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Shadowrun video game license not going to waste

Unfortunately, it's also not being made into what most of us would like to see.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, Shadowrun is a pen & paper RPG from awhile back. Not quite as ancient as D&D, but not exactly new either. The basic thing that sets it apart from every other generic fantasy RPG is it's cyberpunk setting, with bonus sprinklings of magic and other tradtional fantasy elements. Sort of like a Blade Runner / Lord of the Rings crossover fanfic, but good.

Shadowrun was still being developed by FASA (you know, the MechWarrior guys) up untill 2001 when they folded, were bought by Microsoft, and had their assets sent in 100 different directions. Microsoft held onto most of the video game rights, but only actually made use of MechWarrior which was developed it into several successful Xbox games. The Shadowrun license just kinda sat there, though. No news, no announcements, but there was always a chance of them realizing it was there and making something wonderful.

Why am I so optimistic about the Shadowrun license being used? Back In The Day, the 16-bit era in particular, two (three if you count the Sega Mega-CD version only in Japan) Shadowrun games were released, one for SNES and one for the Genesis. Both were amazing games, and weren't direct ports of eachother, but the Genesis version in particular is regarded in certain circles as one of the best console RPGs ever created. Ever. Since the license is such a good one, to me it has always begged to come back. That it deserved to be brought back on a modern console, or hell, back as a PC MMORPG, I'm not incredibly picky. But alas, it was completely ignored during the N64/PSX/DC era, as well as the current console generation. Even ignored after Microsoft secured exclusive console rights to the license.

So fast-forward to today. Or yesterday, actually. IGN's RPG Vault posted an otherwise innocuous interview article with some artists in the industry. Before diving into the interview questions, they went around the table and asked the guys to introduce themselves, say what they've worked on in the past, what they're working on now, etc. And in all that, we got the following quote:

My name is Theron Benson; I am an Animator currently working for FASA Studios at Microsoft Game Studios.

I have worked on many projects, ranging from PC games to console, FPS to role-playing. Right now, I am animating for an Xbox 2 project called Shadowrun.

Unfortunately, it was immediately followed by this:

It's a first-person shooter based on an old paper RPG of the same name from a couple decades ago.

So, good news: Shadowrun is back! Bad news: it's an FPS. Here's hoping this was a misunderstanding or miscommunication, and instead of "FPS" they meant to say "Giant Open-Ended RPG Which Happens to be First Person like Morrowind. Oh, and Some Times You Shoot Things".

Source: IGN RPG Vault

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