Oct 23, 2013

Rise & Shine: Games Drawn As Children’s Book Covers

Half-Life 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Graham Smith)

I don't have kids, but I do have a house full of kid's books.

Consider this your daily dose of nice. Artist Joey Spiotto, aka Joebot, draws films and videogames as the covers of children’s books. His game work includes imagined covers for Half-Life 2 (above, in part), Skyrim, BioShock, Portal, Mass Effect and more. (more…)

Oct 17, 2013

Sources: Bureau XCOM, BioShock 2 Dev ‘Essentially’ Closed

BioShock® 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Nathan Grayson)

Oh boy. It is officially another One Of Those Days. The diabolical layoff stampede beast of certain doom has struck again, this time allegedly laying waste to the whole of The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and BioShock 2 developer 2K Marin. For now, 2K is only officially saying that there have been “staff reductions” at the oft-beleaguered studio, but sources close to the situation told RPS a significantly more dire tale.

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Oct 8, 2013

Bioshock Noir: Burial At Sea’s Opening Scenes

BioShock™ - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Adam Smith)

Bioshock has that one part>, the stunning moment that locks the game in the memory forever. I’m talking, of course, about the opening plane crash and the first view of the lighthouse. The descent into Rapture, like the ascent into Columbia, employed tidy, efficient techniques to build a world that was eerie, allusive and oddly attractive. Alec wrote an entire post about that first sight of Rapture. The opening five minutes of Burial At Sea, Bioshock Infinite’s narrative DLC, contain a different side of Rapture, as Booker and Elizabeth walk the corridors before the Fall. Spoilers abound, obviously, with the plot’s initial direction outlined as the two take in some familiar sights.

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Oct 4, 2013

2K Yanks GFWL From Bioshock 2, Brings DLC To Steam

Steam Community Items - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Craig Pearson)

Small victories are important. Games For Windows Live has been minced into a fine paste and sent off to a major supermarket> chain as a horse meat substitute, but the effects of it are still being felt. Most games are still saddled with the client, and it takes an act of will on the part of the publishers to swab that canker sore. 2K did that to BioShock 2 last night. All traces of the client have been yanked out of the Steam version, with the publisher adding joypad and Big Picture support in, as well as bringing the DLC to Steam for you to buy (so it’s not totally altruistic). It’s the first time Minerva’s Den can be bought anywhere but the GFWL marketplace. (more…)

Oct 4, 2013

Bioshock 2 moves to Steamworks, Minerva’s Den DLC on Steam and free for existing owners

BioShock™

It used to be that Games for Windows Live was a heavy weight, dragging down whatever game it latched onto. Now, with the service's shutdown thought to occur next July, that weight has putrefied, like a rotting carcass, steaming from the heat of some great games. As you may have guessed, I'm not sorry to see it go. I'm definitely not sorry if it means existing GfW Live games issue updates that swap it out for a more palatable service. That's what Bioshock 2 has just done: ditching Microsoft's problematic client for Steamworks. As an added bonus, the previously GfW Marketplace exclusive Minerva's Den DLC is now also available on Steam, and has been given to existing Bioshock 2 owners for free.

The Steamworks switch means a few things, of varying degrees of importance. Steam achievements are now active, as is full controller support. More significantly, retail keys have been added into the Steam database, meaning owners of a physical copy can pop in their CD Key and register the Steam version. Make the switch and you'll automatically be given all the existing multiplayer DLC packs too.

If you don't yet have Minerva's Den, widely regarded as one of the better DLC campaigns in existence, you can grab it from the Steam store. Both it and Bioshock 2 are currently 50% off in this weekend's 2K sale. With the sale rolling through different games each day, there's a good chance the game will receive an even bigger discount later in the weekend.

Elsewhere in the campaign to kill Games for Windows Live dead, the PC Gaming Wiki has been tracking which games have confirmed or even actioned its removal. So far, both Arkham games are beta testing removal of GfW Live and SecuROM, while Dawn of War 2 and its Chaos Rising expansion will likely be stuck with it, due to THQ's demise.

Oct 3, 2013

BioShock 2 Updated

BioShock® 2 - Valve

Hey BioShock 2 fans!

In August, the Games For Windows LIVE service marketplace closed and some of you wondered what would happen to BioShock 2 on PC. We remain committed to supporting BioShock 2 on PC and are excited to announce that starting today the game is available via Steam. Not only that, but the Steam version of BioShock 2 includes all available multiplayer downloadable content, as well as the single player “Protector Trials” DLC!

With the help of our friends at Digital Extremes, BioShock 2 on Steam fully supports popular features of the platform, including controller compatibility, Steam achievements, and Big Picture mode. Matchmaking is easier than ever now, allowing you to search for “any game,” as opposed to having to select your game mode. Leveling up is also quicker and easier, as we’ve fine-tuned the multiplayer experience to be better than ever.

If you have already purchased BioShock 2 through a different digital partner, we’ve got you covered. Simply take the same game activation key you already own and “activate” it within Steam. Doing this will grant you access to BioShock 2, all of its multiplayer and Protector Trials DLC, as well as Minerva’s Den – the single player story-driven add-on that includes new weapons, enemies, and plasmids!

