At 9:20ish US East Coast time today I will officially be done with my junior year of high school.Woot. Mind you, technically there is still one more day of school but I'm skipping it to go to my grandma's house in North Carolina, and to get a car. So I'm pretty much done...:lol:

Xbox live is now hosting a Halo 2 tournament over xbox live.  In other words, if your really really really really good at Halo 2, and have absolutely no social life, you just might win a prize.  Now for the second part of the title...

For those of you who actually know my friend Johnny then you probably know what I'm talking about, but for those who don't I shall explain.  Ever since Halo 2 came out back in, I think, 2004 my friend Johnny has been obsessed with it. This slightly changed for a very short period of time when he bought a Xbox 360 and got Gears of War. After he got bored with Gears, he went back to Halo 2. At a small four person LAN party I had a couple weeks ago, I introduced Johnny to Crackdown, and he wouldn't stop playing it. Once the party ended I made him give me it back and then he spent a couple of days raving about it until he finally bought it.  Now he plays Crackdown at the expense of all else, thus, he has a crack addiction...:P

Well yesterday me, along with a few friends, made the Aut Vincere Aut Mori union.  Right about now you are probly wondering what the heck "aut vincere aut mori" means, well for starters its latin.  Now for anyone out there who speaks latin, if the name is in any way wrong, grammar...spelling, I don't care.  The name means, according to the site I got it from, "Either Conquer or Die".

In other news, matrixman313 has posted a very unfair poll on the union's board.  Once you look at it you'll probly see why, or at least you'll see why I thought it was unfair.  I'll also probly be continuing my exhilerating video series "Watching Buddha" where the unfortunate sap who looks at it gets to watch a little brass figure of Buddha do absolutely nothing in various environments.  I'm well aware that I only have one episode so far, and I'm aware that a series usually comprises more than one episode. So don't make any stupid comments regarding that. Out...:twisted:

bet you'll never get it...

By way of personal prejudice, or maybe just a slight disinterest in my normal life, I have always been drawn towards RPGs.  Be them MMOs or not I love 'em.  The ability to create another version of yourself, or of some chick (for those who don't like watching soe guy's a** swing back and forth), allows for the mind to escape everyday life and do things that I'd probly get sent to jail for doing in real life.  Now some people get pissed off at the fact that you actually have to work to get your character up to the point where you can roleplay the way you want to, but that just sounds like laziness or lack of imagination to me.  If you can't find some situation for your avatar in which they aren't a master swordsman, or Arch-Mage, at the get go then why bother roleplaying, all your gonna do is watch your crazily super-powered avatar go crazy on somebody over and over again.  The point of an RPG is to level up but to have fun at the same time.

Now TESIV: Oblivion is an awesome game in this regard, so was Morrowind, yes there were some things that I liked more in Morrowind, and some that I prefer Oblivion, but ultimately I prefer these types to MMOs.  Why, you ask? Because if I'm playing by myself, then I'm playing by myself, I don't have some a-hole screwing around messing up the whole story I'd been roleplaying in my head.  Playing with other people can be fun, but only if the story you made for your character can work with other people.  Alvin the Summoner, a Orc Necromancer who absolutely will not be near humans, will never be able to work as a member of a group of female human sorceresses who are going around eradicating necromancy, unless he plans to rape them. It doesn't work, you'd have to make a new character for that.  Now please excuse me but I have to get back to the project I'm supposed to be working on for my class...

Can't Touch This...

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PC and Xbox 360 gamers have gotten used to living and playing in their own respective worlds, though that will change once Shadowrun ships. Shadowrun, from Microsoft and its internal FASA Studio, will be the first Live Anywhere game to feature cross-platform gameplay, meaning that Xbox 360 players will be able to battle Windows Vista players online. It'll be a showdown between the mouse-and-keyboard crowd versus the gamepad crowd. We can't wait, but thankfully Microsoft recently gave us a chance to give both versions of the game a test-drive.

Shadowrun is a first- or third-person action game set in an alternate universe where magic and technology mix. The focus of the game is round-based multiplayer action, sort of like Counter-Strike, but with magical abilities and tech items that allow for a much more dynamic experience. In Shadowrun, you can see and teleport through walls, turn into a puff of smoke so bullets can't hurt you, hurl a gust of wind that disperses that smoke, summon magical minions to slay your enemies, enable hyperreflexes that let you move faster than others, and much more. Players will select from one of four magical races, each with its advantages and disadvantages, and they'll fight for the RNA Corporation, a high-tech organization, or the Lineage, the defenders of the magical temple that's the source of conflict in the game.

This was the first time that we saw Shadowrun in a fairly complete state. Though the game still needs some work, pretty much all the pieces are finally in place, and FASA finally showed off some levels that we hadn't been showcased before. The first was Nerve Center, which is set in the high-tech environs of an RNA Corporation base. The other was Favela, which is set in the vertical slums of Santos, the fictional Brazilian city in the game. Both were designed for 12-player matches, with six players on a team, though the largest maps in the game are designed for 16-player matches.

There will be three game modes in Shadowrun, each involving an artifact that must be captured. In raid mode, one team will be tasked on defense while the other is on offense, and the objective is for the attackers to capture the artifact and deliver it to a certain spot on the map. Extraction mode is more like capture the flag, as the objective of both teams is to capture the artifact and return it to their base. And then there's attrition mode, which is basically a team deathmatch mode with a couple of twists. First, in attrition mode, bodies can't be "cleared" from play. In the two other modes, if you kill someone they can still be resurrected so long as the body remains. However, one way to prevent this is to fire your weapon into a body until it disappears, "clearing" it from play. That player can no longer be resurrected in that round and must wait for the next round to play. So "clearing" isn't a danger in attrition mode. The second twist in attrition mode is that whoever is holding the artifact can see the location of all enemy players, and the value of that is pretty obvious. The artifact holder can then call out the location of enemies to the rest of the team.

