Over on the
2k forums there is a hubbub of epic proportions stirring. Well, not really, but forum goer Paddywak noticed that something was strange when playing BioShock in widescreen.
The problem is that instead of creating a 16:9 widescreen image and cropping the sides for 4:3, the dev team chose to effectively make widescreen a zoomed field of view of the fullscreen version, cutting off visible area on the top and bottom of the screen when playing in widescreen. The effect is illustrated in the .gif below. This occurs in both the PC and Xbox 360 versions. Some forum folk have said they thought something looked or felt off, while others would have never noticed this unless it was pointed out to them. 2k has yet to provide comments of an official variety.
Either way, I think we can all agree that I love BioShock.
For those who would like a static comparison, here is Paddywak's original illustrative visual (with the red shaded portions being the additional visible area on fullscreen):
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When changing screen formats you are either going to crop the left/right or top/bottom. making the widescreen version have a wider field of view would change they way the designers wanted people to see the game, instead they cut off what would normally be negigible space on the top and bottom and kept the horizontal field of view they wanted for both formats.
That being said, this is not the standard with widescreen in games (or movies for that matter). When providing widescreen support it almost always adds to the horizontal viewing angle. Nothing is taken away from fullscreen viewers, but widescreen viewers (because of the nature of a wider screen) get a wider viewing angle. The only way that this would be normal is if this game was originally developed prior to the advent of widescreen technology.
Bioshock is STALKER all over again with its bad Dynamic Light code and chopped rushed state of being.. please god lets hope the patches come soon /prayer