Topic: The Official BioShock thread.

[Cobra951]

Tonight I got the last copy of the 360 version at Toys R Us in Kenwood.  The people there were surprised to be sold out because they had a lot of them earlier.  "This must be a hot game."  No shit.  I haven't tried it yet.  I hope there are no bad technical issues such as what the Gamespot review talks about.  For me, it's this or nothing.  The PC game is not an option.  So I'll make do with whatever it has to offer.  I have yet to try it, and I may put that off till tomorrow.  At least I got it, and it's ready to go.

[iPPi]

Picked up my copy earlier this evening.  Finally got a chance to play it tonight.  If you've played the demo, the game is somewhat different.  The locales of the entire demo is the same as the real game, but you don't encounter and get all the stuff that you saw in the demo that quickly.  It's more paced out.

So far I'm having a blast, but it's getting late so I'll be playing more tomorrow.

Currently working on getting the telekinesis plasmid.

[gpw11]

What would you guys recommend for specs for this game?  No, I didn't look up the pub/dev released specs because those are always so far off.  Basically what I'm asking is;  would one be able to run this well on a pc with a 7600 and e4300 or whatever? 

[K-man]

I caved and bought it.  I'm a few hours into it and I'm just not digging it as much as I thought I would.  I may be interested in selling it.  I'll give it another shot tomorrow and go from there.

[Quemaqua]

Maybe K-Man just isn't an FPS guy.  Or maybe he just veers to the "other end" (i.e. Halo) more so than the rest of us.  Because I don't see how it's possible to not be in love with this.  Or maybe he isn't the type who enjoys a lot of experimentation?  I feel like there *are* reasons that someone wouldn't like this game.  I mean, it doesn't stray super far from the FPS formula.  Levine said from the get-go that this is a shooter, shooter, shooter, and it really is.  What's great is how it blossoms out from those conventions and leaves you wondering about so many things, wanting to try so many possibilities.  But that doesn't negate the fact that I can picture someone not liking it.  I really couldn't tell you *why* at this point, but it isn't some iron-clad thing where I just can't imagine anyone in the world not having a good time.  If that makes any sense.

Fortunately, I'm loving it, and the combat is included.  I'm playing on HARD and I feel like it's about perfect.  I've died a few times, but death generally means I'm struggling in terms of supplies to begin with, so I can't exactly rush back into the fray and feel confident.  AI is believable, smart, and fairly no-nonsense.  It doesn't do anything flashy, but it hasn't done anything stupid, either.  Gets pretty interesting when there are multiple enemies or interesting environmental facets nearby.  Weapons feel satisfying for the most part.  I'd say they could feel heavier and beefier, but that's almost defeating the purpose.  They're supposed to be rigged items manufactured in haste from spare parts and such, so I can't fault them for feeling accurate to that.  Plasmids are fun to use.  We've seen the electricity and fire a billion times, but the fire is actually still fun to use.  Electricity is a bit ho-hum, though I do so enjoy using the wrench.  Nothing like beating people's faces in to make your day happier.

The narrative thus far is great.  It isn't heavy-handed, but there's definitely some caricature and overstatement (which feels very Randian to me, appropriately), and while some of the tape-recorded monologues are purposefully absurd, it's all really well written.  You can't help but love some of the great lines.

Anyway, I'm digging it.  It feels very dense, like there's a lot there to just soak up and poke your nose into.  Looking forward to exploring further.

[K-man]

I can't really say why I'm not enjoying it as much as I thought.  The game is outright beautiful.  I'm having fun with the plasmids and the tonic augmentations.  Maybe the reason I don't like it is because the game itself is so sparsely populated.  I mean it IS a shooter, but there hasn't been a whole helluva lot to shoot so far. 

I had my mind made up that I was not going to buy it right away after playing the demo.  Then I kept hearing about how much different the actual game is from the demo.  That convinced me to purchase it and give it a shot.  But so far it doesn't seem much different.

Perhaps I was expecting too much out of the game to begin with.  Who knows?  Maybe my opinions will change once I'm a bit further into it.

[Pugnate]

K-Man if you are interested in selling it, then you have a customer. Send me a mail to pugnated@hotmail.com

[idolminds]

THE TRUTH ABOUT WIDESCREEN
August 22, 2007

We understand there has been some concern about the implementation of widescreen mode in BioShock. Hopefully, we can clarify how we’ve chosen to do this.

