BioShock News

BioShock, BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite are now backwards compatible on Xbox One.

PC players will soon be able to upgrade their copies of BioShock and BioShock 2 - although you may need to rummage around your old PC disc cases to do so.

A speedrun of 2007 game BioShock was seemingly interrupted by a Windows 10 update during this year's Games Done Quick charity event.

Speedrunner Blood_Thunder stumbled into the now infamous blue screen update as he approached a terminal in the game at around the 33 minute mark, to the surprise of audiences watching in the room and online.

The installation was later revealed, however, to be a prank, with the cutscene edited to look like an unexpected update was taking place, before the run continued on as normal, finishing with a time of 51:54. Well played!

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Last months rumours of a BioShock collection have resurfaced with new promotional art and screenshots briefly found on 2K Games' website.

Ken Levine, director of BioShock, is making an interactive live-action film based on The Twilight Zone.

BioShock developer Irrational Games has suggested its next title will be a narrative-based, open-world first-person shooter.

UPDATE 09/10/2015 5.18pm: It appears that Apple has reversed its decision to remove delisted games from people's purchase history.

2K Games is offering huge discounts on several of its biggest hits on the Humble Store, with some titles up to 83 per cent off.

BioShock fans have been given another glimpse of the series' cancelled film adaptation, courtesy of new production art.

UPDATE 28/8/14 8.10am: BioShock iOS (BiOShock?) is now available here in the UK, priced £10.49.

BioShock publisher 2K Games appears to be teasing a new BioShock project according to an image tweeted by the publisher today.

You'll be able to hear live performances of music from the BioShock, Halo, Castlevania and Final Fantasy series in London this year at the RePlay: Symphony of Heroes concert.

UPDATE #2 1.05PM The trailer is now live.

UPDATE 11.23AM We've been told that the video isn't quite ready to be made public yet so we've removed it at 2K's request - it'll be back very shortly.

ORIGINAL STORY 10.53AM Spoilers below for BioShock, BioShock Infinite and Burial at Sea Episode 1.

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There's always a girl, there's always a lighthouse, and perhaps behind one of those doors is a universe where the Hollywood's ill-fated BioShock movie was released.

The first two BioShock games and their DLC will be bundled together on Xbox 360 and PS3 as part of the BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition, due in North America on 14th January for $29.99

The BioShock Vita version is being hammered out by the suits at Take-Two and Sony, Ken Levine has said.

BioShock 1 is thrown in for free with BioShock Infinite on PlayStation 3 in the US only, 2K Games has confirmed.

Back in May developer Irrational Games said the PlayStation 3 version of BioShock Infinite would come with a free copy of the 2007 classic on the Infinite Blu-ray disc. At the time Irrational failed to specify that it was a US-only offer.

“I can confirm that the PS3 version of BioShock Infinite in North America contains a copy of the original BioShock," a 2K Games spokesperson told Eurogamer.

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DayZ has been the break out phenomenon of PC gaming this year. What would it look like adapted as a film? Renowned YouTube fake movie trailer maker Bloodrunsclear has had a stab at finding out.

His fake DayZ movie trailer uses sound bites from the horrific Miami face-eating incident; Peter Gabriel's version of My Body is a Cage; and clips from numerous zombie films (and other genres) to create a rousing montage - a look at what could be.

DayZ creator Dean Hall tweeted a link to the video this morning.

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Musician/comedian Brent "brentalfloss" Black has created a new music video about BioShock.

Few locations have captured the imagination this generation as much as Rapture, BioShock's underwater utopia-gone-wrong.

The British Board of Film Classification has outed BioShock Ultimate Rapture Edition for release in the UK.

BioShock creator Irrational Games has stressed that "we're still focusing" on a film adaptation, despite the project being knocked back time and time again.

The BioShock movie has suffered yet another blow after its director quit the film.

Last June, Irrational Games boss Ken Levine climbed on stage during Sony's E3 presentation to reveal that his BioShock franchise is coming to Vita.

