and got the company's opinion on Microsoft's Live Anywhere initiative. Grant said that after Microsoft pitched the idea of incorporating Live Anywhere into their games they felt that it wouldn't work with their projects and simply said "no way". Collier says such a system is best suited for "card games or Tetris or something like that" and not the RTS or FPS genres. Microsoft didn't have a convincing argument to Infinity Ward's complaints and didn't respond to them.
Collier's take on Live Anywhere directly conflicts with Microsoft's view of bridging multiple gaming platforms like their latest gem Shadowrun, which is a FPS and incorporates the technology. So, maybe that's why phone calls weren't returned ... they hurt Microsoft's feelings. Big bullies.
Available for purchase off the Marketplace are four brand spanking new Shadowrun video strategy guides that'll teach you sniping locations, teleporting lines and the quickest way to get to the artifact in each map. Very useful information indeed. But the negative cloud surrounding these downloads is that they cost 100 Microsoft points apiece. We're sure these Shadowrun videos showcase only the most special and uber elite strategies, what we call the metaphorical prime cut of the strategic cow, but can't bring ourselves to plop down the cash to find out. Now that we think of it, this content smells eerily similar to those COG tag location videos. Overpriced and, with a quick Googling, completely unnecessary.
What's that you say? You'd like to play Halo 2 on your PC, but you don't have/want Windows Vista? You're in luck then, as Falling Leaf Systems has announced plans to release software that will allow Windows XP users to play Halo 2. Not only that, the company is developing similar software for Shadowrun. To inspire XP users to take the plunge, Falling Leaf is promising a free copy of the compatibility software to those who order either game through their site. Falling Leaf CEO Brian Thomason concludes the press release with some fighting words: "First they claim that it was impossible to implement DirectX 10 compatibility atop Windows XP, and now they also want us to believe that they couldn't successfully launch two DirectX 9 based titles on XP either. We plan to expose both theories as patently false."
Assuming this software works as advertised, would you change your mind about picking up either title?
X3F Achievements 101 is back, and on its regularly scheduled time slot of Sundays. Initial response to our first edition was rather positive, so we're glad you like the concept and hope you enjoy reading, and even participating in the column. Emails with Achievement tips also came in at a good pace, and I look forward to playing and trading with you. One particular email stood out, which came from Casey over at brains-N-brawn.com, and the steps he took to get Achievements in one of the most time consuming Arcade games, Bejeweled 2.
The Shadowrun demo hit yesterday, and our little social experiment/mini community event was very successful. That being said, only 20 or 30 of you got to participate in the fun, so we're doing it again. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the party system found in the retail game is present in the demo, making this all the easier to accomplish. But we're upping the ante, not only do you get to play with the die-hard enthusiast of the title, but the promise maker will be living up to his word, showing up at 8:00 PM EDT. If the stars are aligned, the final piece of the X3F puzzle will arrive, but that's merely a maybe.
So, if you're still on the fence about Shadowrun, and didn't get in on the action yesterday, the festivities are going to start within the next 15 to 30 minutes, and go on for a few hours to help spread the word of what a gameplay gem this is. We'll try to make room on the demo event's gamertag for newcomers, but you can still send a message to see if you can get into the party, but check to see that it's online, and in the demo first. Hope to play with you soon, and if response is high, we may continue this after the end of the Halo 3 Beta.
X3F Gamertags: Richard Mitchell -- SenseiRAM
Dustin Burg -- SuperDunners
David Dreger -- noswaD selkcunK (For Shadowrun Demo)
Welcome to X3F Achievements 101, a new column here at Xbox 360 Fanboy, where I get to discuss one of my favorite Xbox 360 features: Achievements, and the whoring found therein. Each week I'll be bringing you my take on the latest Achievement news, as well as my quest in both my Achievement streak, and any specific Achievements I'm working on. Not only that, but you get to participate, as I'll be giving you a means to contact me, so we can work together on getting Achievements. So read on, as I start off by taking a look at one of the coolest Achievements to come out of a personal favorite, Shadowrun.
On the latest OXM podcast, Shadowrun's own Mitch Gitelman (who we had a chat with on our 
This week's Live Top Ten let the dust settle from last week's 
This week Circuit City is offering all kinds of deals, some we've seen before while others are new. But be sure to note that most (if not all) are in-store only deals, so let's get to it. This week they brought back two deals including the two free HD DVD offer with the purchase of the Xbox 360 HD DVD player and the 4' tall Master Chief wall graphic with a Halo 3 preorder. For new deals we have a free tshirt with the purchase of Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia and an offer for our PC fanboys. This week you can get Halo 2 Vista for $39.99 and with the purchase you'll get Shadowrun Vista for free! Two PC games for $40, not too shabby at all. So, that's it and be sure to remember that most of these deals aren't available online. Happy spending!
