Bioshock - Daily Wrapup

[Dhruin]

After a confusing start, the Bioshock demo is in general release. If you don't have it yet, grab the 1.84Gb file from Gamer's Hell (http://www.gamershell.com/download_20697.shtml), Worthplaying (http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=45328&mode=thread&order=0) and the usual mirrors.
Don't forget updated drivers - both nVidia (http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_rel70betadriver.html) and ATI (http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html) have new (beta) drivers with Bioshock optimisations.
Respected journalist Keiron Gillen has an interview with Ken Levine - apparently initiated by Ken, which is rather unusual - on his site Rock, Paper, Shotgun (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=103):
RPS: The other thing about the Spiritual Sequel line is that I think it confuses people. I see lots of Shock 2 in there, sure… but I think it’s closer to Shock 1, in many ways. Being based on the equipment rather than actual statistics - that it’s more of a shooter with a lot of things piled on top…
KL: Absolutely. It’s funny, as when we were making Shock 2, any time there was any deviation from Shock 1 there was a lot of very angry people. And now people are forgetting that Shock 2 really added all those RPG elements and character growth stuff that wasn’t in Shock 1, which was more of a clean FPS. There may be some more similarities, in that regard. And hey! I’m cool with that.
On that note, they also have a short feature (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=92) on the original System Shock.
...and Worthplaying has a review (http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=45330&mode=thread&order=0) with a score of 9.2/10:
If Bioshock has one notable flaw, it lies in the game's difficulty level, or lack thereof. On the normal difficulty level, it's just a bit too easy. It is still fun, but once you start getting a solid number of plasmids, you can tear through every Splicer in your way as if they were nothing. By the end of the game, I was using the default wrench on every enemy, not because I needed to save ammo, but because my plasmids made the Wrench so ridiculously powerful that it would have taken me longer to kill Splicers with a gun. I was rarely using many of the plasmids or alternate weapon types available to me — only the wrench, Electro Bolt and the occasional grenade and armor-piercing bullets for the Big Daddies. A game being easy isn't a tremendous flaw, but considering the wide variety of options available to you in defeat foes, it's rather wearisome that the straightforward smash-and-grab technique is the most effective. The game does offer a hard mode, however, for those gamers eager to up the ante a bit, but the differences between the modes are not quite enough to give experienced players a much harder time, although it does encourage the use of some of the lesser-used plasmids.
...while GameSpot (http://au.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/bioshock/review.html?mode=gsreview) says 9/10:
While on the surface it might look like little more than a very pretty first-person shooter, BioShock is much, much more than that. Sure, the action is fine, but its primary focus is its story, a sci-fi mystery that manages to feel retro and futuristic at the same time, and its characters, who convey most of the story via radio transmissions and audio logs that you're constantly stumbling upon as you wander around. All of it blends together to form a rich, interesting world that sucks you in right away and won't let go until you've figured out what, exactly, is going on in the undersea city of Rapture.
...and Tom Chick says 5/5 at Yahoo! (http://videogames.yahoo.com/xbox360/bioshock/reviews/):
Roll over, Half-Life. BioShock is the best single-player shooter out there. It's one of those rare games that comes along every five or ten years, sucks you in, knocks your socks off, and haunts you for years after you've played it.
More information. (http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/newsbit?newsbit=6068)

[txa1265]

The great thing about Tom Chick's article is that it tells you enough without making you feel spoiled or evaded ... and there is the final paragraph:

The most salient fact about BioShock is that it's different. If it doesn't sell well, perhaps it's time to abandon hope and resign ourselves to the eternal recurrence of space dungeons and World War II. Games like BioShock are what we need. They are what we deserve. This is one of the best examples of where we should go. It's silly to argue whether games are art, which doesn't matter one whit, when you can simply point to BioShock and say: "Games are this."

[magerette]

I don't even play shooters but that review makes me feel I should want this game. I may get totally crazy and download the demo. It may just reaffirm my lack of twitch skills but at least I might last long enough to see what everybody's on about. :)

Edit: That's a very nice interview at Rock Paper Shotgun also btw (well have to do something while waiting for the demo to download--servers are still packed)

[Lucky Day]

Well it should be available in stores today (as well as Two Worlds). Anyone get a copy yet?

