It's a sad day for Shadowrun players everywhere. Community Manager Kimona has announced that they will be closing down the forums soon. In addition to that, they also plan on turning over the original site to the creators of the next Shadowrun game.

Want to find out more about this? Click on the  "read link" below to get to the full article.

Shadowrun (Xbox 360, PC) and MechWarrior fans rejoice: Jordan Weisman, the founder of the erstwhile FASA Corporation, has started a new studio called Smith & Tinker. The good news? The studio managed to get the license for Shadowrun, MechWarrior, Crimson Skies, and other former FASA IPs. More details in the full article!

FASA Studio has announced that come September 12, they will no longer be in business - this was announced in a post on the Official Shadowrun Forums. The Community Manager and Technical Support Manager are still being kept active though as they will continue to provide tech support as long as players continue to play Shadowrun (Xbox 360, PC).

The company, originally known as FASA Corporation, was started by Jordan Weisman and L. Ross Babcock. They are credited for classics such as Crimson Skies, Star Trek RPG (Table-top version), Shadowrun, and Battletech (Mechwarrior). The company eventually merged with Virtual World Entertainment (VWE) to become the Virtual World Entertainment Group. In 1999, Microsoft purchased the said company and decided to sell the VWE portion of their acquisition, leaving behind FASA Interactive as a subsidiary of Microsoft Game Studios.

It deeply saddens this blogger to have to report this news as this is one of the companies that got me into gaming. Let us all take a moment of silence in respect to a company whose products have provided many a happy memory for gamers around the world.

The official Shadowrun Forums have confirmed Title Update 2 more than a week ago and it's bound to hit anytime now. The developers warn about network issues as soon as the update hits, but they say the network should catch up in no time and everyone can enjoy their favorite cross-platform action.

The updates are expected to address some generally weird things that were noticed after the title initially set in. For the Vista version of Shadowrun (FASA Interactive), the dedicated server issues have been addressed. Crashes, UI, labeling and other iffy stuff were all taken care of. What's more, you can now properly exit a game if you weren't able to sign into it.

For both platforms, the main fix addressed matchmaking, which the devs say will see a 200-300 percent efficiency hike. The Artifact can now clear bodies lying around in Attrition mode and potentially exploitable areas were dealt with before anyone can take advantage.

Perhaps the best fix of them all is the curbing of the Unstoppable Achievement exploit which drove everyone on Live nuts. The game is also now more lenient to players who show inactivity by not kicking them every time, plus sync times have been improved.

Finally, bots shouldn't be so dumb this time around. It was promised that they won't kill themselves in the Sacrifice Pit, they won't look at walls with interest quite as much as before and they would support teams better. Thank goodness.

There are many more nice fixes posted on the site. If you follow the read link below, you can see all the fixes enumerated specifically. Hopefully, there's something for the bug that really ticks you off.

More Machinima hijinks in Shadowrun flavor coming your way in this fourth episode of the rip-roaringly hilarious 1-800-MAGIC series, courtesy of Rooster Teeth, the same team that brought you Red Versus Blue. Magic-based antics, satirical comedy and biting wit - all wrapped up in one bloody, foul-mouthed package for everyone to enjoy.

We won't spoil the whole episode, of course, but there's something ridiculously funny about a big tree-like projection sprouting out from the ground and making with the "maybe we should see other people" routine. One thing's for sure, though, the magic that Red versus Blue had is still there, and still going strong. More updates about 1-800-MAGIC and Rooster Teeth's antics as we get them, and in the meantime, enjoy the video!

We believe fans of Shadowrun and machinima videos are having a grand time with the miniseries 1-800-MAGIC. This was conceptualized and turned into a reality by Rooster Teeth - the very same creator of Halo's Red VS Blue. Now, we're happy to tell you that the fourth episode of 1-800-MAGIC is already available.

The miniseries, like we said, is set in the Shadowrun universe. And much like Red VS Blue, 1-800-MAGIC also features two opposing teams with intense yet comical adventures. The series is oftentimes funny and is not afraid to discuss sensitive topics such as racial discrimination.

We have to say, especially for the benefit of those who haven't watched any episode yet, that 1-800-MAGIC is not all about social commentary and heavy subjects. It also deals with multiplayer peeves like system lagging which we believe all of you can related with.

Anyway, enough intro, the fourth episode of 1-800-MAGIC can now be downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace for free and is available in all regions.

