Kotaku
Look. I know you're upset. You've been hangin' on BioShock, it's here now, and there are problems. Some of these problems are indeed that, problems. The SecuROM thing, not cool. But things like servers being down, widescreen ratios, issues with installs, etc? Hardly intentional! It's cause for disappointment, sure, but not ANGER. If anyone remembers 2004, you'll remember a game called Half-Life 2. Big game, loads of people were hyped for it, it hit, and...oh boy were there problems. Authentication problems, install problems, oh, the wailing went on for days, and was deafening. Thing is, like all things do, the problems soon passed.
Things got fixed. People could play the game. People enjoyed playing the game. End of story, happy ending. Same thing's going to happen to BioShock. The bigger the game, the bigger the whine. And it's exactly that: a game. Let's not try and forget that. If having to wait a few days for problems to get fixed gets you to the point where you're talking boycotts and lawsuits and speaking of 2K in an overall furious tone, do try and relax. This digital distribution thing, it's still relatively new, and it's bound to buckle under the weight of a big game. People are working on these issues, hard, and fixes will come.
In fact if you head over to Cult of Rapture you'll see a lot of them being addressed today. First up, the limited installs:
Starting immediately, we will be upping the activation count to a 5 by 5 plan. We will be raising the maximum amount of computers a user can have BioShock installed on simultaneously from 2 to 5, and allowing a user to reinstall BioShock on each of those computers from 3 times to 5 times.Also on the table, widescreen issues:
And as for widescreen, we also want to say we completely understand a user's desire to augment their FOV. BioShock is a harrowing experience, but we don't want anyone to feel limited (or motion sick!). So we are in the process of working on an official PC patch to give widescreen PC users a choice to expand their horizontal FOV, and are investigating creating a similar update for the 360.See? Relax. Think of a calm, blue ocean. Or a little fluffy rabbit. Everything's going to be OK. Racer_S is even going to snag a nice reward for his troubles.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.
Comments
to quote grampa simpson: "Awww, bitch bitch bitch"
Luke, I am not pissed about BioShock infact I am buying it to calm me down because there is no damn Wii games (again) to play.
Bioshock weekend for me, broken widescreen and all.
Awww, and I JUST send the tip to you guys. Oh well. Glad to see that this is better. Since I don't own (or intend to own) the PC version, I really don't have much to say on this, but it's glad that SOMETHING was done.
The demo for Bioshock rocked. Hope the full game is good as well.
-nesdude
...free graphics card? Er, I'm Racing F! Gimme gimme gimme.
That sea looks a little choppy.
Wow, that's a nice gift.
@Hagglegaggle: It's racing S who did the mod they liked.
Racing F is the most wanted torrent hacker on the nets. The cops will be coming to pick you up in a few minutes.(This part may be a lie, but seriously. If you're gonna lie about your name for stuff, at least get it right)
@Hagglegaggle: oh, you. you and i both know youre the '360 in da water!" kid, but i hope you gets the card all the same.
I said it once and Ill say it again, silly tech whores. :D
@Kirbytheslayer: Doh, Racer S, not racing.
Now even I seem stupid. Thanks a lot Haggle.
They are just using the "Video card" ploy to bring racer_s out of hiding so they can sue the hell out of him. It's a very common tactic, used by very respectable companies like the RIAA and MPAA.
wtf worst game ever.
The only thing wrong with Bioshock is the PC version. Companies need to learn that this SecuROM/Rootkit bullshit just ends up hurting the consumer that actually paid for the game. In the meantime the person who downloaded a fully cracked version breezes through the process.
Here's an easy solution for widescreen: If you want to keep the 4:3 ratios for non WS 480p sets just... make the true widescreen feature an option you can toggle on or off on the menu.
They sound like nice guys. Still, I'm boycotting it for lack of Win 95 support and it runs crappy on my geforce2!
It's too little too late. I will continue to boycott bioshock because these assholes thought they could get away with such a retarded protection system.
The only thing at this point that could get me to buy bioshock would be the complete removal of the install system which would probably be impossible without recalling all the copies. I'm not saying no protection. Just make it like every other PC game: CD Key + CD Check. No bull**** authentication and install limits. I should never have to make an international call because I've installed my game too many times.
I'm sorry, all I heard was, "Blah blah blah, I'm a dirty whore".
When are they gonna replace my broken figure? :(
I am sad, guys.
@TheIrishNinja: I was holding out for the Falcon chipset, but I guess it's moot since I'd have to wait for fall '08. Sigh! You can count me among the people who fall into the "Don't Really Give a Fuck About the Console War But Happen to Own a Singular Specific Model So Discount Anything Disparaging They Say Against Another Console" crowd as of this month, I guess.
