Rumors have been flying across internet forums over the past week about changes coming to Shadowrun after the next major update. The biggest topic people are discussing in the competitive Shadowrun forums: the Elf will be scaled back to heal slower (according to a the top MLG Shadowrun team member oNeEye from StK). As of right now these are all rumors but according to the community, the Elf is played about 70% of the time. Apparently FASA sees this as a problem and will nerf the Elf so that people will try other races.
In the past, FASA has mentioned that they can (or will) tweak the economy after the game ships.
During a rematch of a “Devs v. Beta testers”, the FASA team revealed a new magic never seen in Shadowrun. SweetLoo used the magic of “Lightning” to knock out the internet connection of EA on the other team. This magic reportedly costs $3000 and can only be used once per game by a Vista player. It was also heard in the post-game lobby that a new tech called “Netcode” was used by the FASA devs. This mysterious new tech seems to cause Fall to hush his mouth in post-game lobbies.
Whoa. I looks like the community is making a regular Shadowrun podcast covering the XBOX 360 and PC versions of Shadowrun. I can’t believe I didn’t find out until now. It looks like they are on episode #4. Go check them out:
It was just announced by MLG that Shadowrun has been added to the MLG Pro circuit. This means games will have the chance to win thousands of dollars playing this game.
This is great news for the growing competitive community.
Over on the official FASA forums, Kimona sends word that the second update to Shadowrun will likely be launched next week. The XBOX 360 version of the patch is cleared and good to go. The Vista version is still going through cert.
TITLE UPDATE #2 CONTENTS:
Vista Only:
01) Fixed various issues that could cause dedicated server crashes / hard locks.
02) You can now save your dedicated server settings.
03) You can now exit the game properly even if you don’t / can’t sign in.
04) If you’re not connected to Live, buttons that you can’t use unless connected are grayed out.
05) Fixed some user interface and messaging issues on the Live menus.
06) Added ability to cap bandwidth on a dedicated server.
07) Users playing on a DS will no longer show up as hosting it.
08) Clicking the PARTY button in a DS lobby as a silver player will no longer kick you.
09) Fixed a crash issue with certain graphics cards.
10) Fixed multiple small UI / presence issues.
11) Party options are no longer broken after party leader has been switched.
12) Added mirrored sessions to dedicated server. Silver players will now show up on the recently played list of Gold players.
Vista and 360:
- Big ticket items:
13) Implemented improvements to matchmaking. We expect a 200-300% improvement in wait times. We’ve also added clearer status messaging.
14) Improved sync times. When a new player joins a game, the synching wait will be reduced.
15) Made changes to improve party system. Parties should be split less now, and when splitting is absolutely necessary, we attempt to regroup the party later.
16) You may now use the artifact to clear bodies in Attrition.
17) Fixed some potential exploit issues. No, we’re not going to elaborate on this.
- General
18) Fixed various issues that could result in soft locks or crashes.
19) Fixed a problem that could cause game to be stuck at sync screen indefinitely.
20) Fixed a problem with the Unstoppable achievement. And there was much rejoicing.
21) Smartlink HUD will now show up with controllers #2, #3, and #4.
22) Players won’t get kicked for inactivity if they’re still in the lobby when the game starts.
23) You should be less likely to cycle to a small version of a map if you have a lot of players.
24) Fixed some errors in localized text for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese.
25) You should get clearer feedback when attempting to join a full game via the guide.
26) Changed some of the achievement descriptions to make goals clearer.
27) Dwarf hint text is now correct. (They CAN be unawared - just not headshotted.)
- Bots
28) Bots on Dig Site are not so determined to kill themselves in the Sacrifice Pit now.
29) Bots in Raid games will emphasize flag pickup towards the end of rounds.
30) Bots should no longer be so fascinated with walls.
31) Bots no longer look at a flag carrier that can’t be seen rather than threats that can be seen.
32) Public match fill bots should now support the team better.
It’s great to see that the Vista version is getting some love. It is slowing catch up to the 360 version in terms of quality control.
What? You can now clear bodies with the Artifact in Attrition? This changes that gametype quite a bit.
MLG and FASA have teamed up to put on a special Shadowrun exhibition competition in Dallas this weekend, featuring a roster of MLG pros and staff members facing off against the very creators of the game, the FASA development team. While the MLG squad was hand picked from the Halo pros who have excelled at Shadowrun since its launch, the FASA dev team has an intimate knowledge of the game and all of its many intricacies. With world class gaming talent clashing against the masterminds of one of the greatest competitive titles in recent times, spectators are certainly in for a treat this weekend in Dallas.
Here’s hoping that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship between MLG LAN events and $hadowrun.
Over at the Hushed Casket, Trigger posted his video tribute to Shadowrun’s graphics. It’s a tour of the environments found in Shadowrun. The camera work is great. The soundtrack makes the movie. From trigger:
This video is intended to showcase my appreciation of the graphics of Shadowrun, but much more than that. I like to see some of the things FASA has put in there like the different posters and things and showcase them here, in this video. There’s lots of cool objects and things in Shadowrun maps, and maybe you’ve missed them because you’re too busy being a ninja.
Vista Only: 1) Fixed some user interface issues on the dedicated server administrator console.
2) Fixed some user interface issues on the Live menus.
3) Silver players will now show up on the recently played player list of Gold players.
4) Fixed a hard lock that could occur under certain conditions when accepting a game invite.
Vista and 360: 1) Implemented improvements to matchmaking. We expect a 200-300% improvement in wait times. We’ve also added clearer status messaging.
2) Improved sync times. When a new player joins a game, the synching wait will be reduced.
3) Made changes to improve party system. Parties should be split less now, and when splitting is absolutely necessary, we attempt to regroup the party later.
4) Changed some of the achievement descriptions to make goals clearer.
5) Improved bot AI.
This is an overview of the changes. We’ll post a full list when the update is closer to release.
The update is currently undergoing the Microsoft certification process which typically takes 2-3 weeks to complete. Hopefully that means we’ll have a full list of improvements and changes in the very near future.
As promised, the second update is much meatier and should help alleviate many gamer’s frustrations. A 200-300% improvement in wait times? That’s pretty impressive. The party-splitting issue was a topic of hot debate just after release, but many players later agreed that the problem was not as bad as initially perceived. Hopefully this update will settle that issue as well.
If you don’t see everything you wanted on this list, don’t fret just yet. This is only an overview of changes for the second update. I expect to see at least one more patch coming down the line in the relatively near future. How else does FASA plan on giving the victors their spoils? Perhaps they will bundle the new bot names in with other fixes.
Now that you have had Shadowrun in your hands for over a month, you are teleporting around like a champ, are able to take on four angry dwarves with nothing more than a pistol, and can shoot a troll from one hundred yards away with your eyes closed. Nicely done, but you have yet to face your greatest opponent yet… FASA Studio!
Here’s your chance to take on FASA at their own game and see if you can walk away with bragging rights and the chance to leave your permanent mark on Shadowrun. Winning teams will be immortalized as bots in Shadowrun!
Register your team of up to six players and get practicing! Teams will be selected at random from the pool of registered teams.
Selected teams will be contacted directly via forum PM and email on July 13th and matches will be scheduled between July 16th and July 20th.
That’s right, the winners will be awarded the opportunity to name their own bot. That’s some prize!
If you already have a group of mates, then register your team by posting here. If you’re a free agent looking to join a team or create a new team from scratch, then post your information here.
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