Topic: Bioshock Infinite announced

[scottws]

Not good signs.  The fact that it is taking so long to get this game out probably means that some of the game design just isn't working.

[Pugnate]

I don't think this is a bad sign. On the contrary it says to me that the slapped on multiplayer wasn't working, and they are concentrating on singleplayer now.

[MysterD]

I don't think this is a bad sign. On the contrary it says to me that the slapped on multiplayer wasn't working, and they are concentrating on singleplayer now.

My thoughts exactly.

Bioshock 1 never need MP; the SP itself alone was fantastic.

Bioshock 2...well, the SP was good, but not great. Storytelling was nowhere on the level of the original game's.
The MP portion was decent enough, but it lacked a good amount of maps - like many modern games having both SP and MP portions these days.
That's why many SP games getting MP portions feel shoe-horned, to me - MP never offers enough content, to keep me there.

I wish the best for Irrational. I loved Bioshock 1 and been anticipating Bioshock: Infinite for quite a while.
I hope and expect greatness out of Bioshock: Infinite's SP, given how great Bioshock 1 was.

[MysterD]

Beast of America TRAILER.

EDIT -> 10-24-2012:
G4TV -> 7 Things We Learned From the BioShock Infinite "Beasts of America" Trailer.
GameTrailers -> Pop-Up Block - Pointing out all kinds of things in the "Beast Of America" TRAILER.

[MysterD]

If you guys noticed, Steam Powered symbol is at the end of Bioshock: Infinite brand-new "Beast" Trailer.
Also, GMG has BS:I PC up for Pre-Order, listed as requiring Steam; and so does Gamersgate.

I have a feeling this PC version might require Steam on the PC everywhere.

[Xessive]

That's in line with most (if not all) of 2K's recent PC releases. Almost everything after Borderlands is in Steamworks.

[MysterD]

That's in line with most (if not all) of 2K's recent PC releases. Almost everything after Borderlands is in Steamworks.

True.

Yes, Steam is required on BS:I PC; as this is from IG's Twitter from quite a while back.

Irrational Games
‏@IrrationalGames
@krzaq Yes, BI will use SteamWorks... why not join the official BioShock Infinite group? http://steamcommunity.com/games/BioShockInfinite …
8:31 AM - 1 Mar 12

[MysterD]

Kotaku -> Box-art for Bioshock: Infinite revealed.

Kotaku -> Their thoughts on the box-art.
Destructoid -> Their reaction to the box-art.

Here's the box-art:

[sirean_syan]

Needs more half-tuck.

[idolminds]

Wow, that is a terrible cover.

[Xessive]

If this was1992 that might have been a good cover. That said, this is a truly horrid cover. I hope the game kick ass though.

[MysterD]

Let the media blitz begin...

Destructoid -> BS:I delayed until March 24th.
Destructoid -> Allistair Pinsof - His impressions on 2 hours (or so) with BS:I.

Joystiq -> Ken Levine interview on BS:I
Joystiq -> Their thoughts on BS:I

G4TV -> BS:I impressions.
G4TV -> Ken Levine interview.

Forbes -> Eric Kain's impressions on BS:I

Rev3 -> Adam Sessler's 1st impressions of 4-5 hours worth of BS:I.
GameSpot -> Interview w/ Ken Levine.
IGN -> Their impressions of BS:I
Shacknews -> Preview and impressions on BS:I.
GameSpy -> Dan Stapleton - "8 Things That Surprised Me About Playing BioShock Infinite."
GamesRadar -> "17 things you need to know about BioShock Infinite".
Eurogamer -> Preview on BS:I

PC Gamer -> Graphical options, settings & details available for BS:I PC Version.
PC Gamer -> Tom Francis' impressions on BS:I (no spoilers).
PC Gamer -> Evan Lehti's impressions on BS:I (with spoilers).
PC Gamer -> Ken Levine on the "End" of BS:I (no spoilers).

Wired -> "Why BioShock Infinite‘s Creator Won’t Settle for Success."

[MysterD]

Destructoid -> Q&A with Ken Levine.

