Loading ...
So you’re either pre-loading the full version of the game on Steam/Direct2Drive or like me, planning to go into hibernation until the Xbox 360 version comes along. In either case, if you’ve got the munchies for BioShock, here’s some more stuff to brighten (or ruin) your day.
1. Play the BioShock demo on Hard:
So the musical menu in the demo isn’t allowing you to play it on the highest difficulty possible? That’s easily remedied. Before starting the demo, head to your Gamer Profile and edit the default settings. Under General, select your default difficulty setting to Hard and when you start up the BioShock demo, the Hard difficulty should be automatically selected. Just hit A to (presumably) play the demo on this difficulty level. Be warned - if you move out of the selection, there is no way to get back to Hard without restarting the demo.
2. BioShock + IDCLIP = Insanity:
The power of physics compells you! Let BioShock’s awe-inspiring physics engine propel you outside the map, so you can take a stroll underwater, go around the entire area and have dead corpses wave you goodbye long after they’ve stopped breathing.
3. Worship Ken Levine:
Print out a picture of Irrational, oops, 2K Boston’s Creative Director, Ken Levine and worship the rise of a new gaming legend by offering his photo a burnt biscuit. Or you could just go over here and read about the rise of Ken to cult status, possibly among the ranks of Shiggy Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima and Warren Spector. And yes, you can eat the rest of the biscuits yourself.
4. Stare the countdown timer down:
If you don’t have Steam on your PC, get it now or just go here to watch the hypnotic countdown timer that they’ve got going for the BioShock launch. Tick, tock, 4 days, 22 hours, 14 minutes and 40 seconds to go. No wait, 4 days, 22 hours, 14 minutes and 35 seconds… no wait, 4 days, 22 hours, 14 minutes and 20 seconds….
5. Spoil it for others:
Nothing helps a bad mood like spreading it around. That’s one of the most important lessons in life I learnt from Calvin. With a ton of jerks running around playing BioShock, it’s inevitable that they are itching to spoil it all for the others. Some are considerate enough to put up videos on YouTube, where I can choose not to watch them, or mark their posts with a spoiler warning. Others just spill their guts out all over the floor and leave a bloody, shitty mess for you to slip on and crack your head. In a case of the latter, one guy has just posted the “Secret” achievements from BioShock at a forum, which another (so-called) “friend” saw and decided to ruin my life by conveniently posting them in an IM conversation, where I couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Since I’ve already seen them, it makes sense that I try to ruin more peoples’ lives by posting about it here. Hmph, with friends like these, who needs enemies…
There, that should keep you sane until the PC demo releases later today, or until you take a shotgun to the nearest store and demand that they hand over a copy of the game to you right the hell now (pump shotgun in hand, wearing dark glasses and say in a German accent: “I insist!”) or face eternal damnation.
Right, we knew this would happen, even if the folks at the Cult of Rapture kept denying it. With the release date SNAFU looming over their heads, 2K Games, Valve and IGN have confirmed that BioShock is now available for pre-load and pre-purchase on Steam and Direct2Drive right now! If you couldn’t manage to wrangle a copy of the Xbox 360 version from your local TRU store, then this is the fastest way for you to get to play the game. Although the game is selling for $49.95 on Steam and Direct2Drive, the latter is offering a $5 coupon that can be used for a later purchase. So, what are you waiting for? Start your preloads now… even as you wait for the demo to come out tomorrow on Steam, so that you don’t have to go through the agony of watching it fuck up on FileShack and FilePlanet at 99%.
