Shadowrun forums close as franchise transitions into new hands

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jan 4th 2008 at 1:45PM }

Ms. Kimona has dropped by the official Shadowrun forums to let everyone know (all three of you) that the boards will be nailed shut in a few weeks, and eventually Shadowrun.com will be transitioned over to new caretaker (and original creator) Jordan Weisman, who recently formed Tinker & Smith and promptly borrowed back several neglected franchises, including ill-fated Shadowrun. Kimona has urged all members to pack up their dwarves and pot up those Trees of Life for the long journey over to the Shadowrun forums on Xbox.com, or better, suggest a more fitting meet-up site – how about FASA's deserted offices?

Tags: fasa, shadowrun, smith-and-tinker

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

zelderman @ Jan 4th 2008 1:57PM

1st

Exo @ Jan 4th 2008 1:59PM

congrats!! you win the retard award!

xFenixKnightx @ Jan 4th 2008 2:02PM

Its ok Exo you get the runner up Retard award =)

Exo @ Jan 4th 2008 2:14PM

nope, you get that for the use of x to bookend your name.

mrlogical @ Jan 4th 2008 2:01PM

Wow, now I guess the two guys who still play Shadowrun will have to talk on the phone or something.

Anam @ Jan 4th 2008 2:12PM

Why? They seem to be having fun handing retard awards to each other.

Jon @ Jan 4th 2008 2:17PM

Damn I love this place.

mikeshea @ Jan 4th 2008 2:26PM

Anam: your comment made me laugh so hard.

zelderman @ Jan 4th 2008 2:21PM

damn it now, I'm gonna have like three or four e-mails telling me that I got replies from that comment. And that was a joke. Every seen that collegehumor video with the office meeting meets internet forum. Let's have a disscussion, then the guy yells first?

Anyway, sorry for my early morning retardation, I know that's how everyone wants to start their morning. but no I don't play Shadowrun.

Anam @ Jan 4th 2008 2:23PM

Does the e-mail also make that annoying Zelda noise to let you know that you're low on hearts?

Dwhiffing @ Jan 4th 2008 2:43PM

Niiiiiiceee.

ebob9 @ Jan 4th 2008 3:28PM

Wow.. the video you are talking about is a satire making fun of people who post in forums.

So, now you made a post in reference to a video who is referencing a forum post. Wow, talk about redundant!

(DID NOT WANT)

zelderman @ Jan 4th 2008 3:41PM

@anam

No, but it does make the little chime when you find a secret.

If you can't laugh at yourself...

Anam @ Jan 4th 2008 4:05PM

Glad you didn't take my comment as an attack. I'm just really bored and joking around if you can't already tell.

And since I am now tied for the most comments for this post, I guess I should probably say something about the actual topic: "Oh."

Donald @ Jan 4th 2008 9:34PM

Don't want to be a victim of inbox spam?

Uncheck the box right below "Remember me". Problem solved.

If not, you are fully responsible for every "NEW AND EXCITING!" e-mail reply you get.

Tuatara @ Jan 4th 2008 2:44PM

Hay guiz, wuts goin on in dis comentbawks?

Okänd @ Jan 4th 2008 3:13PM

Your mom.

CharleyTony @ Jan 4th 2008 2:48PM

Thats really too bad, this game wasnt great but it was okay...
If it did have a single player campaign nobody would have dissed it in the first place (and nowadays FPS games have at best a 5 hour long 1-player campaign!)

Aside from that, sure it wasn't an RPG (which I would have loved even more) but using a license to try and do something else isn't a crime...

The consolation price is that Smith & Tinker will probably know best what to do with the Shadowrun License in order to make a great RPG (or something else)... Too Bad its probably gonna take 3 years to actually see what it is that we will be getting :(

Anticrawl @ Jan 4th 2008 3:16PM

Call of Duty got away with only 3 hours and Bioshock was just single player. If I had to choose I'd rather a solid multiplayer experience where I like all of the maps rather than just 2 or 3. Shadowrun was a great game made by the guys at FASA who put Xbox Live on the map with their games and set the standard for online gaming on consoles.

They had stated they would release a single player update if the game sold well enough but Microsoft severly hindered their budget because it was being developed along side Halo 3. Not only that but they had 0 advertisment money.

The only reason "everyone" (by everyone I mean the gaming sheople) is because old Shovelface pissed all over it because it wasn't a Shadowrun Pen & Paper RPG gone virtual. Jeff was such a dickhead, glad he got fired.

Anticrawl @ Jan 4th 2008 3:20PM

The Smith & Tinker guys are the same heads from FASA who had the final say in the Shadowrun FPS game. They are also the ones who created the original Shadowrun IP and have had a hand in every official incarnation of the IP.

xFenixKnightx @ Jan 4th 2008 3:22PM

Anticrawl

"Call of Duty got away with only 3 hours"

No

Anticrawl @ Jan 4th 2008 3:58PM

I'm sorry, 2 and a half hours?

Don't lie, I loved the single-player campaign (one of the few I enjoyed plaything through) but it was way way to short. I blew through it before I finished eating a sandwich. Granded it was one hell of a ride for the 2-3 hours it lasted.

Jerk Face @ Jan 4th 2008 4:32PM

It was a very big sandwich.

