PlayStation LifeStyle » Bioshock

BioShock Infinite to Fully Realize the PS3′s Power for its Series’ First Time

Jonathan Leack — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:37:47 +0000

Looking back on this generation’s greatest and perhaps most surprising offerings, BioShock stands among a few that will be remembered forever. It’s almost crazy to think that 2K Games withheld the original release for a full year before letting PS3 owners explore the halls of rapture. As is usually the case, PS3 owners will have the last laugh with BioShock, as its development team plans to fully utilize the PS3′s strengths in their upcoming title, BioShock Infinite.

Ken Levine, President and BioShock mastermind at Irrational Games, had some good words to share with PS3 owners looking to pick up BioShock Infinite when it arrives next year. In his latest interview, Ken stated:

We were Xbox-first for the original game, and now we have something to demonstrate to the PlayStation 3 audience. We love the platform. I have three PS3s at my house.

Okay, so no hard feelings Mr. Levine. BioShock eventually found its way to Sony’s current generation platform, but what does your new-found love mean for BioShock Infinite? He stated:

The PS3 has a different architecture than we had encountered before, but because we helped port BioShock to the PS3, we’ve become very familiar with it. And we have a new engine for BioShock Infinite, so we started the game knowing we’d be on PS3. We started thinking about how to leverage the multiple cores from the start of development, so we’re in a much better place this time on PS3.

What makes the above quote especially exciting is that BioShock Infinite is a gorgeous game. The same artistic, polished design of the past two releases has carried over, and now that the environments are far more open-ended rather than stuck within the confines of Rapture, pristine visuals amplify the experience.

BioShock Infinite won one of our Best of E3 Awards, so if you aren’t already anticipating its release next year, then be sure to read our E3 Preview to see why you should.

Bioshock Vita is Not a Port Says Levine

Cameron Teague — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:31:36 +0000

Last month at E3 in Los Angeles, Irrational Games head honcho Ken Levine, came up on stage during Sony’s press conference to announce that the Bioshock universe would be coming to the PlayStation Vita. Levine recently teased the game and assured fans that it would not be a port of the original Bioshock.

That’s a new game. That is going to be strange and surprising to people, in the same way. I think when we launched Infinite, people said, ‘Wait, what, what are you doing?’ I think we always want to surprise people. If I’m just saying, ‘Here’s BioShock 1 on Vita’… Let’s say we potentially do, you don’t need us to do that, somebody could make that happen if they wanted that to happen.
For us, it’s like, ‘Hey, here’s this weird experiment you want to do.’ Experiments always carry risks, though. That’s been the experience of working on BioShock Infinite. And working on BioShock. People saying, ‘This is weird, risky, I don’t understand.’ I’m fortunate that I get to do things that are risky, my team gets to do things that are risky.

Nothing yet is really known about Bioshock Vita but with the quality of work done by Irrational Games, we expect good things and look forward to hearing more about the game.

[Source]

PS Vita Could Release on November 4th, Launch With Bioshock

Josh Fernandes — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 03:21:13 +0000

Ever since E3, gamers have wanted to know when the PlayStation Vita would launch. A few weeks ago, it was rumored that PlayStation Vita may not even release until next year. The online retailer ShopTo, may have leaked the release date for the PlayStation Vita… at least in the UK.

ShopTo has jumped the gun and put up a release date for the PlayStation Vita, with the site has set the release date as November 4th. ShopTo also has 21 launch titles listed for the Vita, which have an RRP of £39.99. The list of games is below:

Wipeout
Virtua Tennis 4
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Top Darts
Super Stardust Delta
Street Figher X Tekken
Silent Hill: Book of Memories
Sound Shapes
Smart As
Ruin
Ridge Racer
Resistance
Reality Fighters
Monster Hunter Portable
Modnation Racers
LittleBigPlanet
Little Deviants
Killzone
Everybody’s Golf
Dynasty Warriors
Bioshock

It is interesting that Bioshock has made it on that list. During this year’s Sony E3 Press Conference, Ken Levine said he was working on a “pet project” for the PlayStation Vita in the Bioshock universe, as well as bringing Move support to Bioshock Infinite. When asked, Sony said that it has “not made any announcements about software pricing, so that’s just speculation,” and we agree it’s best to take this news with a rather large grain of salt.

[Via]

Bioshock Infinite – E3 Preview

Tyler Minarik — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 21:05:26 +0000

The Bioshock franchise is well known for the incredibly unique setting of Rapture and the innovative gameplay spurred by the use of plasmids to place extraordinary powers in players’ hands. The third title in the series, Bioshock Infinite, intends to continue the trend of bringing top notch gameplay and story telling to the masses, but this time is set in the floating city of Columbia.

