f13.net

So I picked up the new PCGamer mag yesterday, and they had an 8 page spread about Bioshock. Looks really really cool. Since we didnt have a thread for it, here we go.

A bunch of first looks have been released in the last few days.



http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/bioshock/preview_6110044.html

http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/793/793105.html

I read up on it from Gamespot while back, it sounds pretty good.

"From the makers of System Shock 2" is enough to get my attention, but it looks like they're going to integrate more interesting behaviors on your adversaries.  It's semi-puzzler this time around.

Yeah, I'm jazzed about this one. Ken Levine rocks. Sucks that FFv3R didn't do great...hopefully Bioshock doesn't use goddamned Starforce, eh?

Lets hope it's not the equivalant of Deus Ex 2.

...

Actually, I'd still probably play a buggy, halfassed System Shock 3.

The name bioshock made me think of some old dos game that I loved, was thinking someone made a sequel to that  :(

I can' t even be sure if that was the name, can't seem to find it now. 

But still, a spiritual sequel to SS2, I'm all for it.

Bioforge? (http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/bioforge)

Morphiend - that's last month's PC Gamer. This month's is about Sam and Max.

Keke.

Bleck. It was Computer Gamer Magazine. I can't tell these things apart anymore. They come in the mail and have so many shiny pictures the words just blur together.

Sam+Max = Computer Gaming World.  I didn't order it, it just shows up in the mail.  Do they know the true identity of the mighty Yegolev?!

There was a good article in PCZone about this game ages ago.

It looks teh fukin awesum.

That said, there's a LOT that's directly lifted from SS2 - Sure, that might be a good thing, but it might also be too samey.  Further, the article did harp on about 'Shooting Children in the Face to Harvest Nanites'.

I would expect Jack T to be gearing up for this one.

A 'might' snuck in your post.

You won't find a bigger System Shock fanboi in the world, matey.  Just some on the same level.

But I think that Bioshock should distance itself from that as much as it can if it wants to be a spiritual successor rather than a mod.  Some of the screenshots I've seen with bloodied 'warning' walls could have been lifted directly from the Von Braun.

...

hmm



Although, it's worth noting that I can remember three instances where "Remember citadel" was scrawled in the Von Braun, in blood. Even in the same game, the same text was lifted from one deck to another.

That's the one, thanks for the link.  Can't imagine what ever happened to my manual for that one, that's some good gaming there :)

(http://www.f13.net/images/necropost.gif)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMhQuf1VdrM

Oh hell yeah.

Holy fucking shit, that's some good looking video.

Holy shit.  That looks fantastic.

Launch date?

Edit: Found more vids.
http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/793/793105/vids_1.html

Well, that certainly looked the part.  The age old question remians, in game or cinematic?

My vote is in-engine cutscene.

That looks like it hurt.

That video was released on XBL during the X06 Microsoft event. I still have it on my 360 to show friends when they come over.

-- Whoa... dunno what I did here for two posts.

I couldn't get through the first five seconds without my ears starting to bleed. Fucking G4 had to fuck with the video. Fuckers.

I doubt any of that was in game, but it was a pretty awesome look at what the developers are shooting for.

In-engine cutscene.

My spidey sense is tingling on this one. I think it's gonna suck. We get excited for this stuff when it shows all the hallmarks of a hacked together disaster like Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3.

Fuck you Ion Storm, and Fuck You Warren Spector for Selling Out. If I didn't know it would hurt, I would use my Deus Ex 2 discs to wipe my ass, and then use it to spackle redrum on the bathroom wall.



....

Sorry, I just REALLY hated that game.

I can just imagine Don LaFontaine narrating.

"In a world... under the sea... where a 1920s era city exists... shrouded in mystery... and small girls hide in hollow clocks...
..where Pyramid Head wears a diving suit... and only one man... can stop him... by using a syringe to fire bees out of his arm...
This Summer... nothing... will save you... from a drill in the back."

I don't know what to think this time.

Deus Ex 2 sucked. Thief 3 was pretty good, I think.

Still...There's definitely reason to be cautious about this.

Nope, for a PC Game, Thief 3 sucked balls too.

As is this.

It's going to be awful consoley crap.

*Cue Schild to say something ridiculous.*

So the company ultimately responsible for the hot coffee mod and all the flak the industry took over that is now going to make a game where you bash in the skulls of doe-eyed orphan looking little girls and boys, that's fantastic.  It really doesn't matter that they are genetically engineered carrion feeders, all we will get to see on the news is a ten second clip of the player murdering children and Hillary screaming about how terrible video games are.

Nice engine though.

Doe-eyed orphans have been getting a free lunch for way too long.

I still have hope for Irrational, just because they are such an awesome dev house. DE2 was unfortunate, because Ion made DE1, but RIP Looking Glass. Thief 3 sucked. It was almost good, but it really broke down into keystone-cops antics later on in the game when the factions were all out on the streets and it ruined the game, I've never made it past that part.

This, Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect are 3 reasons I have my 360. I'm looking forward to BioShock quite a bit. If they deliver on the stuff they're promising, this is going to be a Hell of a game. There seems to be quite a lot of choice how the game can be played and I'm liking that. The media IS going to have a field day once some footage of dead little girls is released though. My wife absolutely hated that video and if that triggers that strong of response in her without that wrench even being swung, image the outrage when there's video of them being murdered is out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ur1rmx95Co

I'm officially in the "I don't want to see any more until it's released" phase. I should have the pc hardware to really enjoy the graphics by the time it comes out...

I liked Deus Ex 2, it was a good game... after you patch the hell out of it to fix the shitty UI scaling, then install the community-made texture replacement mods to get rid of the shitty low-res Xbox textures.  Once those two things are accomplished, the game stops behaving like ass and becomes a much more enjoyable experience.

Where's the video that shows you killing 100 of those drill guys in exactly the same way?

Saw that one on Gamespot awhile back.

I'm pretty sure Bioshock will be a good game.  A real spiritual successor to System Shock 2 by much of the same talent behind it.  A pity I was too much the chickenshit to finish SS2 - hopefully I won't feel the same way about BioShock.

They better have an awesome Co-op mode, like SS2.

I couldn't imagine playing SS2 co-op.  A great deal of the charm was being scared shitless and alone.. so very very alone. 

I was amazed a game with such poor graphics (when I played it) could freak me out so terribly.  Well, until the end.  Cubert world frightens nobody.

I prefer being scared shitless with a group of friends, screaming like little girls at each other over Teamsqueak that the DAMN THING is STILL coming oh GOD SHOOT IT fuck OUT of ammo RUN RUN RUN RUN!!

I just wish Marathon didn't get so bitchy towards the later levels, and that the oldschool billboarded low-rez graphics didn't give me a giant headache after an hour.

You seriously need to get SS2 working. That is the good stuff. I played through part of it again recently, I really ought to resume that.

I watched a 14 minute gameplay video of Bioshock today. I was stunned by just how exactly the same it was to System Shock 2. Not kidding here, that thing is a palette swap.
Which means you must buy it, period. They're hardcore about plot, and making you an FPS hobo. You run out of bullets very often in SS2. Maybe they'll do us a favor and not have horrible leaping spider monsters this time.

Oh god I hate horrible leaping little monsters.

Headcrabs.

In this case, probably small arachnids.  But those didn't bother me much - I can deal with horrible leaping monsters.  It was the cyborg midwives that bothered me the most.  A perverted fusion of motherly love and wired cybernetic death machine.

I started playing SS2 again last night. I haven't played it since it came out because I lost my cd. KotOR2 finally started getting buggy and crashing, so I needed a change.

It's funny the things we take for granted only 7 years later, like scroll wheels. The game really feels much more like a Thief game, engine-wise, than I remember it being. Especially the ghosts. The graphics are pretty primitive, but they hold up somewhat.

Just like in my original playing, I've already run out of ammo and I'm back to wacking things with a wrench and running back to the medbay to heal up. I remembered how it ended, and I'm not sure I'll bother with the organic ship part, that got kinda lame iirc. But the early parts are cool as hell. System Shock was one of my favorite games when it came out.

I can't get it to run on my newish-fangled PC.  Hard locks at the first announcement.  :|

Glad someone else said it.

I can't get SS2 to run on my XP machine either. The game will start, menus shall appear, but as soon as I start the game, it goes blank.

