Spore may be getting slammed by gamers for it’s insane copy protection now, but it’s certainly not the first game to be thrashed for that reason. In an interview with PC Zone, Ken Levine revealed that BioShock’s DRM caused a smaller uproar for only allowing the game to be installed on two machines at the same time.

“When we had the copy protection issues come out, I was out there talking about the product, I didn’t run away from that. And frankly I got some nasty f***ing threats. I think it’s important that somebody takes responsibility, and at the end of the day my job as creative director is to sort of be the arbiter of taste.”

Of course, BioShock’s copy protection at least allowed you to get one of your installs back if you uninstalled the game, whereas Spore’s does not. I actually remember the stir BioShock’s DRM caused, and it’s a little disconcerting to see that things haven’t gotten better in the past year at all.

Via CVG

Banner day for Take-Two and GTA IV fans. Lots of news so I will just state the facts.

• Eurogamer has reported that exclusive DLC for GTA IV should be hitting the Xbox 360 sometime in November.
• Take-Two is reporting that the DLC will hit during the Q4 of their fiscal year 2009 (Nov 08-Jan 09)- so we will keep you posted on that
• The DLC will consist of two 10-hour episodes
• GTA IV had now sold over 10 million units

All of this comes on the heals of Take-Two’s financial report which was released this morning, full of bragging rights. For example,  Q3 revenues are up from $206.4 million to $433.8 million with net income for Q3 totaling at $51.8 million or $0.67 per share. If you pull up numbers for the same time last year, you will notice that they reported a net loss of $58.5 million or $0.81per share.

For the nine months ended July 31, 2008, net revenues were $1,214.1 million, compared to $689.2 million for the same period a year ago. Net income for the first nine months of fiscal 2008 was $112.1 million or $1.48 per share, compared to a loss of ($131.3) million or ($1.83) for the 2007 period.

No wonder they are not ready to hand the reins over to EA just yet.

For the full press release which includes a slew of boring numbers, hit the jump.

Read the full article

Christopher Kline, technical director for 2K Boston, took time to talk about the challenges faced in making BioShock in a recent interview with Gamasutra. The interview covers developing for the hardcore audience, the future of PC gaming and developing with middleware, in this case the Unreal Engine 2, rather than building an engine from scratch and UI design. The Adaptive Training System used in BioShock is discussed as well.

Kline goes over mistakes made and obstacles overcome in producing BioShock for the Xbox 360, PC and now PS3. Much of the article deals with more of the technical aspects and philosophical choices made in developing the game. Gamers interested in videogame development will get a lot of good advice from the article and hopefully learn from 2K’s experience rather than make the same mistakes themselves.

Remember almost a year ago when people were pretty upset that BioShock’s security features only allowed it to have the game installed on two computers at once? Well, after all that time, 2K has finally heard those people’s voices. Community manager, Elizabeth Tobey, has announced that all those restrictions have now been lifted. What’s more, everything is being done on 2K’s end, so you don’t have to update or install anything. Here’s her forum post:

Good news! As promised, all activation restrictions, including install limits, have been removed from BioShock PC as of today. You don’t have to patch or install anything for this to go into effect for your copy of BioShock – it’s already done!

Enjoy your time in Rapture, and thank you for supporting BioShock and the 2K teams.

Of course it would’ve been even nicer if those restrictions had never been there in the first place, but I guess the point is that they’re gone. Now I wonder if anyone is going to work any magic on Mass Effect’s security restrictions anytime soon.

Via 2K Forums

It looks like the controversial DRM for the PC version of Mass Effect is rearing its ugly head once more. Prior to the game’s release, many gamers were upset when they learned that Mass Effect’s copy protection software essentially required internet re-authentication every ten days. After a fierce outcry from the gaming public, EA dropped the authentication aspect of the copy protection, but did still limit the game from being installed on more than three computers. Many assumed that this would be a similar case to BioShock’s DRM, which would allow you to install the game on another computer, provided you uninstalled it from another first. Apparently though, this is not the case with Mass Effect.

Recently, a few consumers have noticed that simply uninstalling the game doesn’t give you an activation back. A thread on Mass Effect’s forums shows the odd runaround one consumer was given in his efforts to find out if this really was the case. Finally, he received this simple answer:

Unfortunately, you will not gain an activation by uninstalling the game.

So essentially, you get to install the game three times. That’s it. Any more than that is probably going to involve you contacting EA Support line, which is probably inviting unnecessary pain.

Of course, this raises almost as many issues as the previous DRM controversy. For one, it pretty much kills the used market for this game, since the disc is basically worthless after three installs. For another, PC gamers tend to uninstall and re-install programs all the time, so this is something that’s bound to affect a lot of people. Besides all that though, this just comes back to how ridiculous it is to treat legitimate customers like criminals. I’ll bet the people who bought Mass Effect on the PC are real happy to learn all this after the game’s been on store shelves for awhile.

Via The Consumerist

BioShock for the PS3 may be great news for some people and a testament to how well the game was received, but it is a while off and these for BioWare news that we can actually “use” look no further that the release of Mass Effect for the PC.

