It’s about that time to prepare another episode of Podtacular. This is the one where we help promote your maps and customs!

New custom: Chocolate Rain. Brown boxes respawn constantly above your heads.

Got a cool custom? Now’s the time to send it in for maximum coverage across the Halo Nation! Just click the big button at the top right, tell us about your map, include a link and your gamertag. Even if you didn’t make the custom but you like it we’d love to hear about it.

Look, I made a T-Rex with Forge! 😀 RRRAAAAAAAWWRR

Most of the time customs need their accompanying maps. So we want to hear about these too! Tell us about your forge creations or ones you’ve seen recently so we can pass them on.

Deadline is Tuesday night at about 6:00pm EST, so send in your customs and creations now!

According to a post by a former Hired Gun employee, the team that built Halo 2 for Windows Vista “no longer exists”.

First FASA, makers of the first Games for Windows – Live title, folded after the launch of Shadowrun. Now Hired Gun folds just months after the launch of Halo 2 for PC. It is a shame that both companies have gone and gamers are left with glitch-ridden games that need support.

Microsoft hasn’t officially dropped support for either game. They still have a small skeleton crew on call for support. Still, I wouldn’t bet on any future support for the games. Perhaps there is some content still in the life cycle pipeline. However, I feel that it may never see the light of day.

Having been playing the third and latest title for Games for Windows – Live, Gears of War (PC), I can say that it seems that game is also headed down a bug-filled path. I’ll try to write an article on the state of GfW-Live gaming in the next few weeks after I’ve spent more time in GoW (PC).

But in the mean time, what is Microsoft thinking with these ports? So long Hired Gun. I barely knew you.

After coming home to a non-working computer I had to wait till today, Monday, November 12, 2007, to post the Podtacular impressions of Kane & Lynch and also talk about the event we went to.

First of all, we all had an amazing time at Eidos. With representatives from several gaming communities, blogs and other review sites, we all had the opportunity to meet up, talk about video games and check out this Kane & Lynch game that some people have been talking about. The event started with a nice diner on Wednesday night. It was great to get together with the folks from Eidos Jennie, David, and Stanley, to talk about games, our expectations of the game and other video game related topics. It was a great night and a heck of a great time!

Now, on Thursday is when we had the opportunity to check out this game. At first, the game appeared to be just another shooter but we were wrong. And this is not me saying it, but basically every guy that was in that room. The game play was nicely produced and the engine ran smooth. With graphics that were up to par if not better than many other so called “next gen” games out there, Kane & Lynch is not just your typical shooter. The story mode was extremely well put together with several chapters but not overwhelmingly long cut scenes. Everything was timed perfectly for you to understand the “movie” tone that this game was given. It’s in depth enough to make you want to play it more and know how they’re going to reach a certain point or do a certain thing.

The music of the game is just amazing. We all had the opportunity to meet Jesper Kyd, who was the music producer for Kane & Lynch, Assassins Creed, Hitman and several other tittles in his career. The tone of the music just helped to set the game into a cinematic motion where everything happens according to the music of the game. The music also sets a great character description to both characters. Kane’s music is different from Lynch’s and the outcome to their music is a very broad understanding of their background, current and past state of mind.

Now the controls were also interesting. With a variety of commands and a mix of controls from different games, this game was put together with the best features of some of the best shooters out there for the last few months.

The cover system for instance was one of the things that caught the attention of many people there. It just felt different. It wasn’t like Gears where you had to jump to cover or press a button to keep switching sides, or like Vegas where you had to hold the left trigger to hold on to the wall. You were placed in cover as you approached the wall and the left trigger gave you the aim function to work with and be explored. It was easy to get access and to get away from cover which made the game much more strategic the other shooters because now you could flow through the map choosing where to stand and how long to stand without worrying if you could jump to another place or if your fingers would get tired.

Another different system was the “buddy” system or the crew you control through out the missions. Unlike Rainbow Six: Vegas where you have to send your whole squad to a place if you want them to scout, take someone out or just give you some cover, on Kane & Lynch you can select who you want to send and where you want to send him. It’s more tactical to send certain players to certain positions like in a game of chess. Now you don’t get stuck sending all of your guys to take out one enemy. It’s all about planning where you will send each guy and how will they perform their task while you perform yours. If you need the cover you can build your safe zone in order to reach the location of your desire. It’s a great system and it definitely changes the way the game is played.

If some of these features weren’t enough, the game brings another new element; Fragile Alliance is the online multiplayer feature for Kane & Lynch where you have 8 guys, a load of cash and only a limited amount of time to get away. However it doesn’t end right there. “Play it like a soldier and you will lose. Play it like a criminal and you will win…” The mindset you must have in order to succeed in Fragile Alliance is different then anything you’ve played before. We’re not talking about your typical run and gun multiplayer game. This is beyond anything you’ve experienced before. This is about how greedy your are, how trustworthy is the guy next to you or how far are you willing to go without betraying others for the their money and paying the price of being a traitor.

Overall I have to say that I was impressed with the game. I’m sure most of the guys that went in to the event expected a regular game and just another shooter but the fact that the game felt totally different made us realize the amount of time and effort that Eidos put into Kane & Lynch.

I would like to thank everyone that went to the event and for the great time we all had while there. Special big thanks to Eidos and all the crew that took their time to hang out with us to take pictures, answer questions, do interviews, etc.. to Godfree over at Gamertag Radio and all the other GCN guys that took the time to go there and have a blast in this community event. Ohhh and of course Chevelle for coming from Sacramento to hang out with us.

Thanks guys,
See you all on the flip side…

PS. Pictures will follow tonight, after the computer problem is resolved. 😉
But in the mean time you can check out some vids and pics from GAMERTAG RADIO

Dialpex