Apparently news people don’t know everything.

Announced today in a press conference, and covered by Kotaku, Take-Two announced that it has sold over 1.5 million copies of their new IP. They also emphasized that they have the highest rated game ever for the 360 to date. Good news for a company whose numbers have been lagging….to put it nicely.

But why should you, dearest reader, care about how sales of Bioshock affect Take-Two? Because, in this day and age high sales mean sequels. Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick, in response to the sales numbers said, “Clearly, we have a new hit franchise on our hands.”

OMFG, BIOSHOCK II, CONFIRMED.

Chufmoney

[Via Shacknews]

Jayslacks.

“The folks at 2K Boston and 2K Australia have done a really fantastic job with this game,” said Rein. “We like to think we set a high bar with our own games, but more importantly we give our licensees the opportunity to take what we’ve done and do something even better with it.

“We do everything we can to help our licensees achieve that. Our door is always open for licensees who want to come and talk with us about their experiences and let us give them the best advice we can on how to take the most advantage of our technology,” he said.

“Regardless of whether its developed by us or not, nothing would make me happier than to see our engine in the number one selling game of all time or the number one highest reviewed game of all time.

“There are a lot more great titles coming from our licensees as well and we’re very proud of what is being accomplished and the helping role we get to play in their success.”

And why wouldn’t Rein be thrilled? Bioshock is looking to be one of the best reviewed and critically received games of all time, and it’s got a fat Unreal Engine logo before you ever press start to play. Of course, there’s just one problem with Rein’s gloating: Bioshock wasn’t mainly developed with Unreal Engine 3.

AMN: Speaking of the graphics engine, it’s running on Unreal 2.5 right?

Ken: No, we’ve moved to Unreal 3, we’ve done a lot of modifications on top of it, all the water effects we’ve added, and we’ve added a lot of features like water….again we don’t build features just to have them, we build them to have an emotional resonance. The AI relationship with the characters is an emotional thing and with the gameplay, the water, we want to make you feel like the ocean is about to drown you, it’s drowning Rapture and as you’ll see in the demo, water is just coming into this place so we’ve hired a water programmer and water artist, just for this game, and they’re kicking ass and you’ve never seen water like this.

AMN: When did the change happen, the switch to UE3 happen?

Ken: A few months ago, I mean, technically, I think you misunderstand me on how this works, basically, we translated systems over and ported more systems over, but Unreal 3 has a lot of elements that 2.5 has, there’s a lot of marketing there, but we had a lot of benefits to that and we’re not using all of it, we’re using our own things, but we have a lot of benefits too.

What the original question was referring to was Irrational’s own heavily modified version of the Unreal Engine 2, more commonly known as the Vengeance engine. Irrational created this offshoot in preparation for Bioshock, and more or less worked out the kinks in S.W.A.T. 4. While Bioshock was still being conceived and developed with the Unreal Engine 2.5/Vengeance, Irrational brought on an additional programmer to develop and integrate an additional water physics system (which you’ll frequently hear Irrational head Ken Levine gushing about in commentary on earlier videos for the title. Pun not intended.). When the title was ported over to UE3, it was largely infrastructure and project management features within the development environment that Irrational took advantage of (according to the linked interview).

Oh, and did I mention the game missed its original Spring release date? Does that sound familiar?

The point here is that Bioshock’s success doesn’t reflect one way or the other on Epic. Not only that, it’s slightly greasy of Rein to immediately attach Epic’s name to the title in an attempt to sway public opinion. Or at least, I think so. What do you think? Does Bioshock’s success reflect well on UE3?

-Aegies

“We had to ban Bioshock from our offices,” Valve boss Gabe Newell told us. “Nobody gets to play it until Orange Box is done – that’s our reward to ourselves as a company; everyone gets a copy of Bioshock.”

Its nice that one studio can love another studio. This war will not end true friendships. Admiration creates quality. Now, go away. This Ultra-Bouncer is gonna be a bitch!