Their screams remind me of Schild. I lose sleep when I hear that in the night...

Do you guys have divx installed? That fixed it for me.

Yep.  Really, there's a lot that can go wrong with this game on XP machines.  Last time I tried to play on my older (yet still XP) machine it took me along time to get everything working and the final bit was some odd Intel codec.  Service pack 2 may be the kiss of death.  I know that damn thing ruined any chance of playing The Longest Journey again.

What's funny is that Vista may actually play a lot of these old games better since it uses actual virtualization to run old software instead of some hacky compatibility mode.

My XP is patched up, so it should work for you. Note I said I lost my cds, that was in 1999. I haven't found them. I won't link to the site, but I got it from the Underdogs. I would've bought it, but I still have the damned case, I'll be damned if I'm paying $30-40 to buy it again. Maybe the Underdogs version is fixed somehow?

I tried getting it working about a year ago and it kept crashing, but I hadn't installed divx afaik. The other thing was I had tried installing the user-made texture updates back then, too. Might have been that?

I know I have my CDs still on my desk.  Think I'll be trying to get mine working tonight after work.  I never did finish the game so this is long overdue. 

If the primitive graphics of System Shock 2 are proving distracting for you, there's been a few community mods out there that improve on that quite a bit.  This is probably the best among them (http://www.fileplanet.com/125428/120000/fileinfo/System-Shock-Rebirth-Beta-1).  Yeep, I think the unreal look of the cyborg midwives was the only thing that kept me sane before.

I'm intent on installing the user graphics...I just hope that's not what was crashing it on me. Seems to be running fine and the graphics, though primitive, don't really bother me much because the game is good. I'm not really paying attention. Maybe if they upgraded the environment graphics, too.

The fact that they are basically Thief graphics helps a lot, since I played the hell out of Thief 1/2, they're very familiar graphics.

Objects: http://shtup.home.att.net/

That's the version I'm using.   :|  I'll keep trying though, I really feel like I need to play this again.  It's kind of annoying since the crash that I'm getting is hardlocking my entire system.

Edit#2: got it working past the hard lock.  Appears I didn't have divx installed. :roll: /slap_forehead   I could have sworn I had it installed.. I've had this PC a while. It's not like I haven't run across a divx vid in the past year.  :x It was the dual processor afterall, have to set processor affinity or it locks within a minute or less. Going to have to figure out how to set this in the program shortcut.  Hopefully that's possible.

Anyhow, it works but as soon as a cut scene is played, the game alt-tabs itself to the desktop. Game is still running and when bring it up the cut-scenes are upside down and backward.  ODD.

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?s=79eac0955a85031072e2d6c90ec51548&t=69958

Very useful site for getting ss2 running on winxp.  There is a section on Dual Processor Hyperthreading Systems you should read to tell.  Looks like some good info there. 

I personally have it running on my system without one problem so far and I have service pack two.  I installed from my CDs installed the patch from irrational's website and then put on both the extra texture packs that sky and geldon posted and no problems so far. 

My cutscenes are upside down and backwards as well, and they switch the task to the desktop. Not a ton of cutscenes after the intro, luckily.

But now my computer has developed some systemic crash. Dammit. Going to bring home my troubleshooting disc from work. I think my pc knows I'm building a new one in a few months and is getting angry.

My cut scenes won't show up at all but I can't say I mind enough to fix it. 

Apart from the one at the end, it's entirely Meh.  Sometimes I wish they'd put more effort into the cutscenes, but the actual game was sheer brilliance, so it never mattered.

I still think Bioshock is going to be a dissappointment.  Then again, I can't think of a game in two years that hasn't been in some way.

I can't see the appeal for Bioshock either.  Reviews have only discussed a handful (3-4) mobs.  Not even mob types, but mobs.  The only innovative feature is the relationship between the guardians and those kids, and whether it's worth it (and if you can stomach it) to kill the kids for their loot.  Maybe there's loads more depth to it, but that's all I've heard talked about - and that from their own devs.  Otherwise, another FPS with eye candy.  Which, nothing wrong with that, I just don't see that there's anything new here.

Really, it wouldn't hurt if they just redid the old games with new shiny. At least the first one. It's old enough to deserve that kind of attention.

Good God Yes.

If anyone's listening, I would pay through the nose for an Original System Shock done with todays tech.

For the Gagets alone...

From what I gathered, each of the mobs will have a lot of depth.  They've got stories and unique behaviors attached that make it so blowing them away isn't always the best way to handle them.  The guardians and kids are just one example.

Calling Bioshock a standard fps with eye candy is silly.

Well, if you consider System Shock, Deus Ex, and Half-Life standard, then it works just fine.

I would take half-life out of there. Half-life /was/ a standard fps with some great scripting (mind you, I loved Half Life). The sequel added some nice physics (didn't like it as much as the original but still finished it). But it was still basically run-n-gun gameplay, unlike Deus Exes, System Shocks, and Bioshock, which are all fps/rpg hybrids. Throw Bloodlines in there, too.

Bump for this releasing one month from tomorrow ( I used teh search function!  8-) ). I am sooooo stoked for it.  A few things that are going to be sweet(from teh website obv):

Here’s just a few things you can do a foe:

    * Catch his Grenades in Mid Air and Toss Them Back at Him
    * Freeze Him Solid and Shatter Him with Smack of your Wrench
    * Lead him and his comrades to water and Zap them all with 1000 Volts
    * Burn Him Up With Home-Made Molotov Cocktails
    * Booby Trap Healing Machines and Watch Them Blow up IN his Face
    * Brainwash Him to Become Your Personal BodyGuard
    * Invent your own Ammo Types to Prey on his Vulnerabilities
    * Turn his own Security System Against Him
    * Light Him on Fire and Launch Heat Seeking Missiles At him
    * Torment Him with Plagues of Insects
    * Take Research Photos of Him to Learn his Weaknesses
    * Send Him Flying into the Ceiling to Knock him Senseless

No encounter ever plays out the same way twice. No two gamers will ever play BioShock the same way.


There are just waaaay too many X360 games releasing in the next few months, that I want. Guess I will just have to quit my job... :x

You could send me your 360 in 20 days....

This is a hype line.  This is a hype line I hear a lot.  I very rarely find it to be the case.

Here's to Hoping.

No reason to hope, no one will Ever deliver on that particular feature. Ever.

I second that. I have heard that and just the idea makes me laugh.

I think that Bioshock looks cool, mostly cause of the hightech/lowtech- steam punk it has going.(from what I have seen at least) I love that look.

Ach, I don't know - it gets close sometimes.  For example, I never knew until recently that you could actually save JC Denton's brother.

Of course, I never bothered to actually go back and do it.  That'd be mad.

You can? Now I'm tempted to try out that graphics update for Deus Ex.

I am so torn on this game. I cant decide if I should get it for my PC or Xbox 360.

Xbox 360:
I can sit on my couch and play on my 60 inch Sony HD TV. Th controller is not really a problem for me any more, but its still not ass accurate as Mouse.

PC:
I have a 30 inch Dell, and a 8800gtx. Also Mouse and Keyboard are pretty sweet.

Gah, I dont know what to do. Right now im kind of leaning toward the Xbox360, but I keep changing my mind.

Decision's easy for me, my computer's not bleeding edge.  Helps that my computer also loves to get crashy with most of the modern games out there.  The 360 will hopefully avoid me hanging around the technical support forum more than is healthy.

Plus, achievements and gamer points. Yah, I don't know why, but I loves me some achievements. 

I think they are going to release a kit and allow mods for the PC version, that could be good.  I'm not certain about that info though.

Bear in mind that a multiplayer option was eventually patched in for System Shock 2.

That may sway your decision.

Do I really even need to type this reply any more?

Why do I think you should get the 360 version? Because the PC version will likely be like Deus Ex 2. The game was designed for the gamepad, I doubt even Irrational is going to make the PC anything more than a higher-res port.

Take this with your grain of salt, since it's a post about a podcast.

