By Alec Meer on June 17th, 2011 at 11:14 am.
Well, obviously pretty much everyone’s fighting you – it is a first-person shooter, after all. But there’s also inter-factional conflict in 2012′s Skyoshock, as one Mr K. Levine reveals below. What on earth could make the denizens of a rebel, militaristic, ultranationalist city in the sky turn against each other? Oh, riiiiiight. Also: time travel.
Little bit of new footage in that, I think, as well as a whole lot of scene-setting and a few demonstrations of how this is a populated city rather than a zombie one like Rapture.
Also, did you hear this stuff about the game featuring time-travel? 1-Up’s preview from E3 reckons that Elizabeth’s strange powers create rifts in space and time, which at one point sees the characters jump to an alternative 1983, where ‘Revenge of the Jedi’ is showing in cinemas.
Now there’s a thing, and surely pertinent to the ‘Infinite’ in the title. Also sounds to me like a sure-fire way to include a wee visit to Rapture…
17/06/2011 at 11:19 Theory says:
Time travel was a dead giveaway from the logo and “popping into existence” effect seen in the new trailers, TBH.
Also, I really like how there are neutral NPCs now. Is it too much to hope that they’re not just in a few scripted scenes?
17/06/2011 at 13:23 JonSolo says:
I’m stil wondering if it’s actually time travel or if it’s parallel universes. They keep talking about Liz’s ability as being able to pluck through “tears” or rips. Which makes me think of tears in reality itself (instead of time)– and that “Revenge of the Jedi” remained the title in whatever alternate universe they suddenly found themselves in. Looking forward to that actual footage, so far I’ve only heard it described by journos.
17/06/2011 at 11:19 groghog says:
HEY! He’s just a postman, didn’t hurt anybody!
17/06/2011 at 12:08 The Great Wayne says:
I guess he never saw that movie with costner.
17/06/2011 at 12:09 kikito says:
He’s a WITCH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-g
17/06/2011 at 13:11 JonSolo says:
Wo-oah, waitaminute Mister Postman!
17/06/2011 at 11:20 Ovno says:
Pay close attention?
17/06/2011 at 11:48 sjjs says:
Mind, meet Other Dimension.
17/06/2011 at 12:04 Magnetude says:
Still trying to work out whether this is the reference Mr Meer was making…
17/06/2011 at 14:21 somini says:
Ninja’d.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qriH-8yeqcE
17/06/2011 at 11:22 syntax says:
I am excite!
17/06/2011 at 11:33 McDan says:
+1 to excite! I hope time travel will be done in the usual bioshock goodness way. Mhm this game is just looking too good.
17/06/2011 at 11:45 Kablooie says:
Excite+=2;
Keenly anticipating this one. I feel tingly. 2012!
18/06/2011 at 03:57 Adam says:
+3 GOTY 2012…. Is it too early?
17/06/2011 at 11:25 Drake Sigar says:
They’ve captured Kevin Costner, what ever shall we do?
17/06/2011 at 11:54 ananachaphobiac says:
I say kill him! I watched “The Postman.” That’s 3 hours of my life that I’ll never get back. His death is long overdue quite frankly.
HIT HIM HARDER!
17/06/2011 at 11:28 Scatterbrainpaul says:
Is that girl with the boobs in the picture a little sister?
17/06/2011 at 11:37 Tony M says:
Don’t put cleavage next to a dead horse. It makes me all confused.
17/06/2011 at 13:10 Robert says:
As long as you don’t beat it… the horse that is, it will be fine.
17/06/2011 at 16:39 Torgen says:
She looks sad that someone stole the top of her dress, and she doesn’t have another.
18/06/2011 at 16:24 undead dolphin hacker says:
Also her head is really big.
17/06/2011 at 11:30 skinlo says:
I’m looking forward to this game a lot!
17/06/2011 at 11:33 Alien426 says:
You mean “Who’s Fighting Whom”?
How did you know I’m German?
17/06/2011 at 17:14 MiniTrue says:
I was about to make the same point. Good thing I checked the existing comments first!