The first thing we want to make clear is the mode we developed the game on and the optimal mode for playing the game is the widescreen mode. 90% of our development stations were widescreen displays: artists, programmers and designers.

- BioShock was primarily developed and tuned for widescreen mode. Artists and designers worked with widescreen displays and chose a field of view (FOV) that best reflected their intentions with respect to the way the world is perceived, the perceived speed of movement of the player relative to the world and the amount of the world they wanted to be viewed for the best game-play experience. We went through dozens of iterations and finally settled upon a widescreen aspect ratio that best suited the gameplay experience.

- When playing in widescreen modes the game makes use of the full screen resolution, and does not crop or stretch a lower resolution image into a wide screen one. For example, at 720p the game renders natively to the full 1280x720 resolution.

- Once this FOV was established, we chose to keep exactly the same horizontal FOV for standard def displays, so as not to in any way alter the gameplay experience.

- Instead of cropping the FOV for 4:3 displays and making all 4:3 owners mad in doing so, we slightly extended the vertical FOV for standard def mode: we never wanted to have black bars on people’s displays. (This way, everybody is happy…) This does mean that people playing on a standard def display see slightly more vertical space, but, this does not significantly affect the game-play experience and, we felt that it best served our goal of keeping the game experience as close as possible to the original design and art vision on both types of displays. Reports of the widescreen FOV being a crop of the 4:3 FOV are completely false.

One thing we can assure you that all these decisions were made with the best interests of the game in mind. We didn’t save any money or development time by choosing this set of parameters. We did what we thought was the best thing for the game: developing and optimizing it for widescreen displays, and making the decision not to do the usual crop for 4:3 displays. As a consumer, you certainly have the right to disagree.

We understand that not all users might not be happy with these choices and we will be looking into options for allowing users to adjust FOV settings manually. But as we mentioned earlier, changes to video game code do not happen in minutes or hours. We appreciate your understanding.

Makes sense. Kinda. Though it would make me want to play in 4:3 more than widescreen.

And there seems to be some hubub on the forums about the activation. You can only do it...twice?

[Quemaqua]

I'm pretty sure they said initially there was no limit to the number of activations, and that you could do it from multiple systems.

So many little extraneous things seem to be going on with this game.  It's really quite weird.  The widescreen thing makes sense, though.  For once us SD folks aren't getting bent over and told to take it.  Makes me happy.  I've gotten more than enough of that shit with my 360 in the last year, I really don't need to have that extend to my PC as well.

[K-man]

K-Man if you are interested in selling it, then you have a customer. Send me a mail to pugnated@hotmail.com

Noted.  Although if I decide to sell Pyro gets first dibs on it.

[Quemaqua]

I thought Pyro had it preordered?

[idolminds]

Heh, so the activation thing and the 2 install limit seems...well, stupid. They say when you uninstall the game you get a "refund"...so you gain that install back. You just better remember to uninstall the game, and be online when you do. I dont know about you, but when I reformat I just let the formatting process wipe the drive clean. I don't want to have to remember to uninstall the game or it wont let me get that install back.

I just find it funny. Its supposed to stop pirates, but they'll just apply a crack and never worry about any of it. And legit customers that get fed up or get asked to call the company up for permission to install the game they already paid for will probably go lookng for a crack to avoid the hassle.

[K-man]

I thought Pyro had it preordered?

He does but he told me last night that he wasn't going to get it per finances. 

[Quemaqua]

Oh, well that sucks.

And yeah, that's messed up with the install stuff.  It's amazing that this stuff continues to go on what with how upset everyone gets.  The anti-piracy industry does nothing but turn people against legitimately paying for products.  I mean, it's that simple.  It isn't hard to pirate a game, and when people get this angry it becomes a no-brainer for them to just go do that instead of going out of their way to get to a store or download service and deal with activating/decrypting/whatever when they can just fire up the pirated version in 10 minutes... and not pay.

Let's face it, we're all going to be pirates soon.

[MysterD]

Heh, so the activation thing and the 2 install limit seems...well, stupid. They say when you uninstall the game you get a "refund"...so you gain that install back. You just better remember to uninstall the game, and be online when you do.

