Console vs PC in a shooter?!? How are you going to balance that?!
That is exactly what the design team for Shadowrun was thinking when they realized they wanted to have cross-platform play between the Xbox 360® and players using Windows Vista. In this article they'll walk you through the process they went through and some of their general design philosophy.
Sage Merrill, one of the game designers for the cross-platform shooter Shadowrun writes:
"So how do you balance a shooter where console and PC players can play against each other? Controller vs. mouse plus keyboard, which is better? It's a question that has been on gamers' minds ever since shooters started appearing on consoles. Obviously the mouse is superior, right? I mean the mouse is designed as a hyper-sensitive pointing device and has been refined over the years specifically for that purpose. We all know that the most important element in any shooter game is the ability to quickly get your crosshair over the enemy and pull the trigger. So given that, it's obvious that the mouse will win every time in a fire fight, regardless of the game, right? Wrong. Don't misunderstand me, that is exactly what every single member of the design team thought, including me, until we actually tried it. So, what actually happened when we played our first cross-platform game? The controller players trounced the mouse/keyboard players. It wasn't even close; the mouse players got stomped on. Over and over. So what happened? Did the mouse players just suck? Or was the controller actually a superior aiming device? Short answer: the mouse is better at aiming, but the controller is better at gaming. Long answer: read on."
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Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart revealed that he would love to make a Shadowrun game if given the chance.
Yes! But don’t water it down or make it an MP competitive shooter. I’d love a Cyberpunk 2077 level Shadowrun game.
This would be awesome, but let's see what they can do with Avowed first. I don't think the talent is there anymore to make a deep RPG.
What do you mean? They still have the OGs like Josh Sawyer, Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarski as acting design leads on all of their projects. A lot of the veteran talent have remained at the studio.
@anast
All the creative leads of classics like NeverwinterNights 2, Kotor 2, New Vegas, then to Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2; and modern games like Pentiment and Outerworlds; all very legitimate, deep RPGs; them being there, doing as they always have, means we need to question whether the "talent" is there to make deep RPGs. Definitely makes sense, as long as you don't think about it.
ShadowRun arrived in 2007 and is still played by a core audience on modern consoles and PC today, despite a bungled launch.
Played it a few months back. Not a stellar mp game at its time, but still genuine & janky fun.
I have never played Shadowrun. However, the universe of Shadowrun seems like a good setting for various game genres. The franchise combines traditional fantasy tropes with cyberpunk science fiction.
Yeah since the megadrive game I’ve always thought how cool the setting and premise is but the game never really delivers on gameplay.
Really enjoyed this back on 360. Was one of the first pc games I played as well. Nice to see it's still online I'm going to have to see about getting a copy on pc again.
Edit: is this backward compatible with series X?
The Shadowrun RPGs from Harebrained Schemes were great, but that IP is just begging for a massive, Cyberpunk 2077-style game. Open world action RPG epic with a healthy dose of immersive sim goodness.
The Xbox 360 was a fantastic console in its day with some truly classic titles, but what are the seven best games for the console?
I'll go with,
Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Culdcept Saga, Shadow Complex, Ace Combat 6 with the flight stick,A Kingdom for Keflings, A World of Keflings.
Bonus Kinect Games: Happy Action Theater and Sesame Street.
*Skyrim was so bad on PS3 that it almost deserves to be #1*
Ah yes, Shadow Complex! Good indies back in the day. Summer of Arcade. I enjoyed Trials Evolution as well.
Was this made by a.i.? No human being would put Shadowrun, Fable III, and Splinter Cell: Conviction into a list of the 7 best Xbox 360 games.
Would love to play Ace Combat6 on PlayStation, but Xbox decided to buy exclusivity and keep it off a competing platform.
The only mainline game I never played except for one level at a friends place. Game sold less than any other in the series if I remember correctly.
360 had Namco hitters AC6 and RR6... both quality titles. You should at least bust out the 360 for AC6 if you can score the flight stick. Its great.
When the current gen XBOX offering is so lacking people need to refer to games released two generations back....
It's a nostalgia peice same reason we get thousands of YouTube videos on sega genisis. Something people have fond memories for but the era is long gone.
It's xboxs golden year imo it was their genisis years the time where they stuck it to the market leaders Sony.
They stuck nothing. Sony screwed themselves giving Xbox an opening. They would have gotten the usual smack down if the PS3 had launched at $399 and was easier to develop for.
Too bad the game phails and you have to actually pay to play it online.
Right now, I am addicted to this game. It's too bad that alot of people are not giving this game a shot.
but i know halo will own it on full release.
teritories and snowbound need to be fixed.
I've never had a problem going from mouse to controller. If you can't play with both then you need to learn it. Computer players who b1tch about console controllers need to shut up and actually try to learn to game with it. Maybe they'll be pleasantly surprised.