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.

 

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.

     

Over at the official forum site of the video game Shadowrun (360 and PC), FASA Interactive announced that it's holding a competition in preparation for the title's launch later this month. Forum moderator fall started the ball rolling with the following message:

All entrants that are online playing Shadowrun between 3 and 7PM PDT on Tuesday, May 29th will have the chance to be invited to play with the devs on launch day. A winner for each image will be chosen Tuesday, May 29th @ 7PM PDT. This talented individual will win a Shadowrun T-shirt and will be the envy of all his peers.

The above mentioned images are actually the screenshots accompanying this post. If you want to join, all you have to do is think of clever captions that best describe the screenshots. If you're really that talented, you can edit the images to create new funny images.

Shadowrun is an FPS title set in Brazil during the time before the original Shadowrun universe takes form round 2031. It incorporates certain cyberpunk elements to the gameplay and players have the option to play either for the mega-corp RNA Global and the resistance group known as The Lineage.

If you've already thought up something witty or clever, refer to our Read link below to submit your entries. It should take you to the competition's official page.

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

Completists get a-running. We've got the Achievements list for FASA Interactive's Shadowrun today. It's a pretty long list we've got here, itemized with 50 Achievements to earn, with an overall of 1000 points in total. Of the 50 achievements, six of them are secrets.

The game (both its 360 and PC version) will be released in a few weeks, so as early as now, you better make sure you've got your game plan ready. Here's the partial list of Achievements for Shadowrun:

1. Chapter 1 Training (10): Complete Chapter 1 Training.
2. Chapter 2 Training (10): Complete Chapter 2 Training.
3. Chapter 3 Training (10): Complete Chapter 3 Training.
4. Chapter 4 Training (10): Complete Chapter 4 Training.
5. Chapter 5 Training (10): Complete Chapter 5 Training.
6. Chapter 6 Training (10): Complete Chapter 6 Training.
7. That's One Frustrated Sniper (10): Block ten sniper shots with Wired Reflexes.
8. Brother From Another Mother (20): Perform a cross-platform Resurrection.
9. Mine Is The Superior Platform (50): Kill 100 players on the opposite platform.
10. Healer (10): Save your allies with the Tree of Life.

The rest of the Achievements are behind to Full Article link below.

Halo 3 wasn't the only thing Bungie's been playing, it seems. Their story of the day is an interview with the people (rivals?) of FASA Studios about their shooter offering, Shadowrun. Seems like there's a bit of cross-pollinating going on between the two teams.

As well as a little smackdown. Lead designer John Howard invites the Halo community, through Bungie, to "Bring it."

And when you bring it, as the FASA devs describe it, Shadowrun will be a different animal compared to Halo multiplayer. Where Halo is focused on fair competition, Shadowrun is about social fragging, notes Bill Fulton: needs strong teamwork, "no visible skill (although we still matchmake according to player skill)," and players can play with the same team for succeeding matches.

And there's magic in the Shadowrun air. Literally. Bill says "if you try to play Shadowrun like it is Halo 2, you'll get yourself pwned. Hard. Shadowrun has more tactical choices than Halo 2 and other FPSs, so you have to learn to think in completely new way to use the magic & tech effectively."

About that cross-pollinating thing: the Halo engine actually was the basis for the prototype gameplay for Shadowrun, before they moved to FASA's proprietary Badger engine. Having Halo 2 around allowed the devs a feel for what they wanted from Shadowrun before Badger was ready for use. John used to be lead design for Halo as well as Shadowrun, and the FASA game's concept artist is also working on Halo 3 concept art. It is one big family that loves to "Bring it!" to the field.

To celebrate the end of Shadowrun's (also on the PC) Beta phase, FASA Interactive is giving the cyberpunk FPS-RPG crowd some reason to whip out those guns this April 30. If you were one of the lucky gamers to have received that Xbox Live email invitation into the Beta run, listen up:

Join us on IRC chat channel #Shadowrun.FASA on the Gamesurge server from 2-6 P.M. PDT on Monday, April 30th. FASA will be giving away prizes, answering questions about the game, and chatting with everyone while playing Shadowrun.

If you've got the time (and are willing to put down that Xbox 360 controller for a few hours) might as well join the talk-fest online. Narrate your beta experience, air out your constructive criticisms, report bugs, barrage the devs with your questions - it's going to be fair play for everyone. And on top of that, you just might win a couple of prizes in the process to.

Now who said blabbermouths are just nothing but talk, ey?

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

  

Can't wait for your dose of cyberpunk? Sci-fi and fantasy RPG lovers have a couple more months to wait for FASA Interactive's Shadowrun and hopefully, these new packshots can tide you over until June.

Despite reports of the studio closing down, it looks like the anticipated videogame is still very much on track. Shadowrun is a first person shooter set in Brazil in 2031. Magic and technology are both used in combat by the two warring factions -  the RNA Global and The Lineage. There are also a number of races to choose from: Human, Elf, Troll, and Dwarf. Each race has its own strengths and weaknesses. And we're pretty sure you Shadowrun fans probably already know that.

Anyway, Shadowrun is still slated for a June release for the Xbox360 and PC. We'll keep you posted on the exact date as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, stay tuned.