@Kirbytheslayer: My gift to you.
@Phiedny: Really from where?
@Iron_Dragon_2.0: WOW you had to male a call like that damn! I call to intall software all the time.
@daschupa: LOL What about 3.1 and dos man! I mean really it's friggin 2007 and I can run my game with a *.bat file!
hold up why is no one complaining about multilayer? These seas are fishy man!
I havn't went out to get it yet... too much work to do!
The thing I find really funny is that while everyone's been moaning about "widescreen issues" (I don't care as long as the game fills my TV and looks great, which it does at widescreen) I've been playing and loving Bioshock since Monday.
Fantastic game, those of you waiting for a patch to ensure you get a "proper picture" should really just get on and play this modern classic.
Obviously there are other issues with the PC version and so PC gamers have my condolences. Bioshock was the game that made the finally switch from PC to 360 for probably everything (and I did it because I have a widescreen TV, hahaha).
Tomorrow the sun will rise! [www.dimipapa.com]
Or you could, you know, play it on the Xbox 360...
Sorry, I couldn't resist. Seriously though, shit like this (and the skyrocketing prices of computer hardware) is why I play everything on consoles these days. PC gaming just isn't worth the hassle of patching five times in as many days after the release, updating drivers, checking readmes, borked installations, burning incense and aligning my carpet fibers in the proper direction, just to get the damn game to work. Not to mention that you have to shell out several hundred (I can't wait for the inevitable "OMG U NOOB I KAN MAK OOBER GAEM PC WIT NEWEGG FOR $700!!!") every two years AT LEAST to be able to play the games at decent settings. I slapped down $400 for my 360, and it'll keep me at the bleeding edge of gaming for AT LEAST the next 2 years, if not 4. $400 doesn't even get you a top-of-the-line graphics card these days, much less more RAM, probably a new processor, and maybe even a new mobo and/or power supply as well.
I mean sure, games on PC start to look better than their console counterparts near the end of the console's lifespan, but I challenge anyone to list a PC game that looked as good as Halo 2 when it came out, beside possibly FarCry and F.E.A.R.
Now if they could just perfect RTS and MMO controls for console... That's the holy grail of console development, and, in my opinion, the death knell of PC gaming.
I have to throw in my 2 cents here on the whole "[whining] stupid copy protection [more whining]" issue. I agree that protection sometimes gets out of hand, but with how rampant the PC platform piracy is it's the only way these developers can afford to make a computer game. It's not quite this cut-and-dry, but it could be boiled down to this simple question: can you deal with copy protection or would you rather everyone just made console versions and left it at that? Even the most well-funded and creative of developers need to make money back after three years of pure spending while they developed the game you intend to enjoy.
Still a putting a RK on your computer..
Have fun with that. Talk about complete lies and bs from 2k.
Hope it doesnt invite those hellish rings on my 360.
@Len Bias Cocaine Surplus:
actually it's a phenomenal game with a little stumbling problem right now. if you don't want to play it that's your loss. i'm loving it on my 360 and i'm hoping the pc version gets up to snuff soon.
LOL intall , I install apps like that all the time... If it's good then it's worth it hey but I understand root kits are bad and so is spy ware "remover apps" LOL.
@Hagglegaggle: WOW that was even hard for me to follow! I hand the crown over to you! Please hope to god you are not that guy because people will be on there way to see you!
Hey every thing looks good to me. I'll wait for the patch... metorid comes out next week any ways.
@IceCracker: "but I challenge anyone to list a PC game that looked as good as Halo 2 when it came out, beside possibly FarCry and F.E.A.R"
Half-Life 2, but it came out 7 days later.
Cool a free 8800, but is it the GTX?
My 8800GTS 640mb does the job for now (Crysis!)
I already beat the game on the PC, and found the final hours of Bioshock to be incredibly frustrating and repetitive. I felt like every new level required me to collect some worthless item, and kill 3 big daddies. It's a shame because I loved the first half of the game, and the story was perfect, but I think the actual gameplay didn't vary enough for the amount of time the game dragged on. Still, it's definitely one of the better games this year.
Also, I installed Half-Life 2 the day it came out without any issues, while Bioshock crashed multiple times, although not frequent enough to cause much concern.
@IceCracker: LOL quake 3...LOL Ut2004 come on bumb mapping man really where you drunk? That was old school graphic tech man?
Damn man where to you shop you can get 8 gigs of ram for 500 dollar and
$270.00 - geforce 8800 gts the 7950 is even less? I understand keep up with tech is a bitch but that what the hardcore do.
