e-Xpress Interactive just sent in there release schedule for the month of February, 2010 along with the console on which they will be available and the hit that you will have to take on your credit-card. The list has a few eagerly anticipated games, like Bioshock II, Aliens Vs. Predator and Napolean Total War, that has been on the must-buy charts of many gamers. And here we were thinking that just maybe, this month would come as some respite for our already maxed out credit cards!

Sob-stories aside, have a quick look at the list after the jump and decide which platform would be the best for you. Those in Mumbai have an even better option of walking into India’s premier game shop; Games: The Shop, again, a great initiative by e-Xpress Interactive. We hope we will get to see one in our namma Bengaluru. Find the press release for this as well after the jump.

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Now, this is one place where we never expected to see Jack with his wrench. After stomping their way through the Xbox 360 and the PC, the Big Daddie’s are all set to arrive on your cell phones in all it’s pixellated glory. IG Fun LLC, the international publishing arm of Indiagames Ltd made an interesting annoucement today at the Mobile World Congress at Barcelona, Spain. According to the annoucement, IG Fun has secured the rights from 2K to bring the multi-award winning world of BioShock on to your cellphones.

Sean Malatesta, the CEO of IG Fun had the following to say on the subject,

 We’re trying to do great things and BioShock on mobile promises to offer a whole new gaming experience and unmatched excitement amongst mobile gamers the world over. BioShock is a special game in its genre; it brings an element of conflicting morals which has an impact on the storyline, and, among other things, on the difficulty of the game itself.

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(UPDATE: GamerTagRadio is reporting that the 100 GS Secret Achievement is “Bulletproof – Complete the game on Hard difficulty without using a Vita Chamber”. Great, like I’m going to be going to be getting that anytime soon. Not dying even once on Hard, pfft, yeah, sure, why not.)

BioShock seems to share a lot in common with the city it’s set in. What started out with a vision ended up blowing up in their faces somewhere down the line. With fans screaming bloody murder over the activation fracas, widescreen display issues and broken patches, it looks like at least one of those problems will be going away for good. In an update that’s been promised to come out soon, 2K Games will fix the widescreen issue once and for all, which we assume, was serious enough to render one of the greatest games ever made totally unplayable.

But wait, that’s not all. It looks like the game will also be seeing its first DLC along with the update, since we’re now seeing that the gamerscore for the game has been upped to 1100, with a new Secret Achievement being listed for 100 GS. It’s anyone’s guess as to whether the DLC will be free or not, but we should at least get a couple of new plasmids that were cut from the original.

PC owners who are still ripping mad about the activation issue, you still have to march some more in front of the 2K offices to get what you want. Hey, at least be thankful you’re not in the PS3 club, clutching at straws and marching day and night by the big cooling tower.

They dropped multiplayer gameplay, and vehemently shot down hopes of seeing a System Shock 2 style co-op mode, but it looks like Irrational 2K Boston isn’t about to let BioShock sink to the bottom as Halo 3 and The Orange Box fight to stay at the top. PC gamers who snooped deep into the game when it launched had unearthed a bunched a new Plasmids that were marked off as DLC.

Talking to the Games for Windows magazine in a post-release interview, Ken Levine said that he preferred expanding a game experience with replayability, instead of just slapping on some new content or more narrative.

Diablo II, to me, was a great model for an expansion, because it enhanced the original game, but also extended the game, too. I’m not a really big fan of expanding things just by linearly adding to the experience, adding a new campaign, as much as I am of enhancing the original experience and adding replayability to that experience. I think that certainly BioShock’s combat experience is great, but it could be broader. I’m a little more confused as far as how to expand the narrative experience.

Since the team had to cut a lot of Plasmids down during development, it’s quite possible that we’d soon be seeing new Plasmids and Tonics in a DLC rather than filler for the game. With PC owners already screaming bloody murder over the activation fiasco, it’d be nice to see how they’d react on the Cult of Rapture and TTLG forums if this was made a paid or an Xbox 360 exclusive download.

For those that were ripped at 2K for putting in those awful, awful installation limits into BioShock, relief is finally here. Temporarily, at least. Caving in to enormous pressure from the PC community, 2K Games has released a revoke tool that promises to free up one of your activation credits for reuse, provided your hardware hasn’t changed in a major way since the install.

In an FAQ at the Cult of Rapture community website, 2K promises users that they can uninstall and reinstall the game as many times on their systems as they want without using up any more activation credits as long as the hardware hasn’t changed. But the real catch here is that this only works as long as the old license information is still on your PC. If you’ve had to reformat your hard drive or reinstall Windows for any reason, you’re still boned and have to reactivate the game all over again. Worse, it still doesn’t remove the SecuROM dependency that’s built into the game, so people who were looking for a way to get past all of this have to wait all that much longer.