-Interface built for the PC, not adapted from the console version. Makes for a quicker, "snappier" game.
-Weapon/Plasmid selection optimized for cylcing with mouse wheel, point and click of a mouse, mapped to function keys etc as opposed to the gamepad interface
-Half Life 2/Counter Strike used as a model for the HUD
-Crisper visuals, more eye candy than the 360 version on the higher end machines (8800/DirectX10 cards)
-Games for Windows/XP or Vista compliant

From the podcast located here: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/bioshock/downloads.html?mode=other#

There are some screenshots and info here (http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/pcblowout.html) specific to the PC version.  The fact that one of the screens allow you to use a 360 controller makes me think it will have consolitis.  It looks like you will need a fairly new PC to make it run well.  I also forgot that they are doing some annoying internet activation bullshit for the PC which means you have to have an internet connection up just to run your single player game...

It's a Games for Windows branded game, it has to include 360 controller usage.

Bioshock dx10. Hmm. Now I'm tempted to set up a dual boot.

Been keeping that idea in the back of my mind, but I'm making myself wait for SP1.

As for Bioshock, the wife is excited about it (no, I don't get it, it's like she is turning into a gamer... I blame X-Play) and therefore we will be getting the 360 version.

My PC is 5+ years old and I use it for surfing the internets, burning CDs and storing my digital photos.

360 version all the way. Hell, even the $550 PS3 is a cheaper choice than paying to upgrade my PC to gameworthy status.

Yeah videocards are too expensive. I put my current PC together for $600 bucks. All new stuff except a recycled 9800pro. C2D 6600, 2Gigs RAM, 200Gig HDD, Great Case/PSU, Solid MOBO, Ect. A new vidcard would cost me almost as much as the rest of the PC. Oh well, YAY for 360, and 37" LCDs.

Err umm I also preordered Bioshock. YAY on topic.

Hey, look. It's my bullshit detector going off.

Not really. (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130082)

Please, please, make this game not suck. I used to be a fairly rabid Irrational fanboi, and the consolitis worries me a bit (though the podcast is trying to reassure me that it won't be a big deal).

I'm kind of intimidated by the hardware requirements too, and I just upgraded my PC this year (amd x2 3800, 1 gig DDR2, 7600GT). Ah well, I'm used to running stuff on 1024x768 and low detail. :P


-- Z.

That is exactly why you should be panicking this very minute.

OXM gave Bioshock a 10/10, saying it had an "inconceivably good story."

Do they swallow, too?

Only when paid well enough.

Quote from the PC Gamer review:

"I spend my career, and my gaming life, waiting for a moment when a game just astonishes me, when I can't believe what I'm seeing, what I'm doing. Bioshock has five."

Someone hand that jizzbucket reviewer a copy of Atlas Shrugged so he can hopefully die from amazement at hack writing.

Official Xbox Magazine... yeah, they have no incentive to give hyped xbox titles gushing 10/10 reviews, at all.

PC Gamer UK apparently gave the game a 95%, which is pretty much as high as they go... man, I feel my inner Irrational fanboi emerging again. Halp!


-- Z.

PC Gamer is pretty much straight-up. Except with their Quake review not too long ago. They gave a pretty decent game a 65% and took a lot of shit for it.

But they also re-normed their system. 65% means 15% better than average. For most reviewtarded sites, 65% is utter trash. I applaud PC Gamer for at least trying to avoid that stupidity, and fuck the fanbois who can't understand a 1-100% scale. I mean, 50% is a decent game on that scale.

I think this was before that re-work. I can't remember though, it was within three issues of it either way. I'm pretty sure that this was before it though, since VG got a 76%.

A 50% in middle school means you fail, so I can see why they use skewed numbers.

I always see PC Gamer as the off-the-beaten-path PC magazine. It's sarcasm and jokes never cease to make me laugh. I don't even care what they review half the time, I just like their writeups.

With a 100% score I tend to view it as "how much did they get right?" If they give the game a 75% I mentally convert that to "it's mostly good but still has some issues." If they changed the scale so 50% is average I think they'd be better off going with some other scale, like a star system or something.

If you look really closely into the eyes of PC Gamer magazine, you can see what the jokes and sarcasm are hiding.

That look you can see, right in those little beady eyes... is death.

I prefer reviewers who can use a 1 - 10 (or 1 - 100) scale correctly.

If a game is average, give it a 5. To many people give games (or movies - see IMDb for evidence of this) that they think are average a 7.

You keep using that word-- I do not think it means what you think it means.

PC Gamer UK are idiots.

I've never really understood why they have two different staffs producing two different magazines for what is pretty much a universal platform.  It's not like Brits are playing different PC games than we are, and vice versa.  Beyond spelling "honor" with a U and pronouncing "aluminum" differently I'm pretty sure we all speak the same language.

This just seems like a needless expense, but then I think gaming magazines are a needless expense altogether when one has an internet connection.

The cultural differences are huge and what one magazine staff may write may not sit well with an international audience.

See :  Command & Conquer Generals.

You mean that they advertise different products.

Strangely, no.

Then I don't get it.

Europe / the UK can run well behind the US on some game releases - generally not the AAA ones, but anything below can have a lag period at release.

But yes, you've got to offer a lot in a paper magazine to overcome the availability of info online. The only mag I still pick up (assuming the company hasn't gone bankrupt again) is GamesTM, because I enjoy the multiplatform angle of it, like the articles and the retro section. I don't need it for the game reviews.

Hardcore Gamer!!

... sure.

EDIT: I had no idea that Hardcore Gamer was a magazine; I thought Schild was taking the piss out of me :-)

DUE DILIGENCE: About four of my online friends write for Hardcore Gamer Magazine.

However, I still think it's pretty awesome.

I was weak - I've pre-ordered the Collector's Edition to save $20 on the full price.

Don't fail me now, Irrational. FFv3R was good, but not great.

Where is that deal? That's $10 off the price of the regular version.

I'm in Australia, where it would have cost me $110 at retail for the Collectors and $90 for the regular version.

So I'm paying $90 at EB for the Collectors.

Supposedly they toned down the big "moral choice" Bioshock's devs wouldn't shut the fuck up about.

The "little sisters" have ADAM and the only way to get it is to kill them, but they pretty much removed anything showing how you get it I guess. The screen goes dark, fades back in, then the sister is dead and you got your +Adam. Nice, way to pretty much ruin that moral choice thing by making it a totally antiseptic event since your management is full of pussies terrified of making the ESRB mad.

I hate the ESRB.

Sorry for this extremely late thread-derailing reply, but..... Arena/Daggerfall?

I give it 72 hours before someone has released a patch to reverse this.

Seriously. Release a Teen version and an AO version, ffs. Stop pussying up my games.

Aw, crotchsaws!  On the plus side, looks like I am right yet again.

My new context-sensitive expletive is "crotchsaws!"

I approve.

Moral choice? What moral choice? They aren't even human. They have stuff you need. It's really not a hard call.

Is it because they are supposed to be cute? They aren't cute. They're creepy.

We will never know, will we?  PEW PEW PEW!

They are human and you can save them from what they've become if you are willing to give up a short-term benefit.

That's the moral choice.

Maybe it would have been a generation ago. What I see in the news these days, not anymore. :evil:

Le Gold (http://news.filefront.com/bioshock-goes-gold/#more-7399).

We spell that differently too - aluminium.

Looking forward to Bioshock although my machine won't run it so it will be sometime before I get around to playing it.  In the meantime, has anyone ever had any success running System Shock 2 on XP?  (Don't link the TTLG forum guide - I have that!)

Saw the box for this in EB the other day, and remembered the thread on here, so decided to read it.

mmm.. looks nice. I'm looking forward to seeing what people here think about it on release. Shame about the "moral choices" bit being toned down, though. I wonder if Take-Two will have made the "little sisters" harvesting aspect un-moddable to avoid the negative publicity?

DEMO _JUST_ SHOWED UP ON XBLA-US. GET GET GET GET.

Grrr.  I'm stuck at work until Tuesday, far from my 360. 

Someone entertain me with some impressions!

The download screen is impressive.  Never have I been so immersed by a "3% done" Xbox Live sidebar.

I want to cry it's so slow.

Fucking greatest thing to read ever....more games like this needed.

<snipped NDA breakage>

Uh ?

I take it a comparison was made ??

No. It was just a silly ill-thought comment.

Going on 6 hours later, and I'm still only at 72% downloaded.  Jesus, this is demoralizing.  I think I'm just going to leave my box on while I go to sleep.

Ok, but as soon as you XBOX users get anywhere, I want CONCURRENT PLAYING !

