system-shock-2 posts

Irrational Games may be making titles for multiple platforms nowadays but when the game developer started it was a PC game only creative team (System Shock 2, the Freedom Force games and others). And as far as its founder Ken Levine feels,"... when it comes down to it, as a gamer, I'm a PC." In a guest post on Kotaku, Levine talks about his continued fondness for playing games on the PC, stating, " ... I like the ergonomics of the thing, the mouse and keyboard, the effortless transition from gaming to browsing to typing. I'm an alt-tab kind of guy."

While the column was supposed to be about Levine's views on the future of PC gaming, he admits, " F*** if I know." But he does say that PC gaming " ... will always be the place that drives innovation." He adds, "If you want to know the future of gaming, buy a PC. And pay attention. Because above all, that thing on your desk is a crystal ball."

We've already expressed our good feelings about Irrational Games' web site and its very different and open attitude to its community with podcasts, interviews, and looks behind the scenes at its various games over the years. This week the web site goes back to the beginning as its reflects on its first game, the acclaimed sci-fi RPG System Shock 2.

The site has posted up some concept artwork from the game that came from a sketchbook found in Irrational's offices. As the site itself says, "We're talking original artwork on honest-to-goodness paper – no Wacom tablets or Cintiq monitors, but paper with the original coffee stains still intact." There's no word on who created these sketches for the game that was finally released in 1999. Now if we can just get Irrational to finally reveal the details about its next game ....

It's still something hard to believe that a company that no one had heard before creates one of the best games of all time as its debut title. Yet Irrational Games did just that when they released the FPS-RPG sequel System Shock 2 back in 1999. Now the newly revamped Irrational Games web site is spilling a few of the development secrets from the game.

For example, did you know that the game started out with a kind of Heart of Darkness-Apocalypse Now style plot? Or that there were plans for a zero-g sequence outside the space ship hull? Well those secrets and more can now be read at Irrational's web site. We just hope the reveal of their next game is "soon".

We've been very impressed with the community features and articles that have popped up on the Irrational Games' web site since the developer relaunched and rebranded itself earlier this month. This week the site has added a new feature that showcases five cut features from two of their classic first person games: System Shock 2 and the original BioShock.

Those features that didn't make it into the final games included more biomechanical items in BioShock and an audio log in System Shock 2. One feature in BioShock that has working code put in when the game shipped was pressure changes in the city of Rapture. Pressure changes were supposed to affect the enviroment and even the AI of the creatures in the game. Ultimately the code was never fully implemented because there were a number of production and gameplay issues that could not be solved.

As promised last week, 2K Boston is now officially no more as the development team behind System Shock 2, Freedom Force and the first BioShock game has gone back to using its original moniker of Irrational Games. The revived brand also has a new web site with looks back at the company's games as well as the first installment of a podcast called Irrational Behavior. Let's just say you won't be hearing anything about helicopter games or Casey Johnson in this podcast.

Irrational Games head man Ken Levine has posted up an intro to the revamp saying that the site will be all about "secrets". There will be revelations about past Irrational Games that got cut or didn't work. And what about Irrational's next game? Levine states, "And yes, we will tell you about the game we're working on right now. Just not today."

When BioShock shipped to stores in 2007, the game's developer Irrational Games got a name change to 2K Boston. We and a lot of other folks were not happy that one of the best game development studios in the industry was having its identity superseded by a generic publisher-imposed brand. Now Game Informer has revealed that 2K Boston will soon be no more as the studio will revert back to its Irrational Games brand.

The studio's official web site currently has a countdown clock that will expire on Monday. Once that happens, the name change will become official. The site will also have a number of new community features and insights into the studio's previous games like System Shock 2, the Freedom Force series and of course BioShock. However, there doesn't appear to be any plans to reveal Irrational's next project.

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.

As the 1990s concluded, PC gaming continued its rise during 1998-1999, when some of the best games released. Hardware acceleration for game graphics increasingly common, online gaming gained popularity to the point where massively-multiplayer online games became an emergent genre. At the same time, we began to see signs that the Adventure game genre, a longtime cornerstone of PC gaming, was nearing its end.

It was perhaps the golden age of PC gaming and by the end of the 1990s it seems little could slow it down. While the new millennium hasn't been quite as kind as the last decade, it's still fun to look back on PC gaming to see how it progressed from the primitive 2D graphics at the beginning to the advanced 3D accelerated visual at the end of the 90s.

Click on the image above to read more of We Love The 90s (for PC Games): 1998-1999