We were all hit pretty hard by the delay of Grand Theft Auto IV earlier this year. Since the delay was announced back in August, hardly a word has been written about the game (aside from a tongue-in-cheek video from Kane & Lynch). Originally delayed until 2nd Quarter 2008 (between February and April), Take Two now has a different tone on the matter. GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that Take Two chairman Strauss Zelnick has said the company will not announce a release date until the company is "utterly convinced" that Grand Theft Auto IV will be ready. It's not uncommon for games as big as GTAIV to receive the "it's done when it's done" treatment, but that didn't make it easier for industry folk to see the game miss the 2007 holiday season. On this subject, Zelnick says that missing the holiday season is no longer a concern. From his point of view, the holiday console sales will increase the number of consumers that will buy the "must have" title that is GTAIV.
So, GTAIV just got a little more nebulous. How does that make you feel? And remember, this is for posterity, so be honest.
Bethesda has announced that Shivering Isles, the expansion to the life-owning RPG Oblivion, will soon be making its retail debut. Previously available only as a download on Xbox Live Marketplace, the retail disc will offer up both the Shivering Isles expansion as well as another piece of downloadable content, Knights of the Nine. As we've reported before, Shivering Isles offers dozens of hours of additional gameplay with new areas, items, spells, enemies, and ingredients. The disc is set to hit retailers next month. No price has been set at this time, but we imagine the pricing will be on par with the downloadable version.
If you've yet to step into the world of Oblivion, you might want to wait until the Game of the Year Edition ships this month. The GOTY Edition includes all the downloadable content for Oblivion includingShivering Isles and Knights of the Nine. For the rest of us (especially those without Knights of the Nine) the Shivering Isles retail disc might be a pretty good deal.
[Via Gamertag Radio]
Update: The Game of the Year Edition does not include all downloadable content. It includes only Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine.
X3F readers may recall that Silicon Knights recently started a legal tiff with Epic Games concerning the Unreal Engine 3, which runs Silicon Knights' latest project Too Human. Not long after Silicon Knights made their issues known, other developers spoke publicly about their relationships with Epic (both good and bad). Yes, things looked sour for the Unreal Engine 3, and along comes BioShock as a shining beacon of Unreal success. Epic's Mark Rein, speaking to Develop, has praised the game as an excellent example of the work that can be done with the Unreal Engine 3. Rein noted that Epic is always open to developer feedback and happy to help them "take the most advantage of our technology."
It will be interesting to see if the success of an Unreal-powered game like BioShock will have an effect on the battle between Silicon Knights and Epic.
Ayn Rand isn't a name you typically associate with videogames. At least, we never thought it would come to pass before someone finally green-lit the long awaited The Fountainhead: The Video Game. And yet, Wired has taken up the headline that "BioShock owes more to Ayn Rand than DOOM." Given that the pursuit of personal happiness is the ultimate goal of Rand's philosophy, we'd be hard-pressed to disagree. After all, we can't imagine anything making you happier than escaping Rapture alive, right? Just remember, from a Big Daddy's point of view, nothing would make him happier than seeing you dead.
In all seriousness, the point of the article is that there is more to BioShock than shooting everything that moves. In fact, if you've been keeping up with the game, you'll know that it is actually heavily influenced by Rand. Still, if you find yourself with an unexplainable desire to become an Objectivist after playing BioShock, now you know why.
We're receiving reports that many of the Big Daddy figurines included with the limited edition of BioShock are broken. X3F reader SirUrza noted that he turned away 3 copies at his local GameStop, noticing that the tip of the Big Daddy's drill was broken. SirUrza also notes that the copies with broken figurines were put right back on the shelf, so be mindful when picking up your own copy. Luckily for those that have already purchased a copy with a broken figurine, 2K is aware of the problem and is planning to replace all broken figurines. As a consolation until the new figurines are manufactured, 2K is also doling out special printed copies of "Breaking the Mold," the BioShock art book, to affected customers.
