Wirehead Studios

Hey guys


as most of you know irrational games are due to release there psuedo sequel to System Shock 2, the demo is already out on fileplanet and is looking good

but how many of you intend on buying it?, i for one have already reserved a copy and have been modding the demo's code to allow weirder plasmids and weapons

i may also have to supp up my processor and memory as it's extremely power hungery and stutter's a little on mine

but play the demo and let's discuss if it will be a flop or a hit and does it justify the amount of hype it has had

I've only played the demo and It actually made my jaw drop, if this is the power of the unreal tournament 3 engine UT3 will kick everyone's ass with eye candy, as for whether or not I'm gonna buy it... I dunno, I'm pretty poor these days but when I can afford it I will be very tempted...

I've not tried it because, as I read on [H]ardOCP, you have to update your video drivers to a beta version in order for it to work properly?  I don't like using beta drivers if I can help it, and I don't feel like updating drivers and reconfiguring all my freaking SLI profiles again just right now.  I think I remember seeing a video of part of it a while back.  I've not played System Shock or SS2 beyond a brief foray into coop with oobey and ConfusedUs a few years ago.  We didn't get very far as we were having connection difficulties.

huh... I didn't really update my vid drivers, just used some from... jan of last year i think...

I'm planning on buying it for the Xbox360, looks pretty good to me, and any new good 360 games are welcome.

I'm not sure where everyone is located but both the PC version and the Xbox 360 version have been released in the USA.

I have played the Xbox 360 demo, and my roommate owns a copy of the game.  Personally, I've never been a fan of games that take the "you're-the-character" route when it comes to story.  However, Bioshock is a highly atmospheric game.  So if you're a fan of the System Shock series or just like atmospheric games, Bioshock will not let you down in that regard. :)

As for potential issues... I've heard of a few issues with the game so far...

The PC version includes security software that only allows for the game to be installed twice unless a previous copy has been uninstalled.

Both the PC and the Xbox 360 version handle 4:3 resolutions differently than 16:9 resolutions.  Currently, 4:3 resolutions are displayed with a higher FOV so you see more vertically than you would with 16:9.  Irrational Games (now 2K Boston I think) decided that was a bad move and has announced that both versions will receive a patch that will allow the user to adjust his FOV.

The special edition release for the PC seems to have been shipped with some chinsy "Big Daddy" figures.  A lot are found broken upon opening the case.

Well, i downloaded the Bioshock demo yesterday off the Xbox Marketplace, i liked it.
And what do you mean when you say "your-the-character" games?

Kain's referring to pure FPS where your "character" has no speaking or interacting role other than to be solely controlled by the player, in addition to roles where you may see your character in the thirdperson but never hear him speak a word.

Think... just about any FPS Valve has made since HL1

Ah, ok then. I really dont care how much your character talks, Duke Nukem would practicly never shut up, but he was cool (Same with ShadowWarrior and Blood). But I liked Gordon too, but sometimes in HL2 it seemed a bit strange how he would not talk back to people when they were talking to him... but I guess thats his 'thing'. And I think Lo-Wang is my second favorite game character, he was just hilarious, first is the Doom Marine (duh).

Wow... we got off topic (sorry), anyway, yeah I want to get Bioshock.

I've played the demo, and from what I've played through I can say that I'm impressed with what I see. Even though my PC isn't blazingly fast when it comes to games (It runs HL2 at full speed, but has a few problems on more advanced games), the frame rate is certainly tolerable for me. I'll likely get this for the X-Box 360 instead though, as I like to lean back and relax on my bed as opposed to hurting my back from sitting in the chair for too long.

Ok, I just bought it, and now I'm going to go play it.  :doom_thumb:

Your back really shouldn't hurt if you have your desk set up properly. If anything you're letting yourself be fooled by a false sense of comfort by wanting to "lean back". That aside however, I can't imagine choosing any FPS on the console over it on the PC. But that's just me, I hate trying to look around with a d-pad or analog stick. The Wii may change that perception if done correctly, but I haven't been able to try one.

The demo for Bioshock was rather impressive, and I am a fan of System Shock, so I may buy it later down the road when the price drops. The idea that I can only have it installed on so many computers at the same time is discouraging however. Certainly not as annoying as Steam, but definitely up there.

Aye, the Vampire has a good point there Visy.  If your chair makes your back protest then perhaps it's time for a new chair.

I did used to have a very comfortable chair, but for whatever reason my mom tossed that one away when we moved, leaving me with a crappy one. When we get the money again I'll look into it.

