PC Bioshock Demo Now Available

Dr. Eggman writes "Valve announced today that their digital distribution system, Steam, is now hosting Irrational Games-turned-2K Boston's soon to be released title, Bioshock. The game will appear on Steam and the US August 21st and in Europe on the 24th. If you don't enjoy pipes, perhaps you'd like to utilize the tubes at 3DDownloads, Worthplaying, FilePlanet, or Gamer's Hell."

Comments

Demos

[Enderandrew]

I never really bother with game demos, but I will make an exception here. There are far too few atmospheric games, far too few quality PC games, and I love to see people harken pack to PC classics like System Shock 1 and 2, which this would have been a sequel to if they had the rights.

Re:Online distribution shouldn't be based on regio

[JNighthawk]

Legal. Breaking street dates is bad juju.

Re:No thanks

[Dachannien]

Actually, the demo is important for ensuring that the game will run properly on one's computer before laying out $50 for it. For example, the system requirements claim you have to be running WinXP, but is it possible to coerce the game to run under Win2k?

Irrational has been pretty sensitive to the plot-relevant details of their game being ruined by spoilers, so I'm hopeful that the demo won't spoil the full game.

Re:Wow, Crappy Story

[Sibko]

All indications point to one of the best games every made. All reviews point to one of the best games ever made. Quite honestly, I don't believe them. When you start throwing around buzz words like "Epic storyline, Most revolutionary FPS to hit the genre" it tells me the game is being overhyped. I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed with the game. I played the demo on the xbox, and it really doesn't do much for me. It's atmospheric, it looks good, but the gameplay itself is just... lacking. Your options for killing things are various magic spells, and shootan guns. There isn't really a lot of variance there to shake things up.

Other FPS games out right now just totally trump Bioshock, in my opinion. Stalker has fantastic atmosphere, with a more gritty, realistic twist to the weapons, and throws in some light RPG elements to shake things up. Quake Wars has excellent graphics with vehicular and squad-based gameplay, it's like Battlefield 2142 done right. Halo 3 throws in fantastic variation between the different weapons, and has equipment that fundamentally change the way firefights play out.

These games compared to Bioshock just make Bioshock seem like an old FPS with new paint. Which I suppose it is, considering how many people point out that it's very much like System Shock 2.

Re:Where's the torrent?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're downloading a perfectly legal file I don't see why it would mater how "legit" the source of the torrent is. Why not jut grab the torrent from thepiratebay (nobody will twist your arm to download the ub3r-1337 w4r3z, I swear) and save yourself the 80 minute wait (probably longer than the actual download will take).

Re:Wow, Crappy Story

[bigstrat2003]

After deleting various attempts at response to this, I realised it's pure flame bait for SS2 fans Bull. Just because he's saying the game looks overrated doesn't make it flamebait. He played the demo, and didn't like it. That's his right, don't call him out for something he didn't do. I can't wait to get my hands on the demo to try it, but even *I*, without having played it at all, think the potential is really high for the game to be overrated. I find it extremely hard to believe that the game can be as revolutionary and amazing as it's being made out to be (even if it does turn out to be a truly great game, it'll still fall short of what people are saying about it).

And Bioshock is actually very different from SS2. Art direction is completely caricatured (and consistently too, so not just some things look odd, *everything* is off kilter in a creepy way). The interface is simplified somewhat (detrimentally in my opinion - but I am a SS2 fan). The "magic" system (the best way to explain it) is much more useful (in SS2 it was an effort to use it, was an either-or choice in many cases - in Bioshock it is more deeply integrated). That really does sound like "SS2 with a new coat of paint to me". I didn't play SS1 or SS2, but a different art direction, and some refinement of game mechanics, does not make it very different.

It boils down to, Bioshock is not going to satisfy everyone. System Shock 2 was a great game, but a great many people completely failed to see it (or appreciate it). Those same people will probably miss out on full appreciation of Bioshock (and the hype is probably the only thing that will get them to *try* it before bagging it because of its lack of Multiplayer). Because we all know games without Multiplayer *must* be bad. There's some flamebait right there... assuming that anyone who doesn't like Bioshock either doesn't "get it", or will overlook it for being single-player only. Not to mention that unlike the GP, you actually called other games "gay", which is a pretty big red flag for trolling, as a rule of thumb.

You're obviously really excited for Bioshock, and that's cool... but it probably is overrated. The odds are hugely against it being the best game ever, or any of the other things it's been lauded as. That doesn't mean it's bad, just that the hype is too large.

Re:No thanks

[superbus1929]

Actually, it does essentially give you what the game is about, but it's just enough to start with; it essentially lets you know "this is your situation, here are the key players, here's how you play", and it leaves you at a cliffhanger. It's a damn good demo (I played the X360 demo).