Bioshock 2 promotional vinyl
Posted by Drea Avellan Categories: Culture, PC, PlayStation 3, Survival Horror, Xbox 360
I’m a sucker for video game promotional items. Why? Well, they are usually extremely creative and make a great addition to any game collection. Also, the bragging rights are kind of nice. The fine folks over at Destructoid got such item last week from 2k Games promoting Bioshock 2. The package delivered a 7” vinyl and well – lots of mystery. Assuming we all carry around a record player (which obviously we do), we could find that the vinyl contained a Rapture anthem which is later interrupted by some crackling by the voice of a young girl calling out, “Daddy”. Now, I know I can make all kinds of clean jokes about this, but it’s not the same if you, the reader, have not yet been graced by these sounds. You can head over to There’s Something in the Sea and after the page loads, click the yellow arrow on the left and then click on the record player. You will then be able to hear what the vinyl contained. You know what they say—it ain’t no fun if the homies can’t have none.
Read More 
| Destructoid
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Is BioShock a Perfect Game?
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Features, First Person Shooters, PC, Reviews, Xbox 360
The reviews have been coming in for a week now, and they have been phenomenal. Consider that according to GameRankings.com, BioShock is the 4th best game of all time. On Metacritic, BioShock has received more perfect 100 scores than even The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, usually the game cited as the best of all time. Clearly, 2K‘s Mature-rated, failed utopia FPS is a critical smash hit.
Perhaps then there is little need for another glowing review of the game. Except this is not a glowing review in the strictest sense, because BioShock is not exactly the masterpiece of perfection indicated by these scores. Instead, BioShock is a wonderful game that happens to draw to light the inadequacies of the way games are typically reviewed and the inherent inconsistencies of how games are judged.
Click to continue reading Is BioShock a Perfect Game?
Valve’s Gabe Newell Speaks About the Orange Box and Wii
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: First Person Shooters, PlayStation 3, Release Dates, Wii, Xbox 360
Game Informer has an interview up with Valve‘s Gabe Newell where he discusses the upcoming Orange Box which will include Half-Life 2 plus Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. From the interview:
Episode Two was really helped by Episode One, believe it or not. I think that we’ll continue to get the hang of it. It’s a pretty big deal to throw a bunch of wrenches into your development process and say, “We’re going to try to do this differently now.” We’ve learned a lot. If we’re right, the fans we’ll let us know, and if we’re wrong, they’ll let us know. (laughs) I think they’re going to be pretty happy. I think they’re going to be really, really happy with the Orange Box in what we’ve been able to pull off, and a lot of it is based on their feedback from what we did with Episode One.
Newell also briefly weighs in on the Wii, casually dismissing the lesser hardware specs compared with the other next gen consoles saying, “I think it’s more interesting than just graphics chip – CPU combination. It’s the machine I have at home.”
Click to continue reading Valve’s Gabe Newell Speaks About the Orange Box and Wii
Read More | Game Informer
BioShock Post-Launch Updates
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: First Person Shooters, PC, Xbox 360
BioShock has, in the days since it’s release, received a seemingly equal amount of praise and criticism. While reviewers are raving about the game’s polish and atmosphere, some gamers have been griping about the way the game handles widescreen displays and some of the DRM issues on the PC version. And as was perhaps inevitable, someone in the mainstream media started some stink about the game’s moral dilemma involving harvesting versus saving the Little Sisters.
Irrational/2K Boston’s Ken Levine spoke with Joystiq about these and other post-launch issues, essentially coming clean that there were some mistakes made on their end, but confirming that they were committed to making things right. He also confirms that there isn’t any PlayStation 3 version in the works despite the reference to the platform found in a configuration file. Regarding the Little Sister concern, Levine says:
This is a game about making your own choices and consequences. It doesn’t take things lightly. Somebody should just sit down and observe the sequence of harvesting a Little Sister. It is about the most thoughtful presentation and most carefully executed presentation of the subject. It is strictly about getting the emotional content across without unnecessary violent content. There are people on the flip side who want to chase down a Little Sister with the gun, if they want that, they’re playing the wrong game.
Click to continue reading BioShock Post-Launch Updates
Read More | Joystiq
Ken Levine on Hacking in BioShock: “It’s a Little Out There.”
Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Action, Adventure, First Person Shooters, PC, Puzzle, Take2, Xbox 360
Everybody loves BioShock. From the whale-like moans of the Big Daddy to the thrill of smashing a frozen Splicer into little bits, the game is quality. However, one aspect of the game that isn’t thrilling everyone is its hacking mechanism; if you want to break into a safe or turn enemy turrets into your own mechanized defense force, you first must succeed at a hacking minigame that plays a lot like the Lucasfilm Games classic, Pipe Dream. Well, as it turns out, BioShock’s own big daddy, Ken Levine, is also not in love with the mechanic. Shacknews sat down with Levine for an interview and got his take on it.
It’s a little out there. That’s why it was important that you could bypass it in two ways; you can buy it out or you can use the hack tools—or you can just ignore it. There’s only one hack you have to do in the game.
