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BioShock movie concept art emerges from Hollywood's depths
The BioShock movie isn't going to happen, but if it ever does, this is how it might look. Concept art from Hollywood illustrator Jim Martin depicts the underwater world of Rapture in BioShock, including grand, greenish cities and dank sewage tunnels. Rapture's interior has already fallen into disrepair in Martin's concepts, with one illustration showing dingy, peeling wallpaper, and another depicting a rusty Big Daddy repair room. The BioShock film is officially dead, after years of budget and talent negotiations. In 2008, Gore Verbinski announced he would direct a hard-R BioShock movie, and he wanted $200 million to make it as bloody as possible. Hollywood executives would only shell out $80 million, and Verbinski dropped out. 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo jumped on board but then leapt right back off in 2012. BioShock creator Ken Levine killed the project himself. Ah, what could have been. See all of Martin's BioShock concept art on his portfolio.
BioShock Infinite for OS X adds Columbia's Finest content, gets additional episodes
Aspyr has released an update to BioShock Infinite for the Mac that adds the Columbia's Finest DLC pack for free. The DLC pack originally shipped earlier this year -- and cost US$4.99 -- for PC and console users. And though Mac users had to wait, at least we don't have to pay. With Columbia's Finest, gamers will get six extra lock picks, 500 silver eagles and six new Gear items. They'll also get two new weapon upgrades: Comstock's Eagle Eye Sniper Rifle and the China Broom Shotgun. But the BioShock Infinite update doesn't just offer the Columbia's Finest DLC. Users will now also be able to purchase additional episodes including the latest BioShock Infinite episode, Burial at Sea - Episode 1 and an additional DLC called Clash in the Clouds. Here's the official description of Burial at Sea: Explore the city when it was at the height of its beauty, meet some old "friends," and make some new ones, all through the eyes of Booker DeWitt. Why are Booker and Elizabeth in Rapture? What was the city like before everything fell to pieces? The answers to these questions and more will be found in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Episode 1. Aspyr told me they were quite happy with the availability of Burial at Sea for the Mac because, "...together with our talented partners at Irrational and 2K, Aspyr was able to develop the Mac version alongside the PC and ship the same day." BioShock Infinite for Mac is available in the Mac App Store for US$39.99. BioShock Infinite Burial at Sea - Episode 1 is available via in-app purchase for $14.99. BioShock Infinite Clash in the Clouds is available via in-app purchase for $4.99.
2K offering three-game Holiday Bundles for $30 each
If you want to surprise your loved ones with a generous and value-conscious bouquet of shooters and strategy games on Christmas morning, 2K Games has you covered with its newly announced lineup of $29.99 Holiday Bundles for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Players who missed out on some of this generation's best first-person shooters (and who aren't averse to the occasional tactical strategy game) may enjoy 2K's Essentials Collection, which includes the original BioShock, Borderlands, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The Rogues and Outlaws Collection is an obvious choice for any rogues and outlaws in your immediate family, serving up copies of Borderlands 2, Spec Ops: The Line and Mafia 2. Finally, those who enjoy games with the number "2" in the title will love the 2K Power Pack, which offers BioShock 2, Mafia 2, and The Darkness 2. 2K is also offering a Definitive Strategy Collection, which includes the PC versions of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Sid Meier's Civilization V. All bundles (except for the Rogues and Outlaws Collection, which is a Walmart exclusive) are available at Amazon, GameStop, Walmart, and Best Buy.
BioShock PC triple pack on Amazon for $20
Booker, are you scared of deals? Get BioShock, BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite right now from Amazon's digital distribution service for $20. Yup, all three. Not ready to commit to Infinite? Well, then, you could grab Rapture vacation specials BioShock and BioShock 2 for $5. We're not sure anything from the CIrcus of Values costs less. So take a bathysphere over to Amazon for the BioShock triple pack or dual pack if you're interested. You know, free will and all that.
BioShock Infinite is the Mac game of the year
BioShock Infinite, one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, has come to the Mac via the Mac App Store. Originally released for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in March, its mix of jaw-dropping graphics, first-person shooter action, story and social commentary regarding racism, American exceptionalism and religious fundamentalism has led many to call it the best game of this decade so far and earned it over 85 prestigious awards. The game is the third installment in the BioShock series, but players don't need any knowledge of the first two installments as BioShock Infinite stands on its own with new characters and storyline. You play as Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, who is sent to the floating city of Columbia to find a mysterious woman named Elizabeth who has quantum powers. Though the city of Columbia floats in the sky, the game takes place in 1912. Yet many critics have noted that the themes in the game reflect the political, religious, plutocratic and populist divides in America running up to the 2012 elections. Besides typical weapons like guns, other items include a hook that allows you to zip around and between buildings on Columbia's rail system known as the Skyline, telekinetic powers and gangs of murderous crows (trust me, it makes sense in the game). As for how the game runs on the Mac, it's not much different than playing it on a PlayStation or Xbox, provided you have a fast enough computer. Any iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air bought in the last few years should handle the game just fine. The official system requirements are a Mac running OS X 10.8.3 or later, 2.2 GHz CPU speed, 4 GB of RAM, 512 MB of video RAM and 30GB of free disk space. The game itself is a 17.9 GB download. The minimum video card requirements are a Radeon HD 3870 or a GeForce 640M graphics card. If your Mac meets the minimum requirements, buy this game. I'm not even a big first-person shooter fan, but I've been only playing the game for a day and its story is so compelling that it's sucked me right in. Aspyr has done an outstanding job porting BioShock Infinite to the Mac, which looks and runs beautifully on a machine like the latest MacBook Pro with Retina display. Best of all, like any game bought from the Mac App Store, no CD or authentication is required, so you can just download and launch and you're in the game with very little load time. The game is also Game Center-compatible. BioShock Infinite is US$39.99.
