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Bioshock Ships 1.5 Million, Sequels Likely
Gamespot is reporting that 2K games has shipped 1.5 million units of BioShock to games stores and retailers. The title was noted by EA Sports' Peter Moore as proof that third-party publishers aren't getting squeezed out by first-party AAA games. "It turns out the comments by the former Xbox 360 and Games for Windows marketing chief were prescient. Today during a post-earnings report conference call with analysts, Take-Two Interactive Chairman Strauss Zelnick said BioShock was already a runaway success for the controversial publisher, which has been set back by the Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2 delays."
"Company earning millions, likely to want more".
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Let it ship 5m times more. Everybody should play this.
I played it through Hard, Easy and Medium (in that order). I have 1000/1000 achievements points. Still, the weird thing is; I was at work the other day and in a dull moment, I couldn't wait for my next trip to rapture.
I hope the game industry 'gets' that these are the games we want.
Sure, the first party and third party publishers are doing OK, but won't someone please think of the second party!
... shipping is not selling.
RIP Slashdot. I used to love you. dead account - but slashdot wont let me delete it.
2K Games, would you kindly leave out the DRM on any sequels to BioShock you happen to make?
The first 15 minutes in BioShock were easily the scariest I have ever experienced in a video game. Turned out the lights, cranked the surround system, cranked the sub, and got lost in Rapture. My ladyfriend and my best bud were over...all three of us were jumping and shrieking. Definately an amazing experience.
Play this game. Play it on 360 or play it on a (very) well equipped PC, it doesn't matter which. Just make sure that you experience it at least once...you won't ever forget it.
Living With a Nerd
...i liked it better when it was called System Shock 2 :)
(If you liked Bioshock, SS2 is well worth the try. Still an amazing game after all these years)
No! says the AC on Slashdot. It belongs to the pirates.
Well, considering it was on a 6-foot projection screen with a very respectable surround system...I would say it was quite scary. I can't actually play it too loud because I had neighbors calling me complaining (you may not realize this, but the wailing of the Big Daddies produces a LOT of bass.)
Living With a Nerd
> I need to talk to spark my life up.
;)
Need a new spark in your life? Then try Electro-Shock® Plasmids from Ryan Industries!
(sorry for feeding the troll, couldn't resist
25% Funny, 25% Insightful, 25% Informative, 25% Troll
Very nicely done. Wish I had mod points.
-Peter
System Shock 2 was pretty similar gameplay-wise, although updated and prettier for sure. But, I think overall I enjoyed SS2 just a little more...
Still, Bioshock was really good.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I couldn't even play the Bioshock demo. I launched it from Steam, Steam said it was starting, and then... nothing. Nothing happened at all. No error messages, no log, no clue about what might have gone wrong.
All other Steam games work fine, but Bioshock is different because it includes SecuROM, even in the demo (!). Therefore, I suspect that SecuROM is to blame. So - no sale. Please try to make sure that showstopper bugs like SecuROM don't get through your QA process next time.
>north
You're an immobile computer, remember?
The only answer to piracy is to make games so good that they sell well... also known as "the stardock way".
I respect stardock for a reason because they are probably one of the only rational game developers/publishers.
And I DO want a sequel to it. SHODAN wants a sequel to taunt us!
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I'm a Mac user who owns a PS3.
Pretty much fucked, aren't I?
Direct away from face when opening.
And a high-end one. Bioshock ran great under BootCamp on my MBP. Had it at 1920x1200, too.
They put thier crappy DRM on the game, and made millions.
It would seem quite clear to them (given their preconceptions) that the DRM helped them make those millions by preventing unwanted duplication. Whether it actually did or not is of little consequence, because they made millions.
There is no huge consumer backlash this time. They aren't being taken to court to get thier slap on the wrist. They are getting away with it and laughing all the way to the bank.
So, they will do it again. Count on it.
Also wish I had mod points.
You win sir. I only played the demo but I just spit soda all over my keyboard and monitor after reading your comment.
...who thought this game was average?
It was nothing more than a straightforward shooter. What about it was interesting or new?
so it was in an underwater city... so?
No multiplayer. Linear maps. No rpg elements. Limited enemy types. Piss poor intro and build-up.
Half Life 2 is years older and infinitely better.
This game was all hype and no delivery.