[txa1265]

Well it should be available in stores today (as well as Two Worlds). Anyone get a copy yet?
I see a 8/21 date everywhere but no time - most of these are 8AM, 2PM or 5PM deals ...

[Ionstormsucks]

After having played through the demo I still don't understand all the hype about the game... honestly, I feel it's totally overrated.

[Moriendor]

After having played through the demo I still don't understand all the hype about the game... honestly, I feel it's totally overrated.

Just from playing the demo I would agree with you but I think there is approximately 19.75 hours of gameplay (going by the 20 hours total that was mentioned in some reviews) that we haven't seen yet so I would advise against judging the game too early. When more plasmids, more weapons, more money (and a way to spend it), a bit more non-linearity, and more story become available, then maybe we'll understand what the super high scores are all about. Or maybe not. We'll see... :)

[Thaurin]

Oh come on. What do you want, then? This demo was one of the most well done demos I've ever seen, and of course it doesn't invite you to the whole experience. I feel the demo understates what this game will really be, but I've seen intelligent, chaotic battles with excellent environments, the likes of those I haven't seen in years in any game. Whatever game genre you like, you have to respect this, or you're dead inside. That's my opinion.

[Lucky Day]

I'm blown away by the demo. The art deco motif and the retro music give it a Fallout feel. It's a post-apocalyptic experiment gone wrong like I am Legend aka The Omega Man.

The SS2 dialogue ambiance is taken up with Splicers as they rant along the lines of their insane and faded memories. It's really spooky at times.

I had to turn the graphics down to half to get it to play which left me with some really ugly colours in the dark and blotchy effects. My AMD Athlon 64 3000+ w/ 1mb of memory I think was enough but I think the real problem was the nVidia 6200 256mb AGP memory card. I'm barely above minimum requirements but I think with a better video card it would be much better.

When combat was going on, especially with the combat bot, things got jittery for me and it was really hard to control my mouse. There was a tendency to overshoot the mouse but if I hit the fire button just as the target turned red then it could be effective.

As for money I actually had the opportunity to use it on the combat bot when I hacked it by hitting V. It cost me $10. It was crippled at the time so I don't know if what I paid for was hacking it or repairing it.

Do you think your disappointment was too high expectations or the tremendous hype the game has received? Is it you don't like FPS's?

I was surprised by the M rating it hit me with at the front. I didn't see much to object with (just grisly spookiness) except some dialogue.

[NFLed]

As a hardcore crpg'er I played the demo for about 15 minutes and that was enough for me. The game is awesome unless you don't care about storyline, atmosphere, sense of humor, etc. It's not an RPG but it's still a lot of fun. I purchased the game and am only about through the demo area but already I can tell that I'm going to enjoy the full game. They had plenty of copies at the local Frys Electronics and the PC version was marked down from $49.99 to $39.99.

[txa1265]

I haven't been able to confirm this yet, but apparently at the 2K forums there is an issue that the FOV is the same regardless of screen width, meaning that widescreen users lose visibility.

Check here. (http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4883)

[Reyla]

I was surprised by the M rating it hit me with at the front. I didn't see much to object with (just grisly spookiness) except some dialogue.

How desensitized we have become. Electrocuting people and then smashing their brains in with a big wrench is not worthy of a M rating? But I digress...

[zakhal]

Apparently bioshock has the new online activation system:


now remember now these images are from the computer i played the game on not less the 6 houtrs ago.and now i reinstalled xp no go.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/crowgrrl22/screen1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v481/crowgrrl22/screen2.jpg

I dont have the full details but what Ive heard so far is that in the activation process
the game is tied to your hardware. Multiple installations/change of hardware => game stops working. Calling securom might fix though. If people start calling them lots I wonder if they will eventual start to take toll for the phone activations.

Only legitimate customers who have purchased the product are able to unlock the program which is bound to the hardware after activation. This ensures that once activated, it cannot be transferred to another PC and therefore not being mass pirated.