Definitely not the solution we were looking for, but at least it’s a step in the right direction to make sure people still don’t run around pirating the game just because of this. A reminder: this works only on the retail versions of the game, not on the Steam and Direct2Drive versions.

Download the BioShock Activation Revoke Tool
Download the BioShock Revoke Tool Guide
Visit the Revoke Tool page at 2K Games

Yeah. ANOTHER Bioshock post, as if there weren’t enough of them already! But this one’s special. At least to me. Because Bioshock friggin’ BROKE my console!

It all starts off with me waiting for the game to come out, telling my retailer to hold on to a copy for me – no matter what, finally getting it and applying the patch!

Yeah, the patch. Now this isn’t a rant about the patch itself, but the utter disgust I’m feeling at the lack of proper testing before a release for a patch to a game that isn’t as impressive as it promised to be. Yeah – I can tell that after playing the 1st 3 levels.

Which brings around another observation. Gears of War used the UE3 engine, and it had problems. Bioshock uses UE3 and it has its own problems. No – not just the annoying bastard corpses that keep twitching like a dead frog’s leg being electrocuted, but I also was subjected to torn textures and clipping when viewing a certain surface at an angle! Hey 2K (wherever you are – Boston or Oz) – the last time I saw something like that was on my Diamond Monster Fusion 16 MB 3D accelerator card!! Whatever happened to “next gen”?

So now I’m pissed off because I pre-ordered Halo 3 : Collectors Edition, I’ll have you know – but now all I can do is just sit and read the manual over and over again till I manage to figure out the ending. That, or I get my replacement console by the 26th of September – which seems highly unlikely!

So if you’re reading this because Bioshock broke your console too, then here’s all I have to say -THE DARKNESS kicks ass! On a more constructive note, if you don’t already know, then here’s what to do in case you downloaded the Bioshock patch on Live. To clear the patch from the system’s cache, hold down both RB+LB (that’s the bumpers – NOT triggers) on the controller right from the second you boot your console till the 2K logo finishes. Bear in mind that you’ll need to do this EACH TIME you play the game.

Time for me to go and curl up in a corner while I sob uncontrollably.

Ahoy thar me harties!

Aye, before you start readin’ this post, I’d recommend headin’ o’er t’ har and read up a bit on the most important day (okay, it isn’t but my mind likes t’ imagine it is) o’ the entire year: International ‘Speak like a pirate’ day, shiver me timbers! (not t’ be confused with the International ‘Speak Like the Goddamn Batman’ day or the far more local ‘Walk like I’’e been kicked in the balls by M$’ day which Enoon has been celebratin’ for the past few weeks). Due t’ the utter awesomeness o’ Pirates, I was goin’ t’ ask for a guest speaker t’ come in today, but it seems the Pirate-ninja feud sort o’ intensifies at this time o’ the year meanin’ their all out busy kickin’ ninja ass. So fer now its all me! YARRR!

*coughs as he’s kicked in the nads by several TAP members*

Okay, okay, fine! Onto more serious matters then. I’ve been rather quiet recently for several reasons. I finally got an Xbox 360 and my recent time has been divided between working, studying, writing and playing GoW, WiC, SoTS, PGR3 and a few other games.

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If you haven’t heard of it already, news is buzzing around about the yet-another-new-controversy with BioShock; this time pertaining to fact that it apparently carries SecuROM – a rootkit that installs itself onto your computer and is used as copy protection for the game. News articles pertaining to the full details can be read here, or any other of the major gaming sites – the entire Internet’s abuzz with it from the looks of it. Currently, SecuROM is confirmed to be in both Steam and retail versions of the game, as well as in the PC demo (both Steam and independent executables), so there’s really no escaping it for PC users.

To clarify: SecuROM itself is not entirely malware. From the company’s site one can gleam that it doesn’t snoop into your computer past the CD protection. However, considering that Sony’s the one really providing the technology, such claims are at best, ambiguous, considering they have already had their asses sued over this. However, due to its nature, SecuROM can be extremely difficult to remove – it’s nearly impossible to delete it from the registry using the Registry Editor, while anti-virus programs can’t remove it either. For a quick lesson in rootkits, one can go here. For those that may want to remove the rootkit, there’s a somewhat easy method here.

