Slashdot Mirror
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.
"And finally, I want to personally congratulate Racer_S from the Widescreen Gaming Forums, and his awesome user patch to expand the widescreen FOV in BioShock. I'm currently tracking him down via email, but hopefully, he'll accept my gratitude, and maybe an Nvidia 8800 to boot."
Now that is a terrific attitude. 2K Games went up 10 notches on my Classy Scale.
"Just don't lead 'em as much"
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
THe game is brave enough to touch on many issues others are simply too scared to face.
Harvest or "Save" the Little sisters. The guy helping you out says you should kill them to harvest all the "Adam" you can get, this lets you essentially level up faster. Or you can Save them as their creator would like and get some huge reward later on. She has gained some morality after turning little girls into monsters.
The theme is that you are in a fallen paradise city. The residents have gone insane and most are trying to kill you. You're forced to make moral choices on surviving, or dying. The city itself has fallen in disrepair and most residents will most likely die in a few years anyway.
I've not noticed anything "considerably" broken with BIg daddies. I just see them as spawning and searching out the sisters. If you already got all the sisters in the level, then the big daddies just go on looking. It adds texture.
The other moral issues in the game are gene modifications. Most denizens are mod junkies and have become twisted because of it. They were all once normal humans who took a little too much drugs. Some of the doctors in the city have gone a step further by doing horrible surgeries on people disfiguring them and killing their nurses in the process. It adds to the flavor of the story in which you are stuck in a Hell and are trying to find a way out.
As far as "preservation of life" vs killing them goes. As far as the main character knows, they cant be "cured". They're trying to kill him, so he's gotta eliminate them first. The morality here is perhaps death is the better alternative. Either that or live life being disfigured and insane.
Bioshock has gone through some serious blood and sweat in it's creation. I give them huge artistic credit as well as taking us to a level of morality so few are brave enough to go. There are many things that should be spoken about, but are not.
I used to write for GameSpot. When we came across a game like this, we reviewers would tend to "lean" the score higher. Don't misunderstand me -- it's a fantastic game. My point is those rating points you see on reviews translate into sales which become big dollars, and we WANT games like this to financially successful. Games like BioShock keep the industry alive. So we would give them a little help.
The gaming community needs to "lean" BioShock higher. We need to stop focusing on the (lack of) a rootkit. We need to stop complaining about the install limitations (in all honesty, who is installing this game on more than 5 machines anyway)? In particular, we need to really fight against those focusing on the "child killing" aspect. (Which, to be frank, is completely disturbing in-game and meant to make the player feel awful).
We need to focus on the art of the game, and try to forget all the tangential stuff. Yes, I know, it's hard for Slashdot folks. "Rawr rawr DRM... rawr rawr install limitations... rawr rawr never going to support this company again." Just put that to the side if you can. We NEED to support games like this. otherwise it's back to horrific Madden clones and movie-licensed drek.
Journalist / Politician types ability to filter out everything cool about a game and home in on the one part that may be considered offensive is amazing. Of course most people just get the sound bites, or the headlines and never hear about the rest of the game or what role the violence plays in it.
...Now if I could only post one of those guys at the entrance to my inbox to filter all of that pesky spam....
You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
First and foremost, BioShock definitely ranks up there in my top 3 of all time. The graphics are gorgeous, the sound is phenomenal, the production values are sky high, and the game is just plain fun. Me and my ladyfriend turned out the lights, cranked my surround system up really high (a good sub or speakers with good bass response is a MUST for this game) and popped it in.
The first 15 minutes, were absolutely terrifying. Not to ruin it for anyone, but if you are able to play it on a surround system (and a good one, at that) definitely take advantage of that and turn it up as loud as you can...much like in System Shock/System Shock 2, sound plays a HUGE role in this game) For the remainder of the 18 or so hours of playtime it took to beat, my ladyfriend sat there eyes wide with her hands over her mouth...she actually screamed more than a few times:-)
The whole widescreen issue doesn't bother me...it looks fantastic enough on an HDTV for me to not even care. As far as the talks of the rootkit and activation issues, I don't know anything about that since I have it for 360.
It is one of the few games out there that deserves every single bit of hype it has received. One of the greatest games ever made...every gamer needs to play through it at least once.
Living With a Nerd
After buying and playing through the game myself, it is indeed a beautiful game. It's a shame that, much like Rapture in game, has been marred of the beauty it dreamed of.
