Bioshock PC Demo Coming Soon

Source

And a little more:

So, looks like we will indeed be getting a Bioshock demo, and hopefully before the game is released. In any case, I can't wait for this game.

Just for fun: Here is a high-res play-through of the demo on the Xbox360. Don't click if you don't want to see the first several minutes of the game.

 

I played the demo on my 360 last night. It was amazing. Unfortunately, being a demo, it was somewhat limited in what features were available but the atmosphere of the game was incredibly appealing. It wasn't horrific like F.E.A.R. or Condemned but it made you feel really tense and it had plenty of creep in it. There's just something about walking past a wall with water seeping in that's kind of freaky.

I'm looking forward to the PC demo just to see how far I can push my desktop's GPU but I'll stick to the console version most likely since I don't have a real high end set up. This game is going to be great though, I'm really looking forward to it.

 

A little offtopic:

Does anyone know if there'll be a demo of Crysis?

Thanks!

 

I hope it is very soon because Im growing very bored with my current games. I would expect 2 to 3 days at the most since 360 has theirs out. Time will tell

 

Yeah, the PC demo's arrival is inevitable in the near future. I just hope it comes out before 8/21....funny thing is...that's the last day I'm goin to be able to play so much and if that's the day Bio comes out well then....

 

I tried the demo on my xbox 360, and it's kinda good. I really like the atmosphere, but I won't say too much, because I don't want to spoil it for others. The graphics are really nice, you can't deny that.

 

Dang! I downloaded the demo yesterday, it was amazing (what I saw).

Right when a certain thing happened, just as I got control of the player, my stupid Xbox Red-ringed itself!

Off to the repair centre it goes .

 

Wow that's really sucks! I can't believe how much problems people have been having with x360s... I just hope you're gonna get it back quickly!

 

I played the 360 demo also... the graphics were great but I was kind of dissappointed with the gameplay.

[demo spoiler alert]

First of all the game is too dark... not something wrong with my tv or the gamma settings... its just meant to be dark and it gets kind of annoying at times.

Secondly, there were some confusing parts to the demo, aka what the hell is going on? Why are miniature helicopters flying at me shooting me? Why is there a timer on the left side and why are red lights going off everywhere? I was just walking through rapture and all of a sudden I have robotic machine guns shooting me?

Thirdly, the game didn't seem to have enough... depth. Sure I only had the chance to kill splicers.. but it was the same thing over and over again, electrocute, shoot, electrocute, bash, set on fire, bash, set on fire, shoot... it got repetitive. I really wanted to fight a big daddy, but never got the chance in the demo.

Fourthly, the auto-aim got annoying at some points. Though it is a first-person shooter, it really felt like my aimer would get locked on to enemies taking the fun out of aiming and shooting it. Let me, not the computer, aim!

 

My friend bought a launch console and he said he's had it in twice but he loves it so much that he's willing to put up with the inconvenience. I've got a console I bought about nine months after launch (May 2006) and haven't had any problems with it yet fortunately.

That does suck especially since you didn't even get to play the demo I wonder how the visuals compare on the console to a high end gaming machine (I know the PC version is going to be better...I'm just curious as to HOW better because the 360 game is gorgeous)

 

You can disable auto-aim in the options.
Also, you have some infos here and there about's whats going on (in your book, on the radio etc)

 

I'm feeling the same way right now, the frustration at having a bricked console is more than compensated by the quality of the gaming. I just picked up the new Harry Potter game (!) for my girlfriend (Who is in no way a gamer), and she played it straight for 12 hours! It's like GTA for Harry Potter fans. She'll be missing the console more than me now.

The stupid thing bricked like ten seconds after getting into the game, talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

 

Sweet!!! Can't wait for the demo and the full game to come out... I just found this "BioShock 'Launch' trailer HD" over at 1UP which looks awesome. Check it out!

 

I don't know, maybe it's the genre, but the zombe girl doesn't look that impressive. Certainly, the characters shown in Id's RAGE trailer look as good if not better. And Cormack has said RAGE doesn't use any DX10 level features, so presumably DX9 level stuff implemented using OpenGL.