The year is 1912, well before the events of the first two games, but much like Rapture was found we encounter Columbia in the midst of a civil war. For the moment, the war is not our concern, and only the safety of Elizabeth matters. Our demo starts with us in the shoes of former Pinkerton agent, Booker DeWitt, who has been hired to extract Elizabeth from Columbia. At this point DeWitt has already met up with Elizabeth and they have begun making their escape, taking temporary shelter in a small shop full of various trinkets and propaganda posters. This makes for the perfect time to notice the incredible level of detail in Bioshock Infinite. Not only does every item graced with wonderful looking textures, but the team at Irrational Games has taken the time to make sure this is a fully fleshed out world. Intricate labels, slogans, and posters show you that these were all intended for sale to the people, and some of these items may even come in handy for yourself.

As Booker looks around and picks up different items he makes various comments regarding them, like when he finds money and says “Ah some scratch, that could come in handy.” Turning around we see Elizabeth dancing around in an over sized novelty Abe Lincoln mask, saying “Four score and seven years ago.” The peace of the little shop is short-lived as we hear a loud screech, the shop shakes, and “It’s coming!” Our characters take cover behind book shelves, as an enormous eye the size of the window it’s looking through shines a beam of light in, clearly hunting for them. Luckily the search is short-lived and it flies away, but our characters realize they must move while they can. Clearly this is an enemy to avoid, whatever it is. Before we make it out into the streets though, Elizabeth makes it clear she would rather die, wrapping Booker’s hands around her own neck. “It won’t come to that,” he promises, and they embark out into the city.

As they make their way across the city it’s impossible not to notice the ravages of war occurring all around us. People are beating each other up, gun fire can be heard all around, muggings are rampant, and citizens beg for help as we pass by. DeWitt knows better than to stop and get involved, lest he risk the capture of himself and Elizabeth. Yet, I can’t help but wonder if we could stop and try to help at the risk of a bigger fight, and perhaps some unseen rewards.

It isn’t long before Elizabeth runs ahead, and calling out to her we come upon a dying horse with a gaping hole in its midsection, which is clearly fatal. Booker tries to convince her to leave it, but she says “No, I can save it. Here, I see a tear.” Reaching her hands into something unseen, she spreads them, pushing open a circular power, which seems to have sent the effected area through time, or perhaps another dimension. Regardless of the explanation, the horse is briefly restored, before the circle slams shut. Elizabeth tries again, this time spreading it further, and suddenly we see modern paved roads, a sign saying “Revenge of the Jedi,” and an oncoming truck. As fast as it was there it all disappears again, a split second before Elizabeth would get run over, and with both characters utterly confused about what they just saw. Elizabeth apologizes, stating she thought she could control her but she can’t yet.

Our characters decide to move on. Clearly Elizabeth needs help to get her mysterious powers under control, and hopefully the man they are heading to see can provide just that. Eventually the turmoil leads us to a large stage where a public execution is taking place. DeWitt can take no more and calls out to put a stop to it, but he is immediately recognized and the executioners begin firing on him. The intense shootout gives a glimpse of the weaponry in Bioshock Infinite, which is so far standard fare, with a shotgun and machine gun leading the charge. Booker summons a flock of crows to distract and damage his enemies, but it’s not quite enough. However, it is here that Elizabeth becomes particularly useful. Various objects around the area shimmer with a washed out gray color. They’re not quite there, but Elizabeth is giving us the option to have her pull one through the tear to assist in the battle. Choosing a small building we suddenly have cover from a lot of fire power, and Booker then uses one of his unique abilities to levitate multiple enemies in the air. After dispatching the attackers Booker and Elizabeth move on, but the breather is short-lived.

Rounding the corner into an open plaza we find not only more enemies, but a huge zeppelin in the sky raining down a barrage of rockets on us. Booker needs to act quickly, and telling Elizabeth to take cover and stay put, he hops onto one of the many skyrails zig-zagging over head. The action gets really intense here, with Booker swinging throughout the huge city on a rollercoaster of death, he hops from rail to rail to rail all while shooting at pursuers who are riding the rails as well. Here a special circle shaped reticule can be seen, which clearly designates where Booker is jumping to and assists in keeping pace with the high-end action. At one point Booker lands on a platform, levitates a group of enemies, while Elizabeth tears a hanging tram-car into the world that slams into the floating foes. Blasting a few more shotgun rounds into angry faces, Booker keeps moving and hops back onto the rails. While making a few laps around the plaza the zeppelin continues to rain rockets, and Booker eventually manages to ride a rail close enough to hop on. Levitating the enemies inside, his shotgun makes short work of the engine, and Booker dives out, falling about 10-15 stories before latching onto a rail, and taking some damage in the process. “Now that was impressive!” Elizabeth exclaims as the two meet up. Impressive indeed, as I’m pretty sure my jaw was touching the floor by the end of this.

