Patches have been released for both titles that allow Windows XP users running DirectX 10 to play them.

Hacking crew Razer1911 took the credit for breaking the Shadowrun coding so it runs using XP.

The procedure doesn’t seem to have been that complex – with the crack only needing to overwrite some files in the installation folder to work.

However, the cracks aren’t that unexpected given what some firms said at the time of the games’ release.

"First Microsoft claims that it was impossible to implement DirectX 10 compatibility on top of Windows XP,” wrote CEO Brian Thomason of reverse-engineering firm Falling Leaf Systems.

“And now it also wants us to believe that it couldn’t successfully launch two DirectX 9-based titles on XP either. We plan to expose both theories as patently false.”

Both of the titles had been released to take advantage of Microsoft’s online games service for PC gamers, which is similar to the Xbox Live service.