Bioshock - Xbox Demo Live

[Dhruin]

Word on the street (via Qt3 (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=37743)) is that the Xbox 360 Bioshock demo is now available through Live. Rumour is that a PC demo is planned for the end of the month but I haven't seen anything official. From respected gaming journalist Tom Chick:
Don't play the demo! Steer clear. For serious. Go log into WoW instead, or start a game of Civ IV, or take a cold shower. But whatever you do, do not play the Bioshock demo. It will just make the next week sheer torture!

You have been warned...
[...]
Actually, I haven't seen the demo, so I don't know what's in it. But I have played the first bit of the game, and I regret it. My life has been slightly miserable ever since.

-Tom
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=5981)

[Stanza]

Not only is there a demo, it also comes with a do-it-yourself Big Daddy figurine (http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/9523/1186875172273zp7.jpg). Hopefully the one that comes with the LE will exhibit higher production quality.

[Moriendor]

Something official has been posted here (http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=70772#post70772) by Mr. Levine...
Guys, the PC demo is simply not ready. The pc development was always a bit behind because we had more time to finish things (no submission to MS). The PC game will therefore have a bit more polish (and a couple more features like turning off loot highlight options) that 360 doesn't have.


It'll be out as soon as possible.

[txa1265]

Something official has been posted here (http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=70772#post70772) by Mr. Levine...

... I like that ;)

[Surlent]

Yeah I like that too, especially this part.
no submission to MS
And this part as well.
The PC game will therefore have a bit more polish

[txa1265]

Yeah I like that too, especially this part.

And this part as well.

We are a sad bunch, not bitter at all ;)

[Surlent]

Who, me? Hah hah. I'm just worrying they might rush the PC version out too early and buggy. Yeah, really. :p

[doctor_kaz]

I hope that they'll issue the PC demo this week. If I can't do anything else, then I'm eager just to see what it looks like in full DirectX 10 glory, since I don't have any other DX10 games.

[zakhal]

People on finnish board say the demo is more like a pure tunnelrun shooter than system shock/ultima underworld -style game. I hope the final game will be more open.

DX10? Hmm now i need to get vista too.

[Cabezone]

People on finnish board say the demo is more like a pure tunnelrun shooter than system shock/ultima underworld -style game. I hope the final game will be more open.

DX10? Hmm now i need to get vista too.

The devs have said in the past that the beginning area is a tunnelrun but it opens up later on. Since the demo is the beginning of the game, I'm guessing it doesn't incorporate the city area.

[zakhal]

The devs have said in the past that the beginning area is a tunnelrun but it opens up later on. Since the demo is the beginning of the game, I'm guessing it doesn't incorporate the city area.

Ok good to know!

[Brother None]

The devs have said in the past that the beginning area is a tunnelrun but it opens up later on. Since the demo is the beginning of the game, I'm guessing it doesn't incorporate the city area.

Bad idea to release a demo that doesn't play like the main game, especially when the demo is worse than the game. Ah well...

[txa1265]

People on finnish board say the demo is more like a pure tunnelrun shooter than system shock/ultima underworld -style game. I hope the final game will be more open.

DX10? Hmm now i need to get vista too.
But I thought that the only games requiring Vista were Halo2 (crap) and Shadowrun (MP-only) ... and that performance and other stuff was little different?

[doctor_kaz]

Bioshock supports both Vista and XP. I'm eager to see how it looks on a high end machine, although screen shots that I have seen for other games like Lost Planet don't impress me when it comes to DX10. But I'm more optimistic about Bioshock.

[Cabezone]

chopping off the tunnelrun area of the game is the easiest way to make a demo and keep size down. If they were to make a demo for the more open area it would need a lot of artificial blockages and cuts to make it work. By using the intro area it makes it a lot easier to get the demo out before release. Just be glad they released a demo.

[Cabezone]

Bioshock supports both Vista and XP. I'm eager to see how it looks on a high end machine, although screen shots that I have seen for other games like Lost Planet don't impress me when it comes to DX10. But I'm more optimistic about Bioshock.

Current card are not fast enough to properly use DX10 and the current slight visual benefits in no way make up for the 50% FPS loss.

[zakhal]

Current card are not fast enough to properly use DX10 and the current slight visual benefits in no way make up for the 50% FPS loss.

Maybe the low end dx10 cards like 8600 are too slow (thats what ive heard infact) but I would imagine that the top ones (8800) can run dx10 playably. Sure would like to see som test results.

[father lamat]

Looks aces on the x-box, I'd imagine the pc would only improve on that.

Is Brother None a killjoy everywhere he goes?

[rune_74]

The game rocks...very cool. Played the demo btw.

[Cabezone]

Maybe the low end dx10 cards like 8600 are too slow (thats what ive heard infact) but I would imagine that the top ones (8800) can run dx10 playably. Sure would like to see som test results.


I've seen plenty of benches where the GTX chokes and dies on the current DX10 games, at best it's barely playable.

[zakhal]

I've seen plenty of benches where the GTX chokes and dies on the current DX10 games, at best it's barely playable.