In some of the fights, I encountered AI that got stuck at times and sorta ruined the combat scheme. I remember a big daddy getting stuck twice, making it easy to pick them off.
On the other hand, I was constantly scooping out the environment, seeing if there was some advantage I could use that corridor I just walked through in entrapping a slew of splicers or setting up for taking down a big daddy.
The big daddy/little sister dynamic is just flat out neat concept. I saw a little sister walking along and the big daddy tugged at her to go a different way. Weird, yet what other game would combine setting said big daddy on fire then harvesting/saving little girl?
The game, taken by itself, was very enjoyable. I know with the rootkit, many people will justifiably pirate/refuse to purchase the game. I just find it a shame that people will miss an enjoyable yet poignant game because of lame copyright protection. I myself will face it again with a fresh XP install in the next day or two. Do I risk putting the game back on? I dunno.
import system.cool.Sig;
Buzz on this game has been phenomenal - has there been any sales figures released yet? Would you kindly post them? I'm curious if it can beat Gears as the best selling "next-gen" game..
I'm sick of hearing all the negative buzz about Bioshock
The game is 99% perfect! There is a very small widescreen issue. There is a bit of a DRM issue. A couple of AI bugs (which personally I have not witnessed, so as far as I can tell, how widespread they are is perfectly anecdotal). Show me another top-tier game launch recently that has has LESS bugs than Bioshock. I'm not hearing about bugs which are causing blue screens, or crashing X-Boxes or losing save games.
I find it disheartening that with how incredible this game is, and how relatively PERFECTLY the launch went, that people are trying to focus press on what is wrong with it. People are making mountains out of molehills on this one.
Bioshock is an amazing game. All issues and bugs reported on it are vastly overstated. Just play the game and enjoy it for god's sake. If the press wants to focus on something negative, go write a story on Iraq.
In short, there's no story here. Move along.
"Extra apostrophe's launch a lot of snide grammar nazi post's."
I mean, your an adult, I'm an adult. Were all adult's here. Its time we started spelling good.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
There is no rootkit you idiot, just some fool who didn't know how to use some rootkit detection utilities and mistook a single registry entry for a rootkit.
Slashdot: Proof that a million monkeys at a million typewriters can create a masterpiece
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
I'm sorry, but I just can't support a game with product activation with my dollars. I went through these headaches when I received a copy of Flight Simulator X as a gift over the holidays last year, and I'm now running a cracked-but-legal copy of FSX. I refuse to "rent" a game for $75.
Steam doesn't bother me, BTW, since there's no restriction on the number of times you install anything, or the number of times you upgrade your video card. But, if this activation thing gets popular, it won't be long before I think "Should I buy a new video card? No, better not. Too much hassle reactivating and repurchasing all my games."
Ken says the activation will eventually be removed, although refuses to give a time line. I hope that's true, because I really would like to play this thing, but I won't buy it on a promise that it will eventually be unbroken.
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.
Doom 3 had those creepy little flying bug things with babies heads. I'd say that if something was going to provoke more of a shock-and-gasp media response than the "Little Sisters." However, I'm not entirely sure about how this plays into the plotline - although it seems that you are given more of a choice over your actions (kill or save) - so maybe it's a little more/less dramatic than it's being made out to be.
Its worse than that. When the guy who detected it was corrected in his comments, he stated that he would get better hits if he called it a rootkit and then went on to say that he'd let the readers decide if it was really a rootkit.
The whole OMG ROOTKIT thing was nothing more than a publicity stuff. Yes its DRM, and yes it sucks, but its not a rootkit. And you don't get it if you buy it off of Steam either.
Sadly, I've noticed that Slashdot is very VERY bad about spreading disinformation and hyperbole. It'd be nice if the stories could be substantiated and checked for accuracy, especially considering the number of people who take anything posted on Slashdot as The One and Only Truth.
I am a veteran of System Schok 1 and 2, all Thieve games and Deus Ex 1 and 2, which are sort of the greater family Bioshock is part of. So far I have played the medical level and the game does not disappoint. It is definitely one of these defining games that push the boundaries. It is also creepy as hell in various ways, working expertly with lights, sounds, voices and surprises. An they do not overuse certain situiations, such as, for example, the open-a-door-and be-jumbed in Q3. Example: Typically you hear the MOBs. But when truning round after searching a desk, there was one standing patiently behind me without any warning at all. I nearly fell out of my chair!
