2K Games was kind enough to oblige a wish of Major Nelson’s to share more audio from games with the readers, and provided him with several of the sounds from BioShock – namely, from the vending machines. The files are taken from the digital master files, so they’re much better quality than what you would get by holding your phone next to your computer or TV’s speakers.

I sunk enough time into BioShock that the lines from the vending machines are permanently imprinted on my brain. As such, I won’t be making use of these. But they wouldn’t make for a half-bad ringtone – when the orb sound effect from Crackdown was released, I started using that as a text message indicator on my phone. It somehow never gets old.

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There’s a whirlwind of news surrounding Take-Two and the potential EA buyout of the company. But the creative director at2K Boston (which is owned by Take-Two) isn’t concerned. He believes that the talent is critical to the equation, and that the suits have to keep that in mind so that they don’t end up losing what they are essentially investing in.

“If the people with the money don’t realise that the people with the talent are critical to what they do, then the people with the talent will go elsewhere,” he told GamesIndustry.biz last week at GDC.

“Look at the Call of Duty guys who came over from the Medal of Honor franchise. It’s the talent,” he explained.

“You can do a game, but if you don’t have the talent - maybe you’ll sell a lot of a sequel or something, but you need the talent to keep it going.

“The question is, are you building up the brand or are you damaging the brand? You have to be very careful with brands.”

Levine raises a good point. If the entire team from BioShock were to leave before developing a sequel, the second game would sell based purely on the name alone. But if it didn’t live up to the standards set in the original game, gamers would lose interest in the series.

The full interview with Levine will be going online tomorrow, so we’ll keep an eye on that to see what other interesting nuggets came from the talk with Levine.

Given BioShock’s success, moving it to platforms other than PC and Xbox 360 seems like a no-brainer. It unfortunately doesn’t look like a PlayStation 3 version is ever going to happen, but there’s still the Wii, DS and PSP – any of those could offer an interesting platform for the game. Instead, IG Fun announced this week that it has acquired the license to develop a mobile version of BioShock.

Not quite what you were expecting, right?

We know next to nothing about what to expect from IG Fun’s mobile version; the announcement didn’t exactly clue us in as to what we should expect.

“We’re trying to do great things and BioShock on mobile promises to offer a whole new gaming experience and unmatched excitement amongst mobile gamers the world over,” said Sean Malatesta, CEO of IG Fun. “BioShock is a special game in its genre; it brings an element of conflicting morals which has an impact on the storyline, and, among other things, on the difficulty of the game itself.”

So look out for BioShock coming (we don’t know when) to mobile phones near you. I guess.

via 1UP

Seeing as it was one of the more critically and commercially successful games of 2007, it seems a sure bet that Hollywood would come knocking for the movie rights to BioShock. So why haven’t we heard anything definite about a movie based on this gem? Well, it’s not for Hollywood’s lack of trying. Rumor has it that a number of production companies have expressed interest in a deal with Take Two, but the publisher has so far rebuffed all advances. No idea why at this point, though some are speculating that it may be due to monetary disagreements or that they may be hoping to secure a much larger alliance with a studio. Or maybe they’re smart enough to realize that no matter how intelligent the story, Hollywood will certainly find a way to dilute it into box office dreck.

Via The Cut Scene

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has awarded top honors to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, BioShock and Orange Box. Each of the titles won four statues last night at the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Call of Duty 4 took Overall Game of the Year.

The Academy also inducted Mike Morhaime, president, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, into the AIAS Hall of Fame and bestowed Ken Kutaragi, former president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

A full list of Awards follows the break.

Read the full article

Speaking from an outsiders’ point of view, it simply doesn’t make sense to cancel a game that’s in development for Wii given the system’s tremendous success, which translates into more potential customers. Civilization Revolution was canned on Wii and MTV Multiplayer set out to discover what happened.

Progress on the title was well behind the other versions due in part to the necessity to create a new interface for the game, as well as new art assets as there is no PlayStation 2 or PlayStation Portable version of the game to leech off of.

Firaxis’ Scott Lewis told Multiplayer, “CivRev was originally a 360/PS3 project and was in development for over a year before the Wii/DS platforms were added, largely because we saw the success of those platforms and a lot of people (including myself) were very excited about them.