Well, that's quite kooky and foolish.

Well, I'm glad I get my "refund", if I actually uninstall my Bioshock game.
Now, it'd really suck if I don't get "refunded" for it.

I don't plan on uninstalling Bioshock anytime soon...

Maybe in a patch, they'll remove the copyright protection, years down the road. That would be nice...

I just find it funny. Its supposed to stop pirates, but they'll just apply a crack and never worry about any of it. And legit customers that get fed up or get asked to call the company up for permission to install the game they already paid for will probably go lookng for a crack to avoid the hassle.

I bet that'll happen, too.

Legit buyers don't wanna be treated like they're doing something wrong, when they never did in the first place.

This Internet Connection Activation crap's annoying -- especially for it to be included in a SINGLE PLAYER ONLY Game, for crying out loud.

[MysterD]

Hmmm....Maybe Bioshock will eventually go the PS3 -- I wouldn't be surprised, if it does...

PS3 BioShock trace uncovered in PC demo?

Source: A config file inside the PC BioShock demo.

What we heard: Though BioShock is currently only available for the Xbox 360 and PC, many Sony fans fervently believe it will eventually arrive on the PlayStation 3. The articles of their faith? First, the fact that Irrational Games originally announced BioShock as coming to "PCs and next-generation consoles." There's also the example set by publisher 2K Games when it promoted the popular role-playing game Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as being PC/360 only...until it announced the RPG was PS3-bound too.

This week, a new indicator of a possible PS3 version of BioShock surfaced. Among the myriad files accompanying the just-released PC demo of the game is a configuration document (Program Files/2k Game/Bioshock demo/Content/config.ini) outlining the game-engine settings. A subheading of the document references specific console settings for "(XBox360 [and] PS3)."

The mere mention of the console has been taken by many to mean that, at the very least, a PS3 version of BioShock was considered at one point. It's a perfectly valid hypothesis. In 2005, several files referencing the "Xbox" were found inside the code for Sierra's then-PC-only shooter F.E.A.R. The following year, the game was ported to the Xbox 360. (It also arrived on the PS3 in 2007.) However, there's another completely reasonable explanation for the PS3 mention in the BioShock demo config file. The game uses the Unreal Engine 3, Epic Games' cross-platform game-development toolset, which is usedin making numerous games for the PC, 360, and PS3.

The official story: Reps for 2K Games had not returned requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus that the mention of the PS3 in the BioShock PC demo code is hard evidence the game is headed to Sony's console. However, the fact BioShock is poised to be a hit after receiving one of the highest aggregate review scores in memory means that 2K would be foolish not to bring the game to the PS3...eventually.

[idolminds]

Just so everyone knows, I'm pounding my head on my desk over peoples seeming acceptance of retarded shit.

idol does it really matter? For one, what gamer isn't on a cable or DSL line all the time now-a-days? Yes, I realize there are exceptions (like you), but I'd take a guess that at least 95% of people with the computers to play this game have some sort of 100% active, high-speed connection. "Being online" when you "remember" to uninstall isn't hard when you're always online. [This is true, but its still counter-intuitive that a singleplayer only title requires an internet connection for install *and* uninstall. -idol]

Second, if you forget, who cares!? So you forgot to uninstall when your formatted twice and now you have to call 2k. So call them and you'll get a new key, or they'll reactivate your current one or whatever.

The bottom line is yeah, it's a mild inconvenience, but in the end it hardly affects anyone and even those it does affect are done with the problem in 5 minutes anyways. Woopdeedoo.

Who cares? WHO CARES? Well, everyone that buys the game should care that they are required to jump through fucking hoops all in the name of anti-piracy that in the end won't do jack shit about stopping said piracy. I've got HUNDREDS of games and I don't have to call anyone to reinstall any single one of them whether in uninstalled them properly or not. For fucks sake, HDs crash...there goes an install. Windows fucks up and needs to be reinstalled, there goes an install. And are you honestly going to remember to uninstall the game proper before you reformat? Hell no, you're going to let the formatting process take care of it for you. There goes an install...and at some point in there you had to call the fucking company so you can play the game you paid $50 for? Fuck that. How can people not see this as a terrible thing to be moving towards?

