Posts with tag BioShock
by Alexander Sliwinski Sep 19th 2007 6:57PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Business
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20071011205432im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/09/scolding.jpg)
There's no denying that Ken Levine, lead of 2K Boston and guru of
BioShock, is a golden boy in the industry right now. So when he defends the
odious Lair in the
latest episode of the Gamers with Jobs podcast, we can't help but politely, yet firmly, say, "No Ken Levine, bad! Wrong! We care too much about you at this moment to see you defending that ... that
thing. Now go to your office, estimate the
insane amounts of money you'll make before the end of the decade, and think about what you said!"
Levine is even in his
defense of
Lair saying things like, "I'm sure somebody came to them at some point and said, 'We have this motion control controller, and we have to make a go of it. And we really think you should try to make your game exclusively on that.'" He also goes on to say that beyond
Wii Sports, there are a lot of games where he wonders if people wouldn't just be happier with a d-pad and analog stick. There's actually a lot of good stuff with Levine in the well-produced podcast, definitely worth a listen and a mention on this week's
Podcast rodeo.
[Via
GameDaily BIZ]
by Christopher Grant Sep 17th 2007 5:17PM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360
Everyone here knows we're big fans of MTV's excellent Multiplayer blog. Up until now, what that really meant was that we were fans of MTV News' gaming reporter Stephen Totilo who, until today, ran Multiplayer as a one-man show. From here on out, the Multiplayer blog has been expanded by rolling up MTV's other video game blog GameDrop (yeah, they had two). So that means new design (we like!), new writers (we're not sure yet), and of course, new content from Totilo.
First, a new Vs. Mode with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal where the two veteran writers discuss the fall's first blockbuster first-person shooters:
BioShock and
Metroid Prime 3.
The first installment expounds some 4500 words on
BioShock, with Totilo and Croal both praising the shooter-from-the-deep for its atmosphere, sizing up the world of Rapture to other notable video game settings (is it uniquely memorable?).
Also included in Multiplayer's pseudo-inaugural outing is the below embedded video detailing
precisely how to pronounce
Ubisoft. "Is it YOO-be-soft? Or OO-be-soft?" We won't give the answer away (we'll leave that to Ubisoft's own), but we do want to take this opportunity to say "nyah nyah nyah" to everyone that ever pronounced it wrong. Ever.
Continue reading MTV drops new Multiplayer blog (plus BioShock Vs. Mode)
by Justin McElroy Sep 17th 2007 1:15PM
Filed under: Culture, First Person Shooters
You know why people like Cliffy B? No, it's not just the stylish locks and game design skills (though that's part of it, make no mistake). It's his honesty. It's the forthrightness, for example, to
call BioShock his Game of the Year in September of a year when he is releasing a game of his own. That's the kind of guy we look up to.
The man behind
Gears of War gives a frank, funny take on the game (which was made with Epic's technology) over at his blog. Although he's dumping heaps of praise on the game, Cliffy's also honest enough to admit there are some things he doesn't like, including forcing his enemies to be
covered in bees. We're still curious about the GOTY distinction though. Either he's as honest as we think, "Except for My Game" was implied in the award title or, maybe, it's just a subtle hint that
Unreal Tournament 3 really,
really isn't guaranteed to come out in November.
by Kyle Orland Sep 16th 2007 11:15PM
Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20071011205432im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/09/bioshockart.jpg)
If you're anything like us, you're probably getting a little tired of the
seemingly never-
ending "
games as art"
debate. Well try and revive your interest for just one more moment -- the
Washington Post took an interesting approach in expanding the debate this weekend with a
short piece looking at the artistic merits of
BioShock.
For the piece,
Post technology and games writer Mike Musgrove took an Xbox 360 and a copy of
BioShock over to the home of the
Post's 58-year-old, Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic
Michael Dirda, who played the game unassisted for a couple of weeks. As might be expected for a guy whose last game was
Myst, Dirda had trouble getting past Neptune's Bounty. "I've got a first-aid kit, but I haven't figured out how to use it," Dirda said in a quote sure to draw guffaws from gamers who haven't won a Pulitzer Prize.
But what about
BioShock as art? While Dirda said the game obviously has artistic value and was easy to get lost in, he wouldn't quite go so far as to call it "art." The key threshold for games to become an art form, Dirda said, is the ability to make the player feel depressed. Apparently Dirda has never seen his rightfully-earned loot
ninjaed after a five-hour
World of Warcraft raid. Depressing indeed.
