Rock, Paper, Shotgun

That was supposed to sound like a nice little rhyme. Alas, it just comes across as a really boring, proasic headline – they should have sent a poet. Anyway, the point is that the promised widescreen patch for Bioshock 2 is due tomorrow (at 2AM PST), and will address the returning BS1 oversight/disagreement/confusion that the field of view remained at 4:3 settings even when played in 16:10. Just writing that turns my brain to mush, as it makes me feel as though I’ve been stuck in a temporal loop since 2007, forcing me to continually write something about Bioshock and field of view into a Wordpress page again and again. It’s good news for people with nice monitors, however – and as well as that there’s both a larger patch and some DLC in the offing.
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The DRM sucks. It really does. Only… I can’t comment on exactly how sucky it is because this an opinion based on the 360 version of the game. I know! I played it on a gamepad and everything! I’ll be handing in my PC4EVA badge and gun momentarily, but before that it seemed wise to at least write up my experiences. 360 is what we had access to for review, and, while largely speaking (based upon the differences between BS1 console and PC, and how technically similar this is to BS1) the experience should be very similar, I can’t say that it definitely will be, or that those multiple forms of copy protection won’t cause every PC in the world to turn into a chocolate muffin with chicken nuggets on top when it unlocks tomorrow. That would make me a liar, and I only lie about things that don’t matter, like loving my family and whether I really finished reading that Stephen Hawking book. I’ll be checking BS2 PC out tomorrow, and if there’s any sign of trouble or disparity with anything in this piece, rest assured there’ll be posts about it. For now, though: An Opinion.
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Okay. Let’s keep this just the facts, as everyone knows what they mean. The tech specs for Bioshock 2 are out. They’re reasonable enough. There’s also some fun DRM. Online verification via SecuRom, with an install limit (15 machines, admittedly). To save the game or play online, you need to be logged into Games for Window Live. This still applies on Steam – so SecuRom and Games For Windows Live are needed in addition to the Steam client. Hmm.

UPDATE: 2K Community Manager Elizabeth elaborates over at the forums. In short, it will be doing the standard Games for Windows Live activation – as in, you can play and save games offline without achievements. SecuROM is only a disc-check method for the retail copy. While final details of Steam are forthcoming, that may imply it won’t be there. Hmm.

Comments thread… go. Let me and Edwin Starr provide the soundtrack.
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Happy change of two calendar digits, younglings! While I attempt to warm up my brain farm, let me distract you by throwing my aforementioned leftovers from my recent interview with Bioshock 2’s Jordan Thomas and Melissa Miller at you. They’ll only go to waste otherwise, which would prolong my inevitable torment in Writer Hell. Read on for their thoughts on heading up a new studio and why they don’t think the game’s divisive multiplayer is throwaway…
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As we’ve mentioned a number of times previously, Bioshock 2 will feature multiplayer. A new video of that mode has been released unto the internet today, and we’ve posted it below for your delectation. As you might expect, it demonstrates a number of the in-game powers, the barks of your freakish gene-splicing characters, their weapons, and the rather splendid Art Deco environments that all the murderin’ is going to take place in. It’s an odd addition to the game, however, and I can’t help thinking about how hard they’re going to have to try to compete with their contemporaries. Is an old-skool deathmatch add-on really want we demand for 2010?
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Eurogamer editor Tom “Tom Bramwell” Bramwell has been delving into Bioshock 2, and – following a trip to 2K Marin – he’s been kind enough to unload some of his head-meat into our blog. Read on for hot diggity.

Hello, Role-Playing Shooters! Remember BioShock? They’re making another one. Seeing as I’m a bit of a regular in Rapture, Jim asked me if I’d be willing to write something about it on my next trip to the surface, and I said I’d be delighted. Either that or I got drunk and offered. I can’t remember, and it doesn’t matter.
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2K Games have released another trailer, via CVG, for Bioshock 2, this time narrated by a lady who is, presumably, the person who appears in a clever twist/cutscene about three-quarters of the way through the game. Or Shodan Under The Sea? Hmm, perhaps, but I guess it’s all a matter of philosophy, as we’ll no doubt find out soon. Anyway, go watch the action – for it is actiony – in the video-bathysphere below.
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This morning we behold the multiplayer footage of Bioshock 2, in which people are augmented splicers in the submerged environs of Rapture. These splicers get cracking killing each other with physics and deployable turrets, which all looks rather entertaining. But… what’s that? There’s a use for the research camera? And someone gets to be the Big Daddy? A Tank round for genetically-spliced deathmatch? Intriguing. We’ll have more on Bioshock 2 rather soon.
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Making a rare guest appearance on Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Eurogamer’s Editor bossman Tom “Tom Bramwell” Bramwell was recently visiting 2K Marin, the developers behind BioShock 2, and interviewed lead environment designer Hogarth De La Plante and senior producer Melissa Miller to find out some more details about what we can expect from the enormously anticipated sequel. They discuss the role the ocean is going to play in the game, how Rapture has changed in the ten years since the original game, why defence is going to play as big a part as offence this time, and what it’s going to be like to be a Big Daddy.

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The problem with the leaked Game Informer cover a few weeks back, and the reason a whole bunch of folk, myself included, reacted to it with knee-jerk negativity, was that it appeared to tell a complete story. You’re back in Rapture, and the Big Daddies are now ladies. Oh God, must it really be so obvious?

As it turns out, that’s only a fraction of the story. It’s barely even the story at all, in fact – in the name of attention-grabbing marketing, that single, strangely self-contained image discarded all the more interesting questions around Bioshock 2. Even now, having yesterday seen the game in action and discovering nothing’s anywhere near as simple as it had seemed, I’ve a very clear sense there are a great many more questions yet to be posed – let alone that I’ll discover their answers any time soon. Which, really, is why Bioshock 2 is so exciting to the breed of gamer who we like to think reads this site.
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