[MysterD]

Idol, especially for a SINGLE PLAYER GAME -- I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to play it. Neither should you nor anyone else.

The Legit Copyright Protected CD itself SHOULD be the damn copyright protection for the game. I've always like this method of copyright protection for SP-based game, myself -- to play a DVD movie, you normally need the DVD to play it; to play a console game, you need the console game's CD/DVD to run it; you get the point.

So, it makes perfect sense for the CD/DVD itself to be the actual copyright protection. End of story.

I am 100% w/ you on this, Idol.

Idol, can you link me to that thread you posted in?

[Cobra951]

The online activation requirement bothered me a great deal to begin with; but since I'm out of the PC market for now, it didn't really motivate me to sound off or do anything.  Now that I've heard about the 2 activations, I'll be looking for solutions from the more talented members of the "we will not get fucked in the ass" community.  I'll post anything I find.  Nothing to report yet.

You can't even buy this game, can you idol?  No DSL/cable.  Really, I'm glad that I don't have to deal with this bullshit personally.  As much as I'd like the keyboard/mouse control, the seething anger over this crap would offset the benefit, and then some.

[idolminds]

I can buy the game. Not sure what the online auth requires (like a 100MB download or some crap), but it should work fine on dialup. I'm not gettng it yet since my PC is too weak to run it at a level I would want to play it at.

[ScaryTooth]

I don't think it requires a big download. I activated mine in about 15 seconds.

[idolminds]

I assumed as much. I think only Steam had the large download when it unlocked.

[sirean_syan]

It is strange how much of this stuff is coming up with the game. All I can guess is that it's the first truly huge release in a while or that it's trying to be experimental in more ways than gameplay. Shame too, considering this is the sort of game that a lot of people claim they want to actually invest in, including those who normally wouldn't because it's the sort of thing that feels like it was made for them.

I stayed home from stuff today because of an overly persistent cold and I put my stay to good use with the demo.... I want the game (bad), but I can't have it yet. It ran okay at 1024x768, but even during the smallest fights it was hard to keep up with whatever was going on. It looks like it'll run better running at 800x600, but it's been too long since I've used that resolution and it looked pretty bad (LCD scaling probably didn't help much either). So, I've just decided that I'll have to wait until I upgrade or get a new computer... that will probably happen inside of a year when I manage to get a large amount of extra funds or just decide to do it. By now my computer is running near four years old, with a 2.5 year old videocard upgrade. It's held up more than well and will serve me fine for the time being. I'm just going to have to put real PC gaming on the backburner for a while... which also isn't an entirely new concept for me considering my gaming habits for the past year or so. At least I know the first game that'll be there when I do get that new computer.

[Quemaqua]

And idol, you aren't alone.  The majority seem to be enraged about the copy protection over at the Cult site.  You'll have more people to commiserate with over there.

[MysterD]

And idol, you aren't alone.  The majority seem to be enraged about the copy protection over at the Cult site.  You'll have more people to commiserate with over there.

And we all should be.

Legit owners don't need our gaming rights stopped over b/c some pirates don't wanna pay for the game. We should be treated like first class citizen-gamers -- not put us in friggin' coach!

[TheOtherBelmont]

Something I noticed about the demo, AVG says its a trojan?  When I unzip the file it gives me an unzip error with the .exe file that I got from 3dGamers and FilePlanet.  Looking into it on the forums this seems to be a problem for lots of people.  It seems the only way I can install and maybe even play the demo or full game is to disable AVG because of the copy protection they used.  I want to say it was called Securerom or something like that.  Kind of shitty that I have to disable AVG just to play the demo.

[MysterD]

Something I noticed about the demo, AVG says its a trojan?  When I unzip the file it gives me an unzip error with the .exe file that I got from 3dGamers and FilePlanet.  Looking into it on the forums this seems to be a problem for lots of people.  It seems the only way I can install and maybe even play the demo or full game is to disable AVG because of the copy protection they used.  I want to say it was called Securerom or something like that.  Kind of shitty that I have to disable AVG just to play the demo.

From what I gather, the new way SecuRom works, it acts like a virus -- see thread here

[Quemaqua]

I didn't get that, but I downloaded the unencrypted mistake File Planet put up.  So I dunno'.  Maybe that one didn't have it?  All I know is my AVG didn't complain.