17/06/2011 at 11:33 Unaco says:
“Revenge of the Jedi” was actually released around the same time as “Return of the Jedi”, which I think was ’83.
17/06/2011 at 11:45 kenoxite says:
So? “The Empire Fights Back” is the only one in the series that matters. I couldn’t care less about those IBooks.
17/06/2011 at 11:52 westyfield says:
TBH the whole Stellar Conflict series has been going way downhill since the awful sequel trilogy.
17/06/2011 at 12:56 Unaco says:
Yes Kenoxite, and my comment was purely directed towards YOU, and YOUR cares and considerations are ALL that matters here. Thank you for informing me that you have no cares for such things, and I apologise, sincerely and completely for daring to mention these things in your presence.
Or, my comment could have been to inform those who didn’t know, but were perhaps curious, that ’83 was when Return… was released at Cinemas, and also when Revenge of the Jedi (a real thing) was released.
17/06/2011 at 13:29 kenoxite says:
It’s a frak!
17/06/2011 at 13:30 JonSolo says:
I always thought the lore was that it was called Revenge on some of the promotional material, but shortly before it actually hit wide release it was re-titled Return (purportedly to combat brand “piracy”)? I was alive at the time, but I was 10 so I could be wrong. Maybe the advance showing still had the Revenge title?
In any case, I still think it might be an indication of an alternate universe instead of just pure time travel. As time could flow at different speeds between universes, it might account for the disparity.
17/06/2011 at 13:37 AndrewC says:
The line Lucas gives is the original title was ‘revenge’ but he changed it last minute because revenge isn’t something a jedi would do. Whichever, it speaks to alternate dimensions, and slightly lame Star wars references in a series that mostly references quite high level political theory. I don’t like it, but it’s not like it’s a big thing.
17/06/2011 at 13:47 kenoxite says:
Damn it. You guys are right: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gStp2KuIgdU
Bioshock: Fringe, then?
18/06/2011 at 05:54 James T says:
[snicker]
17/06/2011 at 11:34 el_Chi says:
A quick trip to Rapture would manage the simultaneous trick of being pointless fan service AND self-indulgent.
17/06/2011 at 11:39 deanimate says:
This looks double toffee MINT :D
17/06/2011 at 11:46 WingNutZA says:
Shut up woman, get on my horse!
17/06/2011 at 12:07 MadTinkerer says:
“Also: time travel”
Called it!
Also, it will be interesting to see how far they’ve pushed the AI this time around. The seemingly feral simplicity of the AI in Bioshock 1 was excused by them all being crazies who were under specific orders to go after your character. In Bioshock 2, they’re considerably smarter and can coordinate attacks, as well as having a lot more scripted scenes with less maniacal (relatively speaking) behavior. If Infinite has as much progression over 2 and 2 did to 1, they might actually pull off a convincing populace this time.
17/06/2011 at 17:13 Viper50BMG says:
I’d really rather like to see a population that isn’t inherently hostile towards the player; In Bioshock 1&2 they were all violent “drug”-addled psycho crazies, but here it seems more like they would or should be more human. Having them be in a veritable war makes more sense, having them make rash decisions, and having, at times, the intellect and self control of an angry mob is understandable, but I’d really not like to go through the game shooting EVERY single person, unless, like Bioshock Previous, there’s something “wrong” with them on a mental level.
Of course it could just be the constant combat against everyone seen in most of these trailers.
I seem to remember someone bringing up the idea of “talking to the Splicers”; and I’d rather like to be able to talk to (at least some of) the citizens of Columbia.
Regardless, I am psyched, and so:
((political unrest backstory) + (time travel^alt. 1980′s) x (telekinesis + useful sidekick character + witty banter)) / Interesting and Vibrant setting = High Potential of Awesome
17/06/2011 at 12:30 squirrel says:
I will fight for Elizabeth…… no, for America!!
Glad to see that in this game we are dealing with self-aware people. Should have a better feeling of Role-playing than previous Bioshock games.