Someone really aught to compare all the upcoming engines like Idtech5, Unreal 3, CRYEngine 2, etc, all in the same scene to see who is really better. That would be interesting, although I suppose the best visual quality at the expense of decent performance really isn't useful.

I wonder how a DX10 engine is defined since BioShock is supposed to be the first true DX10 game. However, it uses the Vengeance 2 engine which is based on Unreal 2.5 and has parts of Unreal 3.0 added for DX10 support. The lineage is that Unreal 2.0 was enhanced to make Vengeance which was enhanced with Unreal 2.5 to make Vengeance 2. I guess that's an out since if it turns out good it'll be the inital flagship DX10 game, but if it isn't that spectacular they'll just say it's because of all the old baggage.

 

That was actually one things I loved about it. It was dark at times and they didn't give you the option of using a flashlight. It made it very realistic, and made you vulnerable when in complete darkness. In games like F.E.A.R, Condemned, Doom, etc.....they all have flashlights that take the fun out of some scary situations....I think Bioshock definitely is scary in its own respects and the darkness adds to it.

As to the confusing part....you probably didn't listen to what the guy was saying or read anything. I went through just fine.....knew exactly what was going on...

The game has been acclaimed (of course not released yet) for it's depth and uniqueness as a shooter/adventure game. I definitely saw some new things that I was impressed with...but at the same time I don't really see myself getting this game.....for $60. Other people may disagree, but I don't understand why it would be so good to fight a Big Daddy?

Shut off the auto aim then / end response

 

I was sold when I read this snippet from the September 2007 review of the game in the UK PC Gamer:

" A dark and astonishing masterpiece...I spend my career, and my gaming life, waiting for a moment when a game just astonishes me, when I can't believe what I'm seeing, what I'm doing. BioShock has five. "

 

Bioshock wasn't really as scary as I hoped it would be.. yes it was dark, but the darkness doesn't let you see half the world with all its wonderful scenery and such. Even when you see your first Splicer.. hey its a person that lost their mind with a hook on their arm. Been there done that.

Yes being confused was probably due to the fact that I didn't read the diary entries (its the demo, wasn't wasting too much time paying attention to the story), but I did find that sometimes the guy talking over the radio wasn't loud enough.

The depth comes with the story, which sounds cool, but I didn't see anything new or exciting out of this game. The Plasmids simply reminded me of the spells in Oblivion, like fireball, lightning bolt... the guns were of the era but compared to wacking a guy with a wrench.. they didn't do too much damage.
I was really expecting gameplay to be really fun and have a lot of strategy or at least a little bit of minds to the madness... yes shocking a Splicer in the water will shock the other splicer in the water, but the guy over the radio told you to do that. Which is why I wanted to fight a big daddy, which apparently you can approach from multiple ways... so you can choose your strategy instead of just mindlessly shooting at it like you would a splicer.

I, ironically enough, will probably end up getting the game because I think the story sounds very interesting (which is why i really cared not to spoil the beginning to myself), and hopefully I will find more gameplay depth and innovation as I delve deeper into the game.

 

Yeah, I feel you man. I understand where you're coming from. What I meant is that this is just a teaser really. I didn't see anything that I was shocked to see except how good the graphics really are. I was impressed by them....I loved the amount of detail. Also, I thought the darkness was good so I guess it is personal preference.

Again, splicers didn't impress me. Neither did the Big Daddies....I don't see why it will be fun to kill them? or use them to kill other enemies for you....

Idk....it's just not my type of game. I was looking forward to it and I hope that the demo just sucked.

 

i was most unhappy when i waited most of the night just to hear that the demo was only for the 360

 

UPDATE:

There is a placeholder page on Nvidia's Nzone, and it's available for pre-load on FilePlanet for subcribers (subscription only required to pre-load, not to download it after it's officially out).

If it's available to pre-load, doesn't that mean the demo is done? Then it should be out pretty soon (next day or so?). Here's to hoping...

Edit: People with FilePlanet say that the ETA is Friday the 17th. Hmm... hopefully it's sooner...

Edit 2: From this thread:


Friday, April 18, 2008. Eh? It's either a typo or they have no idea.