[Via Game-industry]

Jayslacks

-Aegies

This is why you’re hearing about it now. Why you’re most likely going to continue to hear about it is because there is a very good chance that Bioshock really is going to be Game of the (Motherfucking) Year in a year where there is no shortage of contenders for the crown. What’s my evidence? Read on, and weep that 2K didn’t push up the release date to this week.

As of right now (to my knowledge) 11 reviews for Bioshock have been released/published, and the current average of these reviews is around 98%. This is a higher average ranking (though with admittedly fewer reviews so far) than the current highest aggregated review score in the history of gaming, according to Gamerankings.com. While some may scoff at this trend so far, I’ve got news for you: There are more 10s coming today, now that the embargo on reviews is almost up. Here’s what some reviewers are saying:

via Eurogamer
“…to have any shred of doubt surrounding BioShock comprehensively swept away within the first ten minutes, well, you feel like dancing. You want to tell people about this game who you know won’t even care, just because it makes you so giddy inside. Before we get into the nitty gritty, here’s the deal: Bioshock doesn’t just meet your expectations, but completely redefines them forever in ways you never even expected – in ways that games used to in the past, routinely.”

I’d like to dispute the excessive nostalgia in that last sentence, but that’s a discussion for another day. I would like to point out that this is the same site who gave Gears of War an 8, largely because they didn’t feel that it lived up to expectations. Moving on, we next have Games Radar’s review:

As for what’s going to happen to Rapture, that story is the propulsive force of the game, and it comes to you over the wireless. Irrational don’t like to let you meet sane people in person – they can’t be simulated realistically – so don’t expect any Black Mesa East chapters. But there is one moment, in dealing with the few still-vaguely-cogent people of Rapture, that’s simply staggering to experience.

BioShock had already made us physically gape several times by this stage, but here our mouths fell open and stayed open, only widening further as the scene became more extraordinary with every passing second.

Getting aroused yet? Next up is Game Informer:

You stand over a genetically mutated corpse with a camera in hand, taking a picture of its final, twisted expression to appease a cruel puppet master. A haunting rendition of “Bei mir bist du schön” plays from a radio, over which you hear the low, whale-like cry of a Big Daddy as it ambles into sight. You freeze, but the hulking creature trips one of your proximity mines and fixes a glowing red eye on you in fury. Heart-stopping moments like these are what set BioShock apart as one of the most intelligent and daring masterpieces in gaming.

I don’t really see a need to go on with these. The point is, the praise thus far is consisteint, glowing, and unanimous. This will be, hands down, the best reviewed game of the year, and very likely THE game of the year. Why? What about the competition? Well, it’s kind of a short list for game of the year this year, even amidst the tidal wave of fantastic releases in the next few months. Assassin’s Creed will have good reviews, but the controls are going to turn some people off in their complexity. Call of Duty 4 is a military shooter, which is enough to make some people hate it arbitrarily. Rock Band is a niche title, and so is Guitar Hero III. Super Smash Bros is a series you either love or loathe, Metroid Prime 3 is going to get 7s and 9s (call it a hunch), and Drake’s Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank are going to be good but not ridiculously awesome titles for the PS3 this fall. Haze is another military shooter, and Unreal 3 is a largely multiplayer shooter.

This basically leaves us with two huge games, which are Halo 3 and Super Mario Galaxy. Both will win some GOTY awards here and there, but neither will win the universal praise that Bioshock is getting right now. Here’s why: Halo 3 has the word “Halo” in the title. I love Halo, and a lot of people think it’s a great series, but there is a vocal Halo Hater Squad, and the favoritism Bungie has played with pre-release coverage of their title has managed to piss off a specific, big name gaming network of sites. It could be the greatest game of this generation, and there would still be a not-negligible contingent of people who used the words “mediocre” and “uninspired” to describe it.