One hand on teh Bioshock and one hand reporting back to me on f13 !!

Which, alas, doesn't leave a hand free if it turns out to be REALLY REALLY good.

:)

redrum redrum redring redring

That $50 a year sure does ensure quality service.

You're talking to the dude who has sent his box back twice.  Much like Evil Knievel and SuperDave, I laugh in the face of danger.

Hey, I imagine their DL servers are getting pounded like a sorority girl on roofies right now.  Not even $50 a year can change fundamental laws of computing.

As long as their coop/voice servers continue without a hitch, I'm happy.

I was pretty sure I had mine set to "downloads continue while system is off".

Yeah, I set mine to 'finish background downloads before turning off'.

Hopefully in that case it turns off some of the internal systems it doesn't need to reduce heat.

I live with the assumption that my 360 is going to die soon, despite not having any problems with it.  This allows me the mental freedom to leave it on all the time, and to keep it shut inside a wooden box as well.  Right now, it's been on since sometime around noon on Saturday.  My Wii is also on, and I never, ever turn off my PS3.  Never.

"No Gods or Kings.  Only Man."

Oh, and I love how when you finally get to the building after the crash they play "Beyond the Sea" on the phonograph.  Ironwood, it really is as good as they've been saying.  This game just drips atmosphere.

Same, it seems to work out very well. It completed during the night so I got some time this morning to give the game a very quick run through.   I'll likely replay the demo (something I don't do often) and take it a little slower. Demo is around 30-40 minutes long and completely on rails from what I can tell (well, it's a demo, duh).

This is a must buy.  The atmosphere is perfect, the controls are great, and the game just looks fantastic.  It looks to be a little more actiony that what I'd want in this title (the preview trailers indicated as much), but I didn't have much problems with it.  Zapping pools of water that the enemies are in is just damn cool and I'm looking forward to the other environmental interactions available.

I still don't see where "the moral choice" comes in.  While crawling across the rafters in the theatre I'm looking down at a little sister stabbing a corpse with a giant syringe singing, "Give me a lolli" to the tune of "Frere Jacques".  My first reaction wasn't, "Oh, I can save that poor little waif!", it was, "Destroy the demon child!  It is an abomination!"

*WAIL*

Gimme.

Give me more of Gulp's Rock Hard Column inches.  Omit nothing...

I...

Wow. It's not every day you hear a man requesting inches.

PC demo was late because it wasn't polished. Blergh, we only got a week or so until the game drops, hurry it up so I can see if my 7900GT has the juice to run it decently well.

Love it. Absolutely freaking love it. As they say everywhere else, "day one!!111"

There's to be a PC Demo ?

Cool.

Yeah I'm so sold. Since I have no time right now I didn't get around to downloading this until tonite, which worked out well as it only took about an hour or so. Holy fucking creepy. I'm not 100% sold on the shooter mechanics but that's mostly irrelevant as I suck at shooters now anyways, and the general atmosphere/setting had me sold at "hello". It's been a long time since I was as apprehensive in an FPS as I was in this. Gears of War had some freaky moments, but since I was a badass soldier type and the enemy were aliens it mostly just tension. But even in the demo there were a couple moments in this that I was totally nervous nelly. Good stuff. Great aesthetic. Hope the story is as good ultimately as it appears.

And I hope the whole bio-weapon thing is not too overdone, it's a personal preference but I don't want to be too much of a genetic powerhouse. But yeah, I'm totally buying it day one.

Oh believe me, by the end of this game, genetic powerhouse won't even describe you.

Try "one man army."

Maybe I'll get to name my character in the final version.

JC Denton, fo sho.

Ok, the atmosphere is there and, I would imagine, the shiny and the sounds are there.

What about the story and the, er, how to put it, the Options.  Is it a run and gun ?  Is there any subtlety to it at all ?

It plays like a very streamlined System Shock 2. Plasmids are terribly natural. It took me a second to realize some silliness I'd carried over from the FPS genre. There are some very subtle, yet overwhelmingly positive changes made to the control scheme to make it viable on a console. That's to say:

This is obviously a PC Game.

That happens to play VERY WELL on the 360.

My biggest complaint, and something that will probably garner criticism as time passes: No Guard button. At least not on consoles. To be fair, they DID run out of buttons.

Downloaded the demo last night without too much drama. Aside form it slamming the PSU servers, heh.

Just played through it mere minutes ago. Holy shit. That's about all I can say. Yeah, I'll be picking this one up.

Gotta say, though, it reminds me of a certain David Drake novel. Genetic engineering. Check. Mad scientist with, umm, some interesting ideas about politics/eugenics. Check. Utopian hideaway community that goes to hell in a handbasket. Check. "You got some wog in you?" Yeah. Reminds me a whole lot.

So there I was, lights turned low, basement newly finished, speakers set up, game finished downloading.

Wife comes down and says "Let's play some Carsaconne".  So we did, I figured I still had like an hour before 10pm to play BioShock.

Then she pulled the trump card.  Now I have to wait till tonight.

What a long fucking day it will be.

Trump card?  You can get that anytime.  YOU SHOULD SEE THE WATER!

I don't understand this post at all.

That's just science fiction plot #7, there are really only about ten of them so naturally they have similarities.

This is the first game I have bothered to pre-order in years.

August 24 suddenly seems a long, long, long way away.

Spoken like a true married guy.

I didnt see this posted yet.

You can DL a free art book from 2k games.

http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/artbook.html

Downloaded it last night, goddamn it took forever.  Can't wait to get home and try it out! gogogogogo!

When is the PC demo coming out?

Later this month is all I've been able to find on that count. Unless Schild or someone has supar sekrit sources.

A video of a decent amount of the demo, including the end. Very high quality.

http://stage6.divx.com/user/kalkan/video/1520342/BioShock-demo-gameplay

Combat looks clunky and weak, which is what I was expecting. Shit if it doesn't just OOZE atmosphere though.

It's not clunky for a console FPS but yes.  Aiming is hard at times.

I still cant decide if I should get PC or Xbox.

Both would be awesome, but the aiming was a bit tough in the demo. Specially those flying security guard things.

Which is why I'm praying a 4400+ X2 (Toledo), 2 Gigs of RAM, and an OC'd 7900GT will be enough to get playable framerates with the settings turned up to at least 360 levels.

I would not be worried. At all.

My 3700+ non OC'd 7900GT 2 gigs of ram machine ran Oblivion better than the 360...so I would wager your PC should run it quite a bit better.

So an E6600 with an 8600GTS should smoke the ever loving shit out of it.

Cool.

For some reason, I still feel as though I'm going to have to crank the shadows down.

Note: My monitor's native resolution is 1680x1050. :P

Playing the game at the demo level of detail would reduce my computer to a smoldering pile of ash.  Ahh well, I attributed my poor thumbstick performance to generally having poor aim and never really playing much console shooters.  Adjusting the sensitivity may help some, I hope.

There's always shotguns and rocket launchers for those of us with poor aims. The plasmid powers seemed to have decent size to them also. 

Does it need DX10? Because before I upgrade my X1950 I rather buy an Xbox360.

So's mine.

I should play back through it, because I never tripped the camera and didn't see the guard bots.  Of course, some of us lack my awesome ninja skills....

I just upgraded my 3700+ to a 4200+ X2 and added a gig of ram for a total of 2 for this and TF2.  I'm hoping my 7800GT is enough. 

Either way I'll probably play it for 360 too.  I'm actually kind of looking forward to some achievements. 

The PC version will be up any time now on Fileplanet, too.

Neg. The 18th.

That's like almost yesterday!

Gamestop got pissed that TRU released Bioshock early and cut into preorders. Made (OHGODWHYDIDTHISSAYBETHSOFTIAMNOTGOODWITHEXCITEMENT) 2k games push the date up, going to be sold tomorrow. GO, MY ANIMALS. TRY TO CHOOSE BETWEEN PERSONA 3 AND BIOSHOCK. BOTH EASY GAME OF THE YEAR CONTENDERS.

edit: trying to get confirmation. like, for myself.

For some odd reason they're running commercials for Bioshock on Canadian TV saying it's available now.

TRU = Toys R Us?

They sell PC games? Or is this only for Xbox 360 people?

Yea. Commercials just changed. That's as good a confirmation as any.