Anyway, a good few hours into the game so far and loving it.  The game is definitely going to have replay value, provided you like what's there to begin with.  You can totally try something, see how it goes, then load your game and tackle it a completely different way.  Sometimes it'll be more "omg dude that was pure awesome" than others depending on the tactics you use and what happens in a given situation, but it's great stuff that's really fun if you learn how to think on your feet and react quickly.

The one mod I would make for this game so far is to require the Vita-Chambers to eat up like a third of your cash every time you die.  Being resurrected is fine and definitely helps harder points from getting frustrating, but there needs to be at least some kind of negative.  That is, so far, my single complaint with the game.  I absolutely love everything else.

[ScaryTooth]

I'm about 5 hours into it and I'm loving it. I've killed 3 big daddies so far. Tough bastards. I'm just now getting lots of little gadgets and plasmids to play with so I'm starting to set better traps and such. I'm experimenting with stuff. There are two more Big Daddies on this level that I'm on now. I'm trying to think of a good strat to take one of them out. Fighting those things are sweet. They're fast, do lots of damage, and take a while to kill.

The first one I fought totally owned me, I was like--"I'm just going to blast him until he dies"...denied!

[MysterD]

9.0 also for the PC Version of Bioshock from GameSpot.

Reviewed by Gertsmann, of course...

But BioShock isn't without flaw. The game has been released with a host of technical issues, ranging from a total lack of audio on some machines to issues with the SecuROM online activation, which under normal circumstances is designed to prevent you from activating a retail copy on more than two machines. The game is also available through Steam, though all of the same audio stuttering and other issues that some players are experiencing in the disc-based version carry over to the digital version as well. While it's a sad truth that no game is ever released in a completely bug-free state for 100 percent of its users, these issues appear to be pretty widespread, and if you're at all skittish about waiting for a patch after you've purchased something, you might want to wait until at least one patch is released before buying BioShock. In our experience, we got the game running with some minor audio stuttering on a Windows XP PC, and can't get any audio at all on our Vista test machine. All of this makes the Xbox 360 version's stuttering issues (which seem to only happen on some consoles) pale in comparison.

I'd like to note -- I have yet to have any stuttering issues of sound on my current PC....

Aside from having different technical problems, the differences between the Xbox 360 and PC versions of BioShock are fairly minor. The mouse and keyboard support works exactly as you'd expect, and using a mouse makes the combat a touch easier, since aiming for the head is usually easier with a mouse than with a gamepad. But if you're after that console-style gamepad experience, BioShock has full support for the wired Xbox 360 controller. If you're at a loss for which version to purchase, it comes down to the quality of your PC. If you're running a high-end DirectX 10 machine, the game looks better on the PC. It also has DirectX 9 support, and even running this way, it's possible for some facets of BioShock, like texture quality, to look sharper than the 360 version if your machine can handle it. But when you factor in the current bug list for each version, or if your PC isn't especially recent, the Xbox 360 version is a safer bet.

....

If you're the kind of player who just wants yet another action-packed shooter, BioShock probably isn't for you. Its weak link is its unsatisfying no-skill-required combat, which might aim this one just over the head of the average Halo fan. But if you want to get a little fancy, there's a lot of fun to be had with some of the game's more indirect fighting methods. It builds an amazing atmosphere by using terrific graphics and sound to set a creepy mood. But BioShock's real strengths are as a compelling work of interactive fiction, and as a unique ride through a warped world with some great payoff built into its mysterious plot. If that description has you even the least bit interested, you'll definitely find BioShock worth playing--but you still might want to hold off for a patch or two, just in case.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Well, I got the demo running and I can barely run it on the lowest settings, some textures weren't even loading.  I figured that was going to happen, I just need to get a new graphics card and processor sometime down the line.  My processor doesn't even meet the system requirements and my graphics card is fairly old.  No big deal though, I was expecting this, maybe by the time I do the upgrade the game will be cheaper.  One of my friends has the 360 version but he's waiting for his 360 to be fixed by Microsoft, maybe after he plays it, he'll let me borrow his 360 for a few days so I can play it.

