Shadowrun Finds a New Home

After the disastrous Xbox Shadowrun title and the closing of FASA Studios, it's not surprising to see Microsoft pushing the rights to videogames made in the Shadowrun IP off to greener pastures. Their new place of residence, though, is a bit of a pleasant shock: a new company founded by Jordan 'Zapper' Weisman. Gamasutra reports: "FASA, WizKids and 42 Entertainment founder Jordan Weisman has announced, via the website of his newest venture-backed startup Smith & Tinker, that he has licensed the 'electronic entertainment' rights to his MechWarrior, Shadowrun and Crimson Skies properties back from Microsoft ... It is unclear as of yet what form Weisman's plans for these franchises might take. But given the transmedia nature of his recent ventures, and job advertisements asking for experts with Web 2.0 and online game expertise, online world/MMO elements to the company's projects seem likely." Simon Carless has a few extra comments on the news over at GameSetWatch.

Comments

Not to be confused with

[seebs]

Not the same as "Smith and Tinker's", who make a really nice word-bubble art program. (This is a surprisingly hard job to get software to do well -- I like their program.)

http://www.smithandtinkers.com/

A New Mech Warrior or Shadowrun MMO?

[RingDev]

Where do I sign up? Is there a fan boi bus yet? Can I drive?

-Rick

Re:A New Mech Warrior or Shadowrun MMO?

[GroeFaZ]

As much as I would love to agree, I think a MechWarrior MMO would suffer the same basic problem as any StarWars MMO with the Jedi trait: Nearly everyone would play the game to become a Mech jockey, and people would (perhaps rightfully) cry foul if they were to pay for a MechWarrior game and be unable (or only after epic grinding) to pilot a Mech. What else is there? Elementals on the Clan side maybe, but other than that...

A Shadowrun MMO on the other hand would make perfect sense. The game offers classic magic as well as high-tech weapons, character customization out of the box (implants and magic buffs), a stronger focus on non-fighting professions than the BattleTech universe, different races, cyberspace and hacking, politics, etc. pp. ad infinitum. It's all there already, waiting to be implemented.

Re:A New Mech Warrior or Shadowrun MMO?

[Cy Sperling]

Why not build the entire game around being a Mech pilot? If the game and gameworld is primarily about mech combat, why even screw around with anything else? The best option to succeed in the crowded MMO world is to offer a game that doesn't adhere to the same old structure. Who says it even needs to be an MMO? What about a Battlefield type combat games w/ a COD4 style experience/upgrade/class system for Mech's and their loadouts?

Re:A New Mech Warrior or Shadowrun MMO?

[DeadChobi]

Because the whole point of Mechwarrior was that you didn't have to be a mech pilot. It was supposed to expand the scope of the game so that you're a person, not a pilot.

Re:A New Mech Warrior or Shadowrun MMO?

[dave562]

About a year ago there was a forum setup by a company that tried to pitch the idea of a Shadowrun MMO to Microsoft. They eventually got shot down but it generated a lot of good discussion about the subject. The best idea that I heard for dealing with decking involved having systems open the matrix. Deckers would talk to their decker related NPCs and those NPCs would make them aware of systems. They could then leisurely hack them in their own time. Then when that same NPC had a run that involved the corporation that owned the system, the NPC would put the team in touch with deckers who had already successfully hacked the system. Although it wasn't the perfect strategy, it seemed workable. In a game like Shadowrun, deckers would have their own world. They could just spend their lives in the matrix hacking paydata, getting R&D documents that they sold to other classes that produced the physical goods, and helping with runs. There could even be an angle on it where if deckers were too sloppy, corporate Johnsons might hire bounty hunter players to go after the deckers. That sort of dynamic, where you never know who is gunning for you would make the Shadowrun world so much cooler than WoW where you are limited to horde versus alliance. Of course that would probably also turn a good number of casual players off. I'm sure there is a balance to be had.

Thank God

[Mister Whirly]

I am glad Shadowrun is back in the hands of a competent company. I really hope he makes an updated Shadowrun game that was similar to the original. Hands down my favorite game for the Sega Genesis. Great blend of RPG, action, and cyberpunk storylines.

One simple request

[Huntr]

Can someone please stop screwing around and make a Shadowrun RPG?

Shadowrun WoW

[dave562]

Shadowrun could own WoW if they come up with a decent game engine that can handle ranged combat. It has all of the elements that would attract huge portions of the gaming world. It has the fantasy of elves and trolls and dragons and vampirse and all of that. It has the high tech angle with the cyberware and bioware and matrix. It has guns and magic. It also has a diverse enough setting to cater to casual and hard core players. It has the kind of enviroment where people can play as fixers or Johnsons or weaponsmiths or whatever.

