Yesterday, we reported on the numerous complaints that have been filling the internets surrounding how BioShock handles widescreen displays. In short, to display widescreen BioShock pulls in the 4:3 aspect ratio and cuts off the top and bottom giving 16:9 ratio players a much smaller game view. So, last night 2K Boston big man Ken Levine hopped on the 2K Games forums to ease the hostility and acknowledge that their team is looking into the issue. Levine explains that he has been trying to wrangle together people to look at the problems and find answers, but the time difference between here and their Australian dev team coupled with vacationing employees has made it difficult to get answers. So, Levine wants everyone to know they do care, that they are looking into the BioShock issues and asks that we have a "bit of understanding as to the time scale that software development issues must occur in".Even though Ken didn't give us any answers to our widescreen woes, we suddenly feel a warm fuzzy feeling tingling through our toes and into our heart. We'll be patient Ken Levine ... for a little while.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
8-22-2007 @ 1:34PM
m3gatr0nx said...
Then there's this on the 2kgames website:
http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/home.html
Basically, they say it was an artistic design to crop the widescreen.
Hmm...So are they "looking into it" as Ken says, or is it just the way it is, as the above link indicates? Both?
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8-22-2007 @ 1:40PM
Digitalspirit said...
Jesus. We are going backwards here. What serious home entertainment user employs a 4:3 ratio TV???
16:9 widescreen HDTV is the only way forward and we are being penalised for it. Unbelievable.
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8-22-2007 @ 1:41PM
xenocidic said...
@3 i do, because I can't afford an HDTV right now.
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8-22-2007 @ 1:45PM
BrianM said...
Silly thing 2 loose ur head over
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8-22-2007 @ 1:46PM
TORO said...
I can confirm this problem as well on my 32" Samsung. Won't detract from the experience too much, but still annoying we're not watching the "full" ratio.
You might not notice the problem, but you still may be able to see you health bar, but if you can see the bottom of the wrench then you're not seeing the full screen.
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8-22-2007 @ 1:47PM
TORO said...
Lol sorry, too many butts
*You might not notice the problem, you still may be able to see you health bar, but if you can see the bottom of the wrench then you're not seeing the full screen.
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8-22-2007 @ 1:48PM
Cerixus said...
Looks fine on my 50" Samsung DLP...
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8-22-2007 @ 1:48PM
bt said...
$100 this doesn't get fixed.
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8-22-2007 @ 1:51PM
mattclarkie said...
I've noticed a great deal of over-scan. Missing the edge of the screen. This is a serious problem with many 360 games. Halo 3 beta suffered it, but Bioshock hadit much worse.
Considering how much HD is pushed by MS, you'd think they could sort out 1366 by 768 resolution which so many tvs have as a standard.
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8-22-2007 @ 1:51PM
James said...
I played the demo and enjoyed it, found this "issue" on the blogs and bought the game. I'm enjoying every minute of the game, this really is a silly thing to lose sleep/get mad/etc. over.
I know a lot of people who have 4:3 TVs. I myself have a 4:3 19" VGA LCD monitor for 360 play. It letterboxes the game, but everything is sharp, crisp and I'm fine with that.
They should fix this, yes. At the same time, the idea that part of the game is cropped isn't on my mind when I'm taking down Splicers :) I'm.. you know... playing the game...
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8-22-2007 @ 1:53PM
PlayaCDubb said...
@7
I agree. Looks fine on my 50" Samsung DLP too.
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8-22-2007 @ 1:53PM
TORO said...
I agree with you James, it's not a big deal. But please just fix it by tomorrow :)
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8-22-2007 @ 1:58PM
T Webb said...
After reading the link provided by m3gatr0nx, the developers say it's supposed to be that way. If everything is working the way they designed it to work, what is there to fix?
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8-22-2007 @ 1:58PM
NorCal05 said...
does it cut off any of the HUD info or is it just a little bit of the scenery? If it's the former it's an issue, but the latter is not a huge deal.
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8-22-2007 @ 2:01PM
bt said...
Doesn't bother me much.
I've been seeing a lot of comparison shots and the first thing I think when i see them is that yes the widescreen view is smaller, but if the character backed up a couple feet the view would be the same as the 4:3 screenshot.
It really doesn't effect gameplay. A lot of people aren't understanding that.
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8-22-2007 @ 2:03PM
Trashman said...
Same kind of shit that happened with Dead Rising on standard def tv's. That pissed me off so much! Probably won't get fixed
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8-22-2007 @ 2:20PM
NATO_Duke said...
It hasn't cut off any of my hud, and it really doesn't seem to be a problem on my 42" tv.
Yeah, you want to see it all - but is a little bit of the scenery that big of a deal to cry about?
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8-22-2007 @ 2:20PM
ry38read said...
mattclarkie,
you realize that most consumer televisions don't do 1:1 pixel mapping. native resolution might be 768p, but the tv doesn't support that resolution. overscanning typically cannot be bypassed.
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8-22-2007 @ 2:23PM
Viridium said...
@10 James - Actually, I'd suspect that your 19" LCD is 5:4, not 4:3.
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8-22-2007 @ 2:24PM
ccc said...
With a screw up like this in the game, I would call my employyes up and say they dont deserve a vacation yet and to get back in the office and fix the problem or start looking for a new job. I know, I'm mean.
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