We've all heard of the technical problems people have been having lately with the new titles utilizing Games for Windows Live, namely Halo 2 Vista and Shadowrun. Well, my situation with GFW is a bit worse than not being able to connect to an online game. After purchasing Vista Ultimate a few weeks ago, I purchased Shadowrun for GFW last Thursday and have yet to cast a spell, swing a katana, or teleport through a wall on the PC version of the game. I did manage to get it to start up once, however, after crashing now all I get is an exception being thrown regarding the Shadowrun exe. Luckily I had already decided to grab a copy for the 360 (yes you're welcome FASA/MS).

I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in the 360 beta version of Shadowrun for a good while when it was offered so I've become a fan regardless of the technical issues I'm having at the moment. I'm just blown away by how many problems people seem to be having with the game right now. My calls to the support lines were met with "Shadow-what?" from the Microsoft-India tech support ladies named Sarah and Beth respectively. They were actually very pleasant to talk to and one asked me how the weather was around here. "pretty good actually, a bit dry and a bit smoky from the Georgia wildfires hundreds of miles away, but other than that not so bad".

After scouring the Shadowrun forums to no avail and after trying multiple times to uninstall-reinstall, revert restore points, etc, I feel I shouldn't have to put any more effort into getting it working. Finally, I got ahold of a support guy who said he actually plays the game and he stated.. "hmm that's weird for someone with a good system like that to be having that problem, I'll call you tomorrow and see if I find anything out". Thanks Ishram.. uh I mean John.

I will say this: FASA is really on the bleeding edge when it comes to GWFL PC->360 cross platform gameplay, so maybe we should cut them some slack since they were really stepping outside the box here. My question is, was FASA rushed by Microsoft to get the title out the door before Halo 3 releases so they aren't competing for sales? I can't see any other reason for having this many bugs in the game right now.

FASA is supposed to be releasing some patches pretty soon to resolve a lot of problems, however patches this early just make me wonder why one would release a game with so many things wrong in the first place. Yes, bug fixes like this are a part of life these days, but I guess it just hits home a little when I'm the one having technical issues.

So I guess I won't be hanging up my controller any time soon, and yes, I still recommend people try out SR. It's a fantastic game.. if you can get it to work. Console gaming lives on.

[note: PC gaming is a whole different ballgame when it comes to software/hardware compatibility, so it is entirely possible that my system is hosed in a way that's not anyones fault but my own. I'm writing this story with the assumption that since many other games work well on the system then there's nothing wrong with my setup to begin with. If I find otherwise I will update the story accordingly.]

Gamespot is reporting that when you buy Live, you are buying the service for XBOX and Games for Windows. In other words, it won't cause PC gamers any extra money to play Live enabled games on their PC _if_ they are already subscribed to XBOX Live. They WILL have to pay out money to become a member if they don't have an XBOX Live Gold account. Just like with the Xbox 360 there will be a free Silver package as well as a Gold package which retails for $49.99 for a year subscription, $7.99 for one month, and $19.99 for three months. From the article:

I played some Battlefield 2142 multiplayer some more tonight and here's a little rundown of the command system in place. Long story short: being a commander is FUN! At the beginning of the game you get a chance to apply for the position of commander of your team. The computer will decide whether or not you will be accepted as the current commander based on the military rank of all of the people who applied. If you don't get accepted you have a chance to disgrace your whole family tree, call mutiny and let your team vote you into the position.

Now, as commander you get to run around like everyone else, but the real fun begins when you find a hidden spot to lay down and switch to

[Updated and Edited] Over the past couple weeks, I've been doing some gaming pc research and decided on purchasing one of the top of the line video cards that will last me a good while. But before I buy it, I've found that those cards will not fit on my current motherboard. I've got a Dell e510/5150, the heat sink on the cpu is blocking the way. Therefore, I plan on building a new gaming pc out of some parts from my Dell, and a new motherboard. Below are some findings from a little bit of research and discussion with rapture and dirtyJ on the best hardware to get into. Nvidia has the top of the line card right now with the 8800gtx, ATI is close on their heels with an upcoming card described