“All of our assets were originally created with the 360/PS3 in mind. In order to bring them to the Wii, a great deal of work would have to go into making those assets look appropriate on Nintendo’s system. If we had started the project with all four platforms in mind, it is far more likely that we would not have put the Wii version of CivRev on hold.”

So if anyone out there was holding their breath for a Wii version of CivRev, you should probably get working on your will.

February 11 Xbox Originals will get another update when Black, Ninja Gaiden Black, and Sid Meier’s Pirates! are added to the roster. Here is the breakdown of each game for you, because it has probably been so long since any of you played them you have forgotten what to expect.

Black was Criterion and EA’s fast and sometimes ridiculously fast-paced FPS set in the near future of Eastern Europe where players assume the role of a retired member of an off-the-books Black Operations effort.

Ninja Gaiden Black was basically Ninja Gaiden with advanced difficulty levels including “Ninja Dog” and “Master Ninja” with a massive number of action-packed missions to complete, and the cool special bonus features including content from both Hurricane Packs 1&2.

Pirates! is the 2004 re-make of Sid Meier’s original 1987 adventure game where you live out the life of a pirate, cruising the Spanish Main during the golden age of buccaneers. Not so much the life of a real pirate — grimy, desperate, and sick with scurvy — but the romantic pirates of folklore. Think Errol Flynn or Orlando Bloom, swinging from chandeliers while wooing the maiden and defeating the corrupt Governor. Hey, who wouldn’t want to be wooed by Orlando Bloom?

Regardless of whether you played these last-gen titles or not, this might be just the thing to spice up your gaming life if it has become a bit stale lately.

Via: Press Release

Shipping this Spring for the Nintendo DS, PS3 and Xbox 360 is Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution, the first next gen console offering in the Sid Meier’s Civilization series of strategy games. Built from the ground up solely for console and handheld gamers, Civilization Revolution features pick-up-and-play action involving strategic global domination and history’s most intrepid leaders, as well as multiplayer experiences.

In Civilization, players strive to become ruler of the world by establishing and leading a civilization from the dawn of man into the space age - waging war, conducting diplomacy, discovering technologies, going head-to-head with some of history’s greatest leaders, and building the most powerful empire the world has ever known.

Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is a watershed game, offering players a chance to experience the empire-building world of Civilization in an all world specifically designed for the console and handheld gamer. Civilization’s single-player campaigns feature real-time interaction with leaders and advisers , multiplayer capabilities and integrated video and voice chat.

Some of the key features include 16 civilizations to master and lead to victory, an array of famous historical leaders to play as or compete against, maps and streamlined time scale for quicker games, with combat action. In online multiplayer mode, players will compete for world conquest among their peers as they battle in teams, head-to-head or free-for-all matches. In addition, auto-matching, ranked games, leaderboards, achievements, downloadable extra content and integrated video and voice chat will be a first for Civilization and will allow players to see where they stand against the competition.

For more information and a concrete release date, check back often for more details as they arrive from 2K and Firaxis Games.

For the two of you that might have been interested in the Wii version of Civilization Revolution, bad news today as 2K Games has announced that the game is on hold. While the other versions of the game (it’s also coming to DS, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3) remain in development, the Wii version won’t see progress made on it anytime soon.

“Development for the Wii version of Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is currently on hold,” a spokesperson for 2K Games said. “We are focusing our attention on creating the best possible Civilization experience for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo DS platforms.”

I was never much of one for Civilization games, so this doesn’t really disappoint me. The Wii version would probably be the last one I’d want to play of the bunch, although I am interested in seeing how the control scheme is handled.

via Evil Avatar

I’m always happy when the NPD numbers are released, and instead of just getting a single month’s worth of data, we’ve gotten a list of the top ten selling games of 2007, as well as total sales figures on the major hardware for the year. Let’s dive in.