Trippy, both PC and 360 versions were shipped at the same time (or so I was told). In 8 hours or so, the Gamestop manager will call me the moment he checks his email at work. But then, the east coast will have gotten the news already. Really, I should call a gamestop in Hawaii.

I can almost hear dreams shattering. *Anything* released for Crapbox and PC will suffer from consolititis and suck because of that. It will probably require Vista to add insult to injury.

1) Please go elsewhere and piss on someone else's dreams when you get there.

2) This kind of comment might have been relevant on page 1. Now, not so much. It just makes you look ignorant.

Bioshock specs: (http://www.digitalbattle.com/2007/07/09/bioshock-system-requirements-released/)

As of 30 minutes ago, the release date of Bioshock in Europe is still 24 August.

Oh, you lucky yank bastards, you.

 - I'll check again in 24 hours and see if it's changed... but it probably won't.

I'm using crap on-board sound. I'm afraid to add anything to the PC though because I'd need to get a new PSU.

We had this conversation.  About a year ago.  Further, we have people PLAYING THE GAME IN THIS THREAD who are dismissing the idea.

Stop being a Sociopath, pls.  kthx bai.

So I played through the demo.  So awesome.  But ya, all this does is make me wish that I had the money to blow on a monster pc so I could play this with headphones in the dark on my keyboard/mouse.

I'll be picking this up for the 360.

Oh shit.   I know what I'm doing today.

Hmmm...  I already preordered through Amazon on Saturday.  Those bastards had better ship pronto if GameStop and Toys R Us get the go ahead.

That's why you electrocute 'em and then hack 'em!

I thought the aiming was pretty decent, since I'm notoriously a bad shot in FPS and I was hitting splicers with the revolver on the first shot. The plasimid powers are much more forgiving for those of us with bad aim though.

Hmmm..the Eb Games website still shows it for the 21st. Tried the demo. Loved it. Found the little girls very very creepy. If I save them it'll only be because I'd have trouble killing even a creepy kid. Which means when the real Children of the Corn happens I'll be one of the first victims.

And for those who played it on the 360, is it just me or does it have perhaps the best graphics on the system so far? It was even better than Gears of War IMO. The water looked real. and when it splashed on my TV (which happened when I looked away) for a second I thought I had actually gotten some liquid on my screen.

I can't check the stores myself right now, but Killjoy has no job and has been roused from bed to investigate.  I'll make the rounds after work, about eight hours from now.

Well, within an hour we'll have real answers as EBGAMES on the east coast opened 15 minutes ago.

They wouldn't release it before a PC Demo, surely.

I only live a few minutes away from one. I suppose I'll drive down there and see if I can pick up a PC version.

The lady refused to sell me one! Quote: "We have it in stock, but it is street dated 8/21. I hope you're right, but I don't think so."


Maybe that EBStop wasn't in the know. So far, 0/1. I suppose I could call the one in the mall around here, but the people there are the equivalent of Rob in CAD. I want to stab myself in the face every time I hear, "Dude, I wtfpwned this guy in CS last night. 7-0..."


Blah. I would've definitely gotten some tonight if I would've had Bioshock sitting on my girlfriend's PC with a love note attached.

I'll try my hand at harassment when I go to pick up Persona. They're pretty ethical though, I've seen stacks of games just sitting out that they've refused to sell me.

I'm going to rain fire and brimstone on the boys at GS.

At the very least, I want to walk out of there with just the discs and I'll pay next week. But that's just how I roll.

I will note this though: http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3495


They admit that some people have been getting it early. They withheld discussion on the legality of it though.

I gave the EB near my office  a call and they haven't even received their shipment of Bioshock yet. 

Yeah, if you have it in good with the manager at the EBStop perhaps you could get your hands on a copy. I did get to talk to the manager of the one out here though and like I said, this EBStop doesn't suck like others I've seen -- and she wouldn't sell me one.

Killjoy, not to perpetuate racial stereotypes, is really fucking good at cutting out deals and bargaining with people.  If anyone can get a copy from a reluctant EB worker, he can.  I believe his tactic, at the moment, is "You won't sell me one?  I'll just go buy it from this other store.  If you want my money, you sell it now."  We will see.  Unfortunately, he lives in Auburn, AL which is rather far from actual civilization.

Just go buy a copy at Toys R Us. Then go back to Gamestop and say, I'd like another copy of "THIS!"

Local Toys R Us won't sell it to me either. Also, they only have the 360 version, which is not for me.

Other EBStop with the morons refused to sell it to me too. They are sticking to the street date of 08/21.

THIS THREAD HAS MADE ME ANGRY AND EXCITED AND I DON'T KNOW WHY!!!  (http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/surprised/mind-blowing.gif)

Because 16 year old acne faced little boys are preventing you from glorifying in your god given right to shoot little girls in the face.  With lightning.

Not around here they aren't. EB is a pretty desirable position as far as college jobs go. It's why the one at the mall is riddled with turds who have no idea what the hell a game entails.

Six copies left in the TRU in Columbus, GA.  Selling, too.

Look, now you've made Signe's brain into a pulsating ass that won't fit into her cranium.

I like big...brains and I cannot lie...

You sure it isn't one she plans on eating?

Killjoy has me looking at Ebay to see if it is worthwhile for him to buy all six copies.

Hah.

Overnight shipping would be a bitch. Plus, he can't get copies of the PC version can he? I still haven't heard either way if TRU is selling PC versions.

I don't even think I'll bother trying my local shops.

Heh.

Meh, I can wait a week. I didn't figure the slackers working in retail would even have it out on the proper date, anyway. I'll probably get it through amazon and just be content to get it whenever. I have things to do in the meantime ;)

He only got one (360 version, his PC is balls) and is now driving home, first will get some lunch, then get high, then call me all stoned to rave about Bioshock.  I couldn't get him to buy me one... actually he would have bought it, but would not have driven all the way to my house with it, so fuck him.

That isn't the crazy part.  The crazy part is that TRU sold it to him half-off with purchase of ANY MADDEN GAME.  He was like "The new one?" and the guy was like "Any," and he said "What's your cheapest Madden?".  Incredulous, was I. He swears up and down that he isn't lying, even after I accused him of unclean practices.  He normally doesn't misremember things this close to the actual happening, but I am not sure I believe it.  I suppose I will find out myself this afternoon, and I might have a new football-themed coaster.  Assuming I can get the TRU monkey to sell it to me.

I called up GameStop and said "If I walk into your store today, will you sell me Bioshock?"  He says "The street date is August 21st."  I sigh a bit and say, "Yes, I know that, will you sell me one?"  "The street date is August 21st."  "Ugh."  *angry poke of hangup button*

What a tool.

Man, whenever these deals happen, it's always in like, the central states.

It seems to be like something like this would never happen in California. I'm sure that if I called a few stores, I'd get the same stoic response.

Edit - Gah! Wrong thread.

Wait for Eternal Sonata next month from what I hear.

This really illustrates how "Street Dates" are a stupid idea.

If I was 18 and couldn't get it in a store, but knew other people had it, I'd give a big FU to the industry and download it somewhere. Granted, it's really some TRU's that are sticking it to Gamestops stealing their pre-orders. It's a crappy situation all around.

Of course it doesn't piss me off as much as when Best Buy sent me an email I could pick something up so I wasted 30 minutes driving there only to be told "No." and then asked to leave when I complained to the manager that they told me to come in and pick up something.

Tucson EBGames are sticking to the street date "for now". Apparently Take-Two is trying to get Toys R US to stop.  Maybe things will have worked out in the favor of common sense when I stop by one on the way to tennis (Persona 3 must be bought TODAY).   I mean.. what's the fucking negative for Take-Two here? People buying their game?

The problem with other stores breaking a Street Date is that it's up to your District Manager whether or not you get to sell too. So, if the DM in your area said no, then you're stuck. EBStop is very strict about tracking who sells what. Your best bet is to find a TRU that was/is selling BioShock in your area and let the manager at the EBStop know that. Some don't know and just think stupid people are calling about BioShock.

Oh yeah, the tactic with "I'll buy it elsewhere" does work. Gotta reach your new release sales numbers!

