Creative Bankrupcy: Bioshock 3 (this time it's in the sky!)

[Nephtys]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/debut ... ite/702795

Really now? Could there be any more creatively bankrupt idea than to go 'I know, let's make some other ideological utopia gone wrong involving giant inhuman guardians and girls who have some sort of magical power set in a strange setting... but in the sky this time!'

Face. Palm.

[adam_grif]

Would you prefer yet another underwhelming romp in Rapture? The things you just mentioned are what Bioshock is about, and arguably this could be a better successor than a sequel that is actually set in Rapture.

[Stark]

They could just make... y'know... another game.

Oh well, it'll be fun watching Borderlands outsell yet another game based on lies.

[adam_grif]

They could just make... y'know... another game.

No shit? Except they're obviously making a Bioshock sequel, so would you rather the sequel be actually different in some ways or another carbon copy? Not that I even give a fuck, because I never liked the first one.

[Stark]

I guess they figure the sales of BS2 didn't meet expectations because of the setting, and not because BS1's success was due to a marketing campaign based on fiction.

What am I saying? So long as there's deep-sea suits with umbrellas on called 'happy uncles' or some shit flying around fat people the world over will buy it.

[Vympel]

I can't even remember the lies they told about Bioshock. I do know I liked it. Bioshock 2 was really more of the same, and I regret buying it at full price - foolish.

But yeah, if they're going to be this unimaginative, they could at least do me a favor and just remake the original System Shock. And then System Shock 2.

[adam_grif]

I can't even remember the lies they told about Bioshock.

You should know by now that "telling lies" == "disagrees with stark". Anyway, the game was advertised as a moody action title and that's what it was. It had great visuals, an unusual art style, and the ending that everybody seemed to love. Personally, the twist aside I found it pretty bland. The biggest failing in my opinion was that the shooting felt like crap from start to finish, and I never had all that much fun with plasmids. Oh, and vita-chambers.

[ShadowDragon8685]

This looks awesome. The fake-out intro was hilarious, too.

I just hope that there's more to interacting with people this time than your voice with an internetradio connection telling you what to do and a fuckton of assholes to shoot or avoid.

[General Zod]

I can't even remember the lies they told about Bioshock.

You should know by now that "telling lies" == "disagrees with stark". Anyway, the game was advertised as a moody action title and that's what it was. It had great visuals, an unusual art style, and the ending that everybody seemed to love. Personally, the twist aside I found it pretty bland. The biggest failing in my opinion was that the shooting felt like crap from start to finish, and I never had all that much fun with plasmids. Oh, and vita-chambers.

You know you could turn the vita-chambers off, right?

[adam_grif]

Yes, but I didn't find out until like 2/3 through the game.

[Zixinus]

Meh, at least they're trying something new and interesting. I wonder when we'll see "Bioshock: IN SPACE!". You know it's only a matter of time.

I do wonder what they have instead of plasmids though.

They could just make... y'know... another game.

And abandon a recognised IP that is a name to print money?

[Setzer]

The American flags and blarings of "Columbia Gem of the Ocean" kinda turned me off. Rapture felt like its own society, like Ryan really wanted to make his own country. This looks more like "This is what America should have been."

[General Zod]

Meh, at least they're trying something new and interesting. I wonder when we'll see "Bioshock: IN SPACE!". You know it's only a matter of time.

I do wonder what they have instead of plasmids though.

They could just make... y'know... another game.

And abandon a recognised IP that is a name to print money?

It's worth noting the studio doing this game had nothing to do with Bioshock 2. That was 2k Marin.

[Srelex]

At least they made the effort of changing the setting, even if this raises even more questions than Rapture (and nobody noticed the giant floating city hovering over the middle of the US?)

[General Zod]

At least they made the effort of changing the setting, even if this raises even more questions than Rapture (and nobody noticed the giant floating city hovering over the middle of the US?)

It's supposed to be set in South America, iirc.

[Mr Bean]

Meh, at least they're trying something new and interesting. I wonder when we'll see "Bioshock: IN SPACE!". You know it's only a matter of time.

Bioshock in space AKA System Shock

Here's my thoughts in no real order
First off I hate the name "BioShock Infinite"
Second I strongly disagree with Setzer

The American flags and blarings of "Columbia Gem of the Ocean" kinda turned me off. Rapture felt like its own society, like Ryan really wanted to make his own country. This looks more like "This is what America should have been."

I think you went completely the wrong way with it. As Bioshock is a nasty example of what Libertarianism is when taken to it's extremes, Bioshock Infinite (Ugg) is an example of what happens when you take American exceptional-ism to it's extreme. The interviews with the games makers mention this...

In 1854, American Commodore Matthew Perry brought four gunships into the waters just off Japan. The presentation of American naval might and technological superiority was instrumental in opening Japan up to American trade. I bring up that example from history because the story of Columbia, and the context that Levine places it in, is very much about gunboat diplomacy.

"This isn't a game about history. This is a game set in the context of history," Levine said. Though turn-of-the-century America was transformed into a manufacturing powerhouse, there was one thing it couldn't manufacture more of. "We needed markets," he said. And like Perry's Black Ships, Columbia can be seen as both a vehicle for trade but also a means of gunboat diplomacy. Trade ... or else. To give us an example of that "context of history,"

So I'm saying this city is a gunboat of sorts to establish trade is what he's pushing, Levine even out and out calls the city "The Death Star" earlier in the interview. So while Bioshock mocked Ayn Rand, this one seems to mock the Bush Doctrine and Neo-conservatism. Or at least that's my read on it.