If you are one of the unlucky gamers affected by this, keep your eye on the official 2K page for updates on the replacement program.
[Update: Apologies for the interminable wait, but we wanted to wait until we heard back from the four winners before officially considering the contest closed. Both winners on Joystiq have their games in the mail already, while one on X3F has yet to respond to our emails. If it goes unclaimed until tomorrow morning we'll have another random drawing, but the winner obviously won't have it for the weekend.]
There's about one hour left to enter to win a copy of next week's biggest release, BioShock. Joystiq snagged four copies from their local Toys 'R' Us early, and we're overnighting them to four lucky winners who will, no doubt, spend the entire weekend kicking it underwater in Rapture.
But remember, you have four chances to win! Looking over our four giveaway posts, the number of entries varies meaning some folks aren't maximizing their odds. Here's the four posts you can enter on but remember: if you leave more than one comment on any one post you'll be disqualified. Good luck!
Joyswag: Win a copy of BioShock, get it overnighted (Part 1)
Joyswag: Win a copy of BioShock, get it overnighted (Part 2)
Borderlands, the upcoming Mad Max-ish, Diablo-esque action game from Gearbox, has been picked up by publisher 2K Games (who are releasing a little game called BioShock next week, by the way). Known for their work on the Brothers In Arms series, Gearbox is crafting Borderlands as an action game with RPG elements and 4 player online co-op. In other words, it sounds like just the thing to cure what ails you (and a hell of a lot of fun to boot). President of 2K, Christoph Hartmann, notes that Borderlands will play host to "revolutionary new technology" that allows for the creation of "thousands of unique, randomly generated missions, weapons and situations." With such lofty promises in tow, Hartmann concludes that Borderlands "will raise the bar for next gen action games."
We'll have to wait and see though, as the game isn't scheduled to release until the end of 2008. For more info on Borderlands, keep an eye out for the September Game Informer, of which the contents will no doubt be scoured for the benefit of X3F readers everywhere.
Update: Alright, folks. Comments are closed and we've picked a winner and shipped out their prize. Congratulations to Brandon!
Here we are for Part 2 of our fabulous BioShock giveaway. Read the details below and enter for your chance to win, then check Part 1 for the background and another chance to win. It's free and easy, so what more do you want?
Leave a comment below that tries to make us not excited about BioShock (spoiler alert: you can't!)
You may only comment on this specific post once. If you leave more than one comment, you'll be automatically disqualified so be careful, ok?
If you enter more than once, only activate one comment -- otherwise we'll send a Big Daddy after you
You can also enter our Part 1 giveaway, and both of Joystiq's giveaways (Part 1 & Part 2), giving you a total of four chances to win. You can only win once though. Not bad, eh?
This contest is open to readers in the US only
Entries can be submitted until 12:04pm ET on Friday, August 17th.
Official rules are here so check 'em if you've got any questions.
[Update: A winner has been chosen. Congratulations to ZappaKitty!]
So, perhaps you heard that certain Toys R' Us locations are selling BioShock early. While we haven't been lucky enough to find a copy at our local store, Joystiq has snatched up four (count 'em four) copies of the game and decided to share them with us! Yes, we'll be giving away two copies of BioShock right here on X3F. Even better, the games will be overnighted to the winners so that they can get their BioShock on before anyone else. Both Joystiq and X3F will be giving away two copies today, for a grand total of four. What do you have to do to win? Here's the skinny:
Leave a comment below that tries to make us not excited about BioShock (spoiler alert: you can't!)
You may only comment on this specific post once. If you leave more than one comment, you'll be automatically disqualified so be careful, ok?
If you enter more than once, only activate one comment -- otherwise we'll send a Big Daddy after you
You can also enter our Part 2 giveaway, and both of Joystiq's giveaways (Part 1 & Part 2), giving you a total of four chances to win. You can only win once though. Not bad, eh?
This contest is open to readers in the US only
Entries can be submitted until 11:59 am ET on Friday, August 17th.
Official rules are here, so check 'em if you've got any questions.
