By Adam Smith on March 20th, 2012 at 12:32 pm.
The Boys of Silence sound like an incredible New Romantic band so I was slightly disappointed to find that they’re actually blind men with two gramophones soldered onto their heads. If ever a game needed less mechaniman monstrosities and more synth pop, Bioshock: Infinite is that game. With these cantankerous “walking cameras” that emit the shriek of a thousand sirens and Mr Tickle’s dangerous yet sorrowful offspring it’s a world full of ruined metal men. What do they do for fun? Brief footage of a Boy of Silence below, along with Mr Levine and others enthusing about the concept.
Least practical balaclava of the day so far.
20/03/2012 at 12:37 Antsy says:
There’s a man outside, in a torn suit, bronze hat sporting two gramaphones…
21/03/2012 at 16:11 gillesv says:
Are friends steam-powered?
21/03/2012 at 17:02 Antsy says:
Indubitably, good sir!
20/03/2012 at 12:38 Nim says:
Weapon of Choice: Banana Peel
20/03/2012 at 12:46 torchedEARTH says:
A loud whistle.
20/03/2012 at 12:52 diebroken says:
“Who run Barter Town?” ;)
20/03/2012 at 13:55 torchedEARTH says:
Not Tina Turner.
20/03/2012 at 12:39 CaLe says:
The background looks much different than anything we have seen from Infinite so far.
20/03/2012 at 14:39 JBantha says:
I don’t know if you remember one of those early conferences videos about Infinite, where they were explaining the difference between the underwater part of the series and the up the air part, where they showed up some concepts on the City in the sky. I think you might want to look that up.
20/03/2012 at 12:49 Antsy says:
“IGNORE ME!”
20/03/2012 at 15:39 Network Crayon says:
Thats all i can picture when i read this article.
20/03/2012 at 12:53 daphne says:
Whoa, that’s some creepy shit. Infinite is competing with Dishonored for my “most anticipated of 2012″ title, and this is a strong effort from that party.
I wonder about their origins, hopefully that will be illuminated throughout the actual game.
20/03/2012 at 14:33 JKjoker says:
I bet Frank West passed though the area and there is a ridiculous headgear store right on the corner
20/03/2012 at 12:57 Anders Wrist says:
Yeah, the lead artist sounded really enthusiastic about those. :p
20/03/2012 at 13:14 Zanchito says:
I can’t see why, guess I’ll have to hear more about it.
20/03/2012 at 13:23 Nickless_One says:
yeah, he was pretty loud…
20/03/2012 at 13:13 abigbat says:
Ace concept, but surely they’re just perpetually deafening themselves?
20/03/2012 at 17:06 sneetch says:
Yeah, it’s like a character that relies on his really sharp eyesight whose attack involves releasing a thick cloud of smoke.
20/03/2012 at 17:49 Sarlix says:
Yeah, or someone who relies on their acute sense of smell but can’t stop farting.
20/03/2012 at 13:29 Oof says:
Not to be a downer (although, obviously I’m being a downer), but this has put the nail in the coffin where my anticipation lies.
I can’t be the only one who thinks that looks really stupid.
20/03/2012 at 13:39 Soup says:
You are not alone
20/03/2012 at 13:41 Antsy says:
Yeah. They need to be more sensible. Less of this ridiculous stuff and more minigun toting George Washington robots please.
20/03/2012 at 13:42 Brun says:
Perhaps some nunchuck-wielding Ben Franklin robots?
20/03/2012 at 13:47 Antsy says:
Brilliant. And a steam propelled John Adams bot with giant boxing glove hands. A John Handcock bot wielding an enormous articulated quill!
20/03/2012 at 13:49 Brun says:
Nah, John Hancock would wield a rapier or similar thin-bladed fighting sword, and sign his name Zorro-style with it.
20/03/2012 at 18:08 Shooop says:
At least that makes some kind of sense because the reasoning is, “We’re true patriots, so let’s make a weapon that looks like our country’s founder!”
