bioshock

Chris Knight's avatar

I’ve been a massive fan of the BioShock games (admission: I’ve never played BioShock Infinite) almost since the beginning of the series.  From the first moments of the original BioShock I was swallowed whole by this tale of sub-Atlantic horror.  To me the story of the city of Rapture is a fable, a morality play.  It is about what mankind is reduced to after consciously and willfully choosing against having a belief in God and the restraining morality He provides.  Man without God is a terrible thing, is what I’ve found in the BioShock games.  It’s a theme I’m looking forward to seeing touched upon more in future games from the franchise.

Anyway, if you’ve played the first two games you’re familiar with the Big Daddies: those hulking brutes in diving suits that lumber around Rapture, usually accompanied by the Little Sisters who they are programmed to protect. ...

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BioShock Infinite has been out for over a month. It’s a game I haven’t played an I’m not inclined to either. Why? Because in this blogger’s opinion it’s not a true BioShock game.

For me, the BioShock mythos will always be focused on Rapture: that city beneath the waves of the North Atlantic, not a brightly-lit metropolis floating Lord-knows-where in the sky. The first BioShock game was and remains the most intellectual and even enlightening video game I have ever enjoyed. It’s difficult even calling it a “video game”.  From what I’ve heard, BioShock Infinite‘s world of Columbia is a beauty to behold and has a degree of moral choice… but in the end it doesn’t leave as strong an impression as Rapture.

I’ll say it again: BioShock is high-brow literature of a whole new kind that hasn’t been seen before. And its sequel BioShock 2 did a pretty ...

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Okay, I gotta ask: am I the only fan of BioShock who is not really all that jazzed about BioShock Infinite? Because unless that game solidly connects to classic BioShock, I just can’t see counting this upcoming game as part of the canon (no offense to Ken Levine). To me BioShock is and always will be about Rapture: that mysterious city on the floor of the northern Atlantic, envisioned by Andrew Ryan to be the ultimate escape from a world surrendering itself to socialism and corrupted religion… before it all went horribly wrong. And there is sooo much more storytelling left in the classic BioShock franchise. I mean, BioShock 2 brought us to, what, 1968? Now you know that eventually the American and Soviet governments are going to come looking for Rapture. And when they do…

Well anyhoo, until we get a proper BioShock 3, behold this awesome...

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2007’s BioShock is on my short list of all time greatest video games ever. Okay, scratch that: BioShock is not a “video game” at all. It is an entirely new style of storytelling narrative. BioShock is high-brow literature all its own. And like the very best of books, you come away from it more enlightened and driven to ponder than you were before you encountered it. In the mind of Chris Knight, BioShock stands on the same level as George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Seriously.

And like those and other classic novels, BioShock is something that many people finish with many different perspectives to wrestle over. My own personal take is that BioShock… and with a theme that continued into its sequel BioShock 2… is a morality tale about what man invariably becomes in the complete and conscious absence of God. Andrew ...

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…and I can’t wait to finally load up on plasmids!

Huh? What’s that?! You mean… it’s not THAT Rapture, but instead the other kind?!?!?

humph…

Dear Mr. Harold Camping: “Would you kindly…” stop with this nonsense? We are told in the Bible that no one but the Father in Heaven knows when the end of days will come. This shouldn’t be anything we’re meant to be concerned with anyway. In his epistles to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul taught that we are to occupy with the business of living for Christ, and not be swept up in this sort of fear-mongering.

Yes, I look forward also to the return of our Lord and Savior. And I do believe that He is coming again. How? Because I believe that He came the first time. The path that I took to my faith in Christ, it’s not one I ...

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I was going to write a review of BioShock 2 months ago but never got around to it for various reasons. One of them being that I wanted to play it again to properly absorb it all. Personally, I loved BioShock 2. Even with a few issues (I had hoped to be able to explore around Rapture more) I thought it was a superb follow-up to 2007’s BioShock: a title that is on my short list of greatest video games ever.

Well today, like a bolt out of the blue, Ken Levine – the guy who created BioShock in the first place (but didn’t work on the sequel) – and his Irrational Games announced that BioShock Infinite will be landing in 2012.

Here’s the trailer. And I have to ask: “What. The. %@&#?!?“

HOW does the BioShock saga go from being set in Rapture, a city ...

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BioShock 2 finally comes out next Tuesday! Don’t even think of buggin’ me for the next few days after that, ‘cuz Lord willing I will be in line before midnight next Monday evening to get my pre-ordered copy and then spend the rest of the week once again immersed in the sub-Atlantic dystopia of Rapture.

We already knew that 2K Games is coming out with a Special Edition of BioShock 2 and in this video 2K community manager Elizabeth Tobey unboxes the whole package. And then she reveals the BioShock 2 Uber Edition.

Make sure you watch the entire video…

...

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This is about the most crazy awesome astonishing thing that I have seen all month…

Folks, that is NOT from a BioShock video game! Harrison Krix out of Atlanta built that unbelievably sweet Big Daddy costume, then contacted reps with the Georgia Aquarium and got some time scheduled there for a photoshoot. With Harrison in his Big Daddy gear and his fiancée in decrepit dress and scary makeup as a Little Sister, they brought Rapture to life amid real sharks and jellyfish.

Click here for MANY more images of Harrison Krix’s BioShock session at the Georgia Aquarium, including some that Harrison has made wallpaper size for your desktop (and they will certainly be made useful, of that there is no doubt 🙂...

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Don’t even think of bugging me about anything come February 9th ‘cuz I’ve already cleared my calendar for that date and Lord willing I’ll be spending all of it immersed in BioShock 2. And at last 2K Games has revealed the cover art for the hotly anticipated sequel to the 2007 original first-person shooter that blew minds and won awards all over the place.

I’m really digging the BioShock 2 logo: more decrepit than the one for the first game and now encrusted with barnacles and other sedentary sea life. And look: the Big Daddy is so ticked-off that he’s smashed a crack in the game’s cover! But what’s seriously wigging me out is that… thing… to the left of the Little Sister’s head. Is that a group of fish or someone’s face?

Just two and a half more months before we get to return to Rapture!...

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Got a small daughter or know where to borrow a little girl (legally ‘course)? Wanna have some fun freaking out the neighbors? The officially licensed BioShock EVE Hypo Prop Replica from Play.com is just what you need!

According to this “toy”‘s description, “EVE is the lifeblood of the underwater city of Rapture, the setting for Bioshock and Bioshock 2. It is the substance that fuels the bizarre powers of the genetically-engineered splicers’ plasmids, and it is the fight to control this precious resource that has nearly destroyed the underwater city. This Play.com exclusive EVE hypo prop replica is based on the in-game models, and features a light-up LED feature for that authentic eerie blue glow!”

Yuck… but still awesomely kewl!...

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