With precious little information released on the game since, last week Eurogamer asked Levine why he announced the project before development had even begun. The answer? Because he wanted to help Sony out.

"Look, generally when I announce something... like with BioShock Infinite we had a whole video to show and it was all fully-formed," he explained.

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The PlayStation 3 version of BioShock Infinite comes with BioShock 1, Irrational Games has announced.

2011 was the best year for games since 2007, BioShock creator Ken Levine believes.

Irrational Games chief Ken Levine has poured cold water on the on again off again BioShock movie after saying he has "no need" for it to be made.

The Vita installment in Irrational Games' BioShock franchise is "a little different", according to series creator Ken Levine.

Grand Theft Auto 4 has now shipped a gargantuan 22 million copies worldwide since its April 2008 release.

The first book to explore the world of BioShock launches next Tuesday, 19th July.

BioShock: Rapture is by science fiction writer John Shirley, published by Titan Books and sold for £7.99.

It covers events from the creation of Rapture to a point before the first game.

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Irrational Games boss Ken Levine hasn't given up on getting the stalled BioShock movie off the ground, but admits that getting it right presents a huge challenge.

For BioShock maker Ken Levine, the first-person perspective is the "most direct way to engage" with gamers.

Pre-production on the movie version of 2K's BioShock franchise has ground to a halt after no studio was found who was willing to invest in an R-rated version of the tale, the flick's producer has explained.

BioShock creator Ken Levine has said a movie based on the world of Rapture is still afloat, despite talks of spiralling budgets and a struggling production.

Take-Two has lost its battle to take control of the domain name bioshock.com after the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) ruled in favour of a company that basically runs a silly landing page on it.

Seminal shooters BioShock and Portal are shining examples of great videogame storytelling and character design, Lionhead audio producer Georg Backer told an audience at the Develop Conference in Brighton this afternoon.

BioShock film producer Gore Verbinski has insisted the project hasn't drowned but is treading water while the team tries to reduce an "extraordinarily high" budget.

Irrational Games has posted nine pages of the original BioShock pitch document on its website, revealing a game quite unlike the finished, multi-award-winning article.

NECA has unveiled its Big Daddy Bouncer plush toy and replica EVE syringe ahead of BioShock 2's release next week (thanks Destructoid).

Irrational Games has explained that the enemies of BioShock weren't always sentient humans; once upon a time the inhabitants of Rapture and holders of ADAM were insects.

The Steam Store has begun taking pre-orders for the PC version of BioShock 2.

Irrational Games has recalled how in 2005 the developer was pitching zombies and not Big Daddies to publishers.

British Mac conversion specialist Feral Interactive has announced that it will release 2K Games' BioShock for Macs on 7th October.

Microsoft has announced plans for Games on Demand, Avatar Marketplace and Deals of the Week for September.

Spanish film director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is in talks to direct BioShock, according to Variety.

BioShock creator Ken Levine's "next big project" is "an unannounced shooter", according to a fresh batch of 2K Boston studio vacancies.

2K has announced plans to bundle BioShock and Oblivion together on PC and Xbox 360, with both platform versions due out in Europe on 10th July.

Science-fiction and fantasy imprint Tor, which publishes the Halo books, is to publish a BioShock novel this autumn.

Universal Pictures has placed the production of the BioShock film adaptation on hold.

Sony has updated the PlayStation Store with a demo of LocoRoco 2, the BioShock Challenge Rooms and a host of premium downloadables for Need For Speed Undercover along with usual candidates Rock Band and Guitar Hero World Tour.

2K Games has said that the downloadable Challenge Rooms for BioShock PS3 will cost GBP 6.29.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 has burst into the UK All-Formats Chart at number one this week, shoulder-charging genre rival FIFA 09 down to number two.

2K has announced that the fabled BioShock PS3 downloadable Challenge Rooms will be released worldwide on 20th November.

The very first teaser trailer for BioShock 2 has been shown.