Mario Galaxy has similar issues from the Mario-Hater squad, and while that group isn’t nearly as large as those who despise Halo, it also has the challenges associated with Wii-control. While there are a number of people who love the Wii-mote, there seems to be a growing number of apostates, and that number alone will prevent the game from taking the crown. Because of all of these factors, politically and conceptually, Bioshock will very probably come out on top when the dust has cleared in January. But we’re the ones who really win.

Or I would be if I hadn’t gotten boned by Toys ‘R Us yesterday. Sigh.

-Aegies

First, I think this demo bodes well for the game at retail, which is the first time I’ve had positive impressions of its ability to captivate a sustainable audience. Why, might you ask? Because so many people tried to download it that the Live Marketplace was essentially inaccessible all of Sunday night as countless gamers dehydrated by the summer game drought sought to drink deeply from Bioshock’s cup. And ah what a cup it was.

If you haven’t played the demo and you own a 360, as many have said already, go do so. Right now. If you own a PC and are eagerly anticipating the game, you have my deepest sympathies, as Irrational was unable to finish up the demo for that platform on time, citing various forces including driver issues (speaking of which, can you remember a time in PC gaming where drivers have been more of a problem than they are now, because I certainly can’t). They have said they hope to have it out before the month is over, and I would imagine they’re trying their hardest to do so. They want the game to succeed, as evidenced by their appearance on Gamehead this Sunday, and the new commercial they launched, which is also fantastic:

Even more importantly, Take Two interactive needs this game to do well, after several prominent difficulties this year. So worry not PC gamers, your demo will come, and most likely before the game ships, if for no other reason than for you to make sure your system can run it.

So in the event that my opinion of the demo isn’t ninja-on-fire-running-down-a-quiet-suburban-street obvious, I shall succinctly elaborate: the game is fucking amazing. The graphics, I would argue, are better than any video or screenshot had led me to believe. The sound design is arguably better, and if there’s any game aside from Halo 3 this year that will make me grateful for owning a surround sound system, this is it. They work together to paint the picture of a man made, man-centric utopia turned nightmarish tomb, where the dead and dying present a grim image of a Randian utopia’s end. The game performs well, keeping everything generally well above the magic 30 frames per second mark, and the controls are smooth and responsive. It’s also the first first person title I’ve played since Condemned that made using a wrench a viable combat option. Hacking is fun once you get the hang of it, and the plasmid mechanic (at least, the bit they show you) works intuitively. This becomes most obvious when you set a Splicer on fire, and then electrocute he and his friends when they run into water to put themselves out.

If you blow through it, the demo will likely last around 20 minutes, but you’d be missing so much of what makes the game effective that I can’t imagine most people would clear it in less than 35 minutes. I think I took about 45, but that’s mainly because I was looking around for clues and hints at references to Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead. Again, what I have to say likely means little, as if you have a 360 and are connected to live (even all you Silver users out there), you should have played it by now. If you haven’t, do.

-Aegies

NOW.

The video is set up in three sections. The first section shows the player running and gunning, full throttle and switching weapons a la a Halo combatant. He gets killed in about three seconds, maybe four.

The second section shows the player use the environment as his alley. The player hacks into a gun-turret, uses his telekinetic plasmids to move traps in his favor, and sets men on fire so the men run into water so he can fry them with electricity from the gods. All of which made me put my hands on my head in jaw-drop in amazement. But the third time was the charm, where the gamer turned the Big Daddy against his enemies and then turned his enemies against the Big Daddy. With half the time of the previous sections, all the bad guys are dead and the Little sister bows and waits for her faint: take her “Adam” or save her? And they say there is little emotion in gaming.

I’m the type of gamer, nah, the type of person easily swayed by guilt. I couldn’t kill a virtual little girl and then turn the Xbox off and fall to sleep. It’s not in me. I couldn’t even play through Splinter Cell: DA as a bad guy, I’m such a pussy. However, I think Bioshock will force you consistently to make tough and horrible choices, choices that you would rather not face. There has been talk that you can’t advance without some level of “grinding.” And if that grinding means you having to sacrifice a pour little orphan to get there, so be it. Most gamers would easily destroy entire societies to achieve greatness, so I’ll be interested to see the reward you achieve if you tend towards the higher ground. I’ve always thought that Bioshock would shed a better and more clinical light on the 360, and the more I see and hear, the more I know it will garner “Game of the year” status.