For more information on BioShock 2 on Steam, you can visit: http://2kgam.es/bioshock2steam

-- 2K Games

Sep 11, 2013

Drool: Eldritch Is Thief Meets Lovecraft Meets Roguelike

BioShock® 2 - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Nathan Grayson)

Also there are dudes from Magicka for some reason.

Eldritch just> got announced by former BioShock 2/Borderlands developers David and Kyle Pittman, but it’s already rocketed to the top of my list of Exciting Doodads That I Will (Lovingly) Obliterate With My Excitement Lasers. The headline does not lie. The roguelike-like counts games like Thief and Dishonored among its closest inspirations, bringing them together in a clammy, tentacle-slathered Lovecraftian embrace. In short, you can fight, sure, but you can also stealth past enemies, upgrade otherworldly powers, and climb around the environment to discover alternate paths through the harrowing infini-dungeon. Oh Eldritch, let me count the ways. Wait, I already did. You should probably just watch the (refreshingly silly) trailer, then.

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Aug 19, 2013

Games for Windows Live to shut down July 2014 according to deleted support update

Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer

An update to the Age of Empires Online support page revealed that Games for Windows Live will shut down July 1, 2014, and with it, at least some of AoE Online's features, if not the whole game. The announcement has been removed and replaced with the original text, but here's what it said:

"Games for Windows Live will be discontinued on July 1, 2014. Although it is available through Steam, Age of Empires Online requires features of the Games for Windows Live service. You can continue to enjoy all the features of Age of Empires Online as the service will remain 100% operational until July 1, 2014 when the server will shut down."

Microsoft announced last week that it's shutting down the Games for Windows Marketplace. Games for Windows Live is something else entirely, a DRM and multiplayer infrastructure formerly used by Microsoft, Rockstar, Capcom, WB Games, 2K Games, and others. If you've had to use it, you know why few will mourn the loss.

If this deleted update is accurate, however, there is one big concern: presumably, any game currently using GFWL will need to patch it out and replace it with Steamworks or its own system to continue working after the 2014 shut off date. That's Dark Souls, Street Fighter IV, BioShock 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, and more. Eep.

We'll let you know when Microsoft officially confirms or denies the news.

Thanks for the link, /r/Games.

Aug 15, 2013

BioShock Infinite sweepstakes offers chance to include your name in DLC

BioShock™

The folks at Irrational Games are once again offering fame and fortune to a lucky few in a new contest, the winners of which will find their names somewhere in episode two of BioShock Infinite’s upcoming DLC, Burial at Sea.

Those interested can enter the contest by completing all 60 Blue Ribbon challenges in the recent Clash in the Clouds DLC by August 27 at 9 a.m. EDT. For those who missed our coverage of Infinite’s first piece of DLC, the Blue Ribbon challenges are optional objectives that generally restrict which weapons you use or require you to kill enemies in a certain way.

The announcement notes that you don’t have to complete all the challenges in one sitting—just be sure to have all 60 blue ribbons by that date if you want to apply. Thankfully, any of the blue ribbons you’ve collected prior to the announcement still count. According to the official rules, the three winners will be announced “on or about” August 30 but no later than September 8.

Irrational didn’t specify exactly where the winners’ names would show up, saying it will make that decision at a later date. Those lucky enough to be immortalized in the upcoming DLC will receive a hi-res screenshot of their name from Irrational, along with instructions on how to find it.

This isn’t the first time Irrational has emblazoned a fan’s name into BioShock Infinite, though the sweepstakes it held reportedly had over 100,000 submitted entries. Here’s hoping the Blue Ribbon challenge requirement cuts that number down a bit.

Aug 8, 2013

Bioshock Infinite’s Burial at Sea DLC will let you play as the more-thoughtful Elizabeth

BioShock™

Bioshock Infinite’s first episodic DLC, Burial at Sea, is headed our way in the next few months, and the biggest news for fans of the series is that we’ll get a chance to step into Elizabeth’s shoes. Now we’re getting some new information about what designing Elizabeth has been like, and how her character will shape the game.

“Liz is such a different character to Booker, and if we were to just put Booker in a dress,” level designer Amanda Jeffrey told IGN, “then that would be the most awful betrayal of what we're doing for Liz, and players would just feel like it was a cheap way out, and that's not something that we want to do.”

Booker, of course, is a soldier, and his strategic but strong-handed approach to things informed a lot of what we saw in Infinite. “He's very much about storming the gates, or taking it head on, and he has these other tools available to him, but generally he's all about going head to head with his enemy...” Jeffrey continued. “Elizabeth was a much more thoughtful person. She would be more considerate about keeping out of danger, and assisting you with various different things, and looking for things around in the environment and keeping an eye out for stuff.”

In terms of the game, it sounds like Burial at Sea will be a much more stealth- and puzzle-based type of game. It will also be our first chance to revisit Andrew Ryan’s submerged utopia, Rapture, since Bioshock 1 and 2.

For more details, check out the full interview with Jeffrey and series creator Ken Levine.