The footage is unlocked after completing BioShock on PS3, and shows a 9 or 10 year-old girl (presumably a Little Sister) standing on the Atlantic Coast peering out into the ocean.

A cuddly Big Daddy toy dangles from her hand as the camera zooms out to show a cityscape bursting from the sand behind her.

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2K Marin is to address niggles in the PS3 version of BioShock with a new patch.

It'll be released sometime after the game launches on 24th October, according to the official forum.

An entire fix list will have to wait, but we're told the Big Daddy and Elite Bouncer texture issues have been fixed, as have the white or discoloured bars appearing during the opening plane crash sequence.

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BioShock and Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 demos lead a meaty PSN update this week.

They're followed by PSN game GEON, which costs GBP 4.99 and received 6/10 on Xbox Live Arcade last September.

Those FIFA 09 Adidas Live Season subscription packs are also available, either at GBP 4.99 for one league, or GBP 12.99 for all seven. The idea is that EA watches real matches to determine player performance and then allows you to download updates that replicate this in FIFA 09's exhibition matches, ranked online and Interactive League games. Don't get in a huff about the cost though - you get one free sub with the game.

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2K Games will be offering a PS3 demo of BioShock on 2nd October around the world.

The PS3 version of BioShock will be out in Europe on 24th October, which is the same day as Fable II and also my birthday. [If you get to it. - Ed]

2K Marin has revealed new details of survivor, one of many additional pieces of content to arrive with BioShock PS3 this October.

2K's Ken Levine has told Eurogamer he reckons BioShock has rescued the shooter genre by opening up a brand new market.

2K Boston creative boss Ken Levine has warned developers of the dangers of focus-testing games too early - saying that nobody would have wanted to play Bioshock if the idea had been focus-tested years before release.

Ken Levine has revealed that the moral choice behind harvesting or saving the Little Sisters in BioShock was a relatively late addition to the game.

Take-Two's faith in BioShock meant 2K Boston and 2K Australia had "the luxury of getting to bump into a lot of things", the game's makers have told an audience at the Develop conference.

2K Marin has explained how you'll be able to collect a few of the Trophies in the PS3 version of BioShock.

These range from bronze to platinum, according to producer Alyssa Finley on the US PlayStation blog, and are designed to entice you into exploring Rapture.

Bronze rewards will be dished out for researching, modifying weapons, hacking and crafting, with each skill apparently "loaded" with awards. You could find yourself up to "your armpits in prizes", said Finley.

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At its E3 press conference, publisher 2K Games announced that the PS3 version of BioShock will get exclusive downloadable content in the form of Challenge Rooms.

Created by a small team at original developers 2K Boston, Challenge Rooms will encourage players to delve deeper into the game's unique toolset, using their plasmids to solve a more puzzle-oriented challenge.

Sounds something like Valve's brilliant Portal to us, and a very intriguing prospect. We'll call by 2K's suite at E3 to find out more.

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

BioShock lead programmer Chris Kline has said that "constantly messing up, and pushing dates" is "the only way to make a good game".

You probably thought that the existence of Bioshock for the PS3 was confirmed when we ran our somewhat unambiguously headlined piece, "Bioshock confirmed for PS3" - well, so did we, but 2K Games is publishing it, so we'll forgive it for wanting to get in on the confirming action.

In a release that's hot off the presses and burning our fingers, 2K Games says that a PS3 version is in development, and will be out in October 2008. Rather more helpfully, the firm also confirms something we've been wondering about - namely that the PS3 edition will be "enhanced", with new content and features added to it.

No details have appeared as yet of what that new content might involve, although in the EGM story which broke the existence of the PS3 version, it was fairly strongly hinted that the graphics, at least, would be pretty much the same as the 360 version.

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BioShock is on its way to PlayStation 3 after all.

Although 2K's press office was unable to comment this afternoon, PSM and Electronic Gaming Monthly both have cover stories on the game in their next issues.

