September 27, 2007 – 10:35 am
Every time we say his name, he just gets more power. This is officially the last time you’ll see me say Jack Thompson. From now on, the law buff will be known as Chuckles, because every time he does something, the entire gaming world gets a laugh.
So Chuckles decided to rock out another “sting” operation. He previous sent his son in to a Best Buy to pick up a copy of BioShock. His son isn’t yet 18, which is what he’s trying prove. However, he’s going after 2K Games for the problem instead of Best Buy. 2K Games doesn’t control a retailer’s action. They brand the game as mature and it’s up to the retailers to enforce the sales. The new “sting” operation involves Halo 3.
Chuckles sent his son into a South Florida Target store to buy a copy of Halo 3, which he was able to do on the first try without an ID. Granted, this shouldn’t happen. But again, Chuckles isn’t going after Target, he’s going after Microsoft. Because somehow the gaming industry is responsible for this happening at retailers. Are they also responsible for R-rated movies and CD’s with Parental Advisory stickers being sold to minors as well?
This editor can only hope Chuckles stops his antics and gets put in his place pretty soon.
August 23, 2007 – 8:47 pm
There have been rumblings and grumblings about the widescreen issues with the recent release of BioShock. Here is a statement that they have made from the BioShock homepage.
We understand there has been some concern about the implementation of widescreen mode in BioShock. Hopefully, we can clarify how we’ve chosen to do this.
The first thing we want to make clear is the mode we developed the game on and the optimal mode for playing the game is the widescreen mode. 90% of our development stations were widescreen displays: artists, programmers and designers.
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August 21, 2007 – 11:14 am
Take 2 sent out a press release today to let us know they’ll be publishing the sequel to the hit game Mafia.
The sequel, Mafia 2, will be available for all next-gen consoles and PC. No release date has been set.
Like the original Mafia title, Mafia 2 immerses players in the mob underworld of a fictitious late 1940’s-early 1950’s scenario. Players will easily become engaged in the game’s cinematic Hollywood movie experience with strong, believable characters in a living, breathing city. By fusing high octane gunplay with white knuckle driving and an engaging narrative, Mafia 2 looks to be the industry’s most compelling Mafia title to date.
Sounds good to me.
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August 16, 2007 – 2:37 pm
In case you live in a bubble, there was chaos yesterday as Toys R Us prematurely sold BioShock in many of their US stores. Combine that with a commercial that also ran prematurely saying the game was available, and the intarwebs went into a tizzy. Rest assured, this was all user error. BioShock has not yet been released.
2K had to take some time and wrap their heads around what happened before releasing a statement.
It recently came to 2K Games’ attention that one of our retail partners prematurely sold some copies of BioShock prior to the game’s official launch date. Retailers are typically shipped product in advance to ensure they can meet launch day demand on street-dated product. As a result, a few people were able to purchase the game early. Additionally, a TV advertisement for BioShock prematurely ran that incorrectly indicated that the game was available for purchase. 2K Games has reached out to our retail partners and is maintaining the street date of August 21st in North America and August 24th in Europe, when BioShock will be available at retailers. 2K Games is appreciative of the gamer excitement and critical acclaim leading up to the title’s launch.
Yep, Toys R Us is gonna get jacked up. Word on the street is it’s going to cost them $5000 per unit sold before the street date of August 21st in the US. That’s gonna add up pretty quick.
So, with all the hubbub, did any of you get a copy of BioShock early?
August 10, 2007 – 12:46 pm
Just in time for it’s August 21st release date in North America, Take Two announced today that BioShock for the Xbox 360 and PC has gone Gold. Europe will see the game released on August 24th.
Players enter the game as a castaway in Rapture, an underwater utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, players have to come to grips with a dangerous and mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. With multiple avenues for surmounting challenges on both a moral and tactical level, no encounter ever plays out the same and no two gamers will play BioShock the same way.
Start prepping for what could be the best FPS game of the year. Yes, even better than Halo 3.
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August 10, 2007 – 12:19 pm
Take Two just sent out a press release announcing the new name for one of it’s subsidiary companies, Irrational Games. From this day forth, the creators of BioShock will be known as 2K Boston and 2K Australia (for each of their two offices).
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today the name change of industry leading development studio Irrational Games to 2K Boston and 2K Australia. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and with offices in Canberra, Australia, Irrational Games is an internationally renowned developer of story-driven, genre-defining games with award-winning hits like System Shock 2, Freedom Force, Tribes: Vengeance, and SWAT 4. The name changes to 2K Boston and 2K Australia symbolize the studios’ further integration into the 2K Games family following their outstanding performance on BioShock™, the upcoming blockbuster available exclusively for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system and Games For Windows on August 21, 2007 in North America and in Europe beginning August 24, 2007.
I wish they didn’t ahve to take a great name like Irrational Games and simplify it down in the 2K brand. But hey, the 2K brand needs to bolster it’s image, so this will certainly help them in that matter.
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I got a chance to play around a bit with Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer on the PS3 this weekend. From what I’ve played so far, I’m not terribly impressed. First off, can 2K and Visual Concepts PLEASE find some new sound effects for the menus? We’ve been hearing these since the 2K Sports series started. It’s getting old.
The graphics for the game aren’t that bad, but they’re nothing breathtaking either. The characters do look a good deal like their movie counterparts. There are some glaring framerate issues that come about as you’re running around, particularly when you have a lot of enemies on the screen at once. The sounds are just okay. I would have though 2K would get the actors from the movie to provide voice-overs, but I guess that was just too much money. Sound effects seem bland and washed out.
The controls feel pretty good, similar to Marvel Ultimate Alliance. The gameplay though, it’s pretty boring. Even in the first level, it got so repetitive that I thought I was back-tracking in the level. Go through a door, kill 10 enemies, go through a door, go down/up an elevator… then repeat. It got old very quickly.
I’m going to keep playing through, hoping it gets better. A full review will be up later this week.
There’s some distinct similarities between Prey and The Darkness, both published by 2K Games, as pointed out by John Davison over at 1up.
Both games surround the use of special powers and dealing with how to use them (Darklings in The Darkness, Talon and Spirit Walking in Prey). There’s also some very deep revenge issues tied into the story lines.
I don’t want to get into all the specifics right here, because there’s some major spoilers involved, so hit the jump to find out all the similarities.
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