Now since I don’t have a PC that can handle this game well enough, I am going to ask that none of you are kind enough to buy it for my PC friends with the Intel Core 2 Duos and the 8800 GTSs, just so they don’t lord it over me by playing the game before I do on my Xbox 360, thanks to Microsoft India that seems hell-bent on importing games a friggin’ MONTH after their US release dates, except for their own titles. Considering how long The Darkness took to release in India officially, I am guessing it will easily be another bloody month before I play the game, unless the folks at Microsoft India have pity on poor me. Thanks also go to the most honorable Vijay Sinha for smacking me upside the head with this news. There, happy now? Time to go and start unmaxing my credit card so that I can buy it for my lucky “friend” How do I hate the modded Xbox 360 owners, let me count the ways … ^%#*(@#&!%@^!@ Goodbye, you bastards. I hear they have a special circle in Hell reserved for you effin’ pirates. Gah!
UPDATE: Finally! Some good news. It looks like the game is now available for pre-load and pre-purchase on Steam and Direct2Drive. No such luck for blokes like me in India, who will see the game after a month or so here, thanks to Microsoft India and their phenomenally stupid delays.
One would think the whole damn world was drowning, is what, considering the total pandemonium that the BioShock leak is causing. After a local TRU outlet leaked the game, and others followed suit, BioShock is now enjoying the most chaotic and incompetent launch seen in recent times. With a billion people running around like headless chickens (yours truly being one of them) 2K Games finally responded to long-time Cult of Rapture forum member Rapture Tourist with an official statement. In an email sent to RT, Ryan Jones, Senior Account Executive at Access Communications, the firm responsible for 2K’s PR, had this to say:
It recently came to 2K Games’ attention that one of our retail partners prematurely sold some copies of BioShock prior to the game’s official launch date. Retailers are typically shipped product in advance to ensure they can meet launch day demand on street-dated product. As a result, a few people were able to purchase the game early. Additionally, a TV advertisement for BioShock prematurely ran that incorrectly indicated that the game was available for purchase. 2K Games has reached out to our retail partners and is maintaining the street date of August 21st in North America and August 24th in Europe, when BioShock will be available at retailers. 2K Games is appreciative of the gamer excitement and critical acclaim leading up to the title’s launch.
Looks like TRU is boned big-time now, considering they would have to pay fines of $5000 per unit sold, with the possibility that 2K Games will never send them pre-orders again for their upcoming games. The problem, however, hasn’t ended with this.
It looks like the pirates at DAGGER have gotten their hands on the Xbox 360 version of the game and have broken, ripped and uploaded a 6.58 GB torrent at almost all major torrent download sites. And just like that, BioShock joins the league of games that have been leaked and pirated long before its official release date, with modded Xbox 360 owners openly laughing in the faces of people who have yet to wait another couple of days for the game to release.
As always, there is no news on when the PC demo for the game will become available. While FilePlanet is offering a pre-load service claiming that the demo should be available on the 18th of this month, even though they are the only ones who are claiming so. Good job, TRU and 2K. Now we have to put up with a dozen fucking retards who are going to spam all over the internet with spoilers. Gah!
Official comment by 2K Games about the broken street date [Cult of Rapture Forums]
Let chaos reign! In the aftermath of a couple of Toys ‘R’ Us store leaking copies of the much anticipated shooter BioShock, the frenzied consumers around the US have started going positively crazy (as should be expected with such an awesome title) trying to find the game at the nearest TRU outlet. In the meantime, one frenzied gamer at The7Gamers.com tried to do everything he could to find out if BioShock’s release date was being advanced to today, one week earlier than the original street date. After a YouTube video showing BioShock commercials with the words “Available Now” went up, people started going even more berserk, calling up Microsoft, Take-Two, their local TRU store, Jesus, Allah, Zeus and half a dozen other people just trying to get more information on how they can get their BioShock goodness.
After someone finally got through to Take-Two, the claims of BioShock releasing today have been (as of now) officially debunked, with Take-Two insisting that the game is still set to ship next week and they will most probably impose a $5000-per-unit-sold fine on the TRU outlets that broke the release date. As of now, some TRU personnel are still continuing to sell them at stores in the US, whereas others, including GameStop, Walmart and Best Buy insist that the game will not be sold before the 21st, even though they have the copies available right now.