Not many details are being shared online, although EGM does point out that there are "some potential graphical improvements" and that it will be out for the "2008 holiday season".

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Universal Studios has announced plans to bring hit Xbox 360 shooter BioShock to the big screen.

2K Marin may be developing BioShock 2 for PlayStation 3 as well as PC and Xbox 360.

BioShock creator Ken Levine has revealed his top five games of all time, admitting he spends rather too much time playing one of them: World of Warcraft.

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has said MMOGs based on Civilization and BioShock are "potential opportunities".

Take Two has announced that BioShock 2 will be released in fiscal Q4 2009. The publisher's financial year is two months ahead of the calendar year, so that means we'll see the game somewhere in the August-October 2009 period.

Interestingly, Take Two hasn't set Ken Levine's 2K Boston (formerly Irrational Games) to work on this one, preferring recently-formed studio 2K Marin, based in Novato, California, for what's inevitably going to be among the most highly anticipated sequels of 2009.

(Update: However, the company said during a subsequent conference call that Levine would be involved in the game's production: "He will be working on Bioshock 2 and he will be working on a new IP.")

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2K Boston's Ken Levine says that BioShock would not exist were it not for the work done and money made by Rockstar Games.

Portal has scooped Game of the Year at the eighth Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco.

Ken Levine, creative director on BioShock, has said he believes the gameplay in the third act is some of the strongest in the entire game - but that the storyline peaked too soon.

Speaking as part of an impromptu panel at the DICE Summit 2008, BioShock creative director Ken Levine sought to remind developers what they were really meant to be doing, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was selected as 2007's Game of the Year at the 11th annual Interactive Achievement Awards, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for its 11th annual Interactive Achievement Awards, with BioShock receiving a record 12 nominations including Overall Game of the Year.

2K Boston, or Irrational Games as it used to be called, wants people who know how to make things for PS3. And PS2, and GameCube, and Xbox, and Wii.

2K Australia has more awards for its display cabinet, as BioShock has been named game of the year in the Spike TV Video Game Awards, which took place in Las Vegas yesterday, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

The title also won best Xbox 360 game and best score in the ceremony, adding to a host of awards - including best game - which it won at this year's BAFTA Video Games Awards.

Harmonix was named as best studio for its work on Rock Band, which was a also given the award for best rhythm game.

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The promised BioShock patch for both Xbox 360 and PC has landed along with free downloadable content consisting of new plasmids, gene tonics and - in the case of 360 owners - an additional unlockable Achievement worth 100 gamerpoints.

The latter is rewarded for beating the game on Hard without resurrecting once at a Vita Chamber. You are permitted to reload using an earlier save-game file, just not to resurrect. A new "Disable Vita Chamber" option is also included for added difficulty, but it doesn't need to be toggled on to unlock the above Achievement - the game will know whether you've resurrected or not.

The new plasmids and gene tonics, meanwhile, are Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom 2, Eve Saver, Machine Buster, Machine Buster 2, Vending Expert, Vending Expert 2, and all are available on both formats as part of the downloadable update.

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BioShock will be patched on both PC and Xbox 360 this week, according to the game's official website, and players of both can also look forward to free downloadable content.

"Both the BioShock PC Patch and the 360 Title Update will be available next week," web admin Elizabeth Tobey wrote on Friday.

"In addition to these fixes, we will be releasing downloadable content free on both Xbox Live and for the PC, with the DLC bundled into the PC Patch.

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If you've ever wondered what Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime makes of the competition, an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle has the answer: he likes the look of LittleBigPlanet, reckons the Halo trilogy is indispensable and thought BioShock was "tremendously well done".

Ken Levine has been dropping hints about the direction 2K Boston might take with BioShock's downloadable content.

Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski says BioShock is "hands down" his game of the year, and that the game's big plot twist is his "top moment in gaming history, bar none".

