Zygoptera on 13/1/2010 at 00:48
Don't think so, IIRC he even said some fairly negative things about the DRM over on the 2k forums before someone sent them to the great post graveyard in the sky.
It would pretty much definitely have been 2k's call as publisher as to DRM.
Enchantermon on 13/1/2010 at 03:43
A bit of digging on Google uncovered a copy of one of Levine's posts that was removed from the 2K forums. In it, he gives a list of things he can and cannot answer questions about. In the "cannot" list, he said this:
Quote:
-Copy Protection. Copy protection calls are all made in New York by Technical Director Tim Perry. Our job is to implement what he decides. If he's not a member of these forums, I'll suggest to Elizabeth that he gets active in them. The only thing I know about Securom is I've got about 1000 games with some version of it on my shelf. The tech that I know is limited to my experience many years ago as Macintosh computer consultant- in the days before the tubes of the interweb. All that stuff is entirely out of my hands and frankly a bit beyond my understanding.
(
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/98250-13-bioshock-soaked-fiasco#t584175) Full post.
Aja on 13/1/2010 at 08:50
Quote Posted by dethtoll
where were the fluff audiologs!?
There are around (
http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Audio_Diaries) 131 audiologs, and I'd say about half of them contain crucial information. Andrew Ryan had some of the best "fluff" dialogue in the game.
Or are you talking about SS2's awful writing:
the particle emitter's acting up again, I'll have to go down to Jorgunson later and complain. That damn fool can't get anything right! I hope he never finds out that the code to my weapons locker is 84621june gloom on 13/1/2010 at 09:11
I love how you complain about SS2's awful writing then instead of posting an example, you make up your own, intentionally shitty version and assume that backs up your argument.
And anyway quality of fluff audiologs != quantity you dipshit. The way the audiologs in SS2 were set up was that each deck had its own "plot arc" featuring minor characters, in addition to the overall story arc that gradually revealed the bigger parts of the story. In Bioshock most of the audiologs were by the major players and each one was important somehow, if not to the immediate situation at hand then to the overall plot; the only ones that weren't really important was a side arc by the mother of a Little Sister, and arguably some throwaway piece in the first area where the bathroom wall is broken. Other than that, zippo.
Aja on 13/1/2010 at 09:26
Quote:
Great. I've got to change the access codes out of Cryo A again! Like I've got nothing better to do. I think Grassi just likes to make work for me. I'll set the new code to 45100. That should be easy enough to remember.
And Bioshock had many minor characters: Diane McLintock, McDonagh, Culpepper, Sullivan, Kyburz, Pablo Navaro, Anya, etc. Yes, they're all tied to the main plot, but each through their own minor arc. Pretty much like SS2, only with better writing and undeniably better voice acting.
Kolya on 13/1/2010 at 11:34
This is the first log in SS2, let's see what it does:
A new character is introduced, Grassi. As we learn later on Grassi placed the player's character into the recovery freezer, seemingly by order of Janice Polito. The real initiator of this request of course has a vested interest that no one gets near Cryo A and hence the code needs to be changed.
Lastly, the OOC joke: That code "should be easy enough to remember" because it was the first doorcode in System Shock 1, an allusion to Fahrenheit 451 and the doorcode to Looking Glass Studios' office in Boston.
So in two lines we get the information we need at hand, get a glimpse into what went down and an insider gag. What an awfully written log! :rolleyes:
Jackablade on 13/1/2010 at 17:45
The writing is competent but boring. Nothing in that log is interesting enough to make me remember the name Grassi after the log finishes playing let alone in a few hours when another log mentions Grassi is working with Polito.
ZylonBane on 13/1/2010 at 18:10
Quote Posted by Aja
And Bioshock had many minor characters: Diane McLintock, McDonagh, Culpepper, Sullivan, Kyburz, Pablo Navaro, Anya, etc. Yes, they're all tied to the main plot, but each through their own minor arc. Pretty much like SS2, only with better writing and undeniably better voice acting.
Look, we've already scientifically verified that everything you say about SS2 is wrong, so why do you even try anymore?
Zygoptera on 13/1/2010 at 19:04
Time for Aja vs ShockGen, round 9?
Quote Posted by Kolya
This is the first log in SS2, let's see what it does:
A new character is introduced, Grassi.
Poor Amanpour, pornstar 'tache and he still can't get no loving.
And unfortunately his log pretty much is the rather generic exposition ooh code Aja describes, though Bioshock is hardly a shining example in that regard either. Yes, yes, it does
mention Grassi but it's hardly a deep and thorough examination of his soul
Garrettwannabe on 13/1/2010 at 19:42
Evidently Levine & Company were developing a
Left For Dead type game in 2005 that never got to the release stage - but the trailer looks pretty cool
(which is in in the story link below). ;)
Quote:
Essentially, Division 9 was an expanded version of the Left 4 Dead formula – years before the Left 4 Dead phenomenon started. In the history of Irrational Games, this falls somewhere between the release of SWAT 4 and the studio’s acquisition by Take-Two Interactive.
In an effort to land SWAT 5 while still retaining Irrational’s signature style, another game concept in the works at the studio – tentatively called The Infected – was adapted to the SWAT universe. “Nate [Wells] and I were toying around with a pitch for a game called The Infected, which we brought to Ken, and we basically had the idea to turn it into Zombie SWAT,” says Robertson. “Vivendi was like, ‘What’s your pitch for SWAT 5?’ ‘Zombie SWAT.’ Crickets.”
“It started as a joke,” admits Wells. “Arrest five Draculas. Kill all Frankensteins in this level. Universal movie monsters versus SWAT.”
“I remember going around pitching it and the person would be ‘Zombies? Who wants to play a zombie game?’” remembers Levine. Joe McDonagh, Irrational’s director of creative development, adds with a laugh: “Someone said to me, ‘We don’t think zombies will be big in 2005.’”
Despite initial resistance, Division 9’s innovative ideas and (theoretically) fun gameplay brought it to the edge of production, only to be stymied by unfortunate timing. “We had a week to put together a demo, and we saw an opportunity there, and we actually sold it to Vivendi,” Levine tells us. “They were ready to buy it, but we had just sold the company to Take-Two. I think we would have been very successful with it. It would have come out around the same time as BioShock, maybe a little sooner.”
(
http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/01/12/trailer-for-irrational-s-scrapped-zombie-game.aspx) GameInformer.com "Irrational's Scrapped Zombie Game" Link