Dont buy the game until you have proper PC to run it!

One another shoddy thing is that you cant sell the game in ebay etc once you have finished it. Instead the game becomes worthless the instant you change hardware. Better just throw it into to the trashcan.

Decided to install my vista. haveing probelms instaling vista so i decided to install on dads vist which is under the minimum specs some to play around on it. No sound lol. so i boot up the dual boot xp version on the same machine and guess what guys? No install wont accept actiavation only 2 machines so lets seee what this means for me 1 i installed on my machine and then wiped it out so that machine is no longer viable to install on and the other one i installed onto has crappy grafix and no sound so thats a no go in essance i just spent 60 dollars now just look at a broken game untill a pirtate version comes out no way in hell im paying for this shit again. Blows my mind that the same machine but dual boot is two differnent machines to them.

From users that have replied having hit the limit, it looks like it really is only 2 activations in total - and reinstalling on the same PC, in a different copy of windows counts as the 2nd activation. So people going 'oh, it installed fine on my laptop too, it's no problem' are in for a nasty surprise when they come to reinstall windows.

this happened to me too, i can't even express how angry i am..

I picked up my LE copy of BioShock at midnight, and I installed it on my PC thinking it would run with playable fps, but it turned out to be pretty choppy. So, I installed it on my laptop instead, thus letting me play Bioshock. However, once my brother tried to install it on his PC, he got the exact same error shown in the picture. No more than 2 installations? outrageous. How about future system upgrades? I wish I hadn't opened my LE box so I could at least get my money back. Nowhere does it ever mention that only 2 installations are allowed.

[GhanBuriGhan]

Apparently bioshock has the new online activation system:


Ugh, I hate stuff like that. One more reason to go for the steam version, I guess.

[zakhal]

Ugh, I hate stuff like that. One more reason to go for the steam version, I guess.

Last I heard steam version has it too.

[GhanBuriGhan]

Last I heard steam version has it too.
Then it might be a no buy.

BTW, could you please provide links to this discussion?

[txa1265]

I was surprised by the M rating it hit me with at the front. I didn't see much to object with (just grisly spookiness) except some dialogue.
Then I have no idea what was presented in the demo ... because the first couple of hours have been pretty clearly a heavy M experience.

[txa1265]

Then it might be a no buy.

BTW, could you please provide links to this discussion?

Well, Steam is in and of itself an online activation system, right?

Process is simple - You download and decrypt and run. I had the preload done, and then it still took ~20 minutes to finalize the download and decrypt process. But nothing else - no separate activation system.

[Dhruin]

Total bust for me so far. I have some sort of sound issue...game crashes on the Bioshock logo unless I disable the soundcard. Too tired to tackle the problem further today.

[pox67]

I would figure this game is like any other Steam game - can install on any machine but you can only have one copy of Steam logged in at a time so it effectively ties you to running the game on one PC at a time. That doesn't bother me at all and is actually part of the functionality that I like about Steam.

Game is running fine for me. I like it so far but is more of a shooter than I had hoped. I was playing Deus Ex: Invisible War while waiting for Bioshock to release and that feels more open ended so far.

Bioshock is still a lot of fun but more in the way that FEAR was.

[zakhal]

Then it might be a no buy.

BTW, could you please provide links to this discussion?

Just check the 2k forums:
http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5527
http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=19

Som people are still trying to get confirmation for the steamy thing. The another discussion is in finnish so I wont bother with that.

[zakhal]

Update:

yes, I am using the steam version (which is why I posted here)

I activated the first 2 yesterday around launch, and Tried the laptop this morning. I'm leaving for 3 days, so I'll try when I get back, but I am not sure if it will work.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=589874


Activation is in teh steam version too.

[txa1265]

Update:



Activation is in teh steam version too.

Yeah, that is pretty crappy.

[Gorath]

People at Qt3 are already calling for Starforce to come back because it´s the lesser evil. :p

The Steam version is censored for German customers. -> disqualified
And only allows 2 activations !? On Steam?! -> diqualified again.

