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Bioshock's Launch Aftershocks
It should come as no surprise that the level of hype BioShock reached in the last month has had some aftereffects. The game itself is really good; few are disputing that. There were, however, some problems. Next Gen has a few words with Ken Levine on BioShock's troubled launch looking at the broken Big Daddies, the allegations of a rootkit, and the 'widescreen issue'. There are other issues still floating around, of course: despite rumours Levine has now confirmed there will be no PS3 version of the game, and one problem may just be starting as big media finds out about the Little Sisters. 'The Boston Patriot-Ledger ... argues that BioShock is "testing the limits of the ultraviolent gaming genre with a strategy that enables players to kill characters resembling young girls." Despite the shock-inducing lead, the article goes on to give a more or less accurate description of BioShock's choice between saving and harvesting the creepy Little Sisters ... The conclusion tries to draw a link between BioShock's violence to a stabbing death allegedly inspired by Grand Theft Auto, but the connection is pretty weak.' To close on a good note check out 1up's profile of Levine's career, or download the BioShock score ... which is beautiful.
In my opinion, 2K Games has addressed the issues that have come up in a very rapid and appropriate way. When people started running into problems with the 2 active PC install issue, they bumped it up to 5, even though this technically lets 5 people pool their dollars to buy a single game.
The other thing to note is that the DRM is dictated by the publisher, not so much the developer (though in this case they became the same during Bioshock's development). Personally I haven't had any problems with it at all.
None of this retracts from the fact that Bioshock is one of the best games ever made. It has gorgeous art direction, intriguing morality, wonderfully diverse gameplay, and a sense of tension I haven't seen for ages. I spent most of Sunday playing the game and dreamt about it all night. That's something I haven't done with a game in a very long time.
Well, maybe you or someone can explain to me: What exactly is so great about BioShock? What makes it so much more than "just another FPS"? It got very good (and consistently good) reviews, but it's been my experience that I end up not liking games that get reviews like that, or at least "merely considering them good and not awesome". (Examples: RE4, Twilight Princess, Beyond Good and Evil, Star Ocean 3) I end up liking games that get 6-7s.
Is BioShock just "an FPS, but better along all dimensions"? (Improved AI, graphics, story) Or is there something fundamentally revolutionary about it?
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
It seems that in order to garner attention for their media articles, if you put in words like "Checkered Launch" or "BioShock's Little Sister killing gets mainstream attention", it's designed to catch the eyes of readers.
Was there really anything wrong with the launch of their product? Not really.
Was there really anything wrong in this game that we haven't seen before in games like the GTA series? No.
Having used a lot of other software and games that couldn't even install, crashed to desktop faster than a Microsoft Minute, I'm surprised that websites use words that try to stir the pot to make issues out of nothing. Really, Bioshock has set the bar for games. It's intriguing, well designed and written, and its plays really well. Could it be that the media websites need money for their click through ads by making mountains out of mole hills? It does come at the price of the developers integrity. That is in my opion, the bigger issue.
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. - Peter F. Drucker
Oooh - a videogame that (due to its interactivity) forces you to make uncomfortable moral choices that might teach you something about yourself? That's bad?
I mean, it's not like there have ever been great movies that make you uncomfortable, right?
Lolita?
Solaris?
Satyricon?
The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, her Lover?
Trainspotting?
Requiem for a Dream?
American History X?
Hotel Rwanda?
Yeah, certainly none of those are anything but sordid entertainment - no actual value to any of them.
-Styopa
- It is not a rootkit.
- By saying that you would have pirated the game instead of buying it you are actually making the publishers point that a copy protection is necessary more valid.
- The only limitation this enforces on you is to uninstall the game first before reinstalling.
- 99% of the people who need to install the game in more than 2 machines are basically pirating it.
I already bought it, then found out it did all this stuff. I wouldn't have bought the game in the first place had I have known.
There should be a law that says the game's outer packaging has to carry a big label if they do this sort of stuff.
For me the securom installation crap is a deal-breaker.
Without that I would have bought it following the first round of post-release reviews. I just finished putting together a new gaming system, and would love to have this game.
However, I'm not going to put up with this crap. There's other games, they might not be quite as spiffy or have the same storyline, but they're still fun. I'll play those instead.
I'm not interested in shelling out my cash for a game that could well turn into a paperweight (and a poor one at that) somewhere down the line when the activation server goes away. Or when I've installed for the Nth + 1 time, or whatever. When I buy a game, I want to know that that game will continue to work. I *still* periodically install MOO2 and play it... and I've had that CD for 10 years now. If MOO2 was protected like this game is I would have had to have quit playing it years and years ago.
As for 5 installs... I've installed Oblivion around 4 times in the past month. I'll be installing it at least once or twice more in the next week or two. Why? Because I'm going through that many OS installs dealing with intermittent issues arising from hardware conflicts in my new build. (and MS is slower than hell shipping Vista) If I'd gotten BioShock, I'd be looking at around a month of intermittent gameplay, then viola, no more activations.... yay! Now I get to play phone tag!
Screw that.
When they provide me a product that doesn't self-destruct, I'll provide them with my cash in return.
Rootkit's an easy word for "software that installed without telling me, that modifies Windows Explorer, that could be potentially exploited to compromise my system, that makes my game not work if I've got certain other software running, etc. etc."
If it's not a rootkit by strict definition, what do we call it? "Copy-protection software" doesn't quite cover it.
Is it used to compromise the system? No. It's used as copy protection. Obviously, you want to attach emotionally charged terms to make it seem worse than it is.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
--Inigo Montoya
Unix is user friendly, it's just selective about who its friends are.
The world is so unfair, and so superficial. A guy who fixes a visual glitch gets a graphics card as a gift, a guy who removes the crippling effects and the bogus registry entries would certainly get jail time. :(
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Ok, it's not a rootkit. It's a malware faciliating tool, hiding parts of the system from the eyes of the user, potentially offering a way to compromise the security of said system.
So. Satisfied?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
There is no reason you can't complain to a company about things you don't like about a product you bought.
Similar to "Tu quoque" logical fallacy.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on