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BioShock was a hard sell, play BioShock on 'hard'  photo

It's hard to imagine that the game whose demo that is currently in so much demand that it is now crashing servers was originally difficult to pitch, but it's true, according to game designer Joe McDonagh.

McDonagh told CVG about how the title was originally turned down by many publishers while being pitched.

"I joined Irrational in December 2004 and my first job was to get a publishing deal for the game (I worked as the Business Development Director for the first six months). I remember pitching the game to one publisher who later told a friend of mine that it was 'just another f**king PC FPS that's going to sell 250,000 units.' "

Wow, that publisher probably feels like an idiot now. 

In other "hard" news, tehuberone's Community Blog Tehubertoid tells us how to play the disabled "hard mode" in the BioShock demo:

To enable hard go to your gamer profile in the dashboard and then change your default game settings. Go to general, then change your difficulty to hard.

Start up the Bioshock Demo.

Hard should be highlighted when you have the option to select your difficulty. Make sure not to move the cursor or you will not be able to select hard again unless you hit B and then return.

Hit A.

[Via CVG - thanks to AB and tehuberone] 

 








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Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools. Meet the rest of the team



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17 comments | showing # 1 to 17
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Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 11:06
Jim Sterling
I love how we're having to lump our news items together because there's just so much today. :-D
Snaileb 's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 11:10
Snaileb
hahahahahaha



The seriously helpful part was great, thanx Uber.
RivaOni's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 11:12
RivaOni
Christ, all this Bioshock news is pissing me off! Only because I'm still waiting for the demo!!
zardoz's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 11:16
zardoz
This is the current problem with the games industry, publishers and studios are not interested in anything new, they want the same crop of people who can come in and do the same job, so that they can knock out the same type of games as soon as possible.

The best ideas are not filtering through to this industry, the best ideas do not come from technicians, yet that is what you have to be to be involved with game design right now. It doesn't surprise me at all the BioShock was a hard sell, it looks like a game Terry Gilliam would make, in other words it's original.

It's a vicious circle, no new ideas due to no new blood being employed in the industry, it's always the same type of people, it's an inbred industry in need of diversity, but because the stakes are so high, few studios will dare to take an unkown direction. As usual people won't make any changes until it's worse to do nothing than to do something.

All other creative mediums have a creation process which allows designers to instantly construct their vision, pick up a camera, pick up a pencil, pick up an instrument etc. With game design, the whole process is so technical, labour intensive and expensive that there is little chance of new ideas surviving this process, the games industry has evolved in complete isolation and as a result the main bulk of design talent out there is not being tapped into beacuse the games industry has evolved to exclude outsiders, this industry has to try and get creative design in sync with the development process, so that games like BioShock are not a rarity.
Neonie's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 11:24
Neonie
It is getting harder and harder by the minute for me to not play the demo while it is currently sitting on my system...
twesterm's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 11:26
twesterm
@Zardoz
This is the current problem with the games industry, publishers and studios are not interested in anything new, they want the same crop of people who can come in and do the same job, so that they can knock out the same type of games as soon as possible.

Did you read the article? They turned down the game because they thought it was the same old thing.
mistermatthew's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 11:36
mistermatthew
Okay, so the demo was a beautiful taste of Rapture, and worth staying up until 2:30 am for. But, no face off with a Big Daddy? C'MON!
I've got a fever and the only prescription is some Big Daddy!
Kfizz's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 11:41
Kfizz
well at the start it was but it kept getting bigger and bigger thur the years. They kept on getting better ideas and they were working. things just worked well for them. atleast this game wont go under the radar that is one thing MS does right. they know to hype a game. unlike nintnedo who sucks at it they are working on it.
hexix's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 12:10
hexix
So I guess I'm suppose to be calling that publisher an idiot, but really I sympathize with the guy. I'm sure every crappy FPS had some guy pitching it with the angle that they thought made it unique and original. It has to be an incredibly difficult job as a publisher knowing when to believe the pitch and when not to.

The other part of the equation is knowing when the game as it is pitched to you is what the actual result will be. I'm sure most games start off with very lofty goals only to fall apart and become a generic shooter when they realize how hard it is to do what they originally visioned.
Blaaguuu's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 12:12
Blaaguuu
@twesterm
Did you read the article? They turned down the game because they thought it was the same old thing.

Well then publishers today simply can't recognize originality.
robotplague's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 12:13
robotplague
I just played the demo and walked away even more impressed than I had hoped. The cinematic quality to the game and attention to detail is inspiring. The only shitty thing is my 360 crashed (which it tends to do). Oh well, It'll give me a really good excuse to go back and play it again tonight. Sometimes demos have a tendency to quench your thirst for a product because you finally got to see/play it in the flesh, not this time around. I'm more pumped than ever about Bioshock.
Zero Iscariot's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 12:27
Zero Iscariot
Man the atmosphere is perfect, the visuals and sound design are great and the small taste of gameplay allowed in the demo is unparalleled. GOTY.
slorojo's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 12:47
slorojo
oh man, no Big Daddy fight? Oh well, I guess I CAN wait for my lunch break to go home and start the download...

And then dl Metroid and play it while I wait.
deanhatescoffee's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 16:39
deanhatescoffee
@ zardoz: "It doesn't surprise me at all the BioShock was a hard sell, it looks like a game Terry Gilliam would make, in other words it's original."

LOL, well said! Three cheers for Terry Gilliam!
PwnyBownz's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 18:58
PwnyBownz
Holy shit guys... I think I just played the best game I've ever played. Words fail me. It's like they reached into my mind and pulled out everything I ever wanted to do in a game... Besides an Arab pony merchant simulator. Maybe they'll include that in an update?

I gots the chills.
Vos's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/13/2007 23:55
Vos
meh....i like it alot.

now give me Mass Effect.
atheistium's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/14/2007 01:45
atheistium
yeah i thought it was weird when it went to the difficulty settings page in the demo. i was all HARD Z0mFG
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