What Is A 'Bioshock Collection' And Do You Want It?
No Gods, No Kings, Only Re-Releases
And now on Vague, Possibly-Nothing News Hour, it's the apparent leak of something called The BioShock Collection, which appears to comprise BioShock 1, BioShock 2 and BioShock: Infinite Art Budget. Which isn't super-interesting in itself, given we've all been able to pick up said bundle or the components thereof for absurdly low prices in various Steam sales. What is twisting my Plasmids, man, is that the leak claims this pack is coming out for Xbone and PS4 in addition to PC. Which might meant that we're in for a - oh lord, save me from the buzzwords - next-gen spit'n'polish of the series.
Of course, that may not be at all necessary on PC, which can already run all three games at vastly higher resolutions and other graphical options than the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions had. It's possible that the PS4 and Xbone editions are little more than 1080p modifications of what was previously a 720p game on console, and us PC-folk won't see any benefit - even presuming the leak is on the money. But perhaps it'll go a bit further: sharper textures, a bit of DX11 support for the first two games, maybe some ambient occlusion, maybe unlocking the physics framerate like this here mod does...
All three BioShocks still look pretty good, especially at high resolutions, but I certainly wouldn't object to seeing that first 45 minutes of the original game looking even prettier. Those undersea high rises! That whale! BS1's opening is a wonderful, wonderful thing after all - oh for a VR mod, actually.
Presumably all DLC for all three games will be in the mix too, so if the price is right it's a chance to get everything in one fell swoop. BS2's Minerva's Den (made by the Gone Home team) is a particular treat, while the Burial At Sea duology for Infinite needs to be seen both for its fantastic sights and a certain degree of Ozymandian folly.
The Xbone/PS4/PC Collection leak comes from a ratings list from Taiwan, as spotted by Lifelower on Twitter, following hot on the heels of a 360/PS3/PC leak from Brazil. It's possible that wires have been crossed, but at the same time PS3 and 360 re-releases seem somewhat pointless by this point. That's the assumed cover art atop this post, btw: kinda spoilery, maybe?
If it is all true - what tweaks would you want to see to series? No, don't say snarky things about System Shock or Binfinite's... ambitious plot. I also suspect a full-on remastering is very unlikely.