Third, I hate the art style re:humans. They all look like the plastic dolls of 2004 CGI. Which contrast way to sharply with the fact that everything else looks oh so very real with all the right reflections and shading and Hessian weave. How out of place would the character of Team Fortress 2 looked in a Crysis jungle or Modern Warfare 2 ghetto? That's why I hate that art style

[Zixinus]

It's supposed to be set in South America, iirc.

It should still be seen, as there were many farmplots on the ground.

Bioshock in space AKA System Shock

They could re-do it with a more Apollo-esque retro theme.

[General Zod]

It should still be seen, as there were many farmplots on the ground.

Maybe it has been? I don't think they've given away a huge amount of the plot details so far. Here's a more in-depth interview. http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/12/video ... -infinite/

[Stark]

I can't even remember the lies they told about Bioshock.

You should know by now that "telling lies" == "disagrees with stark". Anyway, the game was advertised as a moody action title and that's what it was. It had great visuals, an unusual art style, and the ending that everybody seemed to love. Personally, the twist aside I found it pretty bland. The biggest failing in my opinion was that the shooting felt like crap from start to finish, and I never had all that much fun with plasmids. Oh, and vita-chambers.

Your dishonesty is frankly amazing in it's audacity. Shooter 2.0 dynamic water emergent gameplay, should we link to the hilarious trailers?

Oh wait griffo wrong again! 5/5 game of the year.

[CaptHawkeye]

I can't even remember the lies they told about Bioshock.

You should know by now that "telling lies" == "disagrees with stark". Anyway, the game was advertised as a moody action title and that's what it was. It had great visuals, an unusual art style, and the ending that everybody seemed to love. Personally, the twist aside I found it pretty bland. The biggest failing in my opinion was that the shooting felt like crap from start to finish, and I never had all that much fun with plasmids. Oh, and vita-chambers.

lol moody Marketing buzzwords are fun.

Maybe you should have taken a look at the gameplay trailers and E3 demonstrations, which practically made up, oh wait, they DO make up the majority of any game's advertising. No I don't care about what a CG commercial made the game look like. Only idiots think a TV commercial accurately portrays a game.

But gasp grif is whiny and sad that people think he's full of shit news at 11.

[Setzer]

I think you went completely the wrong way with it. As Bioshock is a nasty example of what Libertarianism is when taken to it's extremes, Bioshock Infinite (Ugg) is an example of what happens when you take American exceptional-ism to it's extreme. The interviews with the games makers mention this...

I think it's possible to attack an ideology without attacking an individual nation. Criticizing Imperialism by criticizing America just feels lazy. That being said, I don't think it would be possible to keep the construction of a flying zeppelin city secret. So it seems that Bioshock Infinite is going into outright alternate history.

[Mr Bean]

Ahah! I was right, It's neo-con criticism the game as Bioshock hit up Libertarianism.

New interview with Gamespy is out

Ryan Scott: Did the developers note any specific philosophical ideologies they're exploring this time out? Are any Big Daddies or Little Sisters (or anything of the sort) running around in Columbia?

Mike Sharkey: As we quickly learned in the gameplay demo, Columbia's idyllic setting masks an ugly truth: The people of the city are racist, sexist, Bible-thumping zealots. To put things in perspective: One of Columbia's propaganda images features a sanctified George Washington standing with the Liberty Bell in one hand and the Ten Commandments in the other. Cowering at his feet are hideous caricatures of all the other races, religions, and nationalities of the world. It's a controversial image that clearly defines the ideology of Columbia's inhabitants: an ultra-extreme form of Americanism.

Linky
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/bioshock-3/1112352p1.html

[Stark]

The funny part is I bet these guys think they're a political voice.

[Mr Bean]

The funny part is I bet these guys think they're a political voice.

On the contrary I think they picked a Political viewpoint and took it to it's extreme (Libertarianism). Much like you might pick a color to paint you hallway (Gambol Gold (SW-6690) by Duron ) and then build a game off of it. I think this Shock and all shock games to come will follow this trend because it will both be 1. Eliminate most of the guess work. 2. Produce games that look and feel different even if the mechanisms are similar.

So Bioshock 3 here is Neo-conservatism AKA American Exceptional-ism/Imperialism taken to it's extreme (Lets paint the hallway Deusen Blue, HC-156)
Bioshock 4 can be a spin off of 3 if they want to keep to the formal done by a sloppy seconds developer along the same lines as Bioshock 2
So Bioshock 5 shall be hmm Corporatism done to extremes? No to easy... I know lets do Hippies... IN SPACE!
Or failing that I think they will go from Underwater to Airborne to... Under mountain? A new-age hippie society built in old missile silos or a giant series of cave tunnels.

So Bioshock 5 will be either Space Hippies or Underground Mole Hippies. I'm calling it now. Oooh... Lunar Hippies! Best of both worlds!

[ShadowDragon8685]

I would like to second the call for BioShock 5 to be lunar hippies. Running through geodesic domes and braced caverns with an assault rifle and a fistfull of lightning, dodging big guys in hard EV suits and creepy little girls in day-glow jumpsuits who want to extract the ooey gooey goodness from your live supple body, playing around with decompression and plasmid-based temporary no-need-for-oxygen-or-pressure powers... Dodging lightning storms and hacking robotic guard drones that finally make some goddamned sense...