I also forgot to note that, until I can also upgrade this PC, I'm sticking to the game consoles for new releases. I'm not fond of making a game look like it was made by a two-year old (Overexaggeration, but you get the jist of it) just to get it to run right. I will kill some of the graphics if their visual impact isn't noticable (Like setting shadow details to low, or even off when in multiplayer games, as you're not going to pay attention to them anyway) and even lower the screen resolution by one level (I usually use 1024x768, so that translates to 800x600), but that's as far as I'll go.

I know what you mean.  That's exactly why I waited to play Doom 3 until I had hardware that could run it at maximum framerate at a decent resolution with all the effects turned on except FSAA, which I don't really care much about as it eats way too much performance when I can just bump to a higher resolution and get about the same result.  Trying to play a game where the mood depends on certain environmental effects with said effects turned off just so you can move around is kind of pointless to me.  It would be like paying for a seat at a high class theatre to watch Hamlet and getting a puppet show version.

Sometimes, the expectations are so high that people will play DooM3 on Pentium IIIs.
Honestly, I got used to crappy graphics. All of my graphic options in Q3 are set to low/minimum. Hell, Major's model really looks like it was made by a 3-years old! But, when all you want is performance, you have to make sacrifices sometimes. Though I love to play games with the graphic options set to their maximum.

Regarding somebody's question i'm from blighty so it wasn't released here till last week

more importantlly i hate much like pho playing games on crappy resolutions, i'd much rather be able to max everything out and have it purring like a kitten

as for Bioshock it is going to be one of those games you either love or hate but so far the plus points for me have been

1. It's freeform, so your not restricted to going wherever you like ( always a plus as i hate FPS's that are on rails)
2. The weapons / plasmid combo's are upto you i.e if you like pulling things close with the telekinesis plasmid then blowing the crap out of them with the shotgun then you can, if you like just being some kind of plasmid mage you can do that too
3. the sheer scope of the game, seriously it's bloody huge

and now the negative points

i have a Duel Core 2.8Ghz Processor, two geforce 6600gt sli cards with the link thingy, 2gb of ram

and the sucker stutter's slightly when there's a lot on screen and that's with the maximum setting on

so my bad points

1. It's seriously power hungery, more so than the demo :wtf:
2. if you haven't got a decent graphics setup don't bother with it
3. if you buy it be prepared to lose your social life

as i have had it since the 25th of august and haven't left the house  :( am i sad quite possibly

however if you like FPS shooters you can't go wrong with bioshock, it's cleverly written, deeply immersive and (and this is the major point ) it's fun

unlike HL2 and D3 or even Q4 which allthough i like

always had me being directed to the next objective / mission which didn't really give much scope for exploring or creating my own story.

is it however worth the hype, ummm not really

it's what happens when somebody combines Oblivion with Half Life 2 and removes the barriers and although it's fun (while it lasts) it's not the best thing ever

Played this game in my mate's house on Saturday and was well impressed (his PC packs a GF8800 and an Athlon64 2x4.2Ghz CPU, so no issues there). Visually the game is breathtaking. When I got home I grabbed the demo and found that it's completely broke on any hardware that lacks SM3.0, so I'm hoping that there'll be a complete fix on ShaderShock for my humble x600 in the near future before I fork out hard cash. Shame, really, because in terms of detail my card doesn't have any issues.

I wouldn't mind so much, except that Microsoft's excessive bank balance put paid to any hope of the PS3 version seeing the light of day, which I'd have paid the ?50 for.

And my motherboard is standard PCI, so no chance of an upgrade.

I need to stop typing before I get bitter and irritable. :wall:

Perhaps you should start rejoicing -- Generations will run just fine on your current hardware! Right? :]

Played a bit of it -- so far it's fantastic. Takes Art Deco seriously and it runs acceptably. Gameplay could be better, but I'm enjoying it more as a Art Deco meets Jules Verne type world to explore. Some effects are rather unrealistic, but others are great (they've spent a lot of work making water look nice). Thumbs up, I'd say.

Having sorted out my PC issues (turns out one of the SATA ports was fried) I discovered that my x600 WAS PCI-E so I now have a spanking new GF7300. Not much faster than the x600 but it has the important ingredient: SM3.0! So I now have the game, however I bought it in the knowledge that I'd be biding my time until 2K Games come good on their promise to sort out the game's frankly deplorable DRM issues (http://www.destructoid.com/2k-wants-to-make-it-up-to-you-bioshock-pc-players-40330.phtml).