Then I reached the point were I had to make the decision to kill or save the first little sister. They make that really hard on you and I had to stop playing for a while. Of course the kill does not happen on-screen and is only implied. It is also not a direct kill: You remove a sea-slug from her that was controlling her. It is inplied that she cannot survive that, but that she might have effectively been dead as a person anyways. The game plays very well with ambiguity here. Oh, and you cannot hurt the little sisters with weapons or in other forms. So no bashing or shooting little girls here.
All in all, I think there is no ethical problem here with the game design. The player cannot rush through this (long cutscene which is non-interruptable), and has to make a choice with as much time as he/she likes for it. I think, there is also the option to ignore the little sister (and possibly come back for her later). Supposedly the game gets very hard later one if you do that. Of course poeple that only see the pictures may come to the wrong conclusions. Those that actually play it should not. At least I see very little risk of that happening.
Levels are really large, and no loading in them. Comparisons to levels in System Shock 2 are fair, if the medical level in Bioshock is typical. And the levels are dense. You do not run through them fast, it is more a careful advancing. It also really does not feel like a console game, the demo is misleading here.
Summary: This game is a milestone and a gem. If you are into shooters with RPG elements and a creepy setting, get it. It will define the genre for the near future. And this time, I hope they got the marketing right. This thing really deserves to be a huge success. If it has, the hole genre will benefit and more interesting shooter-RPG hybrids should crop up in the future.
A note on hardware: It is playable with a 7600GT, but you have to turn down most settings. It runns completely smooth with almost the highest settings in 1280x1024 in a GeForce 8800GTS (Athlon X2 5600+, 2GB RAM), where I just disabled the high-quelity shaders (and I do not like the glossy look they give everything anyways).
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
It's so easy to sit behind a screen and bitch and moan about the copy protection and the "widescreen issues", and threaten class action lawsuits. You don't like the copy protection? You have three options Man up, focus your energy and crack the damn thing, buy it for the 360, or shut the hell up. You don't like the FOV? Use Racer_s's fix.
Am I the only one sick of seeing boards flooded with all the whiney skript kiddies? Worried about what will happen when 2k isn't around to validate your install anymore? I got news for you, there's gonna be a crack, or 2k will deal with it when the time comes, or you can buy it from Steam (or the like) for $5.
I think this game is great, very entertaining. Worth the ~$45 for the PC version.
You do get the same SecuROM installed with the Steam version of Bioshock - I know this because I had a look for the 'OMG ROOTKIT!!!1' registry keys, and they were present. Apparently Steam's usual copy-protection stuff wasn't good enough.
But yes, Slashdot does seem to be pretty bad for spreading disinformation. For instance, the short-lived GPL violations with DOSBOX and the older Id games on Steam - fixed before the article was posted. And then, this SecuROM thing being branded by all and sundry as a 'rootkit'. Argh...
I do hope it gets removed sooner or later - but it does seem to have the publishers' desired effect of stifling piracy. Unfortunately, it's also rather effective at pissing off the more vocal gamers on the interwebnet. Oops.
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
I installed over steam, did a search for the SecuROM stuff, and came up negative.
I mean, three weeks ago no-one even knew what a rootkit was!
How about this, then?
Fear of having to get online to activate the game in the first place.
Why should I be required to get online at all, ever, to play a game that I don't intend to play online? Justify that, please.
I'm sorry, but I see it as an entirely unreasonable requirement. I already put up with being required to flash my original CD/DVD when the game asks "papers, please". I won't put up with being required to go online even once to be allowed to play a game I've already purchased.
Yes, there is an initial extra investment to modify your console, and that can prevent you from using XboxLive!, but then you have the freedom to try any game you want. If you're a PC gamer, there is no need to mod, a free software method should exist for the game.
I know it's bad and immoral etc. but if you think objectively about the game you will notice if you keep playing it, and will realize you should buy it. I like doing this because there is no initial risk to me, and when I find a good game I get to keep it mint in its cellophane, because I'm a dork like that.
I know this may not be adequate in this particular situation, since you already explained your objections to the conditions attached to this game, but it's still worth considering. You could be missing something great.
