Bioshock non-gameplay discussion

[Husar]

You can download the official artbook now, some of the paintings look quite scary.

[drone]

Well, why is there no PC demo?

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

WHAT ABOUT A BIOSHOCK PC DEMO?
August 13, 2007

After the appearance of the BioShock Demo on Xbox 360™ last night, I’m sure many of you PC fans wondered, “What about us?”

Here’s the deal.

A BioShock PC Demo IS coming. We tried as hard as humanly possible to get it out to you guys simultaneously with the 360 demo, but we needed to make sure that it was perfect -- that all drivers were ready, and that the game looked great on a huge variety of computers.

Currently, the PC demo in its final stages of testing and approval. We are pushing to get it out to you as soon as possible. It will be out during the month of August, and everyone is working at full capacity to deliver it to you before the game hits store shelves on August 21st. I will also let you know as soon as I have an exact date for the demo's release, so please stay tuned.

I cannot express enough how sorry I am for the wait. Thank you for understanding and your patience. Just remember -- only eight days left till you get your hands on the full game.

I’ll let you know where to get the demo as soon as it becomes available.

[Fragony]

Well first reviews are on, word is that it's good, very good. 9,5 pc gamer UK and a 10/10 in some other magazine.

[Lemur]

Penny Arcade's take on the demo. Warning: contains three naughty words. But very funny, as usual.

-edit-

P.S.: Seems the game has hit stores early. Some people are reporting finding it at Toys R Us, no word on whether places like GameStop have dropped the hammer.

-edit of the edit-

Hmm, or maybe not ...

[Lemur]

A well-written, spoiler-free review of Bioshock. I am now officially stoked for this game. To anyone who get the game today from Toys R Us: I hate you.

[doc_bean]

I don't know, from the reviews I feel like it's going to be ' just another' FPS, albeit a really good one. I'll await the orgah's opinions (and/or demo).

[Husar]

I don't know, from the reviews I feel like it's going to be ' just another' FPS, albeit a really good one. I'll await the orgah's opinions (and/or demo).

I got a similar impression, it seems like the "freedom" they mentioned is limited to having many ways to kill enemies by using them against one another. I will try the demo, but it doesn't sound as promising anymore as it did some time ago.

[econ21]

A well-written, spoiler-free review of Bioshock. I am now officially stoked for this game. To anyone who get the game today from Toys R Us: I hate you.

Excellent review - I've bookmarked the site, in case its other reviews are of the same quality.

One dumb question: the conclusion says the game succeeds in three areas, one of which is "narrative", another is "emergence". What does it mean by "emergence"?

[frogbeastegg]

There's another good review here. Quite a long one too.

I want that PC demo! :impatient froggy: I have been studiously ignoring this game, preferring to be pleasantly surprised than let down. Now it's sounding like it may well be the spiritual sucessor to System Shock 2.

[Leet Eriksson]

The demo is really linear, i'm kinda worried that the developers would not deliver in the open gameplay element that was present in system shock 2, but i think its some consolation if the game is well made and polished because from what i experienced in the demo it was an amazing romp.

[Zenicetus]

One dumb question: the conclusion says the game succeeds in three areas, one of which is "narrative", another is "emergence". What does it mean by "emergence"?

If I understand it correctly, it means game events that aren't programmed in a hard-wired or scripted way, that develop (often unexpectedly) from the way different program elements interact. I suppose it's like the way in M2TW you sometimes get games where the Pope is a passive faction, and in others he goes on a rampage and conquers territory. It's a consequence of how the different factions are interacting, and it's usually a little different in every game. The Spore game (if it's ever released) is an example of a game heavily based on that concept.

P.S. I'm with Froggy -- need that PC demo! I can't buy this until I know if my 2-year old system can run it fairly smoothly.

[TB666]

IGN review
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/813/813214p1.html
9.7 !!

[Decker]

IGN review
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/813/813214p1.html
9.7 !!

It's the same as the PC review (Bioshock PC review IGN). Reading the review, the game immediately reminded me of Morrowind. Anybody else feel this way? Obviously they are two different games, but the open-endedness and the ability to use "powers" and weapons struck as similar to Morrowind(which I own and have spent many-a-time on, worth it too).

I don't know much about comps and all but, do you guys think a ATI Radeon 9200 AGP 8X graphics card with 2.8gigs would run the game? I don't remember if I asked this earlier but the IGN review totally makes me want to buy it... of course when I clean off my other games and the price drops.

BTW, as it seems that many of you guys are gonna get the demo and possibly the game, I was thinking that this could become the Bioshock thread where you/we all could discuss the game? Just a thought.

[econ21]

Reading the review, the game immediately reminded me of Morrowind. Anybody else feel this way? Obviously they are two different games, but the open-endedness and the ability to use "powers" and weapons struck as similar to Morrowind(which I own and have spent many-a-time on, worth it too).

I guess you have not played System Shock 2? Bioshock sounds very much in that mold, so I expect it will be quite a different animal from Morrowind.

SS2 was rather linear - normally, you had one quest at a time to perform and had to do that to make progress. The quests were actually about the worst part of the game - typically, find the X to open door Y, but much more complicated. It was nice that you had a lot of freedom to roam around levels you had already unlocked, though. By contrast, in Morrowind, you can roam freely and have 101 sidequests you can be working on.

Where SS2 shone was in the narrative drive - the weak point of Morrowind. Personally, I found Morrowind ultimately felt rather dead and the lack of a strong central story left me adrift. In SS2, everyone pretty much is dead but the story is so engaging, the experience is totally gripping.

Basically, I expect Bioshock to be a very story driven game whereas Morrowind was quite the contrary.

[Lemur]

Good news for us PC gamers:

If you're debating which version to get, the PC version handles better. In part it's because of the greater precision with the mouse and keyboard, but also with how the plasmids and weapons are selected. [...]