Top 10 Selling Games of 2007:

1. Halo 3 (Xbox 360) – 4.82 million
2. Wii Play w/ remote (Wii) – 4.12 million
3. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360) – 3.04 million
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PlayStation 2) – 2.72 million
5. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) – 2.52 million
6. Pokemon Diamond (Nintendo DS) – 2.48 million
7. Madden NFL 08 (PlayStation 2) – 1.90 million
8. Guitar Hero 2 (PlayStation 2) – 1.89 million
9. Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360) – 1.87 million
10. Mario Party 8 (Wii) – 1.82 million

As disappointed as I am, not seeing The Orange Box make the list, I didn’t really expect it would. BioShock headlines my list of games I’m surprised didn’t make the list along with one other game I’m really shocked by – Pokemon Pearl. To not make the list, it had to sell less than the 1.82M that Mario Party 8 did, which means that Diamond sold a minimum of about 700,000 more units than Pearl – maybe more. I would never have guessed that there could be such a discrepancy between the two, but I’m no better – I refused to buy Pearl because I preferred the exclusive Pokemon found in Diamond.

And how about Guitar Hero 2, after being released in 2006, making the list?

Hardware numbers are after the break.

Read the full article

If you’ve just picked up or received BioShock, you might want to take a look at the Xbox Live Marketplace for six HD videos from BradyGames that will help you locate all of the game’s audio diaries. Finding the audio diaries is definitely something I’d recommend, as they really do a good job of fleshing out the backstory of the game, which would otherwise go largely unmentioned.

Plus, you’ll get an achievement for finding them all, and there’s nothing wrong with some gamerscore love.

The new update for BioShock coming this week for PC and Xbox 360 will contain new plasmids and gene tonics.

“Both the BioShock PC Patch and the 360 Title Update will be available next week,” says the Cult of Rapture official site.

“In addition to these fixes, we will be releasing downloadable content free on both Xbox Live and for the PC, with the DLC bundled into the PC Patch.”

Both a splicer-flinging Sonic Blast and a Vampire-like trick will be included in the update.

Look for the full details on the Cult of Rapture  when the update goes live.

via CVG

Surfer Girl, known for her mysterious rumors that more often than not turn out to be true, has posted the possible news that a forthcoming sequel to BioShock may not involve creative designer, Ken Levine, at all. Apparently, the team he worked with on BioShock is going so far as to set up a new studio for the sequel to avoid working with him again:

“2K Boston is still recovering - a good chunk of the BioShock team did not want to work with Ken ever again, and 2K definitely understood the sentiment and let them set up a new studio so that they can make Bioshock 2, leaving Ken with Project X [an upcoming X-COM remake]. A good chunk of the other senior 2K Boston people who were sick of Ken but didn’t move to San Francisco ended up scattering to other AAA developers instead. In Quincy, they’re essentially rebuilding a team from almost scratch again.”

That’s rather disheartening news, seeing as Levine was kind of the front runner of the team. I’m sure the other members of the development team could pull off a good sequel, but it probably wouldn’t be quite the same. Of course, this could all turn out to be completely untrue. We shall see.

Via Surfer Girl

Afraid to reinstall your PC retail copy of Bioshock because of its current 5 activation limit? Have no fear, revoking utility is here. Gimme back my token!

Q: What is the BioShock Revoke Tool?

A: The BioShock Revoke Tool will de-activate the current license on the computer contact the activation server to free up the activation, for future use.

You can download the Bioshock Revoke Tool as well as user instructions in a nice PDF format via link below.

Via Cult Of Rapture.

Just when you thought we had heard the last of the Florida attorney-turned-crusader, this bit of news pops up on the radar. In a recent email sent to the ’stiq, it seems Jack Thompson has recruited his very own 15-year-old son in a recent “sting operation” involving a local Best Buy. Basically, Jack’s son was able to purchase the M-Rated Bioshock on his own. Now, when I say sting operation, I’m literally talking father and son team here. Right? Just checking.

Of course, Jack claims easy victory and in the process (and in typical Jack-fashion) slams Bioshock’s publisher Take 2 as the root of all evil. Now, it is clearly obvious that the real villain here is Best Buy, and not Take 2. And how are we to know this is not an isolated incident? Is Jack taking his crusade cross-country infiltrating stores one by one? Seems like he would still need to exploit his son’s talents, like any good parent would. In all seriousness, villain is hardly the term to describe Best Buy due to this incident (this all assuming Jack isn’t making this story up to begin with). I’m not completely defending Best Buy though. It’s obvious this particular store location needs to review its policies and employee training. Jack’s notion that this type of thing goes on in every Best Buy location across the nation is bordering on slander. However, Jack doesn’t stop there. He wants retribution:

Thompson is demanding that Best Buy fire the store’s manager and the girl with the “piercing through her right eyebrow” who sold his son the game.