Their reunion is short-lived, as the real foe to fear swoops in, knocking Booker through a roof into a nearby building. The assailant is a giant mechanized bird like creature, called the Song Bird. It’s the size of a small building, and clearly pissed off. We can hear Elizabeth in the background shouting for it to stop, but it pays no head and draws back a man-sized fist, ready to pummel Booker into a bloody pulp. A split second before the swing would connect Elizabeth shouts, “I’m sorry!” The fist stops mid swing. The Song Bird faces her, clearly now listening, and clearly somehow emotionally tied to the girl. She continues, saying she should have never left, and she’ll come with if it doesn’t hurt Booker. Snatching her up it flies away, with Elizabeth reaching out to us, tears streaming down her face.

I immediately want to go rescue Elizabeth, but the demo is over and we must depart. Bioshock Infinite is still almost a year away, but every aspect of it looks incredible. Between the gorgeous scenery, mysterious plotline, insanely hectic battles, and depth of character seen in only a matter of minutes, it’s easy to tell that Bioshock Infinite is well on the way to becoming and instant classic. If big daddies were scary before, the Song Bird makes them look like twerps, and I can’t wait to try to take that thing down, sky hooking it all along the way. We’ve also just confirmed that Move will be available to use when the game releases in Q2 of next year. Even though this preview demo has shown quite a lot, it’s such exciting stuff that we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled throughout the next year for any more tidbits on Bioshock Infinite in the mean time.

Every E3 Press Conference Recapped, Rated

Sebastian Moss — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:17:54 +0000

The annual E3 Press Conference is easily the biggest gaming news event of the year, but not everyone is able to follow the video streams and news coverage live and attempting to catch up afterwards can be overwhelming. Fortunately, PlayStation LifeStyle is here to compile and list the news for the folks at home, which we’ll update as the show continues.

Microsoft:

MW3 DLC coming exclusively to 360 for a limited time. Read More >>
Halo 4 teased
Halo: Combat Evolved being remastered in HD
Kinect coming to Mass Effect 3, Ghost Recon, EA Sports titles and the next Fable.
New, new Xbox Experience to have full Kinect support
Bing with voice search coming, but won’t be able to search the internet
YouTube and UFC coming to 360
Kinect Fun Labs announced, coming from Buzz! dev Relentless Studios
Dance Central 2, Kinect Sports Season 2 announced
Crytek’s Codename: Kingdoms renamed Ryse

Rating: C+ With the 360′s core line-up rather weak in the run up to E3, we were hoping that a slew of new games would be announced. Unfortunately, Microsoft’s selection was rather weak, with gamers only given a fleeting glance at Halo 4. Kinect remained the centrepiece of the show, with announcements clearly aimed at casual gamers.

EA:

Mass Effect 3 demoed
Sports games with Kinect shown
Battlefield 3 release date, beta announced Read More >>
Insomniac Games’ multiplatform title, “Overstrike“, revealed Read More >>
Need for Speed: The Run to feature on-foot chases
EA Sports Football Club revealed – a live service that allows users to connect and compete with one another
Star Wars: Old Republic teased

Rating: C Insomniac’s new game made the show worth watching, although lack of real gameplay made it rather disappointing. The rest of the conference was rather bland and repeated what was already known.

Ubisoft:

Rayman Origins revealed as 2D family game
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online to be a free game
Far Cry 3 announced, returning to the jungle Read More >>
Gearbox Software developing Brothers in Arms: Furious Four Read More >>
The Adventures of Tintin: The Game announced as movie tie-in
ManiaPlanet, a brand dedicated to allowing customization options to PC games revealed.
Trackmania, a racing game, Shootmania, an FPS, and Questmania, an RPG.
Raving Rabids coming to Kinect
Just Dance 3 coming to PS3, 360 and Wii Read More >>
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations gameplay footage shown Read More >>

Rating: B+ Ubisoft started strongly, with Far Cry, Brothers in Arms and Ghost Recon all looking very good. From there it went downhill, with cheesy jokes and casual games dragging on. Luckily it ended with a bang, with Ubisoft showing Assassin’s Creed.

