New Title Update for Shadowrun
Patch on Live next week.
FASA Studios expects the second Shadowrun Title Update (patch patch patch patch) to be released on Live "early next week", with the Vista version close behind.
The biggest changes will be an estimated 200 to 300 percent improvement in waiting times for matchmaking games, and much clearer status messaging. When players join a new game now, there will now be a much shorter synchronisation halt in the action, and parties should split less, too - but if they do they will be regrouped later.
Artefacts now clear bodies in Attrition mode, and potential loopholes open to exploitation have been sealed-up: "No, we're not going to elaborate on this," said the developer.
Smaller fixes will clear up crashing or locking problems, make the Unstoppable Achievement achievable, clean up Dwarf hint text and localisation issues, and you should get clearer feedback when joining a full game as well.
You also won't be kicked for inactivity if you're still in the lobby when the game starts, and should be less likely to be crammed into a small map if you're playing with lots of other people. Smartlink HUD will now show up with the second, third and fourth controllers, too.
Bot-brains should no longer suicide in the Sacrifice Pit on the Dig Site map quite so readily, be more determined to pick up flags towards the end of Raid games, no longer stare at walls or at flag-carriers when there are other threats near-by, and should work better within a team during public matches. Selfish robots.
Title Updates are free to download from Xbox Live and you will be prompted to do so when you fire the game up. Look out for the patch early next week.
Shadowrun is Microsoft's first cross-platform game, allowing PC and 360 users to play together on the same servers. We had a good blast with it but found it a little short and lacking in content. But if you can get it at a knocked down price we reckon you should give it a go.
Head over to our Shadowrun review for a more in-depth analysis.
Alternatively, if you already have the game, you might want to check out our Eurogamers Shadowrun group to see when and where they all play. They're not so bad.