They did design a basic lifting body but they didn't bother with the compromises necessary for low speed landings. Instead, they pop out a big parafoil to handle the last few miles to the surface. This would allow much smaller lifting surfaces than a vehicle like the Shuttle requires. The new Russian design seems to be taking this approach, at least at first glance.

It'd be interesting to see how this idea stacks up with VTOVL designs like the DC-X. Vertical landing requires you to carry quite a bit of propellant that would be dead weight in orbit. If they use cyrogenic propellants like the DC-X's LOX/LH, there's also the issue of propellant loss due to evaporation. However, it'd probably be more efficient from a structural weight standpoint. I'd like to see a comparison of the different approaches. I liked watching the DC-X fly and would've loved for it to win the X-33 competition.