Sony:

Sony Apologizes For PSN Outage Read More >>
CinemaNow’s Instant Streaming Access Heading To PlayStation Network Read More >>
Chloe and Elena Returning to Uncharted Read More >>
New God of War Collection Announced Read More >>
Uncharted 3 E3 Gameplay Footage Read More >>
Resistance 3 Sharp Shooter Bundle Announced Read More >>
Brand New PS3 Television and Glasses Announced Read More >>
Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest Announced Read More >>
Sly Cooper 4 Unveiled At Sony’s E3 Conference Read More >>
Move Support for Bioshock Infinite Confirmed Read More >>
Ken Levine Teases Vita Bioshock Title Read More >>
Dust 514 Announced to Be First PSN Exclusive Cross-Platform MMO Read More >>
Everybody Dance and Start the Party 2 Moving Its Way to PS3 Read More >>
NGP Officially Named Read More >>
Star Trek PlayStation Move Announced with Exclusive Treats Read More >>
PlayStation Vita is AT&T Exclusive Read More >>
Mt. Fuji Stage to be Exclusive to PS3 Version of SSX Read More >>
PS Vita Priced, To 3G or Not to 3G Read More >>
Idol Minds Announce Ruin, A Cross Compatible “Social Action RPG” With Cloud Saves Read More >>
PS Vita Set to Release This Year, Christmas Sorted Read More >>
80 Titles in Development for Vita Read More >>
New Modnation Racers Announced For Vita Read More >>
LittleBigPlanet Finds New Life on PlayStation Vita Read More >>
Street Fighter x Tekken on The PS Vita Shown on Video, inFamous’ Cole To Join in Read More >>

Rating: B The most announcements of any conference, Sony’s was jam-packed with reveals. However, other than the surprisingly low price of the PS Vita, none rivalled the megaton announcements of the years before. No Agent, Twisted Metal or Last Guardian was disappointing.

Nintendo:

Zelda: Link’s Awakening is now available for 3DS on the Virtual Console
Ocarina of Time 3D will launch next week
Zelda: 4 Swords Adventure will be a free download in September
Zelda: Skyward Sword will launch this holiday for the Wii, limited edition Gold Wii Remote will accompany this launch.
Later this year a 25th Zelda Anniversary Symphony Concert will tour around the word.
Mario Kart 3DS, Star Fox 3DS, Super Mario 3D, Kid Icarus Uprising, Luigi’s Mansion 2 announced
eShop finally available for the 3DS
Pokedex 3D out now for free
Wii U blowout Read More >>

Rating: A- Announcing a new console meant that Nintendo were pretty much guaranteed to have the best show. Add in a spattering of top 3DS titles and a strong list of third party support for the Wii U, and the conference was a hit. But with graphics failing to beat the PS3, a terrible name and an odd control interface, the show was far from perfect.

Ken Levine Teases Vita Bioshock Title

Sebastian Moss — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 01:17:35 +0000

At this year’s E3 conference, Irrational Games head Ken Levine took to the stage and announced Move for Bioshock Infinite. But after that, he wasn’t done.

During Sony’s show, Levine talked about a “pet project” at the studio, based in the Bioshock world, but sadly didn’t give any details, other than that it would be on the NGP.

Stick around for more exciting coverage!

Awesome BioShock Infinite Screens Released

Zak Islam — Mon, 23 May 2011 18:33:06 +0000

BioShock Infinite sees Ken Levine return to the forefront and fans can’t be more hyped for the series’ creator to be back working on another BioShock title. Infinite‘s initial release had gamers excited by the prospect of a BioShock game set in the sky and an E3 reveal for more footage and details is imminent; the embargo for an early preview of the BioShock Infinite demo which will début during E3 has been lifted; resulting in several new screenshots for the game being released.

BioShock Infinite‘s latest screenshots can be viewed below:

BioShock Infinite is Irrational Games’ forthcoming story focused first-person shooter and will complete the trilogy of titles in the critically and commercially successful BioShock franchise. The game, however, is not described as a sequel nor a prequel to the game’s predecessors and that fact is clearly shown with the game’s setting being in the sky, rather than underwater. Booker DeWitt – a former Pinkerton agent – is the protagonist players will be controlling in Infinite, where his main goal is to rescue a woman who is stuck inside Columbia – the flying city in the game.

BioShock Infinite is currently scheduled for a release in 2012 on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 as well as PC.