But the final word on
BioShock as art should probably go to head designer
Ken Levine. "Is
BioShock art? I don't know, and I guess I sort of don't care. All I care about is, does it work -- does it have an impact on an audience?" On that important score, we're going to have to answer with a resounding "Yes!"
by Ludwig Kietzmann Sep 13th 2007 8:12PM
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20071011205432im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/09/awesome_pile_o_money.jpg)
While August yields some noteworthy
NPD data in terms of hardware sales, the games populating the top twenty spots in the software chart provide the most interesting commentary. Before we get to that, however, we should gaze at the gargantuan pile of cash that represents the U.S. game industry.
GameDaily BIZ reports that total sales climbed to $993 million dollars, a 46% increase over the same month last year, with hardware sales alone reaching $302 million.
Nintendo's Wii
once again sold the most units, followed by the DS and a
now cheaper Xbox 360. Microsoft had best hope the jump in sales extends to more of a
protracted hover, as it seems the PS3 has already come down to Earth following its July "
clearance sale."
- Nintendo Wii: 403.6K (4 million total)
- Nintendo DS: 383.3K (12.7 million total)
- Microsoft Xbox 360: 276.7K (6.3 million)
- Sony PlayStation 2: 202K (39.1 million total)
- Sony PSP: 151.2K (8.3 million total)
- Sony PlayStation 3: 130.6K (1.75 million total)
Continue reading August NPD: Madden and Wii on top, but not together
by Christopher Grant Sep 10th 2007 8:27PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360
After what we imagine was a prolonged series of comically exaggerated high fives and hearty back pattings, the folks at Take-Two managed to sit down long enough to write up a report detailing their third quarter fiscal 2007 financial results. In fact, they were so excited after noting that critic's darling
BioShock shipped an impressive 1.5 million copies – pulling the Xbox 360's attach rate even higher – they even called it their "new
BioShock franchise." A franchise, eh?
Gamasutra
notes that during a conference call with investors to discuss the results, they specified that
BioShock could become a franchise on a "roughly two year interval," handily making up for the missing income their annual football franchise used to bring in. Of course, that's not all bad; the company's
Grand Theft Auto games have followed a similar model and managed to remain well respected titles despite what could only be called some stagnation.
The execs also noted that the Rockstar and Team Bondi co-produced
L.A. Noire, which was nowhere to be seen on the report's initial guidance for fiscal 2008, would not be released in fiscal 2008, which extends until 11/08. The game was
previously listed as a PlayStation 3 exclusive for the fiscal '08 period.
Read – Take-Two Third Quarter Fiscal 2007 Financial Results
Read – BioShock Receives All-Time Highest Xbox 360 Ranking on Metacritic
by Justin McElroy Sep 7th 2007 8:00AM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters
A few of you have been asking what a new title update for
BioShock on the 360 does and the answer is ... well, it's kind of pedestrian. Straight from 2K's corporate hive mouth: "Update improves stability when loading autosaves and overall game stability, corrects audio during title menu loading, and addresses AI behaviors regarding use of health stations." ...
"Plasmid Pack 1" it is not.
So there you go. If you've been having a problem with one of the issues being addressed, this is probably a godsend, if not, you're probably already skipping down to comments to type an ever-increasing row of "zzzz"s. Have fun with that.
by Kyle Orland Sep 6th 2007 7:55PM
Filed under: PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20071011205432im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/09/bigdaddykick.jpg)
Man, are we sick and tired of the
cavalcade of praise being heaped on
BioShock. "
You will never look at a blah blah blah the same way again." "It's one of those monumental
blah blah you'll never forget." OK, OK, we get it, the game's amazing. But surely it must have some flaws, right?
Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw sure thinks so. He goes off on the game in his own inimitable web video style in
the Escapist's latest Zero Punctuation feature. While Croshaw thinks that the game is overall pretty good, he points out some flaws that tend to get glossed over in the media lovefest. Among the major gripes:
- Familiarity -- While inspiration is one thing, Croshaw argues that BioShock "isn't like System Shock 2, it is System Shock 2" only "everything that was cyberpunk then is steampunk now."
- It's way too easy -- "You trip over ammo, money and medkits" and "dying is a momentary annoyance" with all the free vita-chambers strewn about.