The TRUs here apparently don't even have theirs in yet.  So no luck on that end.  And, like most places, the local EB/GS wouldn't sell it while I was in there getting Persona 3, though by the way the guy acted, they did have it.  He also claimed TRU would have to pay fines or damages or something to Take2 for breaking the street date.  Either way, I'm stuck without Bioshock. 

From the TRU website, when you search for Bioshock:

 Buy any Madden 08 Video game and select one of these video games for 50% off (of equal or lesser value). - (click here for details)

I may just have to cancel my Amazon pre-order and go pick both of these up the same day at TRU. That's a helluva deal.

No I'm not a lawyer, but I thought breach of contract only allowed one to recover damages?

As for the EBStop cockmaster, Killjoy stopped by on the way home to ask for Bioshock again, and when he was told "Street date is August 21st", he showed him the copy he had.  Unfazed, the mechanical employee just said "We don't break street dates."  Very unrewarding.

The EBStop employee would have gotten one of my more vulgar responses. See, when people just parrot company line back to me when they know I'm trying to fuck with them, I generally go completely to the gutter with my speech. "Yea, well, guess what, I'll be playing Bioshock in 15 minutes and you'll still be a faggot, fag." You know, really tasteless shit. Because I fear robots.

I wish Killjoy would do that but he's just too damn nice.  Me, I hate robots and cannot stand talking to them.  I'm liable to get punchy so I just stop talking.

I don't see why the employee would care, it's not like the loss of the sale comes out of his pocket but if he breaks the date there is a good chance he'll catch hell for it.  He's not going to stick his neck out for some stranger who wants the game *now*.  If you knew him really well you might get away with Schild's "get the disks and pay next week" thing though.

I understand the PC version has to be activated online in order to play it, I wonder if the authentication server is even up right now...

Bioshock PC Game reviewers have been getting copies for the last couple weeks. Those servers are no doubt up.

I'm really, really going to beg for the discs today. Mostly because of spoilers. Not because I _HAVE TO PLAY IT THIS WEEK_. But if this thing is spoiled for me, I will probably leave gaming forever, become a recluse, move to the mountains of Colorado, and threaten people who come near my "land."

Welcome to EBStop.

That's a good question about the servers...

Big Daddy kills Dumbledore.

When I worked there, they'd threaten your job. Not much of one, but still it's employment.

No, this is backwards land. Persona 3 got pushed back, guess when? Into next week!

Amazon pushed my pre-order to 8/22 (delivery estimate with 2-day) and every GameStop/EB is coming up blank for in store stock. On the online front, Best Buy has a new street date of 8/21, but Amazon/EB/GameStop are still listing it as in-stock.

When I was in high school I cared about this shit, mostly because I liked fucking with people. These days? I'd take a 20 under the table and sell other peoples preorders. I could care less. :|

Edit: Also, my store got Persona 3 in today.

That's what I meant, why would the employee care if you don't get your game early and the store loses the sale, he's not going to get into trouble to make your day a little brighter.

(http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/5203/whatthemotherfuckym9.jpg)

Anyone have any ideas how to beat this?

Maybe unplug from the net?

Change your clock!!

Didn't work. Next.

I am now disconnected from the net and reinstalling. The manual says net connection required.  I am not a happy camper.

That's very interesting, I doubt it is the authentication servers because it would be unusual to have put that error message into a command prompt.

I would unplug from the net, uninstall the game, change the date to the 22nd, then reinstall the game.  If that doesn't work you're probably screwed.

you get that error when you run the game the first time. the shortcut to the exe had no picture. maybe you download the exe?

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v490/spaeschke/nelson.jpg)

No dice guys. It needs to connect to the autopatcher to finish the install. Only other option is to install, load the autopatcher, and then unplug. But that's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo not likely.

This is some bullshit from 2k. I mean I could go pick up the Xbox version and play RIGHT NOW. I'm very tempted to rant about this second-rate citizen bullshit.

That trick would only work if you can trick the patcher into thinking the auth server is down (unplugging mid-process usually does it), but then it'll just leave you up shit creek if there isn't an alternate auth method, but you'd need to get a crack/generator for that anyway! And I don't think they would offer one considering:


So yeah... today is a weird day. A very weird and frustrating day.

(http://image.bayimg.com/oafpiaabk.jpg)

Has there been a release with more drama than this?

No. But this is enough for me to send angry fucking letters. I literally pursued this so no one could spoil it for me. They're practically FORCING ME to buy the 360 version. You know damn well they could've kept people from playing that too.

Fuck.

I people wonder why I hate Steam with a passion.

I You Me Too!

I YOU ME TOO!

Steam isn't this bad. Was, but isn't now.

Supposedly the online authentication is only done once. Anti-Piracy measures are so stupid anymore. Way to harass people who actually buy your shit. Like this won't be cracked within a week tops.

Did you poke around the install directory?  A lot of these games that auto update and patch usually have more then one exe.  One that starts up and patches then it passes off to the second exe to run the game.  Long shot but eh..

I'd just like to pop in and say fuck steam. That's all.

I'm seriously going to choke a bitch if I don't get paid very very soon. I could stand not buying anything non-essential for 2 months but if this hits and I STILL don't have enough money to spend some on recreation someone is going to DIE.

Calm down, my small Asian screaming girl.  I have said a prayer for your wallet.  I expect your right palm to start itching soon.

Someone must have hacked this feature by now. Or let go a reviewer copy patch or something.

Also, the thread title needs to be changed to "Bioshock - IF YOU'VE GOT IT, YOU CAN'T PLAY IT".

Explain to me why you are mad at 2k. Didn't the vendor of your choice give you the game too soon? Shouldn't you be mad at THEM?

A street date is a contract between a vendor and a publisher. Not a publisher and a customer. Keeping me from playing the game is utter shite. I didn't sign anything that kept me to a release date. ANd it's not like it was a steam digital download.

Yeah, and the vendor broke that contract. Up to the street date you own an illegal copy. Illegality doesn't vanish with redistribution. If it did, money forging would be a blast.

You are not even an unfortunate victim because you brought this upon yourself by persuading the vendor to sell it to you. As a fellow gamer I feel for you, but as somebody who does software distributions on target dates all I can say is "What did you expect? Nobody pays the company to bring up the authentification server before the contractually agreed on date"

Uh, ok, how's that work? You're telling me everyone who walked into TRU and bought one has an illegal copy. Something is telling me that is Bullshit.

You honestly tell me you never used a local program with authentification server based licenses? Once the license runs out that software is dead weight on your local machine until you renew the license, regardless of what you paid prior to that. Target date releases are a staple there as well. The new licence file on the server invalidates all old versions of the client, so you can only use the old clients up to the target date and the new one from then on. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if review copies stopped working on the 21st of August, though I guess that would be overkill for a game.

So, are the Xbox 360 ones illegal?

I wouldn't say that they're illegal copies.  I would say that anyone who walked into a TRU and bought a copy of Bioshock, knowing that it was breaking steet date, is a bit of a douche for potentially getting people in trouble who likely didn't know any better, all so they could play a video game a week early.

Exactly, he's not getting paid enough to care about your gamingness more than the few bucks he makes from his job. You got one now and you're waving it in his face? Good for you, 'cos he doesn't care.




On the other hand, this kind of authentication bullshit tempts me to "aquire"a copy by more dubious means. Then install it, get it running. And then not play it.  :-P

Illegal is maybe too harsh a word because it implies you doing something you could land before a judge for.

They are entirely in their right to make it work on the 21st of August and no second sooner. No customer enters a business contract with them (via buying a copy) before that date. Because the vendor didn't have the right to sell the copy before that.

HA HA.

Pride Goeth and whatnot.

Nah, we're saying that they don't have protection against it.  Different thing.


Look, I fully understand the inner child in everyone wanting and wanting NOW, but come on; Grow Up.

It's not available till the 21st.  It doesn't matter if it's on a disk, in a warehouse, in your back pocket or preinstalled on your machine.  It ain't ready till the 21st.

Fuck me, it's only a couple of days away.

And the Spoiler thing is PURE rationalisation.  Really.

I have no intention to buy it for probably a month at the very least, so it doesn't effect me, but I do think the way they've set up their street date protection is petty.

Hence my own spiteful comments about "aquiring" the softwarez. I do agree re: the "spoiler" thing though.

I really don't think you can ascribe 'petty' motives to a corporation in that manner.  There will be a WEALTH of internal reasons for setting a release date and STICKING TO IT.

