Dear Bioshock,

Though you were released over four months ago I just got around to finishing your offering this past Saturday night. I have to admit, you had my dearest admiration for a while but for some reason I just couldn’t break myself away to give you the attention you so dearly deserve. For now, I’ll blame it on The Orange Box.

Please believe me when I say this, I wanted to finish you. So many more kind and generous people already had and couldn’t stop saying enough nice things about you and that made me very jealous. I knew you had to offer something really good, I just had to get to that point. Luckily, about a week or two ago, I did and from that point on you were all I thought about.

If you only knew how much I can’t stand the stories and storytelling techniques in games you’d know how much this next statement means: I LOVED your story. I’m talking about the kind of love that can only be expressed in ancient song and epic poems written on parchment with white-feathered quills using the world’s finest inks. You (and Portal) have given me hope that one day there can be a place for all games to gather and tell stories that need a medium of interactivity on more than just a surface level.

I hold hope that one day I can spend the time letting you take me on another trip through the world of Rapture and the mad minds that haunt your once illustrious halls. Until then, would you kindly know that had I finished you in a more timely manner, there would have been a much more deserving spot on my top ten list for you.

Now if you’ll excuse me there are other sorely neglected games that are all begging for my attention. Please don’t worry though, you have my heart.

I love you.

Love,
Kevin

Ok, so maybe I exaggerated a little, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t the best custom faceplate I’ve seen yet. The attention to detail is amazing, and while you can’t access the power button or USB ports you get a pretty fantastic trade off — his helmet glows green when the console is on! Plus you get the bonus image of an angry Daddy anytime the damned thing red rings on you.

Made by JacktheRipper, this bad boy went for 45 GBP on eBay earlier this month. Fantastic work sir!

[XboxAddict via The Xbox Collector]

Take this one with a heaping spoonful of salt (for now), but a poster over on the 2K forums has found some code buried in and .ini file that seems to point towards some new plasmid action to help take down the Big Daddies.

There’s actually a few references that the guy found.

[ShockGame.AirBlast]
FriendlyName=Sonic Boom
Description=(Downloaded) Hurls creatures and objects BACK with a BLAST of force.
LockedContent=true

and there’s more… Continue Reading »

Seems that Bioshock isn’t really truly playing in widescreen on that 16:9 set of yours. In fact all signs point to the fact that the widescreen player is actually seeing less of the screen than his 4:3 counterpart.

In the wake of this news, the 2K forums have essentially caught on fire… with no end in sight. And if you think they’re pissed, check out the folks over the the WideScreenGamingForum.com!

Creative Director Ken Levine has responded in the 2K forums, and it would seem he’s looking into it. I’ve been playing it 16:9 all night and I haven’t felt like it’s been a problem. It’s lame to know it exists, but it’s not a deal breaker for me.

If there’s someone reading this who has yet to download the Bioshock demo off of the 360 Marketplace, stop reading this right now and go do that. Be forewarned though, it’s a dastardly little tease. You get just a glimpse of this incredibly alive world and a hint of your powers which only leaves you with a deep, burning desire to build a time machine and fast forward to its release. It’s that good.

If you guys remember way back when the Bioshock Limited Edition was announced they created a poll for the fans to vote in what they wanted in the package. The Big Daddy figure won by a landslide but one of the other items is now available for free download from 2K’s site. “Bioshock: Breaking The Mold” is a look into the beauty of the game’s art design. Even cooler is that they’re offering it in two flavors, low and high res.

There is a warning on the site to skip the forward until after you’ve played the game…spoilers ahoy!

It’s late.

I just finished editing the BitCast and I’m too tired to come up with a catchy name for this week’s show so I named it after the sweet ass Joe Strummer song used this time.

Also, in the beginning I made the mistake of saying that we could now gamble. I’m an idiot…ignore the fact that I said that. That’s what I get for trying to be witty.

This week we talk about:

• Whatcha’ Been Playin?
• Forum Fodder: What Gaming Habits Do You Have?
• David Jaffe’s Eat, Sleep, Play
• 2K Getting Into EA’s Head, and fucking with it
• Upcoming Releases

[audio:http://www.thebbps.com/podcast/Bitcast_Episode_18.mp3]
Download Episode 18

During the podcast we mentioned how much we were hoping for Microsoft’s E3 “Bringing it Home” to make a comback this year. It really was a fantastic move on Microsoft’s part and as an attendent of E3 it really does a great job of letting everyone get a good look at what is on the show floor.

There’s a partial list so far, and there’s no way of knowing which will be videos and which will be demos… but it’s a good list so far

• “Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation” (NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.)
• “Assassin’s Creed” (Ubisoft)
• “BioShock” (2K)
• “Blue Dragon” (Microsoft Game Studios)
• “Burnout Paradise” (Electronic Arts Inc.)
• “CALL OF DUTY® 4: MODERN WARFARE™” (Activision)
• “FIFA Soccer 08” (Electronic Arts)
• “Guitar Hero III” (Activision/RedOctane)
• “Lost Odyssey™” (Microsoft Game Studios)
• “Madden NFL 08” (Electronic Arts)
• “NCAA Football 08” (Electronic Arts)
• “Need for Speed: ProStreet” (Electronic Arts)
• “Project Gotham Racing® 4” (Microsoft Game Studios)
• “The Simpsons Game” (Electronic Arts)
• “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08” (Electronic Arts)
• “WWE® SmackDown® vs. Raw® 2008” (THQ)