The big problem that I see is generating a credible world. WoW works because it is a fantasy world and so they can have these huge open spaces and towns that are comprised of a couple of buildings. Shadowrun on the other hand is all about the urban sprawl and dense urban environments. I could be wrong but I don't think that there is game engine out there that can handle all of the NPCs, plus a bunch of players, plus all of the various vehicles operating both on the street and in the air. The WoW model when you are dead and running back to your corpse could be expanded upon to create the seperation between the astral space and the physical world.

What do you guys think? Can a model be created using the current hardware that could accurate recreate an urban game world that would be required for Shadowrun?

Easy Money

[SlashdotOgre]

Shadowrun is a perfect franchise for making a modern sandbox RPG. Heck, I'd be thrilled if someone just remakes a 3D version of the fantastic Genesis Shadowrun title. The whole time I've been playing Mass Effect, I keep thinking how easy it would be for someone to use that engine for Shadowrun (in fact, a lot of ME's elements are similar to Shadowrun on the Genesis, it's mainly just a different setting and calling magic "technology"). A good Shadowrun game would be enough motivation for me to buy a console for it if it were exclusive.

It's a Video Game?

[wilder_card]

Hey, I remember when Shadowrun came out -- as a role-playing game (i.e. books, pencils, paper and dice). Great concept. Somehow I missed the transition to electronics completely. I'm not getting old, am I?

Re:Shadowrun WoW

[SirLurksAlot]

Shadowrun could own WoW if they come up with a decent game engine that can handle ranged combat.

Whatever system they come up with would have to take cover, etc into account. As much as I hate to say it, it would necessarily have to have elements of a FPS.

The big problem that I see is generating a credible world. WoW works because it is a fantasy world and so they can have these huge open spaces and towns that are comprised of a couple of buildings. Shadowrun on the other hand is all about the urban sprawl and dense urban environments. I could be wrong but I don't think that there is game engine out there that can handle all of the NPCs, plus a bunch of players, plus all of the various vehicles operating both on the street and in the air. The WoW model when you are dead and running back to your corpse could be expanded upon to create the seperation between the astral space and the physical world.

I don't really see your point about generating a credible world, what makes WoW any more or less credible than any other fictional setting? City of Heroes is in an urban setting and it seemed to handle numerous NPC, vehicles and all sorts of PCs running around just fine. Zoning makes a lot of that easier, and in that sense Shadowrun would probably operate like 99% of all the other MMOs out there right now. I don't think body runs would necessarily work that well, waking up in a hospital (or DocWagon as the case may be) seems much more likely.

Irony

[NightRain]

Wow, I thought that damned Xbox game was going to sink any hope of seeing a decent Shadowrun computer game at any point in the future. Who'd have thought the thing sucking so much would turn out to be the thing that now gives me hope of a decent game being made :)

They mean the Shadowrun *Video Game*

[Qbertino]

To all the confused Shadowrunners out there: They don't actually mean Shadowrun, but some sad and sorry (repreated?) attempt to make a computer game of it.

I still got Shadowrun btw. (2nd Edition I think). Gosh, were those rules crappy and incoherent. And gosh did we have fun with that RPG. ... I'm actually gonna go over to my RPG folder now and flipp through some old characters ... Ahhh, the memories :-) .

To all you out there who've never played an RPG (I mean the real ones, Pen & Paper): If you come across Shadowrun in an RPG store or somewhere else: Buy it. The rules are mostly totally braindead, but the entire setting, it's lighthearted, frictionless approach to RPGing and the RPG sessions it leads to are pure fun. And a RPG newbie can pick them up in ten minutes. Roleplaying is an ideal way to have fun with your friends and get away from the screen once in a while. And Shadowrun's a far better alternative than D&D imho.

Crazy talk.

[Valdrax]

Crazy talk. A competent GM and players make their own story. All a game needs to do is present the opportunity for adventure and a good kicker for where to go. Shadowrun presents plenty of opportunity in the form of corporate espionage, bodyguarding, investigation, and good old bug (shaman) hunts. The election of the dragon Dunkelzahn as president, his assassination, and his will are great adventure hooks.

Not everyone needs a module to script out and hold the hands of a play group to enjoy a game. In fact, I've always felt that trying to shove a story down the throat of your customers made for games that had no real replay value. (Look at White Wolf's Orpheus for an example. It's by no means a bad game, but it's not playable twice, really.)

Incidentally, Shadowrun had several publisher created adventures for the creatively challenged, so your whole point is moot.