I was killing little kids years and years ago in Ultima 6. Read Richard Garriott's answer to the second question on this page:
r iott-Interview-Part-2
http://www.warcry.com/news/view/73167-Richard-Gar
A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills
Which would be significant if it was a rootkit in the first place. It isn't. And I used the exact same tools and process that the guy who found the SecuROM stuff did. Several other people with Steam have indicated that they didn't get hit with the SecuROM stuff.
=)
In all seriousness though, I still am having difficulty removing that SecuROM garbage from my computer. From installing a Demo. Further, Slashdot doesn't spread bad information.. it posts links to things. You, yes you, have a comment right up on top of that link post decrying the 'rootkit'. You *are* verifying the articles. What more do you want?
If that were the case, then they should post the link without a summary or headline. The fact of the matter is, they do post summaries and headlines, and quite often they're inaccurate, and fairly often they're extremely accusatory. What I want is to not go to tech forums and see outright false information being spread because a story gets up on the Slashdot front page with blatantly false or spun information. The comments are not the same thing as making sure the story is valid in the first place.
And yes, no one site is perfect in this regard, but Slashdot has been, as of late, absolutely horrible with the spin.
I'd say hiding a directory from APIs does a pretty good job at paving the way for malware.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Out of interest, which version of Bioshock do you have?
I bought the EU edition over Steam - which has left registry keys in HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/SecuROM. I haven't downloaded the demo or anything. I'm not really bothered, but it's there nevertheless.
If anyone actually comes up with definite reason as to why SecuROM is particularly unpleasant, I may get concerned - but for now I'd rather just have fun playing the game!
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
Wow, never heard of that...
I bought it on Friday night, US version. I also installed the demo from Steam too. I can check again just to be sure whenever I get home.
I remember my brother telling me that it installed a rootkit, and being super pissed off, then researching and finding out that, no, its not a rootkit, just a Windows service that does some tricks to make it a pita to uninstall. After that I did the scan and came up with nothing.
I'd classify it as DRM/malware, because it seems like its particularly nasty to get out of your system. But it doesn't behave like a rootkit, and thus far I haven't heard of any bad side effects, other than the usual DRM stuff.
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
I wish I didn't read this until after I installed the game!
heh.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The Steam version does, in fact, come with the same SecuROM bullshit that the physical game does. In fact, even the demo comes with it.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
LOL. Great, don't read it.
There is simply alot of people getting sick of locked up software then interfers with the use of that software. Just because it hasn't affected you doesn't make it irrelevant. Maybe the problem is bigger than you can grasp.
its justified because a VAST chunk of the potential demographic for the game were intending to steal it the day it went on sale. What would you do? cross your fingers and hope all those kids would somehow feel guilty and buy it anyway? check out a few warez boards, modern PC Gaming kids expect the world on a plate for free. No market can work that way.
If I go into a retail store and spot a security guard, I *could* feel intimidated, insulted, and assume the store owner does not trust me. ditto if I spot security cameras (as most stores have). The fact is, the store does not trust me, nor should it, as long experience teaches retail that a significant proprtion of people will shoplift if they think its safe to do so. Its way easier to pirate a game than to shoplifdt, so its even mroe rampant.
The copy protection on bioshock is that security camera in the store. It sucks to put up with it, to think your privacy may theoretically be invaded, and to know somehow you are paying for it, but do we think the store owners are bastards? or do we pity them for having to deal with the shit they get from shoplifters trying to wreck their business?
A game as jaw-droppingly awesome as bioshock costs megabucks to make. Nobody sane makes that kind of investment and doesn't try to protect it. If you hate the protection enough to skip the game, thats fine, but don't be insulted or surprised that the company is trying to protect itself against thieves. BTW, there is no crack in the wild. The game is 7 days on sale with no piracy. The DRM worked.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
lolwut?
what I expected: SS3
what I bought: Bioshock
what I got: Deus Ex Invisible War - Steampunk Edition
Shit play control (BOTH platforms), no death penalty, no inventory, too linear. Is it bad? No. Is it great? Not really. The art direction (hi shawn!) is great, but visuals and style only go so far. If they patch the shit out of the PC version, I might give it another go but I've no expectations of that. I don't know how it's getting all these crazy high ratings. Maybe since it's not a WWII or squad-based-tactical shooter; people got excited about change.
I did like the giant arrow on the top though, made it sort of like Crazy Taxi with guns.
--- Do you believe in the day?