Anticrawl @ Jan 4th 2008 6:07PM

Haha it was actually Jerkface. Made myself a toasted hoagie on that day. Was quite nice, but my point still stands it was a very short campaign. But it was still pretty satisfying.

LilCo187 @ Jan 4th 2008 2:54PM

Good for Weisman.... that joke of a "game" on Microsoftshitinalitterbox's console couldn't hold the SNES versions balls while it pissed.

Anticrawl @ Jan 4th 2008 3:19PM

Just so you know, the originators of the Shadowrun IP, from the Pen & Paper/Book days, to the SNES days were the same guys that made the Shadowrun FPS. If that is how they say the game was meant to be then it is. They came up with the idea of Shadowrun so they can do whatever the hell they want with it and it will be correct. Just like if JR Tolken decided to make the Orcs pink and wield frying pans, it's his story he can make it as he wants.

LilCo187 @ Jan 4th 2008 3:25PM

Ok. But that still doesn't change the fact that "that joke of a 'game' on Microsoftshitinalitterbox's console couldn't hold the SNES versions balls while it pissed."

Anam @ Jan 4th 2008 3:32PM

Correct use of single quotation marks on the internet?!

*Faints*

Anticrawl @ Jan 4th 2008 4:02PM

Either you don't like FPSs, you're a fan of mindless FPSs, or you never really played the game and are taking Jeff "Shovelface" Gerstmann's review to heart.

LilCo187 @ Jan 4th 2008 3:47PM

Anam I really appreciate that, as I made sure to go through and correct all puncuation before sending!

Anam @ Jan 4th 2008 4:08PM

No problem. I like good grammer and a spelling.

Jerk Face @ Jan 4th 2008 4:34PM

@ Anam

The extra 'a' at the end of that sentence delights me in its irony.

Anam @ Jan 4th 2008 4:45PM

And don't miss my awesome spelling of grammar with an e, I wouldn't want you to miss out on any of that oh so juicy irony.

Mystic @ Jan 4th 2008 4:13PM

Doesn't mean the game is dead!

IMO Shadowrun is still the best FPS I've ever played!

Jerk Face @ Jan 4th 2008 4:35PM

You should probably play more shooters, then!

Edge @ Jan 4th 2008 5:02PM

Shadowrun was a great game. In fact, I'm going to pop it in right now.

Add me if you want to play a few matches:
Edge of Blade

Help keep this great game alive.

LilCo187 @ Jan 4th 2008 4:43PM

Edge, I'm pretty sure those two aren't on Joystiq right now.

ZING!!

Anam @ Jan 4th 2008 4:50PM

Even if they are, three player games are rarely any fun.

Anticrawl @ Jan 4th 2008 11:08PM

Hah, whatever keep lying to yourself guys and the rest of us can enjoy a quality inventive shooter. My tag is Anticrawl (go figure), but I won't be on until I can pry a new 360 from Microsoft's cold dead hands *cocks gun.*

I have around 15-20 people on my friends list alone who still play Shadowrun. Experiences with COD4, Halo 3 and TF2 get a little stale after a few hours of play but there is always Shadowrun to please you all night long. Typically my buddies in I will pop around from Halo 3, TF2, COD4 and Gears but just aren't fully satisfied with any one of those games for very long. Just to clarify I play pretty much all shooters and use to be a hardcore "standardized" shooter fan (huge Unreal Tournament fan). But Shadowrun is finally a game that puts the person into FPS. It isn't always about the gun anymore, but team play and positioning. Quite tactful while still filling one with feeling players got when playing a friendly session of Halo 1 multiplayer (lead designer for Halo 1 was the lead for Shadowrun by the way, which was great because grenades were actually potent in a game again).

TwistedBishop @ Jan 4th 2008 8:39PM

"Just so you know, the originators of the Shadowrun IP, from the Pen & Paper/Book days, to the SNES days were the same guys that made the Shadowrun FPS. If that is how they say the game was meant to be then it is. They came up with the idea of Shadowrun so they can do whatever the hell they want with it and it will be correct. Just like if JR Tolken decided to make the Orcs pink and wield frying pans, it's his story he can make it as he wants."

Are you laboring under a misconception that Mitch Gitelman created Shadowrun?

He didn't.

Jordan Weisman (who actually DID create the RPG, along with others) was briefly the Creative Manager for the Xbox game group after Microsoft acquired FASA Interactive. It's possible he was around when Shadowrun was first started (I believe the game was being kicked around for six years, back when it was still an RPG) but he was not, nor were any of the Shadowrun paper and pencil creators, responsible for the FPS abortion it would become.

t_m @ Jan 5th 2008 8:05AM

A single player version of that FPS would actually have worked really well. All those upgrades and abilities going to waste in an unfinished game no-one plays.. sigh.

In my dreams I see 2 shadowrun games:

A deus Ex style FPS/RPG with dozens of character options, deep freeform missions and cool characters.

A rainbow 6 (old style) tactical squad based game where you choose missions, hire merc runners, equip and upgrade your team, hack for building plans, plan your mission, go in and play it, and have many more cool options than boring old R6.

ssuk @ Jan 5th 2008 11:32AM

Considering I got Shadowrun on the 360 for £9.99, I'm fairly happy with the game. Sure, no campaign mode is a bit silly, but I have enough local and Live friends to play it with and even just having a laugh with the either incredibly easy AI or incredibly hard AI is still fun.