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" LOS ANGELES \u2014 The exhibit hall doors at the Los Angeles Convention Center won&amp;#039;t open for another hour, with reporters, semi-reporters and ravenous gamers camped out in a growing mosh pit in front them. So before we offer any &amp;quot;hands-on&amp;quot; feedback for the massive collection of games being previewed here at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), here&amp;#039;s a rundown of the single interesting piece of news buried within last night&amp;#039;s extended Microsoft press conference. After boasting that 3.3 million Xbox 360s have been sold since the November 2005 launch, with a target of 10 million sold by the end of this year, Bill Gates announced that Microsoft will allow Xbox 360 players and Windows Vista users to play games together, using the expanding Xbox Live online network. Other kinds of users, like anyone with a smartphone or a WiFi-enabled PocketPC that runs the Windows Mobile operating system, will be part of this initiative, which is being called &amp;quot;Live Anywhere.&amp;quot; Vague promises were bandied about, but here are the only hard details. The first game that will have cross-platform compatibility, specifically for the Xbox 360 and the upcoming Windows Vista operatin system, is Shadowrun, a futuristic action game that mixes high-tech cyborgs and hackers with Lord of the Rings-style magic and monsters. In gamerspeak, it&amp;#039;s a squad-based tactical shooter with some fancy spells. In other worlds, Shadowrun pits teams of players against each other, or the computer, using traditional small-unit tactics and somewhat traditional firearms, with a heavy dose of wizardry thrown in for good measure. In geek circles, Shadowrun is a relatively venerable franchise, dating back to a non-digital, tabletop roleplaying game (played like Dungeons &amp;amp;amp; Dragons) that&amp;#039;s still in publication. Games set in the Shadowrun world have appeared on various game systems, based partly on the irresistible mash-up of the sci-fi and fantasy genres, but also because of the richly detailed storyline and background. We won&amp;#039;t get into the details, but the rebirth of magic in an already volatile future, with humans suddenly giving birth to elves, dwarves and even hideous trolls, sets the stage for a battle between powerful megacorporations and various rebellious factions. For what its worth, Shadowrun was almost made into a movie, but the subject matter was possibly too nerdy to be unleashed on a mainstream audience. Even this new game sounds like a simplified version of the gameworld. Shadowrun, which is being developed by FASA Studios, the brains behind the popular MechAssault and Crimson Skies titles, will be released this winter. It will support games of up to 16 players at once using Xbox Live, and, again, those players can use Xbox 360s or PCs running Windows Vista. Microsoft is even releasing receivers to allow PC-users to wirelessly connect Xbox 360 controllers to their machines. We&amp;#039;ll have more news on the Xbox 360, as well as its competitors\u2014Nintendo&amp;#039;s Wii and Sony&amp;#039;s PlayStation 3\u2014as soon as its available. \u2014Erik Sofge Next: Can We Sing? The PlayStation 3 Thinks So ShadowRun for Xbox360. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a664/2777996/>