Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Cult Of Rapture has some details on the forthcoming extras:

The Rapture Metro Pack is coming soon for Xbox 360, PS3, and Games for Windows Live for 800 MS Point or $9.99. The pack includes six brand new maps including areas rebuilt from the single-player game for MP modes. We also have three new achievements and trophies and have added the Rebirth Feature for players who have reached Rank 50 – using Rebirth, you can rank your character down to Rank 1 and receive a special mask.

Still no release date, however. (I have to admit I blasted through the single player, but didn’t bother to touch the multiplayer. Is it worth taking a look at?)

Yeah, you heard me. X-COM, the game to end all games, is finally getting its long-rumoured remake/sequel. [Boom. Internet explodes.] Wahoo, basically. Yes, it is indeed a first-person shooter – it is extraordinarily sad to wave away X-COM’s traditional genre, but c’mon, did you really think a AAA title in 2010 (or 11, or whenever it ends up being released) was going to be a turn-based strategy game? Let’s wait and see where they take it, at least.

Contrary to ancient prophecy, this tantalising do-over isn’t being made by Ken Levine, but rather is pitched as a game from 2K Marin, the Bioshock 2 chaps. Though it also seems 2K Australia (née Irrational Australia) are heavily involved. Sparse announcement details and the first in-game screenshot are below…

Read the rest of this entry »

That was supposed to sound like a nice little rhyme. Alas, it just comes across as a really boring, proasic headline – they should have sent a poet. Anyway, the point is that the promised widescreen patch for Bioshock 2 is due tomorrow (at 2AM PST), and will address the returning BS1 oversight/disagreement/confusion that the field of view remained at 4:3 settings even when played in 16:10. Just writing that turns my brain to mush, as it makes me feel as though I’ve been stuck in a temporal loop since 2007, forcing me to continually write something about Bioshock and field of view into a Wordpress page again and again. It’s good news for people with nice monitors, however – and as well as that there’s both a larger patch and some DLC in the offing.
Read the rest of this entry »

The DRM sucks. It really does. Only… I can’t comment on exactly how sucky it is because this an opinion based on the 360 version of the game. I know! I played it on a gamepad and everything! I’ll be handing in my PC4EVA badge and gun momentarily, but before that it seemed wise to at least write up my experiences. 360 is what we had access to for review, and, while largely speaking (based upon the differences between BS1 console and PC, and how technically similar this is to BS1) the experience should be very similar, I can’t say that it definitely will be, or that those multiple forms of copy protection won’t cause every PC in the world to turn into a chocolate muffin with chicken nuggets on top when it unlocks tomorrow. That would make me a liar, and I only lie about things that don’t matter, like loving my family and whether I really finished reading that Stephen Hawking book. I’ll be checking BS2 PC out tomorrow, and if there’s any sign of trouble or disparity with anything in this piece, rest assured there’ll be posts about it. For now, though: An Opinion.
Read the rest of this entry »

Okay. Let’s keep this just the facts, as everyone knows what they mean. The tech specs for Bioshock 2 are out. They’re reasonable enough. There’s also some fun DRM. Online verification via SecuRom, with an install limit (15 machines, admittedly). To save the game or play online, you need to be logged into Games for Window Live. This still applies on Steam – so SecuRom and Games For Windows Live are needed in addition to the Steam client. Hmm.

UPDATE: 2K Community Manager Elizabeth elaborates over at the forums. In short, it will be doing the standard Games for Windows Live activation – as in, you can play and save games offline without achievements. SecuROM is only a disc-check method for the retail copy. While final details of Steam are forthcoming, that may imply it won’t be there. Hmm.

Comments thread… go. Let me and Edwin Starr provide the soundtrack.
Read the rest of this entry »

Happy change of two calendar digits, younglings! While I attempt to warm up my brain farm, let me distract you by throwing my aforementioned leftovers from my recent interview with Bioshock 2’s Jordan Thomas and Melissa Miller at you. They’ll only go to waste otherwise, which would prolong my inevitable torment in Writer Hell. Read on for their thoughts on heading up a new studio and why they don’t think the game’s divisive multiplayer is throwaway…
Read the rest of this entry »

As we’ve mentioned a number of times previously, Bioshock 2 will feature multiplayer. A new video of that mode has been released unto the internet today, and we’ve posted it below for your delectation. As you might expect, it demonstrates a number of the in-game powers, the barks of your freakish gene-splicing characters, their weapons, and the rather splendid Art Deco environments that all the murderin’ is going to take place in. It’s an odd addition to the game, however, and I can’t help thinking about how hard they’re going to have to try to compete with their contemporaries. Is an old-skool deathmatch add-on really want we demand for 2010?
Read the rest of this entry »

Eurogamer editor Tom “Tom Bramwell” Bramwell has been delving into Bioshock 2, and – following a trip to 2K Marin – he’s been kind enough to unload some of his head-meat into our blog. Read on for hot diggity.

Hello, Role-Playing Shooters! Remember BioShock? They’re making another one. Seeing as I’m a bit of a regular in Rapture, Jim asked me if I’d be willing to write something about it on my next trip to the surface, and I said I’d be delighted. Either that or I got drunk and offered. I can’t remember, and it doesn’t matter.
Read the rest of this entry »

2K Games have released another trailer, via CVG, for Bioshock 2, this time narrated by a lady who is, presumably, the person who appears in a clever twist/cutscene about three-quarters of the way through the game. Or Shodan Under The Sea? Hmm, perhaps, but I guess it’s all a matter of philosophy, as we’ll no doubt find out soon. Anyway, go watch the action – for it is actiony – in the video-bathysphere below.
Read the rest of this entry »

This morning we behold the multiplayer footage of Bioshock 2, in which people are augmented splicers in the submerged environs of Rapture. These splicers get cracking killing each other with physics and deployable turrets, which all looks rather entertaining. But… what’s that? There’s a use for the research camera? And someone gets to be the Big Daddy? A Tank round for genetically-spliced deathmatch? Intriguing. We’ll have more on Bioshock 2 rather soon.
Read the rest of this entry »