 

Well, one of the things that you could do was use the fire power on the enemies and make them run for the water, then use the lightning power when they were in the water...it was pretty cool.

There were these vents near the fire power pickup and if you got an enemy to them and used the firepower it would make a bigger explosion. This is just supposed to be the tip of the surface as to what you can do according to some of the things I've read. It is a demo remember, it's just supposed to give a taste of the full complexities of the real game.

Personally, it made me very excited. Before I played I was like "meh, FPS under water, a rental I guess" but the demo totally blew me away on my expectations. Now I'm more excited for this game then I am for Two Worlds and Two Worlds is in a genre that I normally prefer

 

I've played Two Worlds, and its not that great. All of the voiceovers are ridiculously cheesy, and its all voiced by the same person. You could talk to like 4 different people in town, and their voices will all sound the same as yours.
The character control is odd as well, I cant explain it, it just doesnt "feel right". Coming from playing all of the TES series games, they felt right, along with other RPGs like fable, etc.
It just seems like there are a lot of corners cut and the game needs some polishing still, even after the 1.4 patch.
I was stoked for the game just like you, even told one of my buddies to hold off on Oblivion for his new 360 and spend the cash on Two Worlds, then I told him to forget it and get Oblivion after I played it.

 

So for those that have played the 360 demo, what other shooters does it remind you of, if any? I am having a real hard time getting a feel for what the game will be like...

 

A little bit of Condemned: Criminal Origins, for the combat and atmosphere
A little bit of Chronicles of Riddick for the graphics (IMO)

 

You know what's funny about that.....my friends and me, who got to play/see the demo for the first time all together.....we said the same thing to each other.

The combat physics were definitely like Condemned. I think the ability to block would have added much more fun to the game. I remember how well made the Condemned melee was....but I'm sure you will be using more guns and plasmids anyway.

 

played the demo on my 360 and WOW. (even on an sd tv).

This game got me re-excited for future fps games...

 

Just finished the demo like 5 minutes ago, it's awesome, in every sense of the word, its freaking awesome. The graphics are top notch, when you get out of the water, the water covers your vision just like you're getting out of a pool.
The gameplay is solid too (from what I could tell for the quick demo). Very creative too, from the demo it seems like the story line is worth it too.

 

Can't wait for the game to come out!!! The big daddy looks cool in those gameplay trailers. I wonder if you can actually kill those creepy little sisters before the big daddy kills you...

 

The demo will be released by August 21st.

 

you cant kill the little sisters, they already stated that. its probably becuase it would be killing a kid, which video games cant really do without an AO rateing.

 

Will this game be able to be played on a DX9 card like the 7950GTX?

 

I've got a similar card so I'm also curious. I'll probably just pick it up for the 360 though.

 

I'm sure it will be. I know there wont be any dx10 exclusive games out for ages, because of complete lack of backwards compatibility (they're not going to limit their market to the 20-30% that have dx10 cards are they?) 7950gtx is the best laptop card out there, I'm sure we'll be able to play it.

 

Yeah, making the game DX10 only would kill the sales on the PC. Not every PC gamer has the latest and greatest hardware all the time. Of course, since it is supposed to have true DX10 support, I can only imagine what a beefy rig can do.

The atmosphere definitely reminded me of Condemned/F.E.A.R. (though without the light it can be even creepier). It's strange to describe, because there's a definite horror angle to the game but other things about it seem really mellow and relaxed. Regardless, there's something really scary about being in a glass tube and having the tube rupture and fill with water

Gameplay wise it reminded me more of Oblivion what with the on the fly powers and such, though mixed with a good helping of standard FPS so you could cycle through different weapons. The demo basically confirmed for me that the game is going to be awesome. If you like horror games or FPS games at all then it's going to be worth checking out....I'm sure it will have its haters though because it seems like it will be more complex then an ordinary FPS what with the powers and the way you'll be able to upgrade your character. It's almost like it's more targeted at the RPG crowd then anything else.

I just wish it would have come out before I had to go back to College =( I hope classes aren't too rough as there are tons of awesome games, Bioshock included, coming out this fall

 

We will most likely see the PC demo by Friday of this week!