BioShock series on sale at Green Man Gaming
Green Man Gaming is offering big discounts on the BioShock series. The original BioShock and the 2K Marin-made sequel, BioShock 2, are $5 each, while BioShock Infinite is down to $20. The discounts don't extend to the recently released arena combat mode, Clash in the Clouds. Two more add-ons have been announced for BioShock Infinite, including a return trip to Rapture in Burial at Sea and a following episode where players will assume the role of Elizabeth.
BioShock and BioShock 2 on sale for $9.99 on Mac App Store
Feral Interactive is celebrating the upcoming release of BioShock Infinite on the Mac by offering the first two installments of the BioShock series for 50 percent off. From now until September 3, you can get BioShock and BioShock 2 for US$9.99 each in the Mac App Store. Both games normally cost $19.99. The games are set in the fictional underwater city of Rapture in an alternate 1960s. Since their original release, each game has won myriad gaming awards and both are considered classics. This Thursday, August 29, BioShock Infinite will be released on the Mac App Store. BioShock Infinite takes place nearly 50 years before the first two games. Upon its release on other platforms in March of this year, the game went on to become one of the highest-rated games of all time, with Electronic Gaming Monthly, Game Informer, Eurogamer and the Official PlayStation Magazine all giving it a 10 out of 10.
BioShock Infinite Premium DLC now available separately on Steam
Steam has released the BioShock Infinite "Columbia's Finest" DLC as a separate download, available now for $4.99. This DLC was initially included with the Premium and Ultimate editions of the game at launch, and adds 500 Silver Eagles and 5 lockpicks to your stash, along with six exclusive gear items. You'll also get two weapon upgrades: Comstock's China Boom Shotgun, and Comstock's Eagle Eye Sniper Rifle. This content is not part of the season pass that Irrational Games announced back in February, which promises access to three separate pieces of downloadable content in the future.
BioShock fan film tells the tale of The Brothers Rapture
Following up on an intriguing teaser released last week, director Shaun Rykiss and a team of Vancouver film students have produced The Brothers Rapture, a BioShock fan film about a pair of siblings and their experiments with genetics-altering Plasmids in the underwater city of Rapture. If you've played the BioShock games, you might imagine that things don't turn out well for these guys, but the film provides an interesting look at what life may have been like for Rapture's citizens in the years before its fall. The lighting and Plasmid effects are quite nice, too. Director Rykiss has published a commentary track here.
Student film 'Brothers Rapture' revisits BioShock's underwater city
The Brothers Rapture is an upcoming short film put together by a group of Vancouver film students with a bit of Indiegogo funding, and this teaser should give you an idea of what it has in store. Plasmids, audio diaries, and the philosophical battle between art and commerce, oh my!
Zombie Tycoon 2 free on PS Plus this week; BioShocks, Metal Gears, God of Wars on sale
This week's free PS Plus game is Zombie Tycoon 2, launching tomorrow as a PSN download on PS3 and PS Vita. Zombie Tycoon 2 is the sequel to Frima Studios' real-time strategy game pitting two mad scientists against one another, each with an army of zombies at his beck and call, as they try to invade the town of Finkleville.In addition to the free game, the usual discount trumpeting will take place tomorrow. Spring Fever concludes with arguably its best week yet, offering up discounts themed around PlayStation All-Stars ($20 for PS Plus members) and its featured combatants. Many notable series are on sale, including entries in Metal Gear, Sly Cooper, BioShock, LittleBigPlanet, Devil May Cry, God of War, Infamous, Ratchet & Clank and Twisted Metal. The full list is available over on the PlayStation Blog.
Rapturous deal: BioShock 1 and 2 for $4 from GameFly
Can't afford the trip to Columbia? Want to catch up on lore and ethos that define BioShock before diving into BioShock Infinite? GameFly has you covered, offering a BioShock and BioShock 2 PC download bundle for only five bucks. Throw in the code GFDAPR20 at checkout for an additional 20 percent off, knocking the price down to a piddly $3.99.