So now we’re stooping so low as to slinging stereotypes, Jack? Do you personally know the girl behind the counter? Maybe this was her first day and she simply made an honest mistake? It’s not like she sold your son a gun. Oh wait, according to you, selling “ultra-violent” video games is the equivalent to selling a gun - Jack-Thompson logic in its purest form.

Contrary to what Jack believes, the real truth here is that there is no conspiracy among game companies and retailers. The ESRB rating system isn’t perfect. The employees who work for retailers are human. Hell, the whole system itself will never be perfect. The simple fact here (and we’re tired of pointing this out to you, Jack) is there is no good replacement for education and parental responsibility. Taking your 15-year-old son to a local Best Buy to purchase a game that he is not supposed to be able to buy on his own proves only one thing: that you are getting desperate, Jack. A small victory to you it may be; however, in the eyes of many, this newest escapade appears nothing but the attempts of one man on a lonely crusade. The Jack-Thompson bandwagon must be a very small one.

Via Joystiq

As is customary following the release of NPD numbers, Microsoft has released its spin on the previous month’s sales. While Xbox 360 was outsold by both the DS and Wii, it had plenty to legitimately brag about.

August NPD Round-Up:

• Xbox 360 unit sales are up 63 percent, versus an 18 percent decline for PS3 and 5 percent decline for Wii month over month
• Xbox 360 outsells PS3 more than 2:1
• Xbox 360 software sales are more than PS3 and Wii software sales combined
•  “Madden NFL ‘08” on Xbox 360 outsold all other versions of the title, including the PS2 by more than 250,000 units, and  PS3 by more than 560,000
• Xbox 360 held the top two titles across all next generation consoles with “Madden NFL ‘08” (EA) at #1 and “BioShock” (2K Games) at #2
• Halo 3 preorders continue on a trajectory to eclipse Halo 2 preorders

And the highlights:

• Since November when all three systems sold in the market, gamers have spent more dollars on Xbox 360 software than on software for PS3 and Wii combined (Xbox $24.3 million compared to $19.8 on Wii and PS3 combined), confirming Xbox 360 as the place to play this year’s biggest blockbusters and newest family and social titles.
  • Xbox 360 outsells PS3 more than 2:1 with more than 277,000 Xbox 360 consoles sold last month, while PS3 sold 131,000
  • Xbox 360 software and accessories attach rates continue to beat the rest at 6.3 and 3.3.
• After maintaining the launch price point for longer than any other console in videogame history holding the record at 21 months, Microsoft dropped the price of Xbox 360 in early August breaking the previous record held by PS2 at 19 months. The month of August saw 63 percent increase over July and 35 percent increase over August 2006 for Xbox 360 consoles sales – making it the only console system to increase unit sales from July to August this year according to NPD.
• Last month according to NPD Group, Xbox 360 held the top two spots for games across all next generation consoles with “Madden NFL ‘08” (EA) and “BioShock”(2K Games).
  • With frame rates at twice as fast as the competition, “Madden NFL ‘08” on Xbox 360 sold more than 897,000 units in the U.S. Surpassing PS2 by more than 250,000 units and more than triple the sales of the PS3 version (at 336,000).
  • Console exclusive to Xbox 360, “BioShock” sold more than 491,000 units in the U.S. in just its first two weeks on the market. The title has grabbed the attention of both gamers and critics with its unprecedented cinematic feel and interactive approach to storytelling, and has received an average review score of 96 (out of 100), making the game the year’s highest ranked game across ALL console platforms (according to Metacritic.com).
    • Additionally, “BioShock” has set a new record on Xbox LIVE as the fastest downloaded demo to ever reach the 1 million mark.

Check after the break for some impressions on Microsoft’s spin-job.

Read the full article

Oh O.J., when will your suffering end? Some might say never.

Anyone out there who purchased All-Pro Football 2K8 by 2K Games knows that O.J. Simpson was included in the roster. What you may not know is that Simpson was paid $50,000 for his name and likeness to be included in the game, which is pretty awesome compensation for saying “yes.”

