Digital Extremes onboard for BioShock PS3

By Dan Pearson Published 3 July, 2008

Would you Adam and Eve it?

2K Games has announced that veteran developer Digital Extremes will be helping to bring BioShock to PS3.

"Bringing Digital Extremes on board allows us to continue to deliver the best experience possible to our fans," says 2K president Chris Hartmann, who let's face it is probably a bit biased.

The fairy on top of Digital Extremes' Christmas tree of experience, of course, is its part in the development of the Unreal series - a job for which the Canadian studio proudly claims a co-creation credit.

Presumably, Digital Extremes' CV also rose to the top of the pile by virtue of its work on the recent cross-platform shooter Dark Sector.

Gears of War with a boomerang in some senses, it hardly set Dan Whitehead's world alight when he reviewed it, but it won praise in Round Eleven of our Face-Off series, with Rich Leadbetter making a quietly impressed face at Digital Extremes' very own Evolution Engine.

BioShock is, of course, quite a big deal. The tiny portion of shots currently available in the PS3 cafeteria are showing promise, but there's an awful lot to live up to in the game's original PC and Xbox 360 incarnations, with GOTY plaudits flying around like drinks at an epilepsy conference.

Digital Extremes CEO James Schmalz is confident, stating that "You really can't ask for a more exciting, technically impressive world to work in than Rapture, and the incredible knowledge and talent between the 2K studios and our team at Digital Extremes is unprecedented." The truth, inevitably, will be in the shiny, genetically mutated pudding.

BioShock is due on PS3 in October of this year. Start practicing holding your breath underwater now.

Picture of Dan.

About Dan Pearson

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Comments (23) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • SpyroViper #1 4 years ago

    Sounds excellent. At least Digital Extremes is a competent PS3 developer. DArk Sector, I thought, was an amazing PS3 job, considering it was their first PS3 attempt.

  • Machetazo #2 4 years ago

    Yes, this is a great result. I have a good deal of faith in the quality that will be delivered with the PS3 version of Bioshock, and this news further cements it.

  • seasidebaz #3 4 years ago

    It bloody best have trophies!

  • Retroid #4 4 years ago

    You trophy whores ;p

  • myiagros #5 4 years ago

    If it doesn't have trophies someones gonna get electrocuted then smacked in the head with a wrench.

  • brooza #6 4 years ago

    I got them confused with Digital Eclipse

  • Markusdragon #7 4 years ago

    The fanboy voice in my head is screaming at me to shut up, but lets hope this is one of the better ports the PS3 gets. Bioshock is a truly unique gaming experience which whilst a little overrated by the media is still probably the best piece of storytelling in an FPS in years.

  • LetsGo #8 4 years ago

    Can't wait for this. Loved the 360 one from start to finish and cant wait for the new content!

  • Cappy #9 4 years ago

    Digital Extremes could hardly be described as a competent PS3 developer if we are using Dark Sector as an example.

    The PS3 version of Dark Sector renders at a lower resolution and still has a worse frame rate. Lower resolution? It still looks okay to me you say. Fair enough, but lower resolution also means less visual information and nobody is going to argue that less is a good thing when it doesn't even get the frame rate on par. BioShock is also in a different engine, Unreal Engine, a tool which has proved not to utilise the PS3 that well in a long line of bad ports. I wouldn't really expect too much from Bioshock.

  • miufs #10 4 years ago

    God bless you djronz, God bless you...

    In three simple lines you just sumarized what TRUE gaming is all about. ;)

  • Discalceaterabbit #11 4 years ago

    I wonder if you will only be able to play it on one PS3.

  • Steroyd #12 4 years ago

    u wot!?

  • Ghost_Dog #13 4 years ago

    Please don't fuck this up, Please don't fuck this up, Please don't fuck this up, Please don't fuck this up, .........

    @djronz, that is very true. The world has gone version comparison mad. If gameplay is not effected, who cares!

  • KayJay #14 4 years ago

    Yeah, Well said djronz. Rock and Roll. Never got the chance to play this on the 360, was really jealous. So really looking forward to this one.

    /pre orders

  • seasidebaz #15 4 years ago

    Cappy:

    The U3 engine has improved a LOT since Bioshock came out on 360. The tech just keeps on improving. UT3 showed how good a game can look on the PS3 using the engine, but even that's an old version now.

    For a good comparison, compare GoW to GoW2 on the 360. The engine is leagues better now. And I doubt even Epic could screw it up this time, as the U3 engine is their biggest income generator...

    My point being, this could look equal on the PS3 to the 360. Especially as the UE allows basically drag-and-drop to make a game.

  • zuljin #16 4 years ago

    @LetsGo
    "Can't wait for this. Loved the 360 one from start to finish and cant wait for the new content!"

    Seconded... Its not happened before that I've bought a game for both platforms, but if I do this would be it.

  • monkie_king #17 4 years ago

    BioShock isn't Unreal Engine 3 though, it's a heavily modded UE2. So it won't benefit from the recent UE3 enhancements, and the custom stuff will need to be ported by Digital Extremes themselves.

  • Cappy #18 4 years ago

    It wouldn't be hard for Unreal Engine games to improve on the PS3, they could hardly have got worse. That's a pretty lousy Yardstick for improvement. Improved doesn't mean up to par with performance on the 360. It doesn't necessarily do much for the PS3 at all because the 360 doesn't have features like the SPUs which need to be utilised to take on the workload.
    Edited by 1 at 04/07/08 @ 10:43

  • Cappy #19 4 years ago

    Bioshock is Unreal Engine 3.

  • septimus #20 4 years ago

    I read that it could be DICE for a second and got hopeful. Ah well.

  • DFawkes #21 4 years ago

    Are Digital Extremes going to remove the ability to fire bees from your arms? Despite Cliffy Bs objections, and it's general rubbisness in-game, firing swarms of bees is awesome. You give me bees, I'll give you a guarenteed sale.

  • BraveArse #22 4 years ago

    "Like drinks at an epilepsy conference"

    Dan - you made spit me coffee out with that.


    /gets cloth.

    /may have to get new keyboard.

  • IronGiant #23 4 years ago

    EG, please pass on this message.. if it can't manage 30fps or above then don't release it until it can!! A poor port will end up straight in the bargain bins. I just hope they're given extra time to optimize this.