Pachter: E3 2011 Could Be The Best Yet

Paulmichael Contreras — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:42:54 +0000

E3 2011 is mere weeks away now, and the entire industry is ramping up in preparation for the big show. Professional analyst Michael Pachter is planning to make his case as to why this year’s will be the best show ever.

Industry Gamers recently teased their upcoming monthly segment titled “Pachter’s Podium,” where the analyst discusses his opinion on the gaming industry at large. When asked about the upcoming E3 show, Pachter had this to say with regards to who will “win” this year; Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo:

Gamers will win this year’s E3, because there is going to be a ton of gaming goodness this year,” he enthused. “I’m personally excited to see Star Wars and Battlefield from EA, a Call of Duty reveal from Activision, possibly a Bungie or Respawn game, something cool from Take-Two (like BioShock Infinite, Max Payne 3, or . . . dare I say it . . . GTA???). Ubisoft will show Driver and the next Assassin’s Creed, THQ will show Saints Row, and we’ll probably see Batman Arkham City, Rage … so much that I can’t keep track. The console guys are almost secondary, but we have NGP from Sony and Wii 2 from Nintendo (with Zelda for Wii, likely Mario for 3DS and Wii 2)…This could be the best E3 ever, and I’m not making that statement lightly.

Of course, this is mostly just speculation at this point, but with E3 just around the corner it won’t be too long before we see if Mr. Pachter is correct in his conclusion that gamers will benefit the most from all of these high-caliber titles perhaps being demoed on the show floor. Curious to note here – a lot of the games Mr. Pachter names are sequels. Most of the developers named have booked plenty of floor space to show off not only these hot titles, but much more. Stay with PlayStation LifeStyle as we will bring you nonstop coverage of E3 2011 as it happens.

Gaming Industry Bows Down to Take-Two Interactive Dominance

Jonathan Leack — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:12:15 +0000

Take-Two Interactive has been in the spotlight for the past couple months for numerous reasons. For one, the company managed to beat the competition for the past year with a higher game rating average than any other company. Second, Grand Theft Auto V speculation is beginning to trickle onto the internet, creating a stir. What all of these things share in common is Take-Two Interactive, a company that has roared its way into the homes of millions.

During this week’s Wedbush Tech Conference, Take-Two Interactive delivered a particularly informational slideshow. Among the information provided were the following items of note:

The Grand Theft Auto series is now over 100 million units sold, with Grand Theft Auto IV already around 20 million on its own.
The BioShock series has been a powerhouse with roughly eight million sold.
Borderlands has managed to push four million units despite being a new IP.
NBA 2K11 has sold over four million copies, and has garnered substantial critical acclaim.
Take-Two sold more third party software than any other publisher in 2010.
A grand total of $1.1 billion of revenue in fiscal year 2010.

With such a high volume of prevalence over the past couple of years, Take-Two Interactive has quickly become a dominating figure in the gaming industry. But the fantasy ride isn’t over yet, as the company has several key titles coming including L.A. Noire (a personal favorite of mine), Duke Nukem Forever (speaks for itself), and even BioShock Infinite. What was once a company known for a small title named Biosys is now a huge force in the industry after years of acquisitions and successful delivery of major titles.

[Thanks superannuation for the link]

BioShock Infinite Gets Irrational Reveal, Screens, Trailer

Anthony Severino — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 18:33:26 +0000

For quite a while now, Irrational Games has been teasing a new project with their “whatisicarus” teaser site. The site has now been updated revealing BioShock Infinite and to coincide with the reveal, 2K Games and Irrational Games have spilled the beans on all the new details the game features. Here’s what we know so far…

Taking the role of protagonist, Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton agent sent to the lost city of Columbia, you’ll be tasked with rescuing Elizabeth, a young woman held captive among the mysterious floating city in the sky. The game features new weapons, abilities, and an entirely new engine, with epic battles taking place among the clouds or indoors of Columbia, a floating city symbolizing America’s rise as a world power that has disappeared into the clouds.

Check out the screens below as well as BioShock Infinite’s official reveal trailer.

Irrational Games Close To Revealing Something New

Paulmichael Contreras — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:49:33 +0000

Irrational Games, the masterminds behind 2007′s hit Bioshock, have been teasing about an unannounced project for a bit now. But it looks like they are almost ready to reveal something in a very short time.