Unfortunately for Simpson, a Los Angeles court ordered him to turn over any royalties and licensing fees he received from the use of his likeness in the game to the estate of murder victim Ron Goldman. It would be interesting to know how much more Simpson has to pay in his losses related to the lawsuit.

For those of you who don’t know, Simpson was leveed a $33.5 million dollar verdict against him in a civil suit related to the murder of his late wife and her friend, Ron Goldman. Apparently, he hasn’t yet paid the bill.

via TheStreet.com

It doesn’t take an industry analyst to predict that Bioshock sold a million copies last month. The pseudo-steampunk inspired title stormed the gaming scene garnishing some of the highest scores ever bestowed by the better known gaming critics. For a short while there, Bioshock copies were flying off the shelf so fast that retailers, such as Gamestop and EB, couldn’t maintain the demand. Not bad for a 3rd party title not backed by any console-maker. In fact, Take-Two Interactive’s Chairman Strauss Zelnick takes great pride in his company’s small “runaway success”:

“I’m particularly pleased with the tremendous market response to 2K’s BioShock. It is reported we are the top-selling title at GameStop, less than a month since launch. We have already shipped more than 1.5 million units. Clearly we have a new hit franchise on our hands. And this one was developed internally and we own the IP. We’re proving our ability to diversify Take-Two’s product portfolio.”

So yeah, Bioshock probably sold a few copies. Enough to possibly fill that financial void that Take-Two has been suffering with a GTA-less quarter and slipping sales. Whilst discussing GTA sequel-itis spiel, Strauss Zelnick also had this to say:

“I would say probably roughly an every three year [release] schedule would be optimal. … I expect we would apply roughly the same strategy to BioShock, because BioShock is shaping up to be a very important franchise. I don’t want to say more than that about BioShock because I certainly don’t want to jinx it, but I feel awfully good about where that is going.”

And you just know they are going to milk this rediscovered franchise for all it is worth too. Of course, I don’t have an issue with expressing my disdain for sequels. I feel if you have an exceptional title that achieves its goal of captivating the audience, then any sequel following it makes the original title seem less mystical. It’s almost like having a sequel takes away that stigma of uniqueness. I know many would disagree, and I don’t think every title should be sequel-less (Guitar Hero, anyone?), yet sequels are a personal peeve of mine. It is my utmost opinion that energy, time, and resources spent in developing a sequel could have been better spent towards an original idea. But, as few wise men have said before, “all original ideas have been used.” Or to quote a favorite South Park episode of mine: “Simpsons did it!”

For now, we watch Irrational/2k/Take-Two bask in the glory; and Big Daddy can take his much needed vacation.

Via GameSpot

A new patch has apparently been released for BioShock, but you may want to hold off on downloading it. Besides the fact that no one seems to know exactly what problems it’s meant to fix, some people are reporting that it causes some horrible frame rate problems that render the game practically unplayable. It’s a little strange that they released a patch for a game that doesn’t have a multiplayer function, but it’s downright crazy if it just hurts one of the best games to come out this year. If you’ve already downloaded the patch, it looks like you’ll have to clear your Xbox’s cache to get the game working right again.

Via Loot Ninja

One intrepid poster over at the 2K forums has uncovered a string a text that may hint at new plasmids for BioShock. In a couple of the many .ini files that can be found after installing the game, there are apparently several lines of text that include the words “Downloadable content announcement” and “PlasmidPack1.” The text also lists four new gene tonics: “Machine Buster,” “Vending Expert,” “Sonic Boom,” and “EVE Saver.” There’s also text indicating several plasmids that are locked: “AirBlastTwo,” “EVE Saver,” Vending Expert,” “Machine Bully,” “Revival,” “Life Drain,” and ElectricBoltZero.” There’s also a whole section of code devoted to an entirely unused “Ecology” class of gene tonics. Basically, it looks like all this stuff is available in the game, but cannot be accessed. The poster theorizes that 2K may begin charging people to unlock this new content, and that may be the reason why they haven’t released an editor for the game (since that would allow people to unlock the bonus content themselves). We shall have to wait and see, but some new plasmids would be pretty cool.

Via 2K Forums