Shadowbane MMO game now free to play

It hurts to play this game, it is that bad.

Heh, I bought this game for one cent at EB last year. Never touched it since, maybe I should try it out.

COOL!!

even at free you are paying too much for this game. it is really bad.

Sounds like this game is on its deathbed, thus the reason they're making it completely free - til it shuts down entirely.

I just made a character (Centaur healer) that I got up to level 4, and the first thing that strikes me as odd is the interface. There are way too many buttons, and it doesn't give you enough information about equipment (it should tell you why you can't use something). I'm sure I'll get used to that though. The only real problem I have with the game that I don't think I'll get over is the graphics. They really look just plain bad. I know it came out 3 years ago, but I don't think things were this bad 3 years ago.

I've been a pretty long-time player of Shadowbane, was previously part of the focus group, a class advocate, and now help Ashen Temper and Sachant run FC events on the Mourning Server so before you read this you can definately mark this as words coming from a fan. SB is definately with it's flaws. There's no doubting that the original developrs for the game were new at it and there are subsequent issues with the game that no amount of editing can fix. The entire game appears to work on a flat-file index, which as any programmer knows isn't the best method for running something of this complexity. However, throughout the last couple of years the dev team has almost been entirely changed. The game does things that no other game dared to do (discounting Darkfall if it ever comes out). Once you get off newbie Isle you're just a piece of meat. There's no in-game consequence for someone to run up and kill you. However, I've personally destroyed cities for something as small as being killed by a person. That's what makes Shadowbane a game with a small, yet rabid fanbase. I also play WoW and I can't tell you how annoying I find that one alliance player that just won't shut up. In SB when you can just kill the guy. After you kill him you can also send him all sorts of smack talk. The lack of limitations upon the system make up for almost all of the faults SB has. At least it does for me. Anyway, as for this entire news post... Officially it shouldn't be posted yet. As far as I've been told the game has been changed to free. Ashen actually posted the article a little too prematurely for UBI, who apparently have further announcements concerning the reasons behind the new lack of billing. As some people hypothesized here, yes there is a new project in the works by Wolfpack. They are currently doing test builds on the Unreal 3 engine for a next-gen PVP-based MMO. Nothing has been leaked in the least if the game will be SB2, but it's been said that it may be ready to debut at this years E3. Anyway, for those of you that love to PVP, you should probably check out SB. Definately no reason not to now.

Interesting... I might give it a try just to see what I didn't play a few years ago... honestly though, how long will they run the servers for free unless there is a catch. mini-rant follows: Aside from that, you Beavises that have to comment on every article, particularly ones about genres/games that you hate, SIMPLY TO SAY YOU HATE THEM, truly live up to your new name... thank you, to each and every Beavis on gamespot.com... "it SUCKs.. it SUCKS!" - beavis2327@gamespot Also "another words" doesn't make sense. It's "in other words". For Pete's sake, abbreviate sure but don't say things that make no sense you mumbling chavs ... (late night venting from an old geezer)

Well, you'll surely get a TON of people signing up now. Anarchy Online-style FTW Yes, I wanna fanta

Playing now is kind of pointless unfortunately, the PvP/Guild creation and management of Shadowbane was what made it so compelling originally, and with so few people online at all anymore, it's just sad. I'll probably get it again just because I have a few lvl 40s and it'll actually work on my laptop lol.

Can't say i can complain about that.I might even try it out if i can tear myself away from WoW.

oooh.. interesting! I have the game on Mac. Didn't play it much, but, I guess this is warrant of a return..

for someone who has never really taken the mmo plunge such as myself. this will be a great chance to get my feet wet, and if it's as bad as some of of you say it is. When I graduate to World of Warcraft I'll just appreciate WOW that much more.

When I beta tested it, it was a lagfest. Still, cant complain about something thats free.

It should have been free at release. It's that bad. Try it out though people, you'll get to see first hand what an MMO trainwreck looks like, for free.

Jd they do have updates even if they are free. There are still ways to make small profit (i.e. ads on their website or in game)

another words, shadowbane is pretty much cancelled if it wasnt free. free mmorpgs normally have no updates or content additions. ubisoft might have another mmorpg on the works that will take shadowbane's place.

the catch may be(im just guessing):Getting people interested so they subscribe to a sequel or releasing expansion packs which you pay for and then pay no monthly fees

I may have to check this out. I wonder what the catch is though.

Who cares really, the game sucks and the genre is boring as heck. Let it die, pull the plug. In fact there are quite a few MMORPGs that deserve to be shut down.

Awesome! Gonna have to give it a try.

It would be nice if all MMO developers did this, after a while. It wouldn't be feasible in every case, but in those where it would be, more power to those who go ahead and do it. I've always liked Ubisoft, besides. I may never play this game, but I am nonetheless impressed. To note, SEGA did something similar with "Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst". You do pay monthly fees, but the game itself is a free PC download, and the Hunter's License you buy works for all of the GameCube and Xbox console versions of the game. Then, there's also "Guild Wars". These games are popular for a reason.

ooh i loved this game back when i used to play it. now that its free guess im gonna play it again.

damn you have to make lines to download it?! gamespot should give have it here for download they are much better than ign...Anyway the game is free so im gonna try it out.

I played the game during the free trial, in my view it wasn't all that great, but hey you can't beat a free MMORPG.

who cares?ITS FREE!:lol:

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Three years later the fee disappears.