BioShock should’ve failed... In fact, it did fail a lot, over the course of time. A series of big mistakes and corrections and slipped ship dates, but all of these helped make it a good game... Some people think that constantly messing up, and pushing dates isn’t a good way to make a game, but as far as I’m concerned it’s the only way to make a good game.

Bungled development and repeated delays are your friends! Do not hate. Do not.

Wy BioShock Should Have Failed [Gamasutra via Binge Gamer]

This October, I hope I will spend the vast majority of my days sitting in a rapidly expanding pool of hysterically evacuated urine. And I need your help to do it.

Let's face it: despite the fact that almost every game has monsters in it, there aren't many truly scary games. Games that have scared me, off the top of my head, include Silent Hill, System Shock 2 and, ironically, quite a few adventure games, like Gabriel Knight and I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream. Most of these games are frightening not because of monsters or mere spooky moments, but because there's something deeply unsettling philosophically behind them.

I want to spell all of October playing some truly scary games. The thing is, I don't really know of many that don't merely fall into the FPS with monsters mold. I'm looking for games with less monsters jumping out of closets to blaze down with a shotgun than I am looking for games that disturb on a deeper level. For example, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream is terrifying because of the reality-shifting cruelty of an insane, malicious god willing to torture for infinity. System Shock 2 is unsettling because of the horrors of losing your humanity in infinite space, all alone. Silent Hill's dreamlike psychological symbolism touches something raw.

So help me, guys. Help me find some good horror games, fitting the above criteria. Any suggestions you have, no matter how old, would be welcome. Remember anyone can comment now: just enter your comment, a username and a password and you're on your way to becoming a Kotakuite! Florian Eckhardt

It's cool and all, but that's not what I'm talking about. Recently, a forumer over at Quarter to Three tried to identify these four people, so as to help SHTUP get higher-res image replacements.

You might recognize the images from System Shock 2 as the faces of the Recreation Deck's virtual prostitutes. Surprisingly, identifying them has been pretty hard, since the source images of the celebrities used seem to have been heavily altered.

Number 2 was quickly identified as Elizabeth Shue. But the identity of number four was a big surprise:

But that's perhaps not as surprising as the identity of prostitute number one:

That's right: it's frickin' Machiavelli.

System Shock 2 prostitute number 3's a big mystery, though. Anyone know who that is? Can you prove it? Let us know in the comments section. Florian Eckhardt

And there's cussing! Designer Ken Levine gets catty as he explains why there is no sequel to System Shock 2, saying that "EA just didn't give a shit about that game." OMG, he just said shit!

The PC game System Shock 2 was planned for the Dreamcast, but cancelled. Levine says EA "didn't see it as a big brand." Publisher 2K Games did, which is why Levine brought signed with him to release his upcoming BioShock for the PC and Xbox 360. 2K Games, they give a shit. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Eurogamer]

Earlier today, Ashcraft mentioned how much he enjoyed looking at concept art, following a game from raw, feverish inspiration to a more polished finished product. I'm similar and I was delighted to find that I could recognize almost every area in Gareth's sketches. If you're a fond ex-Rickenbacker, check it out.FLORIAN ECKHARDT

System Shock 2 Concept Art [Gareth Hinds]

We're big System Shock 2 fans, so of course we simply had to paste up the first official screenshot from Irrational's upcoming System-Shock-Meets-World-War II-Or-Something spiritual successor, Bioshock.

Scary! We love creepy undersea divers!