BioShock accomplished a lot in the year 2007, garnering praise and high scores from countless print and online sources. So when 2K's Chris Kline mentioned in his GDC session in Paris that the game should have failed, it surely sent a quizzical expression across many faces (as it probably is doing to many of you reading this now). Why should this amazing game have failed?
In Gamasutra's article on the topic, Kline's point is expanded upon as he revisits where the concept for the game started (inspiration from System Shock 2 was major), how the focus on the title evolved from functioning in a fully interacting world to one that engages the player directly, and the concept of selling a "sequel" to an unsuccessful game, which was cleverly addressed:
When they returned to the game, there was some concern about the fact that they were trying to sell to publishers a sequel to an unsuccessful game, so the developers "faked it," said Kline, by giving GameSpot an exclusive on the game alongside a planned System Shock 2 retrospective for its five year anniversary.
There's some fascinating information here, especially for budding developers looking for innovative ways to approach the games they want to create. I personally find it inspiring to think that my favorite game of 2007 was once considered dead before it got out of the gate -- it says a lot about the transformative power of effort.
[Thanks, Joe]
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Contest:
4:17 PM on 06.23.2008
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<3 Bioshock. Except for the name, I can't spell the bloody thing.
Dont you mean the System Shock 3 pitch? When EA treated Ken like it was shit. I always wondered if these guys kept wishing they were making System Shock 3 when they were creating Bioshock
At this point in time, I don't think it would be the same. System Shock isn't simple enough for a large portion of gamers. I just don't think they'd be able to make a true sequel to System Shock without being forced to dumb it down.
BioShock could have been a true successor to the game but unfortunately it was so dumbed down for the console platforms that it lost any chance of being as good as SS2. Too many excellent gameplay mechanics removed, too many bad ideas implemented (don't get me started on the vitachambers), and it was far too easy. Don't get me wrong, this didn't make the game bad. BioShock was brilliant. It just robbed it of any chance of being one of the best games ever made, and it certainly didn't deserve the 9/10 scores it got from just about every publication.
Irrational themselves just barely scraped by, they didn't see any profits from SS2 either. They had to cancel their next game and the one after that got fucked over by legal wrangling after it was entirely finished and scrapped. If it weren't for Freedom Force Irrational would've died ages ago.
I agree. Bioshock was dumbed down for consoles.