Levine: 'I killed' the BioShock movie
Stop asking about the BioShock movie. It's dead, it's all Ken Levine's fault, and this is how it went down: Pirates of the Caribbean's Gore Verbinski announced he was directing a BioShock movie in 2008, and said he wanted to make it a hard-R-rated film with "a lot of blood," Irrational Games creative director Ken Levine said during a BAFTA talk, reported by Eurogamer.And then Watchmen came out and bombed by Hollywood standards, and the BioShock studio got cold feet. Verbinski originally wanted $200 million, but executives would commit to just $80 million, "and Gore didn't want to make a $80 million film," Levine said. Verbinski brought in a new director, 28 Weeks Later's Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, but by March he was also out, and Levine had pulled the plug."They brought another director in, and I didn't really see the match there – and 2K's one of these companies that puts a lot of creative trust in people," Levine said. "So they said if you want to kill it, kill it. And I killed it."A BioShock movie could get off the ground someday, maybe, Levine said. "It may happen one day, who knows, but it'd have to be the right combination of people." After all this public, back-and-forth teasing, we'd like to ask Levine if he'd kindly make a high-profile BioShock movie happen for real.
BioShock Vita still hasn't entered development, this is why
Take-Two and Sony have yet to sign a deal regarding Irrational Games' BioShock Vita installation – yes, the one that Irrational co-founder Ken Levine announced way back at E3 2011. Levine told IGN that while he wanted to see BioShock on Vita happen, it was out of his hands."I've got my fingers crossed that that's going to happen because it's something I want to do, but until somebody starts signing the checks, there's nothing I can do," Levine said. Later he continued, "At the end of the day, I work for Take-Two and they need to be able to fund that development, and they need to make sure they have a deal in place that makes sense for them and makes sense for Sony."In March 2012, Levine expressed regret over announcing BioShock Vita without anything to show for it."I ideally wouldn't have talked about the Vita game when I did," he told Joystiq. "It was understandably important that, you know, Sony wanted us to share that information." The information that Irrational wants to create a BioShock Vita game is vastly different than Irrational actually developing one, of course.
BioShock Infinite pre-orders in EU, AU, NZ can get Steelbook case
GameStop, EB Games and Micromania locations in Europe, Australia, and New Zeland will have a special, exclusive preorder item for the upcoming Bioshock Infinite. Players who pre-order the game at the specified retail chains in those regions will be rewarded with a special "Fink Manufacturing SteelBook case," emblazoned with the Fink Manufacturing logo.In America, GameStop already offers the "Industrial Revolution" pack with a preorder, as well as a special in-game weapon. But it looks like the SteelBook case is just for GameStop International customers. Bioshock Infinite is due on March 26.
Steam Holiday Sale, day 10: Skyrim, BioShock, Grand Theft Auto franchise sales and more
Have you guys ever noticed how our money and a Steam Holiday Sale are never in the same room at the same time? Like, the same way that no one has ever seen Bruce Wayne and the Batman together in the same place? It's just weird, is all; almost as if our money was somehow being removed by the sale, or something.Some mysteries will never be solved, we suppose. Today's Steam Holiday Sale offerings include 50 to 75 percent off of Skyrim, its DLC and its predecessors, 75 percent off various Grand Theft Auto games, BioShock and BioShock 2 for a collective $10, 75 percent off both Witcher games, Galactic Civilizations I and II for $6.24 and Payday: The Heist for $5.
BioShock Infinite reverse art revealed
Irrational Games revealed the reverse cover art for BioShock Infinite today. The art chosen won 38% of fan votes on the poll posted by studio head Ken Levine earlier this month as the result of displeasure from fans over the game's official box art.The art, the full version of which can be found after the break, will be printed on the other side of the BioShock Infinite cover. Levine noted that other alternate covers will be made available for fans to print.Now hopefully we've all learned our lesson: It's what's on the inside that counts.
Free BioShock offer with PS3 copies of Infinite is North America-only
In June 2011 we learned that BioShock Infinite for PS3 comes with a free copy of the original BioShock – this is still true, but only for US customers, 2K Games tells Videogamer."I can confirm that the PS3 version of BioShock Infinite in North America contains a copy of the original BioShock," 2K says. "This is not the case in UK as it's a local promotion in North America."The second half of that promise made in June last year is still completely true, at least: BioShock Infinite includes Move support, as solidified by the North American PS3 box art. It doesn't, of course, have a separate, new peripheral for Move.
BioShock Infinite box art needs to shave
Irrational Games coughed up the box art for BioShock Infinite today, and it features lead character Booker DeWitt and his five o'clock shadow. We're guessing that with the game's lack of multiplayer, DeWitt doesn't feel the need to be presentable.BioShock Infinite is scheduled to launch February 26, 2013 on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Check out higher resolution versions of the cover art in the gallery below. %Gallery-172450%
GameFly's digital distribution client officially exits beta, celebrates with free copies of Bioshock
After nearly a year of testing, GameFly is ready to pull the beta qualifier off of its PC game distribution client. The desktop software serves not only as a digital storefront for PC games, but also as a queue management program for subscribers to GameFly's game-by-mail service. Active members get free access to a few hundred "Unlimited PC Play" titles as well -- offering subscribers a wide range of games from Diner Dash to Assassin's Creed. The official release doesn't differ from the beta in any significant way, but GameFly and 2K games is celebrating its launch by doling out free copies of Bioshock to anyone willing to give the platform a test drive. Crash on down to the source link below for a free ticket to Rapture, or read on for GameFly's official press release.