The excitement far outweighs the worry though. First up, not to be shallow, but the game looks beautiful:

The game’s tech aside though, for the medium of gaming, it’s what Irrational Games (whose name is more ironic than you might realize, which I’ll explain later) is doing with moral choices and related subject matter that really matters. And this is where it gets deep, so if you’re only interested in shooting things in a game, you may want to turn away now. Or maybe you want to keep reading, to understand how Bioshock could really change things. This will be the first in what will very likely prove to be several installments, so if you have questions, comments, or constructive criticism, leave a comment or email me.

In his descriptions of Bioshock, the head of Irrational, Ken Levine, frequently mentions Ayn Rand, and especially her book Atlas Shrugged, and the references don’t end there. There are many direct and indirect references to Rand and to ‘Shrugged in the materials they’ve released so far to promote the game.

This screenshot is about as visually obvious as it gets, although the game’s setting, Rapture, was founded just after World War II, and after Rand had published and gained attention and notoriety from her novel The Fountainhead. Her follow-up novel, Atlas Shrugged, Rapture as a setting, and a great deal of the moral choices available to the player in Bioshock owe to the ideas put forward by Rand in The Fountainhead, so we’ll quickly review some of the important points of that novel first.

The narrative line of The Fountainhead is incredibly convoluted and complicated, but boiled down for quick consumption, it goes something like this: Howard Roark is a brilliant but aggressively anti-traditional young architect who is expelled from his university for refusing to accept the limitations brought by old ways on his art, and the possibilities of his achievement. Meanwhile, his classmates and competitors are successful not because they are talented, but because they suck up to the right people and acquiesce to tradition. The Fountainhead establishes Rand’s archetypal hero figure, the genius iconoclast who will be punished for his refusal to accept society’s failings, but who will eventually be proven right and acknowledged for his greatness. Without digging any further into the moral stances Rand takes in the work, this is obviously incredibly important to Bioshock. Rapture was founded as a haven for non-traditional artisans, craftsmen, scientists, and great thinkers as a haven from the outside world. Rapture is a haven for Rand’s hero ideal. More importantly, Atlas Shrugged, considered to be Rand’s crowning literary achievement, tells the story of industrialists and the elite who “strike”, and found a society within a secluded area of the world, in this case a mountain range. We now have a greater sense that at its heart, Bioshock’s setting of Rapture is a sort of combination of the ideas of the iconoclast brilliant hero of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, with its new “perfect” society created away from the restraining and hostile gaze of a society that refuses to acknowledge brilliance. Rapture is the society that Rand probably would have dreamed of had she known it would be plausible.

Ok, ok. Simple english now. Rand had an image of a brilliant strong individual who makes the rest of society jealous because of their excellence. Atlas Shrugged is about the skilled individuals of society feeling underappreciated and attacked for their excellence, and leaving and forming a new society. This is the crux of Bioshock’s narrative, that a group of scientists and intellectuals fractured away from the oppression of a world concerned with tradition, a world that they felt hampered them because of their brilliance, decided to forge a new society in the most isolated spot they could find, a spot that would speak as a testament to their achievement. That’s what Rapture is in Bioshock.