Not least the authentication servers.

lolz.

Hah. Made my officemate wonder why I was laughing.

Also, this game doesn't have Multi right?

Petty? Yes, a company is holding a product back and keeping you from giving them money to be petty. Please.

If you don't understand the concept of a street date, do some research. The authentication servers aren't turned on because the company has no reason to expect people to be wanting to authenticate at this point.

Any of you filthy pirates get your Personal Piracy Computer version to work, while sitting out in international waters waiting for unaware fishermen?

Just on a funny side-note. When I called EB to ask if the release date had been bumped up he said no in that tone that was "why are people asking this today?" Then he went on to add that some stores, like Walmart had sold it today, but that the police had actually gone out to Walmart to stop it or something.

No, they didn't. There is nothing criminal about breach of contract.

I know, it's why I said it was a funny side-note. I think the EB guy was trying to scare me off of looking for it at other places.

Man, I'm tempted to get Bioshock over steam, but I'm wondering if I really need another layer of "online activation" so to speak OVER what Bioshock has itself. I see nothing but problems.

That and the nerd in me wants that Bioshock box in my computer desk.

I didn't realize I could get it on Steam.  Looks like I am going to buy this one twice.

Does the box say 'internet connection required'?

An internet connection requirement for a game without an online component is FUCKTARDED.

I'm sure it will stop pirating, though.

No, it probably won't.

What it will do is tell you down to the unit how many you've sold and have in the field.

Hmm, if I buy it over steam, will it only be playable on the 24th [EU release], even though it'd technically be sitting on my hard drive on the 21st [US release]?

If so, some people need to die in a DRM fire.


-- Z.

Valve + 2K Games = anger, it seems.

I can really see how consolitis has hurt this PC game.

I think I'll be pretty happy with my 360 version on the 21st.

It's not even a breach of contract that a company would give a damn about.  "Oops, some of the minimum-wage register-monkeys sold it early by mistake." is a far cry from "The CEO of Toys-R-Us intentionally instructed the stores to start selling the game."  The latter is a breach of contract, the former is just Murphy's Law.  I doubt the Take Two execs even bothered to pick up the phone and call over to complain over such a minor leak.

And under no instance is the consumer bound in any way, shape, or form by street date agreements; not their job to give a damn about when the company wants something sold.  As long as they've properly paid for the item, they've performed their legal duty of not stealing it, and are in the clear.

Which does not, of course, prevent the company from taking steps to ensure that the game can't be used before that date.  It's a bitch move, but a legal one.

2k responds!

I would comment, but I had a thread denned by steering a person to a specific newsgroup to find something that wasn't even computer related. So no definite answer on what you asked. However, I will say that this was one game I had intended to support by actually buying, but after reading this thread decided not to bother waiting. Shiver me timbers, a winnar is me.

Your piracy is perfectly justified under such circumstances.

On a related note, if you have Bioshock for the PC, you should expect that 2K is going to turn on the servers at some point before the street date launch in order for them to be up and running prior to official launch. So you might get a 24 hour head start, or something.

The 360 version is up on some torrent sites. No sign of the PC one that I can find and NFOrce has nothing, so I doubt its been done yet.

pffft. I understand the concept, I just don't much care for the whole thing in the way that they've set up with online authorisation in this instance. Especially if the game has no fucking online gameplay.


As far as actual piracy on my part as opposed to talking shit on the internet, I'm way too fucking lazy to actually bother to pirate games these days (and besides, it'd interfere with my downloading of the back catalogue of long running quality/camp UK Sci-Fi programs, and with my well-paying job I've gotten into the habit of buying software, even of some things I pirated and finished years ago. I likes the boxes. Shiny.

If anyone should be bitching here, it's me.

The 24th.  I have to wait till then for my birthday present.

My Precioussss.

No you don't, proxy into steam.

You interest me strangely, young man...

Seriously, just wait.  It's not like they'll be scarce.

The activation thing irritates me, but not at all enough to make me want to grab an illegal copy of the game. After the debacle with Freedom Force somehow not doing well, a company is at steak, and I love Irrational. They get $$ from me at retail. You slavering nutjobs need other hobbies to keep you busy before big releases ;)

Didn't Freedom Force have Starforce on it? That's why I never went near it.

Just checked - yeah the Euro version does. Since we get about 50% Euro and 50% US releases here, (and who the fuck knows what the "localised" ones are?) I skipped it entirely.

Sounds kinky.

It's OK to punish a firm for Starforce.  It's not so ok to do so for having a release date.

IMO.

edit: Oops, my bad. That'll teach me not to pay better attention until next time I don't.

erm.. on Freedom Force, yes.

As D-One says, we were talking about Freedom Force, not Bioshock.  Calm.  Chew the pills.  Put the chair down.

I am not in a hurry, despite my efforts to stir up trouble.  In fact I will probably not get Bioshock (360 version) until Tuesday, but I guess that depends on how eager my wife is.  She went into TRU today looking for it, and the guy behind the counter said "Yeah!  What's the deal with them running commercials when we don't have it rawr rawr rawr!"  I suspect he's been getting lots of queries.

As for the PC version, I will probably buy that too.  Depends on what else might be distracting me.

IGN reviewed


I'm not a big IGN fan, but Bioshock is getting pretty much universal love.

They get love from me as well. I can actually play the version sold here in English, no localization forced on me or getting an import version (or in this case steam version) for more money. Yay them. Already preordered.

IGN are real dicks, aren't they ?

What a shitty thing to say.

What? Did we read the same post or is that so dark green it turned white?

Ironwood doesn't like green. It did bad things to him.

The important question is: Where were all of these assholes when System Shock was new?  If the number of people currently masturbating over Bioshock had bought System Shock, it'd've been a super-duper best-seller like it deserved rather than languishing in the pit of mediocre sales.

They were playing console games, and are now taking an interest in Bioshock because it's on the 360 rather than just being a PC game?  Just a guess there.

I suspect it had little to no marketing. I was a hardcore PC gamer in '94, and somehow that one slipped by me until well after it was in the bargain bin. I remember a brief blurb about it in some gaming rag at the time, but they weren't able to buy the coverage they needed I suspect.  Bioshock hasn't lacked for press coverage.

Can we change the subject of this thread back to something that doesn't instill hope everytime I see a reply to this thread?

Yep.  I never played the original System Shock because I'd never heard of it.  I only became aware of the System Shock brand when I read a review of SS2.

You've gotta remember that 1994 was before most people had even gone onto the internet proper.  We're literally swimming in gaming news nowadays; back then you had to hunt down your info, and PC games were only available for the most part in specialty shops.

Sorry, no.  My friend, Killjoy, used to think System Shock 2 was the greatest game ever made.  Until now.  He says he still has nightmares about the midwives.  Bioshock, he says, is horror where System Shock 2 was suspense, but rather similar and Bioshock wins.  I am not aware of anyone that doesn't like it.

I currently think that System Shock 2 is the greatest game ever made; I'm replaying it now, in fact.  We'll see if Bioshock unseats it.  I'm working hard to keep a lid on the hype so I don't go in with over-inflated expectations, but I'm really hoping that Bioshock will be what System Shock 3 should have been.  The Irrational folks have never let me down so far, so fingers crossed.

(Anyone wanting to play SS2 should go to the forums at www.sshock2.com for instructions on getting and installing the graphical update mods made by the fanbase, they make a HUGE difference in the game's appearance on modern machines.  About the best we can hope for, given how unlikely the odds are of a remake of SS and SS2 with modern graphics engines.)

(Graphical updates are also available for Deus Ex 2, which purge it of much of the shitty consoleitis, getting the UI out of the way and improving the low-memory Xbox textures.  Once those are fixed, it's actually a fairly enjoyable game.)

I was actually half serious.  That slobber by IGN is embarrassing to read and fairly insulting to games everywhere, anywhere, and anywhen.  I don't care HOW good Bioshock is.

New Journalism seems to be all about eating the knob, swallowing no matter how much is produced and then smiling at them for more.

