Published by rapture December 6th, 2007
in FASA and Microsoft.
Shacknews is reporting that FASA titles like Shadowrun, Crimson Skies, and Mech Warrior have been licensed to Smith and Tinker.
Who knows this means? The news blurb on the Smith and Tinker website is very vague.
An announcement on Smith & Tinker’s website revealed the news today, which had few details other than the licensing of the aforementioned properties from Microsoft. “We’re not quite ready to announce our plans for each property, but please be assured that our goal is to surprise and delight old fans, while welcoming new fans to these fantastic worlds,” the announcements reads.
A prolific entrepreneur, Weisman founded the original FASA role-playing company as well as the video game offshoot FASA Interactive, toy company Wizkids, and alternate reality gaming venture 42 Entertainment. His newest venture, Smith & Tinker, aims to pursue projects as a an interconnected amaglam of media types, spanning toys, games, books and movies.
Microsoft acquired the electronic rights to FASA properties when it acquired FASA Interactive in 1999 and formed FASA Studio. Microsoft closed the studio earlier this year after the poorly received Shadowrun (PC, X360), a first-person shooter based on the titular RPG.
Tags: shacknews, smith and tinker
Published by rapture October 19th, 2007
in MLG.
Major League Gaming held their Shadowrun championship tournament in Las Vegas this past weekend. EnragedGnome and his team (Secret Weapon) were disappointed to only finish 3rd after having a very strong team. First place (and $8000) went to TsK and second place went to StK.
News, archived video, and coverage from the event can be found here: http://www.mlgpro.com/gamechannel/shadowrun
Tags: enragedgnome, perfect weapon, stk, tsk
Published by rapture October 9th, 2007
in Microsoft and Games for Windows - Live.
Microsoft has been making the rounds on the internet sending a word that an update for Games for Windows - Live is on the way. Major Nelson says:
Version 1.2 will “continue to add numerous end-user benefits to the service, such as support for offline Achievements, so gamers can continue to rack up Gamerscore when not connected to the internet, the ability to see whether your friends are “joinable” in games, along with additional UI features.”
Unfortunately, my Top 10 list of Things Wrong with GfW-Live is a little outdated, but almost entirely true…still. I have no faith that this next update will bring the major changes needed to GfW-Live. However, it’s got to be a step in the right direction.
Here’s hoping that Gears of War for PC will bring more users and more pressure on Microsoft and their Games for Windows - Live platform.
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Published by rapture September 13th, 2007
in FASA and technical.
Yesterday FASA announced that they’ve officially closed the doors. But some weird stuff also started happening to Shadowrun yesterday.
Gamers in Shadowrun were seen as playing “Shadowrun EPD Service” on their gamercards. Their gamer status was no longer displaying the maps in which they were playing. “EPD Service” was now appearing in their profiles. You can surf Google and find remnants of the EPD Service.
Additionally, there are reports that cross-platform play (Shadowrun is the only Games for Windows title to do this) is not working. A response from a FASA dev says:
We are aware of this problem and are looking into the cause.
FASA also states that these errors are not related to FASA closing:
The game runs on the the Xbox Live / Games for Windows Live service. These services aren’t reliant on anything FASA does day to day. Once we give them a build / update, it simply runs on the service. The last update we posted was TU3, which was a while back.
Fall (who is a member of the Shadowrun team, btw) is looking into why this is happening, but it’s not related to the FASA closure.
It’s certainly odd that now of all times these errors are happening. Is FASA throwing out a hint? Is EPD Service the “something big” that is supposed to come to Shadowrun? Is “EPD Service” the name of a newly formed game studio? Did a disgruntled employee cause cross-platform play to end?
Oh the drama. Hey. Where’s the rest of our gamerpics?
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Published by rapture September 12th, 2007
in FASA and Microsoft.
In a forum post on the official Shadowrun forums we get this:
Dear Friends,
It is my sad duty to announce that FASA Studio has officially closed its doors. Today was the official last day of employment for those of us who had not moved on to other positions within Microsoft Game Studios. While the rumors have been circulating forever, we chose to wait on an official announcement because we didn’t want people’s attention distracted from our last product, Shadowrun, a game we love.
As a testament to the team’s commitment to Shadowrun, we released three title updates to improve the product even after the team learned we were losing our studio. We have kept our Community Manager and Technical Support Manager on the job to aid and support you and will continue to do so while people continue to play our game. I am pleased that about half of us have found great positions elsewhere in MGS and Microsoft where they can share their experience and passion with the great people there.
But now, as the last of us say our goodbyes to each other, I’m saying goodbye to you on behalf of a group of talented and dedicated professionals who busted their humps for the love of the game. I am proud to have worked with and represented them to you and know that wherever they go, they will continue to kick ass.
I can say that being a part of the public beta test team was one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had from home. That was FASA to me because that was all I knew. The FASA devs interacted with the community daily, sometimes hourly. They have no problem admitting that the beta testers directly impacted the development of Shadowrun. We have no problem admitting that we are sad to see FASA dissolved.
Best of luck to the devs.
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Published by rapture August 26th, 2007
in content and XBOX 360.
Three different sets will be 80pts each on the XBOX Live Marketplace. See the link here. Of course, you Vista players will probably be without luck. Thanks DNAgent.
Tag: gamerpics
Published by rapture August 22nd, 2007
in Vista and XBOX 360.
Amazon has a sweet deal on Shadowrun right now. It’s just $29.99 for either the 360 version or Vista version of this game. Check it out in the Hushed Casking gaming store at Amazon.
Tag: amazon
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