I give it a 7/10... only because the art-direction was first rate.
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
Making a sequel for game would be easy (what was Tenenbaum doing while the player was following orders? She wasn't cooped up the whole time since you run into her relatively early in the game). A prequel would be ever easier (how did Tenenbaum survive this whole time? The game's events takes place over a whole year after the war broke out).
No publisher wanted any piece of this game initially. Irrational wanted to acquire the rights to do System Shock 3, and no one would foot the bill. In fact, when they pitched this game, most publishers insisted this game would bomb, and it was just another pointless FPS.
Irrational makes fine games, and I'm glad to see someone saw the potential in this title. Consumers sure did.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Won't buy, won't play, have a nice day.
Note: This comment may contain mild SPOILERS.
the game constantly refers to Rapture as a "city" yet you never see any residential areas. (Where did people sleep?)
Olympic Heights was an example of a residential area.
How did they get so much steel down there?
Who came up with the technology for building a city on the ocean floor in the first place?
Rapture was to be built-by and home-to the worlds best and brightest. You can assume there were some excellent engineers.
The game constantly refers to smuggling operations prior to when the player shows up, did anyone ever manage to escape before everything went to hell?
This is never mentioned that I can recall, however it is implied that almost everyone was trapped in Rapture since Ryan shut off the bathysphere to the surface, and presumably most people were unable to, or unaware of how to exploit the smuggling exit(s).
what was Tenenbaum doing while the player was following orders?
Trying to redeem herself by providing a safehouse for the Little Sisters.
what was Tenenbaum doing while the player was following orders? She wasn't cooped up the whole time since you run into her relatively early in the game
Probably trying to rescue Little Sisters.
how did Tenenbaum survive this whole time?
She had a hideout/safehouse in Olympic Heights.
Why wouldn't they? Basically, it hurts pirates (who aren't gonna pay), Slashdotters who hold their principles above playing the game (and let's face it, tend to not pay for software anyway), and a vanishingly small percentage of people who just can't get it to work.
The numbers are in their favor here.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
If so, then it was a pretty terrible example. The game easily shows that the city has hundreds of different citizens living within it, but we never see massive dorms or rows of apartments. People have to sleep somewhere and the game never shows the player.
Rapture was to be built-by and home-to the worlds best and brightest. You can assume there were some excellent engineers.
Nonetheless, you have to question how all the steel got down there. Even the world's greatest engineers working with the world's greatest supercomputers would be unable to predict water currents when you talking about MILES underwater.
This is never mentioned that I can recall, however it is implied that almost everyone was trapped in Rapture since Ryan shut off the bathysphere to the surface, and presumably most people were unable to, or unaware of how to exploit the smuggling exit(s).
Actually, no. When you play the game it is pretty obvious that there was at least one group who knew had access to one of the smuggling exits, had knowledge about it and simply didn't take advantage of it. Remember the smugglers in the fishery area? They could've escaped anytime beforehand.
Trying to redeem herself by providing a safehouse for the Little Sisters.
Uh, for a whole year? Sooner or later people would've wised up and forced her into action. And she's still needs to eat and drink, I never saw any evidence of her having a year's supply of rations stocked up in her safehouse.
I loved System Shock and its sequel to death. I've had BioShock installed for about a week. Know what I've been playing? My MMORPG (LOTRO). Because after having to sit through the non-skippable intro sequences and swim to shore and enter the bathysphere and ride down FOUR TIMES with different video settings to be able to play, I'm already frustrated with the game. Haven't game companies learned by now that movies and such should ALWAYS, no exceptions, be skippable? I mean, come on, this is either ignorance or shoddy production, both being unacceptable. Besides that - having to tweak the settings down to "looks like Half-Life" doesn't help. I don't know why but if I attempt to play at my LCD screen's native res, with decent video settings, the game crashes. Probably some god damned Vista or DirectX 10 related GARBAGE. Well, a choice between installing Vista and not playing BioShock is no choice at all, Vista isn't entering my house. And no, techies, I do not need a PC upgrade... I have 3.4Ghz, 2 gigs of RAM, and a GeForce 7800 GT. This trouble is just not worth it for a game whose allegedly stellar plot is unfortunately eclipsed by technical issues. It will probably just sit on my HD until I need to clear 7 gigs of space.