Also I tried out the demo for the Xbox 360 and it was very cool, It took to play it a second time before I really appreciated it.

Very original theme and plot line.

 

im on the fence with this game..id like to try the demo out first...but it looks pretty good so far.

since the early 360 release...any word of the PC release (demo or retail)?

 

Yup pc demo will DEFINITELY be out by august 21st.

 

The demo will make you a believer

 

we shall see

 

I'm glad they're going to release a demo.. It'll give me a chance to see if my computer will actually be able to run Bioshock. There has been so much talk about the 8400m GPU's and its ability to run this game. One question though, if I can run the demo, is it safe to assume I can run the full version?

 

i would say yes..if anything the demo would be worse then the full game since it would be released so far behind the retail...however...this demo is like 2 weeks before the retail game is released (pc version)..so it i would wait for the demo first.

 

I was really hoping to see the demo today.. but still no word..

 

I'm actually kind of glad the PC demo isn't out yet, the 360 demo was plenty of fun, and since I don't actually have my laptop yet (and my PC has no hopes of even running it), it's kind of a relief having one less game to try out the second my laptop arrives.

 

Hey peeps, this is a bit OT, but one of the first major reviews is up and ready to peruse:

http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/813/813214p1.html

Actually, a quick look on wikipedia reveals that many major gaming publications have thrown down their reviews already ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock) -I really hope people will buy this game! Don't want it to be another System Shock 2!

 

With such hefty system requirements, wouldn't it have been to 2k's advantage to release a game that could be played on lower end computers. It seems like this game is destines to not only set a standard in graphics but also in the concept of first person shooters. It would be to their advantage to sell as many copies as possible that would play on as many systems as possible. I know that I would slap my money down if I knew it would play on my system, no matter how well it'll look, because I am very much immersed in the concept of the game.

 

Personaly, I think that the only reason to play a game like bioshock is if you can actualy experience the visiuals and get imursed in a world. Sure GFX arnt everything but if ur computer is so slow that you have trouble running it on the min settings at 30FPS then you need a new computer.

Setting higher system reqs is a good thing because
1) Gamers will be able to utilize thier full systems that they dished out $3000 for.
People that play this game are going to have good systems if thier gamers. If you have a crappy system theres no point in playing the game because ull never see how awsome it is.
2) It means that you can have much more interactive worlds. With higher specs you can pull of stuff like burning down a wooden beam above a bunch of enemies and have it crash on them.

Their not weeding out the people that have lower computers. thier weeding out the people that cant enjoy the game because of thier system limits.

 

all u need is a $800 rig to play this game at high settings

 

Very few people buy a $3000 computer (as long as they don't get those "super extreme gaming edition" Dells). You'd have to have the absolute fastest parts and then intentionally try to waste money to get to $3000. Anyway ... I thought gaming was about fun, not pretty 3D scenes. Interactive-ness is completely unrelated to what hardware a game demands.

Valve and Blizzard both try to maintain very low minimum requirements to have a large playerbase. While it may be to tough to imagine someone playing in such a low quality mode, they've just picked up more paying customers. Half-Life 2 can run on a TNT2 (I kid you not).

The only thing that makes a game not fun is either the premise is broken, or technical difficulties get in the way (bad performance or failure to install).

 

You can get an amazingly fast system that will run BIOSHOCK and EVERY other game you can chuck at it, for about or under $900. Not only will it run, but at maximum settings in 1440x900 + AA etc.

People need to STOP talking about blizzard saying that all of thier games will be low requirement just because of that ONE **** game they made. SCII will be a system KILLER, I garuntee you that the base requirements will be Nvidia 6600 and up, with recommended at like 8600GT+ and vice versa with ATI cards.

Valve is no longer going to have such low requirements, just look at TF2. The latest tech demo shows how much goes into creating the visual style of the game, it uses techniques as a standard that are brought by PS2, which means ATI 9800+ or Nvidia 6150+

 

Well SCII does not seem to be a very demanding game to me. It looks about equally as good as AOE3 but not as good as COH.