In Bold is Destructoid; Non-Bold is Levine.

You recently released the box cover of the game and some BioShock fans felt strongly against it, even though it may or may not be indicative of the game. How did you take the reaction?

There was no new information available because we felt we had shown the game at E3 and didn’t have anything new to let loose. We could have gone into a bunch of stories of “Well, here are the new type of gear you can have,” but we felt that would be much better after people have played the game and journalists had some context. We had a lot of people questioning, “Oh, what’s going on? Is it falling apart?” Is it a disaster?” because they didn’t have any other news. I knew that was going to happen and it was more painful for the team than it was for me, because I’ve been through enough of these. But, that’s just part of life.

There is a whole part of being a game fan that involves speculating about games, not just playing them. I love to think about games ahead of time and imagine what they are going to be like and worry about them. I get it, but I knew the only thing to do was to hand those people the controller and say: “You tell me how it is. Why should you believe me?” That’s why I’m so happy to now give the controllers to people.

After reading the recent interview you did with Wired, it came across to me that you really want to reach a wider audience with this one --

It’s not that we want to. We HAVE to.

With that intention, I have to wonder: with an intro so long and with very little shooting dudes in the face, how do you approach that?

What I won’t do is compromise the product. People say the cover seem to be – there is an article that says “Look it’s important because it must say something about the game. The game is dumbed down!” [Kotaku] I’ll count on you guys to report on the validity of that. It’s a fairly calculated marketing decision that is based on making these games continue to get made. I can understand the reception from fans.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this. You always want to please everybody. The price that I think I’m asking those people to pay is that that the cover that you pick up off the shelf may not be your favorite cover in the universe, but hopefully that cover will help make this game successful, so we can keep making more of them and not compromise in anyway; right now, no one asks us to compromise. They are like “Yep, big complicated directed sequence with no Taliban shooting you in the head. Yup go make that game” and Take-Two has done that so far.

There are two things we want to do with the fans. We are definitely doing one of them. We want to communicate with the community and generate a whole pile of alternate covers for the game that we can put on the website so people can print out. And key art, traditional concept art and weird doodles and sketches. You know, so we can really get them arranged. There is another thing I’d like to do but I’m not sure we can for production reasons, so I guess I won’t talk about it yet. But, in the very least, we’ll do that.

[Xessive]

I think this would have made a much better cover. Less striking but certainly more artistic.

[MysterD]

Irrational's Poll for the fans to decide what the Reversible Cover will be.

[sirean_syan]

Anyone who picks something other than 4 is doing it wrong.

[MysterD]

Anyone who picks something other than 4 is doing it wrong.

I liked #4 best, as well.

[Xessive]

I like #4 but honestly I wouldn't mind #5 either.

[Quemaqua]

Too orange. I took #6. Not that it matters since I doubt I'll ever play the game. Maybe when I retire. *sigh*

[idolminds]

#4 is cool, #5 would be acceptable and they should really consider making it the official cover.

I want to vote for #1 just because having the reversible cover somehow be even lamer than the official cover would be hilarious.

[PyroMenace]

Too orange. I took #6. Not that it matters since I doubt I'll ever play the game. Maybe when I retire. *sigh*

That's actually my pick too.

[sirean_syan]

#6 is fun too. The others just seem too typical given the response to the actual cover (aside from #2, but that's just not as fun). If this is supposed to be an alternative it should just avoid an sort of action heroes shot and do something that invokes more of the setting.

[Cobra951]

Now, of course Andrew Ryan is a semi-anagram of Ayn Rand and I was certainly guilty of that one, but mostly they were just people I knew or names I made up. However, that doesn’t mean that the experience that person had playing the game and thinking about all of those theories isn’t still completely valid because, frankly, who gives a shit what my intent is?

It’s all about the experience that the gamer has that’s important. If someone gets some added-value element that I didn’t have to do any work for, that’s great, right? The experience is the experience that you have. That’s all that matters; my intention is irrelevant. I can guarantee that there will be stuff that people see that wasn’t intended, but I’ll also tell you this: I don’t know of a lot of accidents in this game.

http://www.vg247.com/2012/12/13/bioshock-infinites-ken-levine-of-sounds-and-pixels/

Interesting little interview which involves some gameplay by the writer, though little is said of that in itself.  He claims to save that for a forthcoming article.