Although I have several negative opinions on this move, I’ll refrain from posting it in favor of putting up pertinent information. Regarding the install issues: it appears that each individual can have at most two installs of the game running simultaneously. To install BioShock on more than 2 PCs is apperantly not possible, since you’ll have to uninstall the game, and then reinstall on the new PC. However, there have been reports that uninstall ‘credits’ aren’t working properly, creating issues for many gamers. Even worse is the fact that many can’t even install, because the 2K servers that monitored the SecuROM installs (yes, you need to be ONLINE to install the game) went offline due to the heavy load and usage. Worse still, was 2K customer support directing those that would enquire on the issue to SecuROM, while SecuROM customer support is directing them back to 2K, which is just shitty, IMHO.

Thankfully, though, it looks like 2K is doing something about it. As mentioned in an interview here, they apparently intend to get rid of the online activation eventually (although when is another matter altogether) as well as up the number of installs from 2 to 5.

However, this still does not address the issue of the rootkits in use in the first place; to mention nothing of their lack of effectiveness and the number of people its driving away instead. When, or if they’ll issue at all is something that remains to be seen.

With the latest flood of new game releases and with almost everyone around disappeared to either play BioShock, watch awesome videos, kick back on their Xbox 360 or otherwise write possibly spoiler filled reviews of the “Game of the moment” *glares at certain people*, it leaves those of us without systems or 360s or PS3s to contribute to the one niche that is still left open: random rants and raves.

As seen by the ever-awesome scenes from BioShock, Crysis and even Assassin’s Creed, games nowadays are becoming more and more realistic. As with the previous generations, each set of games coming out these days pushes the visual boundaries further and further. Sooner or later, we’re going to end up seeing games that are really, really hard to distinguish from the movies we watch everyday. Of course, this usually ends up coming at cost of system resources, money and time so high, that the line that defines ‘sane’ is so far away; it looks most akin to a dot to those individuals that would dare look back (I’m looking at you, id. You and your bloody 20GB of Rage textures! You want Rage? TRY HULK RAGE! *SMASH!*).

However, since this issue has pretty much been discussed to death time and again over a million of the internet’s websites, forums and other venues for discussion, I won’t touch on it too much. Such discussions are normally peaceful and more expressions of opinion. Usually they just start out as words, but then slowly descend into a madness from which everything from Ion Cannons to Tactical Nuclear strikes are deployed to bring about devastation upon the armies of tanks, planes and infantry that struggle for control upon a massive and varied terrain of jagged programming code, drivers and the occasional wreck of an old 486s or Amiga of yore.

Okay, kidding. So it usually doesn’t end up like that. But the flame wars that usually emerge can be ferocious in nature and were it to be mapped into an RTS of sorts, I bet it’d put even Supreme Commander to shame.

To focus back on the subject (do random rants even have subjects?) the realism of today’s games is nothing short of awesome, but it does have its drawbacks. Having been spoiled by F.E.A.R., Doom 3 and other new games, it is becoming incredibly harder to revisit the old retro-days of yore.

Upon seeing the old, dated graphics that came with many a DOS game, my mind cringes; as if demanding that resolution be higher than the mere 640×480 pixels that was once considered ‘king’ of gaming in its day and age. When I finally got a chance to play Turok 1 again – a game that, for the one level I played it back when it came out I thoroughly enjoyed, I couldn’t get through even half of the same level before giving up. The graphics, the sound…my mind simply couldn’t wrap itself around how something could be so awfully painful – even as it recollected memories of all the fun it had with it at one point of time.

Then came Turok 2; although a fair bit better (especially with controls) than its predecessor, once again half-way through the game I had to stop. I just couldn’t stand the low-poly models; the horrid textures. Although I had insane fun with the game play (very, very little can actually beat using a cerebral bore, or watching as your arrows impale an enemy dino in the neck), it soon got tiring – especially with the constant annoying “Turok! Help us please!” whining from those damn brats in their damn cages! I mean, seriously, when I open the cage they should at least, you know, stop whining and make a break for it. But nooooo! Idiots have to wait for Turok to come and rescue them so they can just ‘disappear’ into nowhere. If they could disappear before, why the heck did they even have to wait for Turok in the first place?!

I have absolutely no clue how I withstood and enjoyed the game to its fullest the first time around I played it. Perhaps the fact that I was a fair bit younger and more naïve might’ve done something to the lack of criticism. Back then, to get –any- game to run well on your systems was a miracle.

