Bioshock DLC coming next week

[Velorath]

From Shacknews:

Publisher 2K Games sends word that a few BioShock patches will be released next week, in addition to a free downloadable content pack for the hit game.

2K community manager Elizabeth Tobey tells Shacknews that the DLC will at least include extra plasmids for players to mess around with, a way to disable Vita-Chambers for hardcore play, and bug fixes.

The patches will also address the game's field-of-vision perspective, following an intense bout of controversy over the way BioShock handles its widescreen display.

A title update to the Xbox 360 version will be released alongside the DLC, while the PC patch will come bundled with the content. Expect a patch list to be posted on The Cult of Rapture website when the downloads go live.

Don't know that it's enough to make me want to play Bioshock again anytime soon.  Some new areas would have been to mess around with even if not part of the main game.  I'm curious to see what the new plasmids are though.

[geldonyetich2]

So they decided to kowtow to the Widescreen players who couldn't agree that the game's aspect ratio is natively widescreen and it's actually distorted in non-widescreen display.

I might give it a spin again if the plasmids are interesting.  Personally, I'm expecting something silly like giving the PC players the lightning resistance tonic that the 360 players have and calling it free content.

[Prospero]

Meh. Add new and interesting enemies and we'll talk.

[schild]

Add new and interesting enemies

Bioshock is not the game you're looking for.

[caladein]

So they decided to kowtow to the Widescreen players who couldn't agree that the game's aspect ratio is natively widescreen and it's actually distorted in non-widescreen display.

I doubt it's worth another spin-through but it was the subject of a lot of Black Friday sales so that'll be a nice surprise for people that are just picking it up.

[Azazel]

Do you still only get like 5 installs, EVER? (including via Steam)

[Prospero]

Add new and interesting enemies

Bioshock is not the game you're looking for.

I know. A guy can dream.

[Prospero]

Do you still only get like 5 installs, EVER? (including via Steam)

You get 5 at a time. Theoretically when you uninstall you can get one back. Plus they have some sort of tool where you can unregister a copy in the case where your computer died taking the install out with it.

[Sky]

So they decided to kowtow to the Widescreen players who couldn't agree that the game's aspect ratio is natively widescreen and it's actually distorted in non-widescreen display.

Normally WSGF guys can go overboard with those debates, but in this case they had a pretty good point. I even endured a spoiler to check out the debate. Applying that FOV actually improved the game somewhat.

[Velorath]

And it turns out that the DLC is kinda crap:

More details have emerged of the new downloadable content for 2K Games' critical smash BioShock. In a statement on its website today it was revealed that players will have access to four new plasmids and gene tonics, alongside a new Achievement for 360 owners. The DLC will also include a fix for the much maligned widescreen support.

Christoph Hartmann, President of publisher 2K, said, "As one of the highest rated games of the year we wanted to continue to connect with the fans that made BioShock such an overwhelming retail and critically-acclaimed hit. We are excited to offer new downloadable content that will extend and enhance the replay value of this title."

The four new plasmids and gene tonics are as follows:

Sonic Boom: Hurls creatures and objects back with a blast of force.

EVE Saver: Enables Plasmids to use less EVE.

Vending Expert: Reduces prices in the vending machines.

Machine Buster: Increases the amount of damage players deal to cameras, bots and turrets.

In answer to the many grumbles that emerged around the lack of true widescreen support, the game will now have an option that offers a wider horizontal field of vision. Xbox 360 citizens of Rapture also have a new achievement to strive for, titled 'Brass Balls', unlocked upon completing the game on the hard difficulty setting without dying.

360 owners will be treated to the download next time they boot up their copies, while PC players should point their browsers here.

Update: If you are a master BioShocker and have somehow already beaten the game on hard without dying, bad news: you'll have to do it again to obtain the Brass Balls achievement. The title update will not retroactively apply the achievement to your saved game.

[geldonyetich2]

Technically, that's one plasmid, 3 tonics.  Soonic Boom sounds fun, but not enough for a runthrough.  BioShock will probably get a reinstall when I upgrade my video card (or sometime near an expansion/sequel's release).

[schild]

Could the 3 genes be less fucking imaginative?

[Prospero]

Weaksauce.

[UnSub]

Sonic Boom was pulled from Bioshock very late in the day before its original release. If you look over YouTube, you can find the movie for it (since it was included in the original data files).

It's very much a force push power in a game where force pushing someone is less useful than a pistol bullet.

[Ironwood]

I suppose pushing them into oil and lighting it, or water and zapping it...


No, wait a minute, I just remembered that this game is a complete waste of energy.

[Tannhauser]

Wow all this hate for a game I thought was incredible.  Well the end boss was weaksauce. 

[geldonyetich2]

A game's got to be good to really resent its faults, otherwise we just ignore it.

I would buy a sequel/prequel in a second, but this downloadable content is sad.  They put a few worthless scraps glued it on.

[Prospero]

Wow all this hate for a game I thought was incredible.  Well the end boss was weaksauce. 

The art direction was stunning, the story and the way it played with the limitations of the FPS genre was clever, and the gameplay was mostly ass. Plasmids weren't nearly as useful in combat as guns. Most of the time I'd charm a big daddy to tank, and polish the stragglers off with the tommy gun. It was interesting to freeze a guy once, but generally a bullet to the head was much more efficient and less likely to get me killed. There were very few exciting fights; mostly it was a trickle of one or two druggies gibbering at me. The pacing was very even, which generally makes for less exciting games for me.

Also, hacking was a big bucket of dumb. And the end of the game. And I never got to use my drill arm. And there were no apparent consequences to me becoming a big daddy. And child murderers still got rescued by the children. Not a bad game all and all, but far from digital jesus for me.

[Phildo]

I stopped playing when, in the second level, I ran out of every consumable resource possible including, but not limited to: money, ammo, the blue stuff and health potions.  I'm forgetting all the technical terms, but that's probably due to not having played it since the day after launch.  I don't recall ever playing a game where item conservation was such a big deal from the very beginning.

Or, as I've said before, I might just be very bad at gaming.

[schild]

Instead of trying to keep yourself healed, just die, death means nothing in the game.

It is definitely not a game about survival.

[Sky]

I'm trying to conjure up the willpower to finish it.

Failing.

System Shock was one of my favorite games, love the Freedom Force stuff. What happened? Of course, I'll just blame the 360. It's easy.

[Mazakiel]

I got bored and gave up once I hit the garden area.  The game was full of all sorts of annoyances.  The atmosphere of the first areas pretty much disappeared.  Add in I'd worked my butt off using ammo conservatively, to have my weapons taken away by the plot, and when I get 'my gear' back, they'd cut my ammo in like half.  Compensating for that once the action picked back up meant I burned though my other resources.  And once the atmosphere became mostly run and gun, it was too boring to put up with the annoying game mechanics issues. 

[Azazel]

Was thinking of Steaming this this weekend, but I'm out of money. I should finish CoD2 instead. And then play FEAR and STALKER. I need to get through these acronym games sometime..

[Sky]

Yeah, I need to pick up STALKER at some point, too. Probably be let down because I read the book, which was pretty cool.