[MysterD]

Rev3 Games -> 15 1/2 minute interview w/ Ken Levine.
Polygon -> Bs:I interview about making this game have more "choices" & some improvements over the original Bioshock

[Xessive]

Reverse cover winner announced!

(click to show/hide)

It's #4

[MysterD]

PC Gamer -> PC Requirements revealed & interview w/ Christopher Kline (Technical Director on Bs:I) of Irrational Games.

BioShock Infinite system requirements:

MINIMUM
OS: Windows Vista Service Pack 2 32-bit
Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO 2.4 GHz / AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHZ
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Drive: 20 GB free
Video Card: DirectX10 Compatible ATI Radeon 3870 / NVIDIA 8800 GT / Intel HD 3000 Integrated Graphics
Video Card Memory: 512 MB
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

RECOMMENDED
OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit
Processor: Quad Core Processor
Memory: 4 GB
Hard Drive: 30 GB free
Video Card: DirectX11 Compatible, ATI Radeon 6950 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
Video Card Memory: 1024 MB
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

For the many-monitored, Irrational’s release also mentions that Infinite will support AMD EyeFinity, NVIDIA Surround, and Matrox TripleHead2Go. Hooray!

[MysterD]

Destructoid -> $20 Season Pass announced for 3 upcoming DLC's

EDIT -> 3/5/2013:
IGN -> Details on Bioshock Infinite PC version features.

EDIT -> 3/22/2013:
Destructoid -> Supposedly, the game costed at least over $100 million to develop; and then another $100 million to market -> so that's at least over $200 million total.

Ken Levine's response to the $200M figure:
https://twitter.com/IGLevine/status/314909899295444992

Ken Levine Verified account
‏@IGLevine
200 million for Infinite? Did someone send some checks to the wrong address? #unnamedanalyst
9:22 PM - 21 Mar 13

https://twitter.com/IGLevine/status/314948366117269504

 
Ken Levine Verified account
‏@IGLevine
Analyst: @IGLevine 's American girl doll collection cost 200 million.
11:55 PM - 21 Mar 13

[MysterD]

Scored out of 10
IGN -> 9.5 on PC; 9.4 on consoles.

[Quemaqua]

Damn. That looks like... really kind of way better than I was expecting. I honestly had very little interest in this pretty much from the start, but this looks substantially cooler than I'd initially thought it would be.

[gpw11]

Damn. That looks like... really kind of way better than I was expecting. I honestly had very little interest in this pretty much from the start, but this looks substantially cooler than I'd initially thought it would be.

I'm really really pumped on this for some reason.


Also, that IGN guy is pretty much the worst.

[MysterD]

Damn. That looks like... really kind of way better than I was expecting. I honestly had very little interest in this pretty much from the start, but this looks substantially cooler than I'd initially thought it would be.

Keep in mind, IGN's pretty much the only one w/ a review up right now.
The review embargo is lifted next Monday, if I recall correctly.

[W7RE]

Since Bioshock Infinite is under embargo for everyone but IGN right now, Kotaku put up a review of IGN's review:

http://kotaku.com/5991840/bioshock-infinite-the-ign-review-the-kotaku-review

[MysterD]

LMAO @ Kotaku reviewing the IGN Review.


EDIT:

I'm really really pumped on this for some reason.

Probably helps that there hasn't been an Irrational-made Bioshock game since 2007.
Of course, 2K Marin's Bioshock 2 was released in 2010.

Probably a good thing NOT to have a Bioshock game come out annually, every damn year...

[gpw11]

I really also liked Bioshock 2

[MysterD]

I really also liked Bioshock 2

Yep - I thought Bioshock 2 was good, but it certainly was NOT the masterpiece that Bioshock 1 was.

While I liked the double-wielding of actual weapons in Bioshock 2 and it new MP portion (I wish there MORE to the MP - just like many other MP's of late)...
...the story & characters were nowhere as great as Bioshock 1; and a lot of Bioshock 2 was basically "more of the same."