But there are some games, some which despite their age seem to have that sense of style that never grows too old to enjoy. This applies both to the game play and the visuals itself. It’s a sense of style – a uniqueness that somehow newer games seem to have difficulty replicating. Doom 3 and Quake 4 are good examples of this lack of style – both games are virtually identical when it comes to graphics and game play as a whole. Although Q4 did have a few (and somewhat cool) vehicles, there really wasn’t anything that set it apart; besides perhaps the story (which rode a lot on it’s predecessor actually). Something similar could be said about FEAR. Although visually, it’s far darker and the firefights more intense with the use of slow motion, it still strikes me as ‘just another FPS’ when it comes down to it.

What gripped me about FEAR was not its dark, brooding hallways, or the scary girl ghost jumping out at me from the dark corners when I absolutely least expected it to the point where my heart skipped a beat every time I saw a little girl wearing red (oh my god did that shadow just move?) or such. What gripped me about FEAR was, rightfully, the story – which still does. However, despite this the fact that it really just looked like another shooter on the market sort of made it slightly less…unique, as it were.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for realism and awesome graphics – the two easily make up some of the best games around. But in the strive to better graphics, for some reason developers seem to be moving more and more away from having unique styles to those graphics.

By styles, I don’t mean completely cartoony or even cell shaded stuff. Team Fortress 2 is an excellent of how going on with style and cell shading works to make something unique. Yet, at the same time having everyone do that would just be counter-productive.

Its just that when every game that comes out looks incredibly real, where does the true difference lie? In the lighting? In the models or scenery? In the textures and artwork?

Whenever I see concept art for any games, it’s simply mind boggling just how good the artists of these various developer companies are. Then one compares the art to the actual in-game models themselves and then it ends up somewhat…underwhelming. Although no doubt that in certain cases the models come out far cooler than the art; many times the art itself just looks better. Be it colors or lighting, there is something about the way the artist made it – the style of the entire thing as it were, that appeals to viewer.

To take another example of such style – Defcon.

Its colors are simplistic, the details to a minimum. Yet it is this simplicity; this denial of any details that seems to flow with any player’s perceptions. The nuclear missiles are little but simple icons, yet it does not matter – the entire visual theme blends into that of the game play, creating in essence, a style hard to replicate by many other games.

It is by far not the only example. Many of us have heard of the addictive fl0w. I had the pleasure to play this simple, almost beautiful game’s limited version on the PC. Despite being rather short, its visuals merge well with the soft chimes and sound, and in turn merge with the game play again to make something different; unique almost.

Then there are older games, from the era where realism was not very possible. Games in this era relied on impressive artwork, visuals and impressive action to draw in the gamer. A few good examples could be like Crusader: No Regret and maybe even to a lesser extent Mortal Kombat and the street fighter series.

Yet another recent example can be Battleships Forever – a successor to the hit classic Warning Forever. Indeed, one could quote a myriad of examples of games with their own unique styles – but such wishful thinking is really futile.

The market’s prevailing attitude rests more on realism than anything else right now, dictating where the majority of publishers wish to aim their content. Although developers do move to the whims of the majority of their collective audiences, the trend is thankfully not universal. Team Fortress 2 will come out, while Starcraft 2 seems to hold some promise as well. Other good, fun games to look out for is perhaps Little Big World on the PS3 or alternatively, one could just go to the Xbox Live Arcades for a dose of nostalgia.

After rumors burned up the official Cult of Rapture forums that a number of Big Daddy figurines in the Limited Edition of BioShock were broken, 2K Games has decided to not only replace the figurines for free, but also offer a printed version of the recently released BioShock art book. The only catch is that is it will take quite a bit of time for your replacement figurine to get back to you, since the production is just starting to gear up. And yes, they will also bear all costs of shipping and handling in the event that you find your precious Big Daddy in a couple of pieces. Well, at least they’re not suggesting you use Superglue! And oh, in case you live anywhere outside of North America, you might have a teensy problem, since 2K has not confirmed whether this offer is valid only for North American customers or for the entire world.

BIG DADDY FIGURINE ISSUE

2K Games has identified a small percentage of Big Daddy figurines that have been damaged in transit to US and Canadian retailers. We are in the process of setting up a replacement program to ensure customers who are affected by the damaged figurines are issued replacement figurines as quickly as possible.

Since redemption will not be immediate as replacement figurines are currently beginning production, we will be also sending affected customers a complimentary special printed edition of the BioShock art book, “Breaking the Mold,” to enjoy while the replacement figurines are produced and shipped. Additionally, 2K Games will cover all shipping costs for the figurines and art book.

Please check back at this page shortly for details on how to obtain a replacement figurine. We apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced.

2K Games

BioShock Big Daddy Figurine Support