Hilarious antics and rip-roaring dialogue headed your way in this third episode of the brand-new machinima about Shadowrun, Rooster Teeth's 1-800-MAGIC. If you laughed or chortled at all with Halo's Red versus Blue, you'll probably fall out of your seat laughing with this particular series.

Spoilers aside, this episode tackles certain touchy subjects such as racism and racial discrimination - but also speaks about multiplayer peeves, seen as one character tries to convince the others that the system merely lagged, and a certain character did not just teleport. Funny stuff, if a bit on the foul-mouthed side.

No more spoilers! Enjoy the video!

Buy: [Shadowrun (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Shadowrun (Windows Vista)]

Those who have been keeping up with the Xbox Live charts will find that quite a few things have changed. The rapid drop of Crackdown to the ninth spot in the list marks one of these in addition to the fact that the Shadowrun demo has joined the top ten at slot number five.

One thing that didn't change though is current leader Gears of War, which doesn't seem to want to relinquish its number one slot (Halo 3 may change that though).  Meanwhile, the most downloaded XBLA title is Prince of Persia, beating out Pac-Man C.E. for the number one slot. Band of Bugs debuts in the charts at number 3.

Be sure to take these numbers into account when deciding your next purchase because nothing is worse than heading online to find that there's no one to play against. Anyway, here are the top five games in XBL, XBLA, and Original XBL.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles

1. Gears of War
2. Forza Motorsport 2
3. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
4. Guitar Hero II
5. Shadowrun Demo

Top Arcade Titles

1. Prince of Persia
2. Pac-Man C.E.
3. Band of Bugs
4. UNO
5. TMNT 1989 Arcade

Original Xbox Top Live Games

1. Halo 2
2. Battlefield 2: MC
3. Star Wars: Battlefront 2
4. Counter-Strike
5. Madden NFL 07

If you're an avid online multiplayer gamer and need some help deciding what game to purchase the next time you head out, be sure to check out the complete list in the full article.

 

FASA's Shadowrun for Vista and the Xbox 360 was recently patched this June 22. A lot of players may be wondering what the patch actually did. Well, the patch actually addressed some issues and bugs, but had very little to do with balancing the characters and gameplay.

The patch fixed up some of the interface issues in Vista as well as a few hardlock issues in the Xbox 360. Probably the biggest fix though was the repair of a memory leak that affected the game's stability and performance in some players' systems. If you want to get the specifics, check out the list in our Full Article (see the Full Article link below).

One problem they weren't able to fix is the lag players have been experiencing. FASA is still looking into the issue, but has come up with a few suggestions for those experiencing this problem with the game.  First up, open your 360 dashboard and select the System tab. Then head to Network Settings and select Test Xbox Live Connection. If the test gives says "OK," then you should be good to go.

If you're still experiencing problems with the game, you could try using a maintenance fix to clear the cache. Remember that this is not recommended by Microsoft, so proceed at your own risk. Using this also clears out other things from your Xbox 360 such as all other downloaded patches. Don't worry too much about that since it can be re-downloaded.

If you do decide to perform the maintenance fix, Press Y on either the HDD or a MU and then press X, X, LB, RB, X, X. Once you do this a window will appear saying: "This will perform maintenance on your Xbox 360 storage devices. Do you want to continue?" Then you simply pick the yes option. Once again, this is not recommended by Microsoft so you're doing this at your own risk.

Hopefully, these fixes will help in delivering a better gaming experience to Shadowrun players everywhere. A lot of players may be more than a little disappointed since they were expecting more content for the game in this patch, but perhaps we'll be seeing it in the next one.

For the change log, check out our Full Article.

The 16-bit classic RPG-turned shooter Shadowrun got a new lease on life with its Microsoft Xbox 360 iteration, but in the aftermath of its release, critics find themselves with mixed reactions on how the game turned out to be. If you're one of the many fans who are having second thoughts on whether to get the game or not, this is your chance to make up your mind.

There's a demo of the FASA title right in the Xbox Live Marketplace and it features a lone map which you can use to play against bots or other users in public rooms. The array of weapons and magic you can use is pretty limited, but we still appreciate the fact that there's a free pop before buying or renting it.

Shadowrun was initially popularized in the SNES and Sega Genesis game systems as an RPG but Microsoft and the developers decided to give it a first-person makeover where magic meets mechanics. The most important aspect of the game, however, would have to be the fact that players from Windows Vista and the Xbox 360 could cross over using their respective Live systems for more fun.