IMHO - Both Bioshock games are DEFINITELY worth people's time, for sure; especially since you can get them damn cheap...

[W7RE]

I bought the first Bioshock 3 years ago and still haven't finished it. Looking at my save games, it looks like I only played up to level 5 before quitting. The date of my next save coincides with the release of Bioshock 2, which I preordered and paid full price for (but still haven't touched). I finished level 5 and 6 at this time, and then stopped playing again. The next time I picked it up was this past week (in anticipation of Bioshock Infinite), and I'm up to level 10 now.

So basically, I can't seem to stick with this game for more than a couple levels at a time. I only seem to play it when the imminent release of a sequel reminds me of this game that everyone loves, but I somehow never finished. Any other game and I might just write it off as something I just don't get into. But I love shooters, and everyone seems to love this game so much.

EDIT: Just beat it finally. The mood and story made the second half much better, but not without fault.

[MysterD]

Bioshock: Infinite - REVIEWS

METACRITIC -> PC; XBox 360; PS3.

PC Gamer
REVIEW -> Score of 91 (out of 100)
Info -> Their thoughts on PC Version's technical side; checkpoint saves; & 1999 Mode.
Evan Lahti of PC Gamer recommends FPS vets starts w/ HARD difficulty.

Scored out of 100
VentureBeat -> 89

Scored out of 10
Destructoid -> 10
GamesTM -> 10
Polygon -> 10
EGM -> 10
GameInformer -> 10
GameArena -> 10
XBox360Achievements -> 10
InsideGamingDaily -> 10
Eurogamer -> REVIEW - 10; FACE-OFF - compares PC vs. PS3 vs. X360.
GamePlanet -> 10
LazyGamer -> 9.6
IGN -> REVIEW -- 9.5 on PC; 9.4 on consoles.; Port Authority on the features & technical stuff of PC version of Bioshock: Infinite.
GameSpot -> 9.0
Edge -> 9
NowGamer.com -> 8.0
VideoGamer -> 8

Scored out of 5
Rev3Games -> 5 stars.
GiantBomb -> 5 stars
GamesRadar -> 5 stars
Toronto Sun -> 5 stars
Telegraph -> 5 stars.
Joystiq -> 5 stars
Escapist -> 5 stars
Guardian -> 5 stars

No Scores
ArsTechnica.
Kotaku
RockPaperShotgun -> "Wot I Think" REVIEW; "Ten Intrigues I Didn’t Mention About BioShock Infinite".

[iPPi]

I bought the first Bioshock 3 years ago and still haven't finished it. Looking at my save games, it looks like I only played up to level 5 before quitting. The date of my next save coincides with the release of Bioshock 2, which I preordered and paid full price for (but still haven't touched). I finished level 5 and 6 at this time, and then stopped playing again. The next time I picked it up was this past week (in anticipation of Bioshock Infinite), and I'm up to level 10 now.

So basically, I can't seem to stick with this game for more than a couple levels at a time. I only seem to play it when the imminent release of a sequel reminds me of this game that everyone loves, but I somehow never finished. Any other game and I might just write it off as something I just don't get into. But I love shooters, and everyone seems to love this game so much.

EDIT: Just beat it finally. The mood and story made the second half much better, but not without fault.

It took me a long time to get through the first Bioshock as well.  While the setting and ambiance were great, the story didn't draw me in until you reach the twist.

[Pugnate]

Absolutely. I found the game a bit difficult to get through (in spite of the visuals) until the twist. Till the twist, your character was just not established enough... to a fault I feel.

For some reason I am anxious about playing Infinity. Too bad it is so expensive!

[W7RE]

I thought I didn't care about Infinite, and would probably play it "some day" when I could get it cheap. The imminent launch has be wishing I had the money to get it though. I've stayed away from pretty much all discussions, but can't help but feel hyped anyway.

Playing Bioshock 2 for now. I started with Minerva's Den, and I'm liking the combat and weapons a lot more. I really hope those things are done well in Infinite.