- The moral choices aren't very interesting -- The controversial decision to save or harvest the creepy Little Sisters pretty much becomes a choice between "Mother Teresa or baby eating," with nothing in between.
Despite all the bellyaching, Croshaw still admires
BioShock for it's looks, writing, atmosphere and imagination, even going so far as to say it's "probably one of the best games of the year." Blah blah blah. Check out the video after the break.
Continue reading BioShock gets the Zero Punctuation treatment
by Alexander Sliwinski Sep 6th 2007 4:55PM
Filed under: PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters
A poster on the 2K forums has stirred up a little Splicer's nest exposing
what appears to be new hidden plasmids for
BioShock. Showing a bunch of code from the PC version of
BioShock -- and
we know how reliable that can be -- he points to new plasmids waiting to be unlocked in "PlasmidPack1" at a later date. Four of the plasmids listed are Machine Buster, Vending Expert, Sonic Boom, Eve Saver, along with a bunch of other plasmid content.
Joystiq spoke with 2K and they delivered one of those delicious open-ended quotes that beg for wild speculation. 2K says, "Since 2K Games hasn't announced any downloadable content at this time, we have no comment." Where's
Ken Levine for us to get a straight answer? Don't make us use the magic words 2K, if we want answers about more plasmids we know exactly the precise words to use! It'd be nice to get more plasmids (for free) as a little bonus down the road, but we'll be happy if those plasmids get saved for
BioShock 2 and cut out just that small amount of time in development.
[Via
X3F]
by Alexander Sliwinski Sep 2nd 2007 5:45PM
Filed under: PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters
We're going to place the video after the break of Bonus Round's Geoff Keighley interviewing two of the main designers behind
BioShock. Although the video doesn't contain massive spoilers, for those looking to keep the game fresh, or are just starting to play it on this long holiday weekend in the US, we do recommend watching it at a later date. Those of you already done learning the secrets of Rapture in this chapter of the
BioShock saga, we'll discuss more and have the video after the break. Would you kindly finish the game people ... we can't hold off talking about it openly for much longer -- there's stuff we need to discuss.
Continue reading BioShock designers talk a lot on Bonus Round *spoilers*
by Alexander Sliwinski Aug 29th 2007 12:55PM
If any company is going to benefit from the success of
BioShock, beyond 2K Boston and Take-Two, it's Epic with their
embattled Unreal Engine 3.
BioShock has brought very
public redemption and good press to the
UE3 due to 2K Boston's phenomenal use of the tech. This hasn't gone
unnoticed by Epic's Mark Rein who says, "We like to think we set a high bar with our own games, but more importantly we give our licensees the opportunity to take what we've done and do something even better with it ... There are a lot more great titles coming from our licensees as well and we're very proud of what is being accomplished and the helping role we get to play in their success."
2K Boston's Ken Levine didn't wimp out on talking about their issues with the UE3 during our
interview with him. Levine said, "Of course, it's an engine, engine's are always a bear. Developing games is really hard, I think the mistake that a company like Epic might make is to say, 'Oh yeah, it's simple, we give you the engine and you go do it fellas, it'll be a breeze.' Development is hard, it gives you a leg up, but if you don't have a great technology team you're going to run into trouble. Even if you have a great technology team you can run into trouble." Although the exact
contractual issues regarding Silicon Knights' license with Epic are something for the court to decide, SK's
inability to get
Too Human working with the UE3 looks pretty awkward in the court of public opinion in the wake of
BioShock.
by Justin McElroy Aug 28th 2007 11:45AM
Filed under: PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters
Do you think that the makers of one of the greatest first-person shooters ever are immune to the siren song of one of the other best first-person shooters ever? Valve head honcho Gabe Newell insists to CVG that they are not.
"We had to ban BioShock from our offices," Newell said. "Nobody gets to play it until Orange Box is done - that's our reward to ourselves as a company; everyone gets a copy of BioShock."
Newell said he hasn't played it either, but he's "really looking forward to it". We're torn about this news. On one hand, we're sad for the Valve employees, but on the other hand, we really want to play Episode 2. And then, on our third hand, we think they probably should have thought of this game-banning policy before they announced they were making games episodically. Wasn't Episode 2 supposed to be out in the mid 80s? Did the team get addicted to WoW or something? Next Page >