I'm not installing it until then. It wouldn't be an issue if that meant 2 simultaneous installs on separate PC's, but it means Two. Installs. Ever. Even if they've upped it to five, no finite amount of installs can ever be enough without a means of online deactivation in the event of uninstall/system recovery/purchase of a new rig. I bought it on Friday, so 2K should have their cut of the ?29.99 I paid for it by now. It's their turn to get their fingers out.

I appreciate the need for copy-protection, but mark my words, this game Will be beaten by the Jolly Roger, so all this serves to do is make life harder for us paying suckers.

Sorry, didn't mean to turn the thread into a piracy rant.

Wait... 2 installs for the life of the game?  I was thinking about looking at this game, but I'm not even going to bother with the demo now.  They fix this and maybe I'll consider it.  I'm fed up with all this "You have to have our permission to use what you already paid for" crap.  How about this - find a way to stop piracy without treating legit users like criminals.  More carrot, less stick please.  I don't react well to being hit with things.  -_-

No, re-read the article.  It means two simultaneous installs.  You make a good point about PC's whose software is beyond recovery though.  An activation/deactivation tool is a good solution for now, but what about the long term?  What if 2K Games goes out of business?  Are you SOL?  This is why I hate online activation and digital distribution.  (It's also why I will not purchase games through Steam anymore.  It's better to purchase the game at retail so I can get a physical copy as well as the Steam license.)

Even if it is 2 simultaneous installs, that means I can only ever run it on my current PC and my next. That's not a good outlook, considering that I'm on my third PC in 5 years (which could very nearly have been my fourth). My last PC was a victim of Starforce, so it would not be the first time I've been burned by dracionian copy-protection measures (plus, Bet On Soldier ended up being a pile of shite anyway).

I don't use Steam at all. I'm no stranger to online activation (XP, anyone?) so when my mate originally told me the deal with his initial install of BS my immediate reaction was: hey, at least it's not Steam. How wrong I was, as it turns out.

Long-term, sadly, the only real solution would probably be a hack, crack 'n' repack. Dubious, I know, but in the event that 2K did go bust, there wouldn't be much else. Besides which, by that stage it's likely that no one would care (the company's bust). The same goes for Valve with Steam. I don't condone warez, but if worst came to worst, my conscience would be clear. I've paid my way.

Another thing that occured to me, what measures are 2K going to put in place to ensure that this revoke tool can't be used by some warez monkey to hijack some poor bugger's legit CD key for their own use? Unless there's some unique piece of encryption on every disk (which I doubt) I can see that happening. Whilst not as apocalyptic, that actually happened to me with both my Q3A keys. I can't play on a server that has sv_strictauth enabled, despite having 2 legit copies of the game (Q3A and Q3Gold).

Ultimately, when I pay £30 for a game, I want to be able to wear the disk out if I see fit. Or, install the game and put the disk away in a nice neat corner, only ever to be used again if my PC screws up (once again, I'm no stranger). This is why I appreciate id enabling no-CD/DVD in their update patches, so you can play the game without the disk, providing you have a unique key ;) Like Pho said, more carrot, less stick.

I was also a victim of the "INVALID CD_KEY/MISTTYPED CD_KEY?" problem a while back, despite the fact that I have 3 legal copies of Q3A and have never given out a CD key, nor had a spyware infection that might steal them.  Face it, the keygens will win, the crackers will win, so the stick is only going to hurt legit users.  I hate to do this, but I must cite a real life example.  Look at gun control laws.  Do they ever, ever stop the criminals from being criminals, or do they just limit people who intend to follow the law in the first place?

You wanna cut down on piracy and encourage legitimate purchases?  How about some swag?  I remember when Wing Commander 3 was released in a movie film tin with some extra goodies in there, like a calendar, novel, shirt, and I think a poster.  Of course the coolest part was - it was in a movie tin!  That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about.  Release the game with a bunch of goodies for the first X number of people who pre-order or buy the game retail.  Consider that your "marketable" audience.  After that run, you sell the game at a reasonable price with a reduced goodie set, then at a bargain bin price afterward. All the people who are willing to pay for the game will have done so, and by that time the pirates will be hard at work and won't care anyway.  They want to pirate?  Fine, they get no booty.

If anyone thinks this business model doesn't work... I pre-ordered the last three Wing Commander games.  I've got the tin, I got the hint book for WCIV which was sent as swag without me even knowing it in advance.  Prophecy didn't really have any swag, but it was enough eye candy and solid game play I didn't care.  Origin had it right back then, and I think game companies are trying too hard to sink pirates and they're starting to take on Cutler Beckett's tactics to combat them.