Ahoy! Shots in the Dark IS the official podcast of Shotgun Reviews, so we thought we’d hit you up with an all review episode (after the Gatling Geek news segment, of course). We went a little outside the box, though. First, Janelle reviews The Sims 2: Freetime, the likely final expansion pack to The Sims 2, and even gives you a sneak peak of The Sims 3, due out next year.  Then we take a deep look at the first 7 “episodes” of Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield’s FreakAngels; the completely free webcomic. Head over, take a listen, subscribe through any and all podcasting services, and be a better human being. Or Warren Ellis will send the arse eels. It’s your choice.

 Listen Right Here!!

My latest piece for WIRED Magazine is now on the site; you can check it out here, if you’re so inclined.

It remains to be seen if I shall receive near-immediate hate mail as I did with the Sidekicks piece. Remember, gentle readers, it’s all in good humor. Enjoy!

Ready to launch some ridiculously adorable cartoon hamsters into orbit? Sure you are! Totally go to:  

http://www.digyourowngrave.com/flight-of-the-hamsters/ 

This online game is so addictively fun you will be able to maximize your time wasting ten fold! Enjoy!

For those of you who are unaware, Shots in the Dark is the official podcast of Shotgun Reviews. Its hosted by regular Shotgun contributors Lucas Siegel, Janelle Siegel and Vince Scalabrino. They’re joined by Imoticon, JB, and The Viceroy, expert gamers and a professional video game designer. These heavily opinionated folks dissect and occasionally eviscerate pop culture with the same tongue-in-cheek cynicism you’ve come to know and love here at Shotgun.

In their most recent episode, the Shots in the Dark crew reviews Talisman: The Board Game, coupled with a lively round table discussion of the most controversial Marvel arc of the 21st century, Spider Man’s One More Day. And if you’re into video games at all, you’d be interested to hear the exclusive cheat for Rock Band that the crew discovered. Curious? Head on over and give them a listen. Or just click on the big, blue, appropriately-named button above and get your fix.

Marvel and DC have just done their best Scarlet Witch House of M impression.

As of approximately 36 hours ago, the popular comic book only torrent site, ZCult FM, has stopped serving torrents. According to posts made on ZCult’s forums by site-runner “Serj,” the site received a cease and desist letter from both Marvel and DC, indicating some cooperation between the two to get this site taken down. He has been able to confirm the authenticity of the DC letter, but has not directly spoken to anyone from Marvel yet.

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For those of you who live in the Chicago area, you should attend the Shots in the Dark Launch Party tomorrow, April 28th! For more details on the location and what’s happening when, click here!

Chicago, IL (April 17, 2007) - The April 28th episode of Shots in the Dark will be recorded at the Shots in the Dark Launch Party at Hero Headquarters! The episode will include the usual geek news, as well as interviews with Tim Demeter, Mike Norton, and Skottie Young. You can participate in this week’s show just by attending the party and saying hi! The party will be from 10am - 9pm on Saturday, April 28th at Hero Headquarters, 1530 W. Lake Cook Rd. in Wheeling, IL.

Other activities at the launch party include gaming of many different kinds including Heroclix, raffles and auctions of signed goods from Brian K. Vaughan, Robert Richardson, Sean McKeever, Eric Wight, and Geoff Johns, as well as original sketches and pages by creators such as Phil Hester and Ande Parks. Half of the proceeds from the auctions and raffles, as well as 100% of the proceeds from any sketches done at the event will be donated to the Hero Initiative ( www.heroinitiative.org). The Shots in the Dark launch party also kicks off the Grand Re-Opening Week of Hero Headquarters which will culminate in their own celebration on May 5th!

Don’t forget there are now THREE great Shots in the Dark episodes available for download on the Shots in the Dark website, including the gang’s interview with comics legend Jeph Loeb!

Combat robots and a fridge that throws you a beer.

Awesome. Now where’s my robot maid and flying car?

Saturday, March 3rd, 1pm Central…MC LARS Live on Play or Die!

That’s right boys and girls, it’s finally that time!

We teased you before…gave you a taste of the anticipation…

We told you he’d be on the phone, chatting with us, but it ended up being a farce- a lie- a, a, well, a mistake, really, but hey, who’s counting?

This time we’re making SURE he’s on the air by having MC Lars, the leader of the iGeneration LIVE IN THE STUDIO!!!

Who’s MC Lars you ask? For shame! Go whip yourself 3 times. You back? Great! www.mclars.com www.myspace.com/mclars

MC Lars is a fantastic post-punk laptop rapper. He rocks the nerdcore, he rolls with the English geek set, and sometimes, SOMEtimes, he just makes fun of the sorry state of affairs a lot of hip hop is in right now.

Play or Die is the show you know and love. We’ll still be talking all things geek: Comics, video games, tech; this time it’ll be with Lars giving input. We’ll be asking him those burning questions every fan wants to know to. You won’t know Lars unless you hear this interview.

So don’t miss MC Lars talking with The Geek (yours truly), Vag McCloud (there can be only one), The Viceroy (our man on the inside), Vicious Vince (the booth runner extraordinaire), and Victoris (always ready with a dick and fart joke), SATURDAY MARCH 3RD. Just click that lovely PLAY OR DIE link (or that one [or that one…or this one, for that matter]) and click “Listen AM” up towards the top. The show streams LIVE to YOUR computer from 1pm-3pm Central, and will be available for download in handy podcast form soon after.

And if you’re in the Chicago area, don’t forget to check out Lars LIVE at Champ’s. Just click the link for more info. Play or Die will be there, and you can meet us, greet us, and we’ll even let you buy us a drink! We’ll be in your ears at 1, and we’ll see you at Champs at 6!

-The Geek-

Greetings and welcome to the new ShotgunReviews.com. Since 1999, we’ve done our best to give you worthwhile (and often funny) reviews and columns, and it’s time to shake off the rust and do it a little differently. We’ve kicked around a few ideas regarding how we’d do this new thing, and we hope you like what you see.

The new design comes to us from Barb Hallock, a student of mine with the appropriate attitude for this place (that is, bad). The more bloggish format puts us more on par with the current landscape. After all, we’ve been doing this almost eight full years. It was time for a big change. I think that you’ll agree that the new format, with a huge list of categories and easy searching, is a good one.

As part of that big change, we’ve brought in an influx of new talent from a variety of places. The entirety of our Best Shots team, responsible for the Best Shots column that runs every Monday at Newsarama.com, is now operating here in several capacities. You’ll also meet several talented young writers, including Barb herself, who will be tackling a variety of topics.

However, if you’re one of the rare folks that has read us since 1999, don’t get too worried. Shawn Delaney will still grace us with terrific music reviews, as will Jonathan Birdsong and the Lyrical Lounge crew. The Russ is back on wrestling coverage in full force. L.I. Rapkin’s already kicking in some culture. Eric Barker’s already opened the film vaults. And they aren’t the only familiar faces lurking around.

In the next few days and weeks, you’ll see the roster expand a little more and you’ll see some new recurring columns and features that we hope will become favorites. If you want to check out the old stuff, the old site currently still exists in its full glory under the archive button. If you want to talk about any of the stuff, old or new, visit our newly established forums.

So there’s my big speech. Enjoy yourselves, express yourselves, and invite friends. ShotgunReviews.com never went away, but we are most certainly back. Thanks for your time.