You've obviously missed out on the fun of killing a splicer with another splicer. Or better yet, with a candy bar.
Allow me to say "arigato gozaimas" on the score tip -- I've heard about it (from the "making of" video) but haven't played nor seen the game played yet. To be honest, I'm tossed between upgrading an AGP video card or just buying a '360 -- I'm not particularly keen on either approach, but I've been hankerin' since I last played System Shock 2, which was a good 3-4 years ago now.
Say what you will, but Ken Lavine is one of the good guys. I've had the opportunity to have a (brief) exchange with him in the past; he's no-nonsense but similarly no-bullshit; in other words, the kind of guy every nerd would want to work for or have a beer with, or both. Cheers, Ken, for doing the right thing.
Well as an update, looks like I was wrong. They slipped it in there sometime.
at 22mb, I am getting a whopping 12k/sec on that zip file they offer. Torrent would sure be nice. Though really I'm surprised they aren't slashdotted.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
I can't believe how many people won't buy the game simply because of the DRM scheme it contains. Guess what... You can get the game on Steam and install it on AS MANY COMPUTERS AS YOU WANT and you don't even need to have the disk when you play!
Creative Demolition
There are plenty of games that use Securom, so the key might have been there from before you bought and installed Bioshock. If you own Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos, Descent Freespace, Masters of Orion, etc. etc, all sorts of games use securom. This is a non-issue that certain "media" sites and blogging sites have spun into a sensationalist story to drive page hits.
I say it but once: FSCK you CG violence hipocrites!! The game is friggin ART! I am not ashamed of harvesting my little sisters, but you should be ashamed of harvesting the reputation of millions of gamers out there for some thousand extra sales of your lousy newspaper!
Nobody writes jokes in base 13. - DNA
sigh.
this cavity search seems to happen transparently without 99% of the buyers even noticing so hardly a fair comparison. Plus the game has NOT been cracked, just try installing and running the crack to find out what a total failure it is.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I've been thinking about posting something like this; I, for one, have seen only Trainspotting. It's been interesting sociologically and politically for mostly the same reasons for which I didn't like it. Easy way out... as violence often is. Avoiding violence is violent on yourself and on people who need it to live. Please move along. As for the other poster, it's not satire, it's apotheosis.
The widescreen issue originally was raised by a few widescreen owners who were upset that owners of 4:3 TVs get to see "more" than they do (4:3 TVs show the same horizontal field of view, but more of the ceiling, the floor, and your character's virtual wrist), and who insisted that the game was not "true" widescreen, but just "cropped narrowscreen." Ultimately, the developer responded that the game was in fact developed specifically for widescreen, that the action and gameplay was tuned specifically for a particular field of view, so they chose to cram the entire field of view into the width of the 4:3 display, and chose to open up the screen vertically rather than resort to unsightly letterboxing. Some widescreen owners then complained that the field of view was simply too narrow, causing everything to look "zoomed." A few people reported experiencing "simulator sickness" after playing the game, and attributed to the game's "broken" field of view. In reality, it turns out that the field of view for Bioshock is about 75 degrees. This corresponds pretty well to the fraction of the player's field of vision occupied by the screen at typical viewing distances, which means that the perspective and field of view are correct for objects and characters to appear "actual size"--i.e. the size they would appear if the screen were an actual window into the game world. It may be that the reason that a few people get nauseous after playing the game is that the perspective is simply too realistic.
In any case, the developer, while not backing away from the position that the field of view of the game is carefully optimized to produce the best play experience, has nevertheless committed to releasing an official patch to allow users to expand the field of view if they find it necessary.
I think a majority of the PC issues are related to the fact that this game is a resource beast. It is the fore bringer of the next generation of games that require Core 2, 2 GB of RAM, 8800 and Vista for DX10. This game doesn't cost 45 dollars it costs $1500+ which is ballpark what it cost me in parts for a new gaming rig...
I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you. I'm able to play this game without a hitch with textures and lighting turned all the way up, but Stalker destroyed my system with low settings. I'm actually impressed with how well Bioshock runs on 'older' hardware.
2.66 Ghz P4
1Gig ram
ATI X1950 AGP 512Mb
You are calling people who ARE NOT playing a VIDEO GAME because of the unethical practices of a company nerdy? Although it is just a game, this is exactly the kind of shit consumers should not deal with.