But I think if we could go back and do it again, we would have maybe rethought that a little bit. I think it was more a function of our limitations at the beginning of the project when we had a very limited budget, and then we zoomed in so many other areas that we sort of forgot to go back to that area.
The purely non-spoiler interview, linked below, goes on to cover all things BioShock and is well worth reading.
Read More | Shacknews
Anticipated PC Demos Dropping This Week: World in Conflict and BioShock
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: First Person Shooters, Games for Windows, Internet, PC, Release Dates, Strategy
Timed to sync with the start of PAX and Leipzig, Sierra will release a rather full-featured demo of their upcoming real-time “action” strategy game World in Conflict on Friday containing demos of both the single-player mode via a tutorial, plus one mission as well as multiplayer supporting 16 players. There will be one multiplayer map available to all demo-downloaders that can also be played in solo skirmish mode and a second map playable only by those who pre-order the game. World in Conflict is designed to incorporate first-person shooter elements like speed into the RTS genre and by design requires no resource management. The game is due out September 18th.
In other demo-related news, the PC version of the BioShock demo that Xbox Live users have been enjoying since last week is out in time for the full retail release of the game. Any PC users on the fence about this game can check out the first half hour or so of the game and most likely put it down only long enough to run to the store and buy the full copy.
Read More | 1Up
Bioshock Arrives to High Praise
Posted by Max Dickey Categories: Action, First Person Shooters, PC, Reviews, Xbox 360
With Halo 3 just a month away, its promotion and hype engines are running at an almost deafening volume. The buzz has been so loud that Bioshock, an Xbox 360 and PC shooter set amidst the ruins of a rapidly declining utopia, snuck up on us more or less under the radar. Now that it’s here, though, it looks like a sure winner, featuring a compelling story, unmatched graphics, and a fantastic overall experience.
Bioshock takes place in the underwater colony known as Rapture. Built as a haven for the best and the brightest members of society, Rapture has become a cesspool of insane former virtuosos who are all hopelessly addicted to a DNA-altering drug called Adam. Apparently not satisfied with their natural gifts, the denizens of Rapture used Adam to supercharge their intellects and multiply their talents. Unfortunately, everyone became dependent on the substance, and if one doesn’t get enough, he loses his mind and his face falls off. Sounds quaint, doesn’t it? As your character explores Rapture, he’ll run across a variety of violent junkies called splicers, as well as enormous armored supersoldiers called Big Daddies. While standard weaponry can hold off splicers, fighting Big Daddies is a strategic affair. Attempting a frontal assault is suicide, so your character needs to get smart and use the supernatural powers granted by Adam to take them down. Yep, you’re using Adam, too. Are you going to end up a hopeless, addicted mess like everyone else? Who knows, but the engrossing storyline has a fair share of twists that could lead you anywhere.
Bioshock hits stores everywhere tomorrow, so be ready. It looks to be one of the season’s best buys.
Read More | GamePro
BioShock Art Book Available Online…for Free!
Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Action, Adventure, First Person Shooters, Games for Windows, Microsoft, Take2, Xbox 360
Coming hot on the heels of a truly tremendous Xbox Live demo, 2K Boston/2K Australia (formerly Irrational Games) has posted a free PDF file which contains sixty-odd pages of concept art from the game to be printed out at your leisure. How cool is that? Word of warning, however: Ken Levine’s forward to the book contains spoilers, so tread carefully.
BioShock is poised to blow minds on Xbox 360 and Windows in just seven days.
Read More | 2K Games
BioShock Demo Hits Xbox Live Marketplace
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: First Person Shooters, PC, Release Dates, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace
2K Games has announced that BioShock is gold and they also managed to sneak a demo of the game onto Xbox Live Marketplace. The 1.35 GB download has caused a flood of traffic, and some are reporting errors or stalls when trying to get their hands on a copy. If only PC gamers had such problems; 2K did confirm that they would be releasing a PC demo, but said only that it would be coming “later this month.”
Early reviews for the game have been exceedingly positive and with the game only a little more than a week from release, this should help hold you over for the next eight days.
Read More | Major Nelson
E3 2007: All The Stuff You’ll See On Xbox 360 And Games for Windows In 2007
Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Activision, Bungie, CAPCOM, Driving, E3, Eidos, Electronic Arts, Fighting, Games for Windows, Games for Windows Live, LucasArts, Microsoft, Namco, PC, Puzzle, Release Dates, Retro, Role Playing Games, SEGA, Special Editions, Sports, Strategy, Take2, Third Person Shooters, THQ, Ubisoft, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade
Over on Gamerscore Blog, a list has been posted with all of the games being shown at E3 that will be available this year. Xbox 360 games, Xbox Live Arcade games, Games for Windows-branded titles, and Games for Windows Live-enabled games. It’s a lot to digest, and with big name games like BioShock, Halo 3, Mass Effect, Guitar Hero III, Sonic the Hedgehog (the original, don’t worry), Puzzle Quest, Company of Heroes: Opposing Forces… let’s just say there’s something for nearly everyone.
Read More | Gamerscore Blog
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