2K Games bigwig Strauss Zelnick has said that the two-year release cycle employed for the Grand Theft Auto series could be used for future BioShock titles, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

His comments were made in a recent chit-chat with investors, where he boasted about the 1.5 million sales of the title so far, before suggesting it could become "one of the fastest-selling games in history".

Kriss Akabusi and Cheryl Baker were also on hand to award the game with a record for producing the most sought-after demo on Xbox Live so far - over one million

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Irrational Games has released a little update on Xbox Live for its watery masterpiece BioShock.

Genetically enhanced publisher 2K Games has declined to confirm or deny the rumours surrounding downloadable content for BioShock.

BioShock has battled off hot competition from Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 to remain top of the UK all formats chart for a second week running, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

According to the Chart Track all-formats chart for the week ending August 25, 2K's Bioshock is number one in sales, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

The winners of the Best in Show awards from this year's Games Convention in Leipzig have been announced, GamesIndustry.biz reports, with Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 taking two awards for Best PlayStation 2 game and Best PlayStation 3 game.

Irrational Games' Ken Levine has responded to concerns about the PC version of BioShock and squashed speculation that a PS3 version is in the offing. (Bad news for Sony Defense Force.)

Mark Rein says that if Unreal Engine 3 games look alike then it's probably just because the art directors share similar ideals.

2K Games has finally trimmed its fantastic new game BioShock into a syringe-sized taster for PC, weighing in at a considerable 1.88GB.

Irrational Games' Ken Levine has been explaining why you can't just bump off Little Sisters - the vulnerable children who collect Plasmid-enabling Adam in BioShock - in regular combat. Happily, he does this in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, which gives us just the excuse we want to link new blog Rock Paper Shotgun, put together by Eurogamer contributes John Walker, Kieron Gillen, Alec Meer and Jim Rossignol. Rock Paper Shotgun. Sneaky, eh? Rock Paper Shotgun.

2K Games has announced that the PC demo for BioShock will be released tonight at midnight.

2K Games has released a demo of BioShock on Xbox Live, and has said a PC version will follow later this month.

2K Games told Eurogamer this morning that the BioShock's Limited Edition version has yet to be confirmed for Europe. Tsk.

Earlier this week the official BioShock site promised us a limited edition of the game if more than 5,000 of you signed a petition.

We might spend a lot of time talking about new PlayStations and Slitherlinks and all that, but we're usually dreaming of BioShock when we do - and we're not just saying that because 2K Games has given us this rather handsome exclusive trailer to show off.

BioShock is due out on 24th August on PC and Xbox 360, and we're pretty keen on it. Irrational Games embosses this view in greater faith whenever we talk to them, like we did recently when Ken Levine answered some of our questions.

But you'll know why that is if you've been keeping up with it, so why don't we just stop talking and send you off to look at the trailer? You've probably gone already. If not, you could also click on this link to our BioShock first impressions. We wouldn't blame you if you didn't though. It's 5.30pm and we've pretty much checked out. I'm basically just picking at the label of a bottle of Casillero del Diablo I bought at Sainsbury's. It's a good gig if you can get it.

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Being able to use DirectX 10 might sound like most obvious benefit of developing for Windows Vista, but BioShock lead designer Ken Levine has a different take on what makes the operating system so important to gamers and the industry at large.

2K has slammed its fist on the table this afternoon and confirmed to Eurogamer that BioShock will be sitting on European shelves on 24th August.

"We've now had clarification that the new UK release date for BioShock will be 24th August," a spokesperson for the publisher whispered into our digital ear.

It confirms earlier news that the game would be available in August, although Americans will get the game on Tuesday and we'll have to wait until Friday.

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Those of you eagerly awaiting to explore the underwater world of BioShock now have a date to look forward to, according to 2K's The Cult of Rapture website, which has announced it will be available on 21st August.

2K Games aims to release Bioshock in the US and Europe this June, although the US date is more certain than the European one, inevitably.

Irrational Games boss Ken Levine has revealed that one of the reasons there was no System Shock 3 is that "EA just didn't give a s*** about that game".