What's this about factions?  This is new to me. 

Not that I'm complaining, mind you.  The more variety the better, but I don't remember factions in the original Netrunner.

Asmoridin said:

They are on the description page. http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=207&esem=1

There is the 4 corporations and 3 runners. 

The original Netrunner had two factions:  Corp and Runner, and you weren't allowed to mix them ;)

Personally, I think the decision to not be backward compatible was the right one.  It's better to start with a clean slate than to inherit a bunch of problems with old cards that don't work right with the updated rules.  If it were me I wouldn't have considered it for a moment.  Fans of the original game can keep playing it, and will probably come up with their own house rules for mixing the two if it seems at all possible.  In fact, this has put the name of Netrunner back in the spotlight again so it will probably boost interest in the old game as well.

Having a new game which will be supported going forward and which does away with the collectible aspect of the old game is worth (to me) whatever it takes to make it happen.

I also wouldn't discount that we're learned some things about game design since Netrunner came out.  It was very innovative and a great game, but that doesn't mean that every choice made was correct or cannot be improved on, especially when the environment has changed so much.  Few players today want a collectible game anymore, so some changes have to be made to adapt to that too.

Anyway, I'm thinking there's a good chance we'll see this game for sale at Gencon in August which would be great.