The retail version demands activation. -> tolerable
And can only be installed two times ?! -> disqualified.

Seems I won´t be playing Bioshock anytime soon.

[Ionstormsucks]

Oh come on. What do you want, then? This demo was one of the most well done demos I've ever seen, and of course it doesn't invite you to the whole experience. I feel the demo understates what this game will really be, but I've seen intelligent, chaotic battles with excellent environments, the likes of those I haven't seen in years in any game. Whatever game genre you like, you have to respect this, or you're dead inside. That's my opinion.

You know, I'm not saying I don't like the game or that Bioshock is a bad game. I don't have a problem with Bioshock, I have a problem with all the reviews that seem to pretend that something absolutely groundbreaking is offered to us - in the scores, but also in the almost uncritical praise of the game. I can understand that partly, at least when it comes to the XBox-Version of the game. But let's be objective for one moment - the PC saw games like Deus Ex, Thief, and System Shock.

[JonNik]

I'll have to agree with you here.

Technologically the game is great (UE3 is quite a piece of work,looks great
runs flawlessly, at least for this demo). The Art direction is great, very good
atmosphere, fun gameplay. I'd buy it if it wasnt for the install limit

But what is so special about it ?! what makes it so much better than say
STALKER or any other good shooter, apart from the technology part ?
Must be something not in this demo...

Still I would have greatly enjoyed this methinks... Perhaps I'll wait for a suitable
crack that will allow me to exercise my fair use rights and then buy...

[GhanBuriGhan]

SecuRom limits Bioshock installations to 2 hardware configurations at the same time. If you want to install BioShock on a third computer using the same Steam account, you have to uninstall one of your previous installations('Delete local content').
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=589874&page=2

Sounds like unlimited installs, but not more than two active at a time. That I could live with.

[Lucky Day]

How desensitized we have become. Electrocuting people and then smashing their brains in with a big wrench is not worthy of a M rating? But I digress...

Then I have no idea what was presented in the demo ... because the first couple of hours have been pretty clearly a heavy M experience.

That's not what I meant. Since it came at the start was the reason I was surprised. What I'm saying is I'm disappointed it is an M game. That part of it didn't get publicity unlike in Fallout.

I thought you knew me by now Mike. I dislike most M games as actually being IM. Its what I about disliked Doom and Mortal Kombat when they came out.

[txa1265]

I thought you knew me by now Mike. I dislike most M games as actually being IM. Its what I about disliked Doom and Mortal Kombat when they came out.
Missed the original, saw the quote ... responded to that.

[Lucky Day]

as per the other thread (I think there are 5 going on this right now) 2K has responded to the the new SecureROM complaints finally


2K Elizabeth 2K Elizabeth is online now
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New York City
Posts: 394
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hey guys,

first, let me say this. you DO NOT NEED TO USE THE INTERNET EVERY TIME YOU PLAY THIS GAME. it is only the first time.

second, you can uninstall and reinstall this game, and if, by chance, you have 2 computers you want to simultaneously play this game on, you also can do that.

if by some chance you are reinstalling this game without uninstalling it first, a lot, there is a chance you may have to call securom and get a key, or deactivate some older installations.

but if you upgrade your hardware next week, you'll still be able to play the game. if you revamp your system and need to reinstall bioshock, just uninstall it before you go through the overhaul, and then do your reinstall.

calling it "hardware fingerprinting" is a bit alarmist. we do not transmit any of your data to any companies.

really, the only people who will be concerned about any of these security measures are those who are rapidly putting bioshock on many pcs... if you use the game as you normally do, you won't notice this at all.


I think we should consolidate these threads. We're getting spillover and redundancies.

But hey, it's highly entertaining.

Great doublespeak by 2K Elizabeth. The consensus seems to be to find a way to crack as soon as a good one is available but for the poor shlob who doesn't understand that buy yourself a 360.

As my buddy put it this game has gone from Game of the Year to Fiasco of the Year.

The Widescreen issue is explained in quite a lot of detail here:

http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/home.html

In summary its not that its broken, they are claiming its different. I don't understand it myself.