UnitedForPink has posted that Cavegirls forum is throwing a Halo 3 Breast Cancer tourney this weekend.
Finding a cure for breast cancer isn’t just for walkers and the racers anymore. Meet a determined gamer named Kari Toyama from an active ‘Halo’ gaming community called Cavegirls. I was really intrigued by this story, and I wanted to help spread the word! Playing ‘Halo’ to help find a cure?
Of course, just my luck, it’s already full (I can still sponsor a player though). Not that I would have lasted long, but it surely would have been nice to have a genuine excuse to play H3.
On a related note, my XBox time has increased lately. On Halo 3 we’ve gotten all the skulls, most of the achievements, and have beat it on legendary multiple times (yeah… we rock). Halo is something we never tire of… We’ve even been going back and playing H1 and H2 lately, though playing H1 on a 360 sucks, because it’s SO slow with the emulator running. A friend brought over Bioshock yesterday, so we are currently enthralled in that game, but I expect to be back on LIVE shortly. Hit me up for a friend request (Duzins) if you enjoy slaughtering girls (I love that the sound I make in game as I die now sounds female — great addition Bungie!).
UPDATE: Looks like Halo 3 will launch officially on September 25. Sah-weet!
I’m stocking up on party food and drinks for a rousing game of Halo 3 tonight. The beta releases tonight at midnight. if you haven’t bought your copy of Crackdown or either gotten into the beta in the other way, then shame on you, because I’ve told you how to do it too many times to count.
Normally I’d ask off work tomorrow since this is a thrice in a lifetime event (grin), but I’ve been at a conference all weekend and spent Monday recouping Mother’s Day with my family and Tuesday at our corporate HQ (Sunnyvale) so I’ve not been in the office all week.
I think if I miss another day this week they may flog me. Regardless, I’m sure I’ll come in tomorrow looking like warmed-over poop (my mom used to say this all the time) and will likely end up drooling-sleepy by lunch. But, it will not have been in vain, as tonight I get to control Master Chief against an army of like-minded (ie crazy) gamers as we try to break the beta.
How will I bide my time for the next 3 hours???
Several more at YouTube (username bipchizzle)
I’ve not gotten a subscription to GameTap because we already have far too many gaming choices at home that I can play easily with a controller. I’m not a fan of keyboard-controlled games (gasp) and I haven’t taken the time to make my television easily linked with a computer, until now.
When we moved, my husband sneakily purchased an HDTV (one of my first days in the office) and took my gaming laptop and joined it (via MediaCenter) to this shiny new TV. I came home from work and in a day he had transformed our box-filled living room into a full-fledged media room, which is amazing since the codecs for MediaCenter are notoriously still tricky deal with and the fact that he did this feat in a few hours is mindboggling. If you haven’t set up a MediaCenter, or played with Vista either, then you don’t understand, but if you’ve even attempted this, then you know how long this takes, if you are ever even successful. When I installed the Vista beta last fall, I had no sound for months (explains the LONG time between podcasts and vidcasts, doesn’t it… I blame it all on Microsoft LOL).
Anyway, it was this MediaCenter/HDTV that made me want to give GameTap another look. I finally have a reason to hook my controller up to this TV. I mean, I can probably do it easily using the XBox Extender service.
But, I probably would have still taken months to get around to doing this, if I hadn’t read today on ArsTechnica that GameTap is going the ad-supported model and making their service free.
While GameTap will still offer subscriptions, GameTap.com will expand from its current role as a portal to the GameTap client and will offer big-name classic games to play for free, all supported by the ads displayed on the page. The new site will launch on May 31 and will feature 30 games to begin, including titles like Metal Slug, Joust, and Rampage. These are titles that are being sold for premium prices on other consoles, so they may be able to draw the high number of people required to make this strategy profitable.
There literally is no barrier to playing now. As a marketing hack I always get excited when I see advertising used in creative and relatively new ways, but the cheap geek in me has always dreamed of a day when all games will cease to be $60 a pop and will be liberally sprinkled with ads and in-game placement ala most movies. Has that day finally come? Well, not really, but still I can go and play Metal Slug and Joust, and soon Laura Croft: Anniversary.
The service doesn’t open up until the end of the month, and it will be competing with the much anticipated Halo 3 beta (May 11-June 9), but I’m sure I’ll still find some time to Joust my heart away for free. Of course, that doesn’t even begin to imagine the fun we could have on GameTap, one-the-go, with a UMPC. Gosh, just thinking about it gives me goose bumps!
The Halo 3 Beta will be released on May 16 at 5AM. Oddly enough, this is the day my husband will turn 33. Do you think those two things will be enough to get the day off? 
This is your chance to get to try new levels, weapons, vehicles, and try out some new game types. Maps shipping with the beta include Snowbound, Hugh Ground, and Valhalla - all new to Halo 3. Try your hand at the new Mongoose ATV, and gun-up with the new and improved Assault Rifle, Brute Spiker, Spike Grenades, and the killer Spartan Laser.
You can only have access to the game if you were either part of the Rule of Three promotion or if you scored (or plan to score) a copy of the Crackdown game that is flying off store shelves. I bought Crackdown on the day it was released, hoping that the Beta would be live at that point (moron…) but since it wasn’t I’ve had an insane time playing through that killer game.
But soon my $60 purchase will be rewarded as I glimpse the sweet visor of the Master Chief in all his energy-shielded glory. So, gnash your teeth with envy or pick up your own copy of Crackdown and play with me next month. My gamertag is Duzins. Prepare for pwnage.