What current DX10 games? Heres som info on dx10 bioshock:

How does the DX10 version compare to the 360 graphics? And DX9?
The 360 and DX9 graphics are roughly equivalent. The DX10 graphics add a few additional features and image quality enhancements on top of this.

What kind of frame rates can you expect using an 8600 card and DX10?
Depends on what detail settings you use and what resolution as well as your CPU. Obviously this card will support the game pretty well though, so I would expect at least 30-40 FPS on high detail.

Apparently even 8600 can run dx10 bioshock on high detail and get decent fps.

Not sure though if "few additional features" is worth the hassle of installing a dualboot vista that costs 100-200€ and is a pain in the ass to manage if you like to tinker with your hardware.

[Cabezone]

Here's one...there are plenty of others:

http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTM3MSw2LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

[zakhal]

Here's one...there are plenty of others:

http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTM3MSw2LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

I quote from your link:

What does that say for the future of DX10 gaming? Well, this is just one game, but if the trend continues it could mean we will need faster video cards to experience DX10 the way it should be seen. Whether that be because drivers are lacking in performance, or Vista and DX10 are somehow slowing down performance we do not know. Then again, this could just be a problem with this one game. For all we know Crysis or other DX10 games will behave differently. We can’t formulate a trend yet, but by evaluating this game right here, right now, we can start on that path. Everyone is waiting on Crysis among others such as UT3, Bioshock, GTA4, and so are we. We will be paying attention to these new games and their performance scaling in both DX9 and DX10, and of course passing that information along to you.

DX10 drivers, Vista or poor coding of the game theres many possible reasons for the low performance. Its too early to formulate a trend. Lets atleast see how bioshock will run 1st.

[Moriendor]

Its too early to formulate a trend. Lets atleast see how bioshock will run 1st.

Here's another article with a somewhat revealing headline from Anandtech where they compare the DX10 vs DX9 performance of Lost Planet, Call of Juarez and Company of Heroes: Real World DirectX 10 Performance: It Ain't Pretty (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3029) . I think it's pretty clear from that test that current gen hardware just isn't up to the task of DirectX 10 yet. I agree that one should wait for Bioshock benchmark results but there's an excellent chance it will run like a pig in DirectX 10 mode simply because the 8800/2900 cards are the limiting factor.

[Cabezone]

zakhal,
You pick the only thing that's not even remotely negative about the article and DX10 and it's just neutral. Why do you have such a hard on for DX10? Every single DX10 game out right now runs like a pig....Why does this bother you?

[zakhal]

Here's another article with a somewhat revealing headline from Anandtech where they compare the DX10 vs DX9 performance of Lost Planet, Call of Juarez and Company of Heroes: Real World DirectX 10 Performance: It Ain't Pretty (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3029) . I think it's pretty clear from that test that current gen hardware just isn't up to the task of DirectX 10 yet. I agree that one should wait for Bioshock benchmark results but there's an excellent chance it will run like a pig in DirectX 10 mode simply because the 8800/2900 cards are the limiting factor.

Bioshock devs promise 30-40 FPS for 8600 on high settings. Why would they lie about it? Well see soon enough.

zakhal,
You pick the only thing that's not even remotely negative about the article and DX10 and it's just neutral. Why do you have such a hard on for DX10?

On the same occasion I must ask why do you have such a hard on to bring down dx10?

I picked the quote because it was exactly what I was about to write before I read the link and Im a lazy person that likes to copy-paste.

Personally I can say that its good news that dx10 is failing (if the situation doesnt improve), because then I can stay away from Vista (well atleast for a while longer).


Every single DX10 game out right now runs like a pig....Why does this bother you?

Runs like pig? I.E Company of Heroes DX10 runs up to 55 frames per second. AFAIK thats pretty good performance.

Also Id like to ask how many dx10 games are there currently - two or three? Its totally new tech on a very unstable platform called vista with bad drivers even. Whats the rush to make the final judgement so quickly?

[Cabezone]

I never did, her eI shall quote myself

"Current card are not fast enough to properly use DX10 and the current slight visual benefits in no way make up for the 50% FPS loss."

Now out of that post how do you get I am saying DX10 is poor in any way? I said current cards do not support it and you started argiung that I Was wrong for saying that.

CoH DX10 does run like a pig, that 55fps is 1/3 of the DX9 speed, with very little visual improvement. If you think that is pretty good for the fastest card out there, you're off your rocker.

[zakhal]

CoH DX10 does run like a pig, that 55fps is 1/3 of the DX9 speed, with very little visual improvement. If you think that is pretty good for the fastest card out there, you're off your rocker.

I still remember when top graphics cards got only like 50-60 frames best in new games. Anything above 30 is playable allready so 55 is plenty. DX10 games are definetly new so im not expecting to get like 150 frames or somthing.

Granted the visuals seem to be non-existing. I dont see any real improvement atleast on the pictures ive seen between dx9 and 10. Its more like "different" than improved. But this is just the start. Once coders get more experience on dx10 the difference might actually become reality.