Obviously, Rapture can’t solely be credited to Rand; there’s a kind of Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea kind of vibe to the aesthetic of Bioshock as well. But Rand is certainly holding the lion’s share of influence. So, yes, yes, the game references a book, big deal. The Lord of the Rings’ games have referenced a book. This is true. However, Ayn Rand is not only famous, she’s intensely controversial. And her influence goes much deeper than surface narratives. In the next installment, I’ll touch on Rand’s philosophy, and how it’s such an important part of Bioshock. But to give you an idea of Rand’s philosophy, I’ll leave you with her own words, found in the appendix of Atlas Shrugged:

“My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”

For Rand, selfishness was the only rational course of action. Her hero from The Fountainhead, Roark, ends the novel in a courtroom, defending his act of arson of a housing project that he designed on the premise that no one interfere with his work (which invariably occurs when he leaves the county briefly). His final, impassioned speech to the courtroom espouses the values of selfishness and self interest, and of the need for the brilliant to rage against the confines of a “corrupt society”. The jury then finds him innocent. For Rand, the rational mind was guided by selfishness. And yet, Bioshock’s developer is Irrational Games.

We’ll talk more about that later.

The point is, not only are Irrational extensively referencing thematic ideas from a well respected (and intensely debated) novel, they’re referencing an incredibly controversial novel that’s still actively discussed. And in the next installment, I’ll talk a little more about those ideas, and how Bioshock may approach them in a way that makes you think while offering a compelling gameplay experience.

The official release date for Bioshock is August 21st. And PAX is a few days later.

I can hear Chuf weeping from here.

This seems like not the greatest time to release one of Nintendo’s most key titles of the year, but it does make some sense. It would be PR suicide to release MP3 after the black hole of Halo 3, and while some might say “different audiences”, you view primarily from the first person, and you shoot things. There’s no way any first person shooter this generation, especially one with the online multiplayer Nintendo has all but promised for Prime, will be able to escape comparisons with Halo 3 this fall, so getting Prime out before then isn’t the worst idea ever. I’m just not sure if this is worse for Bioshock or Prime.

That is assuming that Retro Studios manage to fix the serious control issues that derailed it’s release months before ship last year. But I imagine Nintendo will only give them so much time before they force Retro’s baby into the market, because they need that title. Madden on the Wii isn’t going to sell any systems, much less generate excitement for the Wii. Oh, and don’t think the timing of this announcement is anything but damage control in the wake of the Halo 3 beta and Sony’s Gamer’s Day last week.

-Aegies

Alas, as you now know it was the video game harlot, otherwise known as GameStop.  And that lovely voice you were expecting to hear on the line when you answered with a polite, “hello, sir or mam, how are you on this fine day?” came back with a roboticized pre-recorded voice of someone who was stalking you.  Yes this pre-made voice automaton of GameStop’s had insider knowledge that you had pre-ordered Bioshock and just wanted to drop you a little insider’s clue that the Special Edition of the game was going to be available exclusively through EB and GameStop.

This dear reader is where your story and mine will differ.  Unlike you, who was probably delighted to be alerted to such news, I raged like the Hulk.  Only when I tried to tear my shirt I just spilt my coffee on my shirt and pants and then felt like I pissed myself for hours.

Why is it that GameStop gets exclusivity on something like the special edition of Bioshock?  That is almost enough to make me not purchase it (though the collector whore inside me will likely cave).   Furthermore I ask you am I the only one who is pissed that GameStop calls me on my phone even though I never gave them permission to?  I can’t even speak to a human so I can tell them to take me off their calling list for God’s sake.  I will probably have to go to my local EB and deal with Captain Douchetastic in order to get some sort of freedom from robotic audio terrorism.

In sum: Bioshock special edition=GameStop exclusive.  Chuf really wants to kill automatons.

Chufmoney  

Graphically I think the game will be the most breathtaking game to hit the 360 yet. While Gears of War might still have better looking models, in the end, I feel that Bioshock will become known as the game with the most moments that make you say “Jesus, that was fucking awesome!” I mean they have an engineer that only works on the water effects, and they are fantastic.

I am willing to predict that Bioshock will be one of the most unique FPS games ever released, and that it will be a contender for 2007 game of the year in any publication. I based this opinion solely from what I had read until watching this video. Watch this video and then tell me that I am wrong.

Note: Telling me I am wrong just means that you are stupid. So before actually responding to my message with a comment telling me how wrong I am I sincerely request you rethink your decision, lest you let the world know how lacking you are in taste.

Chufmoney