Took me a while to actually install and play the BioShock demo (too busy playing WipEout HD and Suikoden 1 (no, it’s not on the Store, I just used a PS1 disc).
Anyway, I enjoyed it, but I’m not an FPS person and didn’t feel at all inclined to buy it. I’ve played a tiny bit of BioShock on the 360 and had pretty much the same reaction - “interesting, but not my thing”. I quite enjoyed the general atmosphere of the game… the visual design, the sounds are great, it was nice to see something that wasn’t another World War or Middle East based infantry style game.

I was a bit let down by the main guy not commenting at all about his first Plasmid. That was a pretty freakin’ huge needle to just casually shove into your arm just because a guy you just met on the radio tells you to do it. The convulsing afterwards was good, and obviously so traumatic that the player tries to end it all by jumping off the high platform and gets knocked out… …so then why when you wake up again do you just suddenly become a master of using the electro bolt and never go “holy &^%$ what just happened to my arm?!”

[ http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23044 ]
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A message from the team about the visuals in BioShock PS3 (UPDATED on October 14th)

Hey guys,
I have good news from the dev team about a patch for BioShock PS3! They have been working on a patch to address the concerns some of you on the forum have talked about. As work is in progress I do not have a definite date for when this patch will be released as it needs to be tested and clear certification with Sony before it is scheduled and released. I do know this will not be until after the game’s launch, and I will update you with details on that date as I receive them.

I’ll be releasing the entire patch list when it’s all finalized, but for now I’m sure you’ll be happy to see that these two fixes are included:

Big Daddy Bouncer and Elite Bouncer Textures Appeared Pixelated
Fix for an issue where large blocky pixels would show up whenever viewing the Bouncer and Elite Bouncer variants of the Big Daddy.

White Bars
Fix for an issue where white/discolored bars would show up at the right and bottom sides of the screen during the plane crash / water scene at the beginning of the game.

I’m sure many of you are eager to see what Big Daddy looks like after this fix, so here are two screenshots of him in his patched glory!

(Many screen images at the above URL)
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BFN,

fp.

Read Below:

When an idea has been circulating in a mass populace for an extended period of time, even when that idea is based on fact, it can negatively affect future events. Translation: just because 360-to-PS3 ports have looked like hell in the past doesn’t mean this will always be the case. In fact, it may never again be the case, what with more third-party devs using the PS3 as the lead console in multiplatform titles and all devs becoming much more familiar with the PS3’s hardware.

Over the past week, you may have heard complaints - typically blown out of proportion - regarding the PS3 version of Bioshock, and how it supposedly looks inferior to the Xbox 360 version. A few compare-and-contrast pics went up, and ever since then, the comments have spread like wildfire: 2K screwed up; it’s another inferior port. Yes, well, read the first paragraph. According to Ripten, 2K Community Manager Elizabeth Tobey responded to the mess, and it’s quite lengthy. Here’s a snippet of it, though-

“Many of you wondered about BioShock’s graphical performance on the PS3, and whether it was comparable to the 360 version. The team wanted BioShock to be the same experience on the PS3 as on the 360. Of course, the PS3 is a very different machine to code a game on, and so the team used a combination of optimization and filtering to maximize the overall visual experience of the game. These optimizations improved frame rate and added the slight “blur filter” that some of you have pointed out in comparison screenshots. This solution offered the best performance benefit with minimum visual cost or change from the 360 version.”

Next, what you’ll want to do is check all the screenshot comparisons she provided and see the differences for yourself. They’re there, but the explanation goes on for a while, and it’s not something we’re going to freak out about. We’ve experienced many piss-poor ports in the past, but we seriously doubt Bioshock is one of them, and based on this screen analysis, people really have been overreacting.

Screenshots: http://www.ripten.com/2008/10/08/2k-responds-again-to-ps3-bioshock-complaints/

Basically, it’s similar to GTA4, xbox was clearer/colder & PS3 blurry/warmer. It’s horses for courses really, some prefer 1 style and some the other.

I’m not interested in this game because of the supernatural type stuff, so couldn’t care less really but think people should see for themselves rather than take some fanboys word for it that the game is inferior.

The future looks good, just got to work out how to find the cash/time to get it all in.

I played the demo and don’t think its long enough to really see the games true strong points, the fallen utopia of Rapture storyline and its eerie settings don’t really get a chance to shine and the intense combat with the Big Daddys later in the game (who are the real stars of the show IMO) is understandably missing.

I was going to buy this but the port looks sub-par and after seeing those PS1 textures on the big daddy (and remembering the motorstorm 2 demo) I sought to see if the demo was an old build or not. This led me to the 2k forums where there was quite a few people raising the issue, after reading the thread I was disheartened to say the least that the demo is from the final build and that the textures couldn’t be improved by patch, theres even an admission from the 2k dev team that those textures shouldn’t have passed the QA process.

So though I’d still like to play this through to its conclusion having been stung by the poor Orange Box port I won’t be picking it up at release like I had planned and shall wait for its inevitable plummet to the bargain bins. There are too many games that I do want over the next few weeks that I hope have had a better ride through the QA process.

I’m really looking forward to Dead Space and the more I see of it the more it looks like its going to be great. I’m a huge fan of the RE series and Event Horizon is one of my favourite films so the combination of the looks intense. All the p/reviews are positive so I shall pick this up day 1.

Though people moan there are too many FPS games around I’m also planning to buy Far Cry 2 due to its amazing map editor for some multiplayer shenanigans though I’m cautious of its port to PS so will wait to see abit more of it in action.

LittleBigPlanet is a must, though I’ve not really had time to create much of my own during the beta I have had a brilliant time running through other peoples levels. Sticking my face everywhere has also made me feel much better about my PSeye.

With Pro Evo 2009 to feed the addiction and as a fan of the rest of the series Midnight Club:Los Angeles to be looked at the next 2 weeks are potentially going to be very expensive. Glad the winters coming and nights in are a more attractive proposition.

I guess I’m not used to playing those kinds of shooters, much prefer the cinematic experiences like COD 4 etc.

Graphically looks good, atmosphere is good, but otherwise, pretty much the average story.

Plus I got the ending spoiled by some stupid forum… lol