As part of
today's Gamasutra feature interview, Microsoft executive Shane Kim has commented on mixed buzz over the firm's
Shadowrun being an FPS, admitting that "we showed the title prematurely at E3", but that the firm is "working hard" to reverse that with a Beta and press tours.
Specifically, when asked by Gamasutra what he thought of negative initial reaction to the FASA-developed Xbox 360 and PC title
Shadowrun - the franchise, revealed at E3 2006, had long been presumed by fans to work best in RPG form - Kim commented:
"That reaction has been around for a long time, so we've had a long time to deal with it. I think as people get their hands on it, they'll realize that yes, it's not an RPG, but that the FASA team has done a really good job of setting a first-person shooter within the Shadowrun universe."
He continued: "Ultimately, what's going to win them over or not is how great of a game it is. I think that people who are getting their hands on
Shadowrun are realizing that it's a showcase title for cross-platform play online, and it's very important for us because it's how we're launching Live for Games for Windows, with head-to-head play with people on Xbox Live. That I think is what excites me, and will be what gets people over the hump to realize it's not a classic RPG that people expected."
Kim also argued that the proof is in the recent reaction to the titles, as opposed to initial buzz: "We've had a lot of people who are big
Shadowrun fans go into FASA and say, "No way am I going to like this game," and they've come away sold. So, it's the kind of thing where, unfortunately, we showed the title prematurely at E3, so it's going to be the kind of thing where we have to work really hard to get it in the hands of people and let the word of mouth spread."
The Microsoft exec concluded: "We've been on press tours here in the U.S. and Europe over the past couple of weeks and I think reception has been really good, but you almost have to do that person by person."