I was on the net back then but I remember the big thing at the point were the IE discs: Interactive Entertainment. (I think that's right at any rate). Every month, you could purchase a new CD with 'interactive' game reviews. It was more or less a CD that had canned slideshow reviews with some game demos included. I remember SS being described as Doom meets Lovecraft meets M.C.Escher. I was intrigued but at that time my poor 486/33 couldn't handle the load. By the time I met the system requirements, other games had come along. Bioshock is now intriguing me 10+ years later. Will it be the same? Will my computer buckle under the strain? Only one way to find out...

Incidentally, my favorite FPS of all time: Cybermage: Darklight Awakening. Great freaking game. Half fantasy, half sci-fi, and somewhat furry (but we didn't know that particular evil back then). I remember it actually played better in Windows than DOS as Windows would bring virtual memory into play where DOS couldn't. This was back when 8 megs of memory was all I could afford. How far we've come.

Circuit City apparently has Bioshock for $10 off in their upcoming ad (for both the 360 and PC versions).  Yet another example of why I don't pre-order shit.

Actually, System Shock 1 was pretty decently hyped in Hungary -- our biggest PC magazine at the time had a 5-page review/walkthrough published about it. pages 42->46 (http://pcvilag.muskatli.hu/irodalom/CoV/CoV52/cov52.html) It wasn't an overly positive one though, they complained a lot about how it required a top-of-the-line machine to run and how Ultima Underworld was 'better'.


-- Z.

I played SS, but never SS2 - I wasn't paying attention to PC games when SS2 came out.

I think one of the many reasons SS didn't get the sales was that it was probably (and here comes a wanker statement) ahead of its time. An FPS wasn't meant to have suspense, or limited ammo, or reliance on melee weapons. An RPG wasn't meant to be twitch. Put those together and you alienate large groups of players.

I'm contemplating taking a day off to play Bioshock when it launches. The last time I did this was when Enter the Matrix launched. You see why I am conflicted.

So I made my wife watch me play the Bioshock demo (in a bid to make my purchase not seem selfish).

She sorta ruined something about it for me: "Why did you just shoot up with that syringe?"  I told her because then I get cool powers.  And she's like: "You just had a plane crash in the middle of the ocean, you enter a mysterious pillar out there, get taken down below the depths, have a crazy demon lady try and kill you, manage to survive, then decide, wow, this syringe just popped outta a vending machine, I should INJECT myself with it."

I had no response.  It doesn't make much sense.  The dude should've told us first that the only way to survive down here is to use the Plasmids.

Dude, that's exactly what my wife said.

Dudes. Your wives have tunnel vision. There's enough posters and shit that a needle popping out of a vending machine is what you WANT to be looking for. Also, If you don't run over there and do it real fast, he does say something.

It's pretty light rationalisation.

Also, what he says amounts to "Plasmids make you crazy and you strangle your own babies".  Not much of an endorsement.

Not only that, but if the demo is any indication, it doesn't seem like they ever actually show the main character reacting to anything.  His only line of dialogue as far as I can remember is the short bit he says right before the plane crash.  If this is how they've chosen to tell the story, then I guess they couldn't really have him get into a debate over the merits of injecting himself with a genetically altering substance, just like they don't show him reacting to the plane crash, or ending up in an underwater city being attacked by crazy people.

He does react to the lady hacking at the sphere. Turn up your volume and listen. You can hear his breathing get notably faster and kinda hear his hear beating.

I suspect you'll be able to add Bioshock to Steam. Which is super hot. The key is in the Valve CD-Key format. ^_^

I also noticed this. The first time through I thought I missed Atlas telling him to do it. After a second and third time, yeah. Nothing. It irritated me also.

Think about it from the "games are evil and should be burned" perspective. They most certainly couldn't have actively endorsed within the game that you should take drugs (mind/body altering substances) to make yourself more powerful/capable. I'm not sure how I would have done it differently, but when the substantial story of your game is what it appears to be (the only way to save the planet is to become altered--my summary, since my only interaction with the game is from what y'all say here), they have to be very careful about what sound bites they provide to the "games are evil" crowd.

Perhaps this is because I have a more liberal view on what is acceptable in gaming, but there is no way I would have a problem keeping an M rating in a game where you use drugs in an underwater utopia with monsters attacking you. 

Is your disbelief suspended yet?

Good point about the "M" rating--I hadn't thought about that aspect--but I still think it was a moral issue:

Designer> How do we get the players to understand they need to inject themselves with the bioagents?
Dev> Uhh, hmm. Let's leave graffiti on the wall that says "hey dumbass, inject yourself with this needle to be able to survive?
Designer> Ok that works.
Producer> Uhh, guys, drugs are bad, mkay? No way we can back drug use to become more powerful. "BioShock promotes steroid use!" is NOT something I want to read in the news!
All>Hrm, good point. Maybe we, umm, thematically suggest it and also say "drugs are bad!" at the same time?
Producer>Make it so.

I see your point.  But it easy could've been an early 'moral decision'.

i.e. Atlas comes up and says "Don't take that or you'll eat your babies".  And then you fight someone who can shoot lightning.  And then you see a vending machine that can make you shoot lightning.

That'd be a great moral decision, up until the point where you have to stare at the door that can't be opened because you D.A.R.E. to not use plasmids.

If this is the massive fault we can find in this demo, this game is going to be unbelievably awesome.

The drug thing is kinda weak. Although, considering the position the main character is in, he's not exactly swimming in behavioral choices. When in Rome and all that...

This actually reminds me of all the drugs available in Fallout. Most were necessary to basic survival, but quite a few combat drugs were lying about just waiting to be ingested--namely the aptly named Psycho. This stuff did give you a--how shall we put this?--distasteful reputation. On the other hand, there were more than a few situation where use of it was your best means of survival. And the stuff DID deliver--in spades. I never really liked using the stuff (hell, I don't even like taking aspirin), but you'd get in deep shit in the game and it was the only way out--or reload your game, which risked fatal crashes! Some of my most vivid memories of Fallout were desperate combat sequences in which you hyped Psycho, then the fur really hit the walls. Then the aftermath. Nasty stuff.

SS2. I remember this game quite well. Great atmosphere, but quite frankly, I thought it sucked to play. There were basic game mechanics that blew goats. The whole malfunctioning weapons thing was just absolutely, grade-A, pure-D, fucking stupid. STOOOPID! With bells on. It just about ruined the whole thing for me (hey, I like to fight). A few tweaks largely ameliorated this, but I never did get entirely over the irritation engendered by this idiocy. I understand why they did it, it was just dumb. I never did finish it. I still have my disks. I suppose I should try and resurrect it, but...it still irritates me to this day thinking about it.

Regardless, I'm still looking forward to Bioshock. At least mil-spec grade firearms weren't breaking right and left after 5 rounds in the demo...

The drug discussion hits on how I disagree with the theory of Mute Protagonist.  It can work in some cases, but when you have a Mute Protagonist the other charcters or environment must provide a very clear emotional response or motivation in the actual player, which is a bit harder to do consistently than giving a voice to the protagonist.  In this scenario, it would have been easy enough (in my opinion) to have your character talk a bit and give a bit of reasoning, like "Hmmm, this place is scary and deadly.  If I'm going to have any hope of getting out of here, I'm going to have to fight fire with fire.  Hopefully, this stuff won't turn me into one of them..."  Why wouldn't that have sufficed?

Some silly moments in HL2 occurred because Gordon can't speak, if you ask me.

Im sure any outrage over bioshock will be a lot more focused on the "shooting little girls in the face for fun and profit" game mechanic rather than the drug use.

I am randomly furious!by 7:00 PM I could be FITFULLY SLEEPING UNTIL RETAIL, not PLAYING A DEMO AVAILABLE LAST WEEK FOR JERKS THAT OWN A 360

And fuck fileplanet too. What a shitty website that place has been since....forever.

You're furious? I got all worked up about replaying SS2 for the first time 5 years thanks to this thread, and then instead of an updated graphics patch in that ssforum, I find that it won't even run on my computer thanks to my 8800GTS video card and core2duo processor. Fuck.

 :tantrum:

why not?!

WE NOW HAVE 3 THREADS FOR BIOSHOCK

>NO SPOILERS (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=10713.0)
>
>HELP THREAD/POSSIBLE SITUATIONAL SPOILERS/SPOILERS TAGGED BLACK (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=10714.0)
>
>DON'T EVEN CLICK THIS UNTIL YOU'RE DONE WITH THE GAME (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=10715.0)

THIS THREAD IS MUY LOCKED.