Expect an official statement from Elizabeth Tobey of 2K Games or Ken Levine at the Cult of Rapture website soon enough about this whole mess. Surprising how Irrational’s vision causes widespread confusion and chaos both in-game and in real life. We’re half expecting to see pictures of people out in front of their TRU stores wearing signboards that read “Rapture is coming!” Anytime now…
The world can be a really cruel place. While some of us have to satisfy ourselves by playing the BioShock demo, some of the really lucky bastards have managed to get their hands on the full version of the game, thanks to a SNAFU by their local Toys ‘R’ Us, that somehow managed to sell them their copies.
dskillzhtown, a member of the NeoGAF forums, went out to his local Toys ‘R’ Us store to get a new Xbox 360 Elite, since his Premium had red-ringed and had to be sent for repairs. And while he’s hunting around for the latest Madden game, what does he see but the game the whole of the world is going ga-ga for, BioShock. Now this guy isn’t even a huge fan of the game, but since Madden has this offer going where you get another Xbox 360 for half-price if you pick it up, he decides to get this as well. So not only did he get BioShock one whole freaking week before the rest of the world, but he also gets it for half the price, making him, officially, one of the most hated people across the Internet.
Others have to wait one more week, while we in India, have to wait, God knows how long before this becomes available here, considering The Darkness was released just around the end of last month here. Here’s another guy who’s managed to get his hands on the game. Excuse me for a couple of hours while I sit and spam everyone on Xbox Live who’s playing the game. Someone, please, anyone, BioShock give…. I think I’ll just go to a dark corner and cry.
BioShock demo impressions SPOILERS (also Bioshock leaked at Toys R Us) [NeoGAF]
Remember how Elizabeth Tobey for 2K Games said they’d have word on BioShock’s PC demo today? Well, they do, but it isn’t something you might particularly like to hear, especially if you are a hardcore PC gamer that’s still waiting for the demo. In a message posted at the Cult of Rapture website earlier today, 2kbeth had this to say, probably after dozens of threats from the TTLG and Cult of Rapture forum members. Looks like she’s now able to handle the crowd well enough now, after first having gotten into trouble at the forum for a Q&A SNAFU on the PC port on the game a couple of months ago. Wonder what will happen to her when the PC guys find out that after months of screaming, the game’s UI still feels very console-ish.
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.
OK, so it looks like the demo should be made available before the game releases eight days from now. Or you could just skip the download and get your copy of the game as soon as it hits the shelves. But remember, this one needs activating your copy of the game online. I just hope and pray Steam is involved somewhere in this activation process, since I don’t trust the other services, plus, 2K Games and Prey already enjoy a good rapport with Steam.
After being pestered every which way by the fans at the Cult of Rapture website, BioShock finally got a Collector’s Edition that includes a “behind the scenes” bonus DVD, a Big Daddy action figure, soundtrack CD and the best damn packaging ever! But sadly, there’s no art book that comes with these Collector’s Edition packs. Not to be outdone, the 2K Team has put up the art book, titled Breaking the Mold, for free on their website.
The 67 page art book, complete with concept art, narratives on various elements of the art and character design and tons of sketches on the creatures that inhabit Rapture, comes in both low and high res versions for your viewing pleasure. And oh, if you thought you knew a lot of about those genetic mutants that roam Rapture’s streets, then you thought wrong, and from what I can see from the art in the book, it looks like BioShock’s mutants can give survival horror nightmares from Silent Hill a run for their money when it comes to scaring the bejesus out of you. Don’t believe me, take a look at this beast. Whatever the fuck it is, I am running the hell away from it if I ever see it in the game. (Click image for larger version)
As you might have already figured, the book has a number of spoilers as well, including one in which the Little Sisters appear to be (holy fuck!) robotic underneath that pale skin (Oops! Sorry for the spoiler!), so you might just want to look at the pictures and not read the words until you finish the game. Or as Ken Levine put it: “No reading, just looking!”