Having arrived in stores yesterday, Mass Effect is also available for purchase online and can be downloaded from major digital distribution sites. Including a new tactical heads-up display, higher resolution visuals, an enhanced inventory system, fully optimized controls designed specifically for the PC, individual squad control and a new decryption mini-game.

“Bring Down the Sky,” already available for the Xbox 360, is just the first in a series of planned downloadable content that will further expand the Mass Effect story and universe for the PC and will soon be available free of charge for registered BioWare community members to download. “Bring Down the Sky” contains an uncharted world that introduces the deadly Batarian alien race, and is approximately 90 minutes of additional gameplay.

When Mass Effect came out, I was really wanting to play it but had so many unfinished games going on my 360 that I decided to put off purchasing it until I could devote the time needed to such a game. Then when the news broke that it would be coming to the PC, I was even more excited because I would actually rather play it on the PC. I guess what this means is that I finally have something new and cool for my PC that will give me a much needed break from MMOs.

Via: Press Release

It didn’t seem like it was ever going to happen, with rumors contradicting one another sprouting up like flowers in the springtime. But as Jonathan reported last week, BioShock really is coming to the PlayStation 3 — and now we’ve got a release date (well, month) and confirmation that there will be new features in the PS3 version.

“Since BioShock for Xbox 360 and Games for Windows won countless 2007 Game of the Year awards, we are excited to see the impact of this stellar title for the PlayStation 3 system when it debuts this fall,” said 2K president Christoph Hartmann. “Over the coming months we look forward to revealing the new features and content that will make this a must-have game for its new audience, as well as for those who enjoyed it on the other platforms.”

More specifically, the game will be released sometime in October. 2K’s not revealing any of the new features and content just yet, but I think more plasmids is one of the obvious things we’ll be seeing. It’ll be interesting to see if 2K ends up releasing this new content on 360 and PC, or if they decide to make it exclusive to the PS3 version.

The organizers behind the next Penny Arcade Expo have announced that the convention’s opening keynote will be given by none other than Ken Levine. He is the president and creative director of 2K Boston, but is probably best known for his work on BioShock. In addition to that announcement, it has now been revealed that a number of musical performers will be making appearances as well, including MC Frontalot, mc chris, FreezePop, the MiniBosses, Jonathan Coulton, The OneUps, The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, and Anamanaguchi. The prize for this year’s Omegathon has also been announced as a trip for two to Tokyo, along with a home theater setup and $5,000 in cash. Add to that the fact that the exhibitor hall is completely sold out, and you’re looking at yet another awesome PAX for this year. The show is set to take place on Aug. 29-31 at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center in Seattle. You can check out www.pennyarcadeexpo.com for more details on the upcoming festival.

Via Press Release

Remember how many people were up in arms about the PC version of BioShock’s copy protection, SecuROM, which limited people who bought the game legitimately from having it installed on more than two computers at once? Well apparently EA and BioWare don’t, since they’re using an even more restrictive version of the software in the upcoming PC release of Mass Effect. This version of the game will automatically authenticate your CD key with your PC every time you run the program, and will actually run this check on its own every five days as long as your computer is connected to the internet. If the game can’t find a connection, then it will still allow you to play the game for five days before locking up. At that point, you’ll have to contact customer support to get your beloved game unlocked again. Bottom line: you’ll have to re-authenticate your copy of Mass Effect online every ten days…forever. In other words, don’t leave your internet unplugged, don’t toss out an old computer without uninstalling the game first, and God forbid you should ever go on vacation and take the precaution of leaving your electronics unplugged.

Naturally, this raises a lot of issues with gamers. For one, nobody likes being treated like a criminal for legally purchasing a product for their own entertainment. Besides that, this makes you wonder if people will even be able to activate the game years later — seriously, I still crack open the original Fallout every few years without a fuss. At least they’re disclosing this now rather than after the game hit store shelves, like with BioShock. Of course, some people with enough free time won’t even need the ten days to finish with the game (hell, it took me three days to plow through it around Christmas time). Unfortunately though, it sounds like SecuROM isn’t going anywhere as far as EA is concerned, seeing as Spore will apparently use similar copy protection methods.

Via The Angry Pixel

There’s a rumor making the rounds that BioShock 2 may be released for the PS3 and possibly the Wii.

2K Marin has put out job postings for developers with PlayStation 3 experience required.

BioShock 2 was confirmed in March, along with the announcement that the new 2K Marin studio would take on the challenge of creating a game to equal or best its predecessor with the guidance of Ken Levine. No platforms were confirmed in the announcement although it’s a fare bet that the Xbox 360 and PC can look forward to the game.

I’d like to think that PS3 and Wii users will have the chance to play BioShock 2. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anywhere specifically in the job postings that specifically said the the positions being filled were to dedicated to working on the game. At this time 2K Games hasn’t made itself available to confirm or deny the rumor.
BioShock 2 is slated for release sometime between August and October 2009.

via Eurogamer