The PC version definitely outclasses the Xbox 360, mostly because of the ability to crank the resolution to 1920 x 1200. If you've got a Vista rig with a DX10 card, you can expect some heightened particle effects, crisper real-time shadows, and more dynamic water, but the game looks gorgeous regardless. On our gaming PC running a Core 2 Quad processor with a GeForce 8800 GTX, and 4 GB of RAM, it ran very well, with only a few occasions of seemingly random framerate hitches. We also couldn't find an option to switch between DX10 and DX9 modes, the game just seems to default to what's in your system, unlike Lost Planet.

[Decker]

I guess you have not played System Shock 2? Bioshock sounds very much in that mold, so I expect it will be quite a different animal from Morrowind.

SS2 was rather linear - normally, you had one quest at a time to perform and had to do that to make progress. The quests were actually about the worst part of the game - typically, find the X to open door Y, but much more complicated. It was nice that you had a lot of freedom to roam around levels you had already unlocked, though. By contrast, in Morrowind, you can roam freely and have 101 sidequests you can be working on.

Where SS2 shone was in the narrative drive - the weak point of Morrowind. Personally, I found Morrowind ultimately felt rather dead and the lack of a strong central story left me adrift. In SS2, everyone pretty much is dead but the story is so engaging, the experience is totally gripping.

Basically, I expect Bioshock to be a very story driven game whereas Morrowind was quite the contrary.

I know you know that I'm not saying that Morrowind is better, it's just that it reminded me of it while reading the review and watching the videos. The switching between weapons and powers is what really triggered the memory. And now I doo wish I played System Shock 2.

Good news for us PC gamers:

If you're debating which version to get, the PC version handles better. In part it's because of the greater precision with the mouse and keyboard, but also with how the plasmids and weapons are selected. [...]

The PC version definitely outclasses the Xbox 360, mostly because of the ability to crank the resolution to 1920 x 1200. If you've got a Vista rig with a DX10 card, you can expect some heightened particle effects, crisper real-time shadows, and more dynamic water, but the game looks gorgeous regardless. On our gaming PC running a Core 2 Quad processor with a GeForce 8800 GTX, and 4 GB of RAM, it ran very well, with only a few occasions of seemingly random framerate hitches. We also couldn't find an option to switch between DX10 and DX9 modes, the game just seems to default to what's in your system, unlike Lost Planet.

I checked out the games forums and that seems to be the case there too. That the PC version is gonna out do the 360 which is veeeery nice to hear. And is it out for the 360 yet? I saw a few copies at my local EB for it.

[Lemur]

According to the rumor mill, the Bioshock PC demo will be available at 7 p.m. EST on Monday. Both Nvidia and ATI will be releasing new drivers on Monday as well, and undersea Ayn Rand fans will be advised to install them before venturing forth.

[Bob the Insane]

P.S.: Seems the game has hit stores early. Some people are reporting finding it at Toys R Us, no word on whether places like GameStop have dropped the hammer.

-edit of the edit-

Hmm, or maybe not ...

One of my minions works part time weekends at ToysRus and guess what, he and one other lucky nameless individual who got to the store early on Saturday have a copy... To quote this chap the box arrived with no set date on it. Normally if there is a set release date the boxes are labeled "not for public release until - ", so they did not know that it could not just go straight out. Of course this was the weekend just gone...

He also made mention that ToyRus may be being fined $10,000...

[Decker]

Demos out ! I'm downloading it Fileplanet(BioShock Demo)and praying my comp runs it
Anybody else get to it?

[frogbeastegg]

Played the demo. It's horrible - in a good way. I've put my pre-order in

[Husar]

Played the demo until it erm, crashed(yes, I did use the new BioShock NVidia drivers). I'm not really overwhelmed, it looks nice, is somewhat scary, but it's also very...linear and before it crashed it was a bit hectic. Well, I'm gonna try the demo again once I feel like it again, was neither bad nor good so far IMO.

[Samurai Waki]

Just bought it today *giggles nefariously in anticipation* Downloading very very soon... just waiting for my gaming drive to Defrag should take another ten minutes.

[frogbeastegg]

It reminded me a lot of the beginning of System Shock 2. Explosions, chaos, glimpses of monsters, an unknown ally yelling at you over the radio, the feeling to being dropped into the middle of an almighty mess with no idea what's truly going on ...

[Bob the Insane]

Woohoo...

Just picked a PC copy up from Gamestop in the Gallery in Baltimore...

Sweet...

[Lemur]

FWIW, the ATI "hotfix" drivers are here, and the beta Bioshock Nvidia drivers are here.

[Ironside]

FWIW, the ATI "hotfix" drivers are here, and the beta Bioshock Nvidia drivers are here.

Reads list and actually find Gefore 6600 in there. Hm, something to download tomorrow then, demo downloaded today )

Bit annoyed with Nvidea on that card, they never ever bothered to do a driver upgrade on that card and that even when you could run the games on max graphics without lag (but due to no driver upgrades, it decides to crash instead )

[Beirut]

I'm Dl-ing the demo right now (1.8GB).

Looking forward to the eye candy.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Started the demo and remembered why I don't play scary games. Looked nice, and it certainly had atmosphere, but it's not my cup of tea.

[lars573]

I'll try the demo then decide if I get it on the 360 or PC. In all likely hood it will be the 360. I just hope it's not another Supreme commander, a mediocre game that gets accolades based on nothing more than it's "spritual precursor."

[Husar]

Started the demo and remembered why I don't play scary games. Looked nice, and it certainly had atmosphere, but it's not my cup of tea.

It's more interesting and confusing than scary IMO. I tried it again yesterday and crashed shortly after the part where I crashed before...why don't they allow saving in the demo?