Though we've played Shadowrun on numerous occasions at this point, we remain impressed by the depth in the game. For instance, we never thought of throwing a strangler grenade at a tree of life before. The tree of life is a magical tree that instantly sprouts from a seed you throw on the ground, and the reason you plant it is because you automatically heal if you're next to one. A strangler grenade puts down magical crystals that can block an entranceway. So, let's say you're battling someone who throws a tree of life down to heal. By tossing a strangler grenade at the tree of life, you deny them the healing abilities of the tree. Another example of tactics we hadn't thought of before is throwing down a tree of life to create instant cover if you're under fire. So imagine a battle where players are not only blasting away at one another with submachine guns, rifles, rocket launchers, and shotguns, but also throwing down trees of life and strangler grenades, soaring overhead with glider wings, teleporting around, resurrecting the dead, and more, and you get the idea of just how crazy the action can get in Shadowrun.
Shadowrun's release date is still vague, but it will ship within the next four months.

The bad news is that those looking for evidence that one control scheme is superior than the other may be disappointed. As far as we can tell, it's pretty much a wash between the mouse and keyboard and the game controller. Both are equally effective, and what it'll come down to is personal preference. Get the PC version if you want to play with a mouse and keyboard (you can also plug in an Xbox 360 controller to a Vista machine), or get the Xbox 360 version if you want the controller. Both versions look pretty much identical, so you won't miss anything with either one. However, if you do go for the PC version, make sure that your mouse has two main buttons and two side buttons, because you can map up to three magical or tech abilities to the right mouse button and the two side buttons. (The left mouse button, of course, is used to fire your weapon.) This makes it easy in a fight to use your abilities without having to fumble with the keyboard.

Shadowrun is a lot of fun, and though Microsoft still hasn't announced an exact release date for the game, its release date is nearing. All we know for now is that Shadowrun will ship for both the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista PCs (sorry Windows XP users, but you'll have to upgrade) before the first half of the year is out.

The successful art of a ninja assassin is explored in great depth and with unrelenting difficulty in Tenchu® Z. Each level offers a unique set of challenges, and you must explore every nook and cranny of the environment, study each enemy, and take every precaution to enjoy success. Whether you're a novice to Tenchu Z or a veteran of stealth games, it would be wise to consider the following tips.

Teamwork can be deadly.

Avoidance
The impulse of most gamers is to seek out confrontation at every turn, but in Tenchu Z, your first impulse should always be the opposite. In fact, your goal in each mission should be to kill only the primary target and no one else. This is all but impossible for any but the most masterful gamers, but aspire to this level of perfection. If it's possible to pass by a guard without them ever knowing you were there, do just that.

Patience with Patrols
Tenchu Z will test your patience at every opportunity, and in particular, with its use of patrols. When first spotting a patrolling guard, take the time to examine his entire path. Only move once you know where the guard is going, and how long it will take him to get there. The challenge comes when dealing with multiple guards on multiple paths and finding that perfect moment where no one will spot you. Only a ninja's patience will give you the necessary information to succeed.

The Patrol Kill
When the time comes that you decide a guard must be dispatched, take advantage of the guard's patrol path. It's always easier to wait for an enemy than attempt to approach them unnoticed yourself. For example, if you know the guard walks down an alleyway near a building, position yourself at the corner of the alley and wait for them to pass. The game will highlight the enemy when they get close enough for a stealth kill. Time your button-press right and that's one less guard.

The all-out assault will earn you a poor grade.

Run and Hide
Your first reaction to a guard spotting you should be to skedaddle to the nearest hiding spot. Once hidden, it only takes a few moments for the guard to lose interest and go back about his business as if you were never there. If you stand and fight, you risk the guard alerting the rest of the camp to your presence.

Shadow Kill
Whether you're inside or outside of a building, you will often encounter walls made out of rice paper. While you can't burst through them, you can spot enemy silhouettes walking back and forth behind the wall. Time it correctly and stab through the flimsy barrier to take your enemy down with a single stroke.

A Shuriken to the Head
Make sure to aim for the head when using shuriken. Hit location counts in Tenchu Z and with supplies being limited, you'll want to make sure every hit counts for maximum damage.

Surprise!

Meter Alerts
With in-game hints few and far between, the two in-game stealth meters take on even more importance. The numerical meter at the bottom of your screen increases the closer you are to your enemy. It's not based on line-of-sight and by default, it selects the closest enemy to you. Consult the meter consistently, and you'll never be surprised.

The alert meter is the circular color-changing icon in the bottom left corner of the screen. There are a few things to keep in mind:

• When the icon is yellow, you've been spotted but there is still time to sneak away.
• When the icon turns red and catches on fire, the enemy will charge you. You can still hide, but you better be quick.
• When the icon turns blue but is still on fire, the enemy is actively searching for you but doesn't know where you are. If you can stay hidden for a few seconds, the icon's state should revert to normal.

Mask Your Odor
Stealth is no longer just a question of sight and sound but odor as well. If you fall into a pit of sewage or are covered in gore courtesy of a recent battle, enemies can actually sniff you out. Your uniform will become soiled or bloodied when you're giving off an odor. If you haven't purchased the requisite deodorizing item from the store, find a source of clean water to rid yourself of the smell.

With these beginning tactical ninja tips, you're sure to find some success in this intriguing action stealth game.