BioShock posts

Fallout 3 isn't the only game on sale on Steam this weekend, In fact there's a ton of games that have just been collected into a new game bundle via the download service. 20 titles from 2K Games are now available to purchase as one big game pack for just $59.99. If you bought each game individually it would cost $229.80. Oh, and did we mention that from now until July 7 you can get 10 percent off that already low price, making the bundle $53.99?

Here's the full list of games in the bundle:

Sid Meier's Civilization IV,
Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete
Sid Meier's Pirates!
Shattered Union
Prey
CivCity: Rome
Civilization IV Warlords
Sid Meier's Railroads!
Railroad Tycoon 3
Railroad Tycoon II Platinum
X-COM: Terror From the Deep
X-COM: Apocalypse
BioShock
X-COM: Interceptor
X-COM: UFO Defense
X-COM: Enforcer
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
Freedom Force
Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization.

Sometimes you just need to sit down, slide a floppy into your A: drive, and enjoy gaming retro style. We know this all too well! That's why we have a list of the best and brightest from days long gone. These are some of our favorite games of all time, and we're sure that you'll love them as much as we do, if not more. Welcome to Boot Disk, and enjoy the retro ride!

If you are an avid PC gamer, chances are you have played the 2007 underwater epic BioShock. If you are an avid, ancient gamer, though, you probably have more fond memories of its spiritual predecessor, the incomparable and influential System Shock 2. Whether or not you are old enough to remember the first game makes no difference, as System Shock 2 stands on its own, explains all of the backstory you need, and innovates in ways that the FPS genre rarely saw. Its critical (although not commercial) success paved the way for other hybrid games like Deus Ex and the aforementioned BioShock. And while the graphics certainly haven't aged perfectly, the gameplay is as robust as ever, and serves to inspire games for generations to come.

The BioShock & The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Bundle will cost $29.99 for the PC version and will ship to stores on July 7. There's no indication that the bundle will include any extra content beyond what was available in the game' first releases. Again if you haven't got these games already this rather unique bundle is a must have.

[Via email press release]

2007's BioShock remains perhaps one of the best games made in the current decade. Developer 2K Boston and its head man Ken Levine not only made an entertaining first person shooter with a few RPG elements but managed to deal with deep themes about choice and freedom in society. And of course the game's art style, depicting art deco looks within an underwater city, hasn't been seen before or since.

That is, of course, until BioShock 2 comes around. The sequel is being developed by 2K Marin (2K Australia, who created the PC port of the original game, is doing the same for BioShock 2) but with no input at all from 2K Boston. During E3 2009 we got to see some new footage (not shown to the public) from the game as well as a live demo of the game's all new multiplayer component.

The movie version of BioShock may currently be in limbo but that hasn't stopped the film's schedule director Gore Verbinski from being interested in games. In a new article on the Los Angeles Times web site he reveals that he has plans to help develop original game titles with his production company.

So what will his games be like? According to Verbinski, "Some of the stuff we're doing is taking a conventional [first person shooter] experience and tweaking it in a way that hasn't been thought of before. We looked at it from a different angle and changed the experience. " He adds that he has some other ideas as well. " . . . we're doing big epic narratives that are four quadrant experiences. And then we're doing some really radical thinking. That's more difficult to fund immediately, but we're think-tanking it because we feel like there's tremendous potential."

Verbinski has hired a former Pandemic Studios designer to work on game projects for his production company and Universal Studios has a first look deal at those game projects.

One of the most anticipated game-to-movie translations has hit a snag. Variety is reporting that the upcoming film adaptation of 2K Boston's FPS BioShock has been put on hold at Universal Pictures. The reason is a familar one: cost.

Variety reports through unnamed sources that while the film was deep in pre-production it would have cost $160 million to film the movie in Los Angeles as previously planned. Now Universal and the movie's planned director Gore Verbinski are looking to make the movie outside the US in order to lower its planned budget. The story claims that both the movie studio and Verbinski are determined to have the BioShock movie avoid what happened to the Halo film adaptation which was permanently shut down due to budget issues.

Independent Minds aims to take various aspects of indie gaming and present them to you each week. From game round-ups to design elements to interviews with prominent members of the scene, it's an exploration of what makes indie gaming great as well as what makes someone an indie.

For the game developer, nothing is more important than the longevity of a game. Will people be playing your opus a year after release? Ten years after release? The answer should be yes, but the ways to extend the life of a game are often overlooked. There are many different methods to add replayability, including multiple story paths, procedurally generated content, and non-linear gameplay. However, the best way, and the one that has ensured the survival of games like Unreal Tournament or Half-Life, is allowing players to fiddle with the content themselves. The more your players can tweak the game, the more they will play it, and that's a lesson all developers should take to heart.

Publisher Take Two Interactive made a big deal out of the fact that movie director Gore Verbinski had signed on to direct a movie version of their hit action game BioShock over a year ago. Now Verbinski is reported to be fast tracking the BioShock film as his next project over a "sure thing" sequel.

Variety reports that Verbinski has turned down an offer to direct a fourth film in the Pirates of the Caribbean series for Disney. He directed the first three movies which together have grossing a whopping $2.6 billion worldwide. The article says Verbinski is likely to direct the BioShock film next for Universal Pictures. The movie already has a script from John Logan but there's no word on when production might begin. Meanwhile the game sequel BioShock 2 is due for release this fall.

The BioShock team at 2K Boston has been pretty silent about their upcoming plans and in a new Gamespot chat, its head man Ken Levine doesn't really give too many new details about what they have planned next. He does say that the game " . . . will probably come as a huge surprise to our audience and yet at the same time will make total sense once they see it."

He adds that the project " . . . will include a type of gameplay that is completely new to us--something the BioShock team has never really explored in depth before." But don't expect details about the game for a while. When asked if it's a new X-Com title (something that has been rumored for some time) Levine says, " I will say that I'm probably the world's biggest X-Com [fan]. I won't say I'm working on an X-Com game."

He also repeats that he and his 2K Boston team have nothing to do with the upcoming BioShock 2 title which is being developed at 2K Marin. Levine states, "Frankly, I'm trying to keep myself at a distance from it so I, like all the other fans out there, can play it fresh when it's done." 2K Boston is actively recruiting and our sister site Joystiq has the word on the developer's hiring drive.

Without a doubt one of the reasons why 2K Boston's action game BioShock was so memorable was its art style. The art-deco look was taken to the extreme to depict the enviroments and even some of the characters in the underwater city of Rapture. Now publisher 2K Games is planning to release a revamped version of their BioShock art book that shows off more of that award winning design.

Breaking the Mold: Developer's Edition will be released later this year as a 174-page softcover book for $24.99. The book is filled with new art and art concepts from the 2007 released game along with stories and commentary from team members. It's just the thing to get you through to the release of BioShock 2 later this year.