[MysterD]

Well, someone's trying to get Bioshock going on Pixel Shader 2.0 cards, by making their own PS 2.0 Mod for Bioshock....

[idolminds]

PC Gamer seems to have a little issue with the copy protection.

(I know all my posts are downers, but I can't play it to say anything good...heh)

[MysterD]

PC Gamer seems to have a little issue with the copy protection.

(I know all my posts are downers, but I can't play it to say anything good...heh)

A little?!?!?
That's more than that -- heh!

That's complete bullshit, that they want a photo of the product via e-mail -- ummm, WTF?!??

Bioshock's only been out FOR ONE DAY and the PC Gaming Community is blasting this Copyright Protection, which appears to be a very shoddy product indeed.

So, I guess SecuROM is the new StarForce now, w/ a very shoddy CRP (CopyRight Protection) and all. Let's hope like the PC Gaming Community did w/ StarForce when UbiSoft began using them, that we can make some noise so publishers never use such nasty CRP junk in their games AGAIN.
 
 

[ScaryTooth]

I've been running it on high with 1280x1024 res. I could probably up the res even more, the game runs beautifully on my rig. No slow down at all really. The only time I actually noticed it was when I lined a hall with prox mines, and lured a big daddy down it. There were like 8 explosions at the same time, heh.

[Xessive]

ATI Hotfix

ATI released two BioShock hotfixes for Windows XP and Windows Vista, adressing problems such as stuttering with preload, mnissing/black surfaces and/or display corruption (thanks Blues). The hotfixes also work for the 64-bit versions of these operating systems. For supported video cards check the readme. Enjoy!

Hope this is handy for y'all ATI users.

[iPPi]

Been having a blast with this game on the 360.  No problems whatsoever, and the game can make you jump at times.

[Quemaqua]

All right, we need to get some combat stuff in here.  How have you guys been playing?  I'm curious.  Keep it spoiler-free, though!

I've been using primarily fire and telekinesis on the plasmid side, with a heavy glut of machine gun usage coupled with some shotgun (especially the electric shells).  I find it incredibly amusing when I try to grab a guy's grenade and end up grabbing off his hat instead (which I then beat him with), and the fire, while somewhat standard, can create some amazing chaos in the right circumstances.  Most of my tonics have been defense or health related.

I feel like things are finally starting to open up a bit where they were more constrained before, though I find that this game is infinitely more open than SS2... which is both good and bad.  In SS2 you really had to make hard choices about what paths you wanted to take, while in BioShock it seems like you can basically do anything you want at any time, as long as you switch out your abilities at a Gene Bank.  This way you do at least get to see everything and figure out what's most fun for you, but I sort of miss having to make the harder choices like I did in SS2.  It's definitely a great step forward from that game in combat, though.  I love the combat.  It's fast, at least decently varied, and feels focused.  Big Daddy fights have been universally awesome so far.  At first I thought maybe they didn't have quite enough health, but after about 4 fights I feel like they're about right.  The balance is good.  They're tough on HARD, but not impossible, and they definitely can kill you multiple times if you haven't thought out a good plan beforehand.

Story is picking up nicely, too.  I love uncovering all the little pieces of the mystery.

[K-man]

Yeah, I'm selling it.  Not going to blame the game though, with the universal appeal it has to be me.

[ScaryTooth]

I've been using the wrench, shotgun, and pistol the most. As for plasmids, I switch it up quite a bit. If I'm wrenching it up, I like to use electric. Other times I just like lighting things on fire. Sometimes I like to just lob things at people with telekinesis. And I just got cyclone, so I've been messing with that quite a bit. I like to blast things up in the air, and then whip out the shotgun and either blast them in mid-air, or run up and shoot them in the head when they fall to the ground. Sometimes I hit them with the wrench when they are flying through the air, or just run up and finish them while they are getting up, if they live through it, that is.

Fire can create some awesome chaos. A little bit a ago, I walked into a room with a Big Daddy, little sister, and 4 splicers. I hit my fire plasmid and got one of the splicers. 3 of them started running toward me, including the one on fire. The one of fire ran through some oil, and that caught fire, and that in turn ignited some barrels of propane and such near by, they blew up and one of the tanks flew over and smacked the BD, lighting him on fire, and he in turn got pissed, and kicked my ass. Fun shit.