So, maybe you managed to grab an early copy of BioShock from Toys R' Us. So, what are you supposed to do on the realBioShock launch day? If you just can't get enough BioShock, then maybe you'd like to get your hands on a limited edition T-shirt and faceplate. If that sounds like just the thing you need to complete the BioShock trifecta of awesomeness, then head on over to Joystiq, where they're giving away three faceplate / T-shirt combos. Entering is as easy as pie and the prize is just as sweet, so get to clicking already.
So, you've downloaded the BioShock demo. You've plumbed its glorious depths, defeated its grisly baddies, and you thought to yourself, "Self," you thought, "that was easy." Well fear not, avid BioShock fans, for we have one more way to stay your undying hunger for underwater dystopia. The fine fellows at DCEmu have uncovered how to play the BioShock demo in hard mode. When you start the BioShock demo, you'll notice that the hard mode option is there, but cannot be selected. The workaround for this is actually very simple. Before you start up the demo, open up your gamer profile and edit the default game settings. Under "general," simply set your default difficulty to hard. Now start up the BioShock demo and, voilà, hard difficulty will be highlighted. Just don't move it or you won't be able to reselect it without restarting the demo.
BioShock is, without a doubt, one of the most highly anticipated Xbox 360 games this year. If, by chance, you've been wondering what all the fuss is about, you should probably check out this video. Of course, genuine BioSchock fans will find plenty to love in the video, too. Posted by GameTrailers, the video features the folks at Irrational Games discussing the ecology of Rapture, the underwater world of BioSchock. Put simply, it is this world that makes BioShock so intriguing. The world really is alive. The characters within it will go about their own business whether or not the player decides to interfere (of course, some of the characters' "business" is to attack the player). Honestly, this is the kind of thing we should be seeing in the current generation of gaming: worlds with real, believable characters capable of pulling gamers into another reality. Everything leads us to think that BioShock will do just that. Watch the video after the break (you can also watch it in HD).
Posted Aug 3rd 2007 12:45PM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News
Yesterday's big news was that Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV was pushed back from its October release into sometime next year. But what if we told you the reason for such delay wasn't because of technical issues on the 360, but problems on the PS3 version of the game? Well, that's what analyst Michael Pachter is thinking saying that "the Rockstar team had difficulty in building an exceptionally complicated game for the PS3" and that the "delay of the PS3 version necessitated a delay of the Xbox 360 version" due to contractual obligations with Sony. So, if Mr. Pachter's theory has any weight, Rockstar may have had to delay GTA IV on the 360, because of issues with the PS3 version and them not being able to release the game before the PS3 version got out the door. Very intriguing indeed.
Speaking to Games Radar, Rockstar spokesperson Hosi Simon had some interesting comments regarding the Xbox 360 version of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV. When asked about the Xbox 360 exclusiveepisodes and whether or not the PS3 version would receive any similar perks, Simon replied, "not that I can think of." Simon elaborates that the games are identical, and that Rockstar does its best to make games that can be enjoyed on any console. "We're not like a pawn between these [hardware] companies," said Simon. That said, Simon admitted, "But I guess if you want the complete experience with the episodes, then yeah, you should buy the 360, I suppose."
We must mention -- along with Joystiq -- that the term "exclusive" has become more and more loosely defined over the years. We have to wonder if the Playstation 3 will ever pick up the episodes as well. Whether or not this comes to pass, it will be interesting to see if the initial promise of exclusive downloadable content will make GTA fans pick one version over the other.
An interesting item has popped up on Xbox Live Marketplace for All Pro Football 2K8. The item is a called the "reel editor." This item, as its name implies, allows players to create and edit replays in order to create personal highlight reels. Sounds pretty cool, right? We actually think it's a great idea. We have one question, though: why is this on Xbox Live Marketplace? Shouldn't this be an included feature in the game? Considering the game has only been out for a few days, we find it hard to believe this reel editor couldn't have made it into the retail disc. What's more, we're expected to pay 400 points for it? Sounds like unnecessary roughness to us.
