Bioshock Wins Video Game Of The Year Award

If you didn't get a chance to see the video game awards, you might have missed "The best video game of the year" which went to "Bioshock". That is pretty impressive considering its competition this year of Halo 3, Mass Effect, and The Orange Box.

For a complete list of winners, hit the jump.

[G4TV]

We have a costume contest winner

OK, I think this is great for a Halloween costume. I just hope the child wasn't traumatized by Big Daddy.

Another Sony Rootkit Fiasco

And it isn't BioShock. This report details a Sony rootkit installed on a USB device with a fingerprint reader. It actually installs two rootkits.

This kind of crap is just sad. Since it's been noticed twice in the same week, is it a trend? I guess Sony is an entertainment company instead of a technology company or something. I'm going on a one-man boycott of all things Sony until Sony fesses up and apologizes, or admits that 'yeah we're doing rootkits and there's nothing you can do about it'.

It's underhanded, deceitful, and leaves a security vulnerability on your PC. Poor show, Sony. Poor show indeed.

Bioshock Sabotage

Did you download the demo to play Bioshock on your PC? You have a rootkit on your computer.

Did you buy the game and play Bioshock on your PC? You have a rootkit on your computer.

In a profound display of corporate stupidity, Sony (owns SecureROM) has reverted to their old DRM tricks. This is all in an effort to make sure that you can only install Bioshock on 2 computers (okay maybe 5 if the patch works as released).

The limit on being able to install Bioshock on two computers is a means the publisher is using to try to keep a lid on alleged piracy. The problem being that if you uninstall Bioshock from a computer, it doesn't free up a license to move to a third computer. This means that upgrades, rebuilds, or moving the game are problematic at best.

So nobody is going to find this stuff? Nobody is supposed to be able to repackage the game if they wanted to crack it anyway? Who are they trying to kid (besides the board of directors and stockholders)?

This limit was the original grief much blogged (twitchguru.com) this week. So two really big black eyes on Sony, SecureROM, and by extension Microsoft for a PC game release that arbitrarily inhibits user rights to move the game license and also installs a rootkit of unknown resources on your computer.

Sadly, this reflects badly on a game that is a superlative effort by the developers who really ought to be rewarded instead of punished by the techies for the release going so badly.

This link has instructions (long and techy) to remove the rootkit from your computer. So what's a rootkit? A rootkit is a set of software tools intended to conceal running processes, files or system data from the operating system. (wikipedia.org) A rootkit can easily be used for nefarious purposes, and use of a rootkit is suspect at best.

So if you've been waiting for Bioshock, you may be best advised to get the XBox version unless you'll only ever install it on one or two PCs, and you don't mind somebody's spyware on your hard drive.

If I bought the game, I'm a customer, not a culprit. I resent being treated as such. At this point, I'm glad I didn't splurge just yet. Good luck.

Penny Arcade's Take On BioShock

Looks like Penny Arcade has been bitten with the 'BioShock' hype, just check out the comic above.

[via Crunchgear]

Bioshock review

After seeing all the reviews for Bioshock, gonna try the demo this week, I think I might have to get this game. I'm not really into shooters per say, I did enjoy Halo and Halo 2, this title really intrigues me. So far, I think the lowest I've seen it get is a 9 out of 10. Except for one.. The website Sony Defense Force decided to give it a fair and un-biased review. Ok. I couldn't even type that with a straight face, let alone say or believe it. Here's what they had to say.



SDF Review: Bioshock (360)

After many months of anticipation I finally got my copy of Bioshock and played through it over the past few days. There are many things to like about Bioshock such as the graphics (not animation), parts of the story and the water effects. That’s about where the good stuff ends.
First let me say how excited I was for the game after playing the demo on the 360. While the animation seemed stiff and you could tell the 360 was being pushed too hard it still looked like it had a lot of potential. So imagine my disappointment when I got the final version only to find none of the animation hitches, shooting glitches and AI was cleaned up. I also wonder how much better the graphics would’ve been had they not been compressed to fit on a DVD. Now I do not fault the developers for this, they only had so much system power to work with so maybe this will all be addressed with the PS3 version when it comes out.
To conclude, let this game cook in the oven just a little bit longer and wait for the superior PS3 version. Cleaned up textures, animations, AI, extra weapons, Home space, standard HDD and Blu-ray will make this flawed game into a perfect gem.
SDF Score: 5/10

As you can imagine they got flamed pretty bad in their comments after this review.

Update: The PC demo should be should be available this evening.

New Game Release Dates

Just a reminder of some of the games that are being released this week, one being the eagerly anticipated 'BioShock' on August 21st. Check it out below:

BioShock (PC, X360)
Release Date: Aug 21, 2007
Explore the ruined undersea metropolis of Rapture in this hybrid first-person shooter from the creators of System Shock 2.

Two Worlds (X360, PC)
Release Date: Aug 21, 2007
Two Worlds is a fantasy role-playing game for the PC and Xbox 360.

Dragoneer's Aria (PSP)
Release Date: Aug 21, 2007
Take control of Valen, a novice dragoneer, and protect the elemental dragons from a fearsome monster.

There are more release dates after the jump. Good stuff courtesy of G4TV

'BioShock' Xbox Live Demo

Since the release of the demo for 'BioShock' on Xbox Live, users have been having issues downloading, and other things that suck while trying to get in on a new game (see Halo 3).

Well G4TV was nice enough to put together 24 minutes of the demo for you to see, if you can't download it, or don't have a Xbox 360 to download to. This looks to be a remarkable game, and the demo below shows why. The video comes in 3 parts, and oh yeah..... Spoilers galore.

Videos after the jump. [G4TV]

Bioshock Ready To Reinvent The First Person Shooter

The new game Bioshock is set to turn the world of first person shooter on its ear. This could be one of the most revolutionary games in a long time.

Check the demo out. [G4TV]