This and the guy with his heart protected only by a glass box are just weird for weirdness’ sake like a Tim Burton movie.
20/03/2012 at 15:53 wodin says:
It hasn’t ruined my interest, yet it’s something you’d see in Monty Python art or ome psychedelic video for Sgt peppers.
20/03/2012 at 18:28 Shooop says:
It really does.
The robotic Washington fits because of the patriotism gone wrong theme. But this is just plain dumb.
21/03/2012 at 17:15 Mista Bojangles says:
I think there’s something to be said for letting a studio whose employees are clearly (and somewhat deservedly) high on themselves to take shit to ridiculous extremes. Surely among the silliness there will be flashes of brilliance. Honestly, I think that “stupid” is a funny complaint to have about the machinations of late nineteenth century America. It was a lot like this game presents it: overflowing pride and a tacky mix of insanity and genius. Take it or leave it.
20/03/2012 at 13:52 Yargh says:
I wonder if you will be able to stock up on pins to drop?
20/03/2012 at 13:56 Oozo says:
They’re getting closer and closer to that Zeno Clash-sequel some of us were rooting for, arent’ they?
20/03/2012 at 14:31 JKjoker says:
no no no, there is no way i can take that … thing seriously
20/03/2012 at 14:32 Artista says:
I’m sorry, but that thing looks pretty silly to me.
20/03/2012 at 14:42 hugoo says:
reminds me of the midwives from system shock 2.
21/03/2012 at 00:23 Robin says:
Reminds me of the blind claw guys from RE4.
20/03/2012 at 14:42 Ed123 says:
Well that was…an incredibly uninformative video.
20/03/2012 at 14:52 misterT0AST says:
I don’t know why, I have never seen such a design before, but they somehow look kind of unimaginative to me.
It’s just a nonsensical huge helm that wouldn’t be put on a man’s head for any reason other than making fun of him.
20/03/2012 at 16:18 Soon says:
Well, the big padlock suggests he wasn’t making a fashion statement.
20/03/2012 at 15:42 stahlwerk says:
Strange, in the not-quantum-physics sense of the word.
Intriguing, too.
(Also, I’m pretty sure that’s not how human hearing works.)
21/03/2012 at 17:22 Mista Bojangles says:
For me, it boils down to how it moves and where it shows up. Could be silly and obnoxious, could be nightmarish.
20/03/2012 at 15:44 Apples says:
Hahaha. That looks absolutely stupid. Slap gears all over it and it’s a funny Steampunk parody, but as it is, it just looks like the in-universe version of a dunce hat.
20/03/2012 at 16:59 Jason Moyer says:
Stop that! It’s silly. Very silly indeed! Started off as a nice little idea about a city in the sky, but now it’s just got silly! His head’s too big for a child, too, and you can tell those are not proper gramophones. Clear out, the lot of you!
20/03/2012 at 17:00 rossgamer1986 says:
OMG!!! youtube(dot)com/watch?v=6Vde6Oe16Fg You guys have to take a look at that… How the hell did he get a copy of Bioshock Infinite??
20/03/2012 at 18:04 Shooop says:
This game is slowly turning into a giant Flying Circus skit the team still wants everyone to take seriously.
20/03/2012 at 18:27 kud13 says:
I will need to see gamepllay footage before I decide if this is a good idea.
As a general note, I’m still looking forward to infinite, for the simple reason that it’s not trying to be SS2 this time, and is doing something genuinely new.
20/03/2012 at 18:33 Richard Parker says:
It would have been more effective if they stuck with the original version: http://youtu.be/GEStsLJZhzo
21/03/2012 at 00:58 Gabe McGrath says:
@Adam Smith
Suggestion: For future RPS ‘character revealed’ posts – is it possible to make the ‘top of fold’ screenshot *obscured* so that people who want to be surprised in-game, don’t get a visual spoiler, and people wanting MORE PICS MORE PICS can simply click on the ‘read more’ tag?
Would be appreciated.
21/03/2012 at 03:45 olpolpolpolp says:
http://lnk.co/ILTHN
this stuff is very cool