17/06/2011 at 13:34 JonSolo says:
Yeah, I like that the guy has a voice– it makes me feel more connected to the world and not the opposite. Booker DeWitt’s voice… is that the same guy who voiced Garrett in the Thief series?
18/06/2011 at 06:23 Hidden_7 says:
It sure is! And that’s great. That fact almost single handedly sold me on this game.
17/06/2011 at 12:42 Vexing Vision says:
Trick question: How much gametime will BioShock: Infinite deliver?
17/06/2011 at 13:11 Robert says:
INFINITE!
17/06/2011 at 13:02 Alexander Norris says:
I think Elizabeth’s cleavage doesn’t show nearly enough as it is.
17/06/2011 at 13:15 Freud says:
Perhaps you get more in a pre-order DLC.
18/06/2011 at 07:48 Thants says:
The Saboteur actually did have “more boobs” pre-order dlc.
17/06/2011 at 13:18 Melmoth says:
Who else thinks Ken Levine looks a liiittle bit like David Duchovny?
And that was my 1st comment btw, so hello everyone.
17/06/2011 at 14:44 MCM says:
WHO’S FIGHTING WHOM.
WHOM.
And you guys allegedly invented this language.
17/06/2011 at 18:21 disperse says:
I’ll let Jeff Vogel take this one:
http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2011/04/whom-is-dumb.html
17/06/2011 at 16:08 noom says:
I’m just gonna go ahead and say that I absolutely love the setting for this. Really, it’s fantastic.
17/06/2011 at 16:11 Vinraith says:
It’s a neat setting, and some interesting ideas, but after burning out on Bioshock 2 after an hour I’m concerned I may simply not have another one of these games in me.
17/06/2011 at 16:14 bill says:
(a) nobody says WHOM.
(b) a trip to Rapture would be just as dumb as all the crappy self-referential stuff in the star wars sequel, that just made the universe seem like a very small space.
I rather like the idea that Rapture was a unique place, outside but in the real world. If they make the whole reality into a world of steam-punk retro-future extreme-ideology cities then that’d dilute that image. I’d rather they keep them separate, like the Final Fantasy games do. (?)
17/06/2011 at 16:21 Chris D says:
Bill
“nobody says WHOM”
I think you may just have incurred the wrath of Walker. I’d run.
17/06/2011 at 16:42 Torgen says:
Who’s whoming whom?
17/06/2011 at 17:25 SuperNashwanPower says:
Funbags Mc HorseyCorpse is my favourite character
17/06/2011 at 19:22 skraeling says:
Now with the time/pan-dimensional travel I see even more similarities between this and Marathon Infinity. Or is that just me?
17/06/2011 at 22:28 Acerbjorn says:
LOOL! He sAid COMSTOCK.
18/06/2011 at 02:52 matrices says:
Whom gives a fuck?
Exactly.
18/06/2011 at 07:50 Thants says:
What now?
18/06/2011 at 08:21 outoffeelinsobad says:
Can we all please just agree to call it Bioshock 3?
18/06/2011 at 21:41 Chemix says:
As towards the presence of cleavage, being over the top, watch just about any movie involving rich folk from the 1800s that doesn’t take place in the West (there, I got you, 3/4 of the interesting material is gone) and you’ll probably notice a tendency to show or even frame the cleavage. Now whether or not that’s hollywood, well, yeah, you’ve got me there. I could understand if she was in a bikini and a miniskirt (or any other outfit from the FF series), that it would be too much. Also else noticed the dead horse second, to morbid surprise?
Also, from Jeff Vogel’s blog on Whom, a comment by Grog, whom I am not.
grog said…
The dekline of literasee is now neerly kompleet. Soon us wil get rid of uneeded leter C as wel. Us mite even be able to stop ading leter U behind evree Q. Leter X is also unesesary, as it cood eesilee be replased by ether KS or Z. Me is espeshuly pleesed that noun “disrespect” is now widely aksepted as verb, and, even beter, is shortened to “diss”.
Ogre wil sune be gramer profesur.
April 7, 2011 8:09 AM