And man come on HL2? WTF man are you a foot ball player or some thing?
@IceCracker: Half life 2; doom 3, far cry, UT 2004; fear wasnt out so...
@ASchwarzenegger: So hold on thats a root kit now? Man 3dstudio max has been doing that for a while then! WOW man you can't trust any thing on a PC! I'm getting a mac! bio shock works on the mac right! Wait the 360 had issues too damn!
people are madd damn!
Anti-piracy efforts thus far have been hilarious.
All they do is hinder and hassle the legitimate user while the pirate always conveniently finds his way around.
Wow. They're giving him an Nvidia 8800? daamn
@IceCracker:
Why wish death on a great platform for indie developers?
Jeez... there was so much BAWWWing that I stopped caring. Too many whiny fags on the net.
The reason console hardware is so cheap is because it's sold at a loss (except for the Wii). That, also, is presumably why console games are so much more expensive than PC ones. If you buy a lot of games it's probably possible to break even, but I doubt there are that many games out there worth playing.
Which is good, because I don't have time for it. Now to see how Bioshock runs on my current PC. I'm planning an upgrade soon, and I think I'm going to need it.
So I've heard people have been having some technical issues with the PC version (aside from secuROM and widescreen, which are now effectively non-issues). I believe sound playback issues were mentioned in the Gamespot review, and perhaps some graphical problems (can't quite remember). So, if the demo ran perfectly on my system, can I expect the full version to do the same? And if anyone has experienced these problems, did they have the same problems with the demo? Just wanna be sure the game will run smoothly before I plunk down the cash for it.
@Runna:
Could you say "man" anymore?
I wish people would stop calling it a rootkit, as it has yet to be proven to be one, or to be proven to allow any spy/malware be installed behind it...
People want to bitch, and that's what they do.
Who do they think they're stopping by going through all this trouble? People who buy products that don't work as expected shouldn't be happy about it. Why should it require patches and hacks be written by community users before a company takes action?
I don't see that "this has happened before" is a worthy excuse. How gracious of 2K to allow 5 installs instead of unlimited like almost everyone else. Guess how many installs pirates will get?
Well, nothing more I can do other than post this
[www.youtube.com]
@IceCracker: Now if they could just perfect RTS and MMO controls for console... That's the holy grail of console development, and, in my opinion, the death knell of PC gaming.
Heh, as much as I am an old-school PC gamer, I have to concur. Give me a console keyboard, mouse, an anonymous-IP service to allow me to continue torrenting media, and I'd probably chuck my PC in the river without so much as a twinge of loss.
The only real lasting argument for the PC is the ability to steal/sample various media. I just can't let go of that "try before you buy" all-access pass, since there's so much shit out there as is.
i started using steam origonaly to get x3 with no system molestering starforce and since then have brought over 10 games on it and have loved its flexability up until now... i dont care if they up it to 50 installs, im still not buying this game untill that crap is gone!
@Runna: dam man, what did you run out of LOLs
HAHA, just giving you a hard time
Sorry, but DRM like this still makes it very hard to justify the purchase, no matter how many activations there are. If they want to keep this for boxed copies and let Steam get away with the Steam activation, I'd at least buy that version, but come on with these CP schemes that only hurt those that WANT to support you.
@lotkrota: Try running rootkit revealer. Guess what it'll find? SecuROM!
Plus, the thing updates itself to keep a blacklist of programs - without letting you know about it. Imagine my surprise one day when I couldn't play C&C3 suddenly, and it turned out that it was because SecuROM suddenly hated Process Explorer (A legitimate Sysinternals utility endorsed by Microsoft).
Also, if you think I'm being too uptight about DRM, take a look at all of those Ubisoft games sitting on my shelf that I can't play anymore because I'm not using an operating system that the DRM's compliant with. So much wasted money, and that is why DRM pushes me towards either consoles or the exact thing they try to stop with these CP programs.
@TetraNitroCubane:
just cause it reads it as a rootkit doesn't mean it is one. I've had various virus scans read other scans and other programs as viruses, and tried to get me to delete them...
Think of it this way, Sony was sued already for a rootkit issue, you think they'd do the same thing so soon?
@IceCracker:
Meh. I really can't imagine playing "Civilization" or "Total War" games on a console.
Sure, it might be possible with a HDTV, but I'd much rather be sitting at a desk, with the tech-tree and/or map spread out in front of me, playing the game on a monitor that is only a few feet away, rather than sitting on a couch trying to read the text and see the tiny units on my TV.