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.]

HALO 2 for Windows Vista will be launched on May 8th. This is according to tons of new reports that were released early this morning. The Games for Windows - Live service will also be launched at that time in the US.

Kotaku
Shacknews
1up
Planet XBOX 360
Team XBOX
Gamespot
USA Today

I've begun building my new gaming system. I've decided to hold out for the new ATi DX10 cards that were supposed to be out this month. While DX10 isn't required for HALO 2 for Vista, I want one of those cards any way. The released date of those cards is expected to be sometime in April. Those cards were supposed to be released before Vista. Here's hoping for an April release of the R600 cards and that they don't get pushed back any further.

Get to know Shadowrun:

Two enemies use their gliders to reach the top of the structure

Disclosure: The following information was taken from information already in the public domain. Below is my attempt to rally that wealth of information together to share with you. This game has not yet been released so it is still in development and everything is subject to change.

(Be sure to watch the Gametrailers.com gameplay footage after you read this article.)

Shadowrun is a first-person shooter coming soon to the XBOX 360 and Windows Vista gaming platforms. It will feature the Live Anywhere service allowing PC and XBOX 360 players to play in the same game. This game is multiplayer-online and supports up to 16 players in a match.

After the public release of Windows Vista, Microsoft will soon start shipping PC games that are Live enabled. The XBOX Live service will then been known as just one part of a larger system (think XBOX, XBOX 360, PC, Windows Mobile devices like cellphones, and the Zune). PC games that are Live enabled will use a service called "Live for Windows" which will work a lot like XBOX Live. You'll have one global "gamertag" on all systems. You can even add to your gamerscore by unlocking achievements on PC games. HALO 2 for Vista will be the first such game. From an article at Next Generation:

"A key feature of Live for Windows titles will be a unified Gamertag across all platforms and the introduction of the popular Xbox Live “Achievements� into Games for Windows titles. Achievements earned in both Xbox Live and Live for Windows titles will all count toward a player’s single Gamerscore. Microsoft’s Vista-reliant version of Halo 2 will be the first game to support Achievements on the Windows platform."

This news comes from a meeting with Games for Windows executives in San Fransisco, yesterday. It is the first confirmation that I've seen that unlocking achievements on a PC game will contribute to your gamerscore.

Sidenote: I predict that Microsoft will soon increase the number of friends that we can have on our Live buddylists. For one, I think it's almost needed now. Gears of War is a huge online success. I've got a nice chunk of my buddlylist that is dedicated to GoW users. Another part of my buddylist is hardcore HALO 2 players. Then I've got friends that play a variety of games that I also play on occasion. What if ANOTHER hit title was released that was Live aware? I would surely find a handful of new gamers to add to my buddylist. Yet, my buddylist is maxed out as it is. When HALO 2 for Vista launches I could easily add 40 gamers to my list.