A teaser site at whatisicarus.com was set up last month by 2K Games, which is the parent company of Irrational Games. The teaser site showed nothing but some mist and a ball of light before, but now the view of that silhouette has shrunk and instead only a small portion can be seen, though it is animated. More importantly there is now faint text below the moving mass – “August the 12th, At 1:45 PM, Eastern Daylight Time.” This coincides with a day after an event in New York City has been scheduled by the studio. So perhaps tomorrow the event will take place, introducing the game, and the next day the website will reveal more information about the game? Once again, with regard to Irrational Games, it’s anybody’s guess.

Shocking 50% Off Savings on BioShock 2

Anthony Severino — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:25:37 +0000

BioShock 2, the follow up to the award-winning, smash-hit BioShock, never quite lived up to the steep expectations set by the original. Due to this, many may have missed out on 2K Games’ creepy, underwater, first-person shooter. Thanks to a shocking deal, now is your chance to visit (or revisit if you played the original) the horrifying halls of the Rapture, without have to reach deep within your wallet.

As part of Amazon’s Deal of the Day promotion, BioShock 2 is currently on sale for $29.99, that’s a seriously shocking savings of 50% off the MSRP. Sadly, this deal is only for today, so head on over to Amazon now and order a copy right now.

If you need more help deciding, check out PlayStation LifeStyle’s review of BioShock 2.

If you’re looking for more money saving deals, click here.

2K Looks Back on Bioshock

Kyle P. — Sat, 08 May 2010 02:46:00 +0000

When the original Bioshock released to the gaming world in 2007, it was met with widespread approval. Not only did gamers absolutely love it, but also critics. It was hailed for its innovative story, coupled with its unique gameplay and weapons. The sequel, while not attaining quite the level of praise, still managed to sell quite well for 2k Games. Some questioned whether or not a sequel was necessary. It might comfort you to know that 2k Games also shared the same reservations, back in the initial development stage.

Speaking in a recent interview, 2K’s vice president of marketing, Matt Gorman, talked about the success of the original Bioshock, and that it was a “blessing and a curse” for 2k.

“One of the main things that was ‘a blessing and a curse’ was BioShock 1. You had many scores that were 100 and you had a lot of people who felt it was a contained, finite experience.
“So you had hardcore fans that weren’t convinced that they needed a sequel and here we were two years later with BioShock 2. There were also people that never got on board and it was a challenge to detail to them they don’t have to play the first to enjoy the second.”

Gorman then went on to talk about how the success of the first title did not guarantee the success for the sequel.

“It wasn’t a given our fanbase would buy this, just like there’s no guarantee that those who buy Modern Warfare would buy Modern Warfare 2.
“So we had campaigns for the hardcore and we had one for those who weren’t fans, with the understanding that the same message would not work for everyone.”

He does make sense. The first game, while excellent, was almost too good. However, Bioshock 2 is certainly not a bad title. While not meeting the high quality the first title put forth, it still managed to sell three million units. Did you enjoy Bioshock 2? Did you hate it? Was a sequel necessary? Post your responses in the comments section below.

Buy Bioshock 2, Get Bioshock Free Deal Hits Amazon

Mike Hartnett — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:31:16 +0000

For those of you out there who may have missed out on the critically acclaimed BioShock series the first time around, or just neglected to get into the fray and ended up putting the series on your gaming back burner, Amazon has a sweet deal going on right now that is aiming to spread the joy and… well… inexplicable horror that is BioShock, to the masses.

Right now, if you snag Bioshock 2 on Amazon, you’ll receive the original BioShock completely free. Yes, you read that right. Those who may have been skeptical of this series, despite the rave reviews, essentially have nothing to lose now as they can own both Bioshock 1 and 2 for $49.99 with free shipping.

You’re not only knocking 17% off the title, but getting the prequel for free? This is definitely a worthwhile deal, and I may even take the plunge myself. I’ve heard the shrieking sound of a Big Sister’s cry before and trust me, it’s haunting… to say the least.

Just be sure to add both games to your cart, as the description says, for the deal to take effect. Have fun in Rapture!

Click here to buy Bioshock 1 and 2 now.

BioShock 2 Drills in 3 Million Units Sold

Dan Massi — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:07:43 +0000

BioShock 2 had mixed reaction when it was first revealed. Groups were divided up, with one side saying the game did not need a sequel, and the other excited for the eventual return to Rapture. Well, it seems like the other side was the majority, as Take-Two has announced BioShock 2′s sale figures.

Since its release in early February of this year, BioShock 2 has managed to sell over 3 million units. While lifetime sales of the franchise have exceeded 7 million. DLC for the title has been recently revealed, though no exact release date was confirmed.

[Via]