BioShock Infinite

[Chris]

45 minutes of Chris looking bored. What was his purpose there? He's not a PR guy so he's not there to tell Levine what he shouldn't say. Did he do the play-through or something?

I was already there to meet with the Giant Bomb guys (since I know them) and help show them the game and stuff. When the interview started I didn't have a mic on me so I didn't want to jump in and say stuff that wouldn't be sufficiently audible. Plus, it amused me to just sit there for 45 minutes. Also I didn't know they were going to release the entire interview; I figured they would edit it down.

Also, I don't know if Giant Bomb mentioned this or not--it may not have occurred to them--but we showed them the same sequence that's in the released gameplay video, and one of us was sitting there playing through it. It's not prerendered in any way, it's entirely in-game. It's just a FRAPS video of the game. Obviously, as Jake and others have correctly speculated, it's higher density than the entire game is likely to be, and it definitely represents sort of a "perfect" playthrough of these encounters, in terms of providing an entertaining end result, but it's definitely all real-time playable.

[Squid Division]

Ah ok, from the interview it kind of sounded like they were just shown the same video that was released, and not like someone was there playing it for them.

The game looks great, but the shooting looks the same from the other games. Something about the shooting in Bioshock always felt off to me, like the aim was slightly floaty or something.

[Orv]

Ah ok, from the interview it kind of sounded like they were just shown the same video that was released, and not like someone was there playing it for them.

The game looks great, but the shooting looks the same from the other games. Something about the shooting in Bioshock always felt off to me, like the aim was slightly floaty or something.

I don't think the weapons have sufficient 'heft' for my liking.

[toblix]

it's definitely all real-time playable.

Holy shit, then, that engine is sweet.

[Thompson]

I don't think the weapons have sufficient 'heft' for my liking.

The sniper was kind of lame, I understand the constraints of turn of the century weaponry but I mean come on, you're in a floating city, using plasmids and fighting against giant (Presumably) robotic enemies I think you can go a little out of the bounds of history for the weapons guys.

[Sully907]

Is anyone else really thrown by the look of the characters? Not so much their animations, just their faces, elizabeth in particular. I'm not sure if it's a characteristic of UE3, or just a design choice, or a mix of the two, but it's almost like this weird cross between realistic and pixar rounded faces or something and it's a little off putting as it stands now.

[Thompson]

Is anyone else really thrown by the look of the characters? Not so much their animations, just their faces, elizabeth in particular. I'm not sure if it's a characteristic of UE3, or just a design choice, or a mix of the two, but it's almost like this weird cross between realistic and pixar rounded faces or something and it's a little off putting as it stands now.

Elizabeth? Yes.

Others? No, I think they look great.

[Moelman]

Elizabeth? Yes.

Others? No, I think they look great.

I agree, I think Elizabeth looks kind of weird, but didn't notice that with others.

Overall though very impressed with the video. I listened to about half of the Giant Bomb interview and I think that answered some good questions. I like how Levine avoided answering whether it was in the same universe, that makes me more curious.

[George B]

I think Elizabeth looked great, the colouring/lighting on her remind me of a

painting - which I love.

But seriously, can we get her to cover up a bit?

[Raff]

Elizabeth is seen using the inverted jumbo eyebrow plasmid in the trailer.

[CaptainFish]

This just came to me, but this game has the perfect setting for there to be a barbershop quartet in it right? It might be a bit early timewise, but it's close enough. I don't care if it's some crazy barbershop quartet that freaks out or even a dapper robot quartet please make it happen Irrational.

[toblix]

So some guy named Chris Kline posted some more-technical-than-usual comments about their modifications to the UE3 engine, and:

• It irks me ever so slightly that the initial description of the engine requirements is just a bunch of action fight sequences. I know that it'll be a combat-heavy game, and I know that the world will still be fantastic on its own, but I'd be so happy if I got to explore a bunch of cool, beautiful stuff with a state-of-the-art engine.
  
• The "Floating Worlds" stuff sounds really nice. I was sort of expecting Irrational to cheat here, and only give the impression of everything floating around by having remote non-reachable stuff bob up and down or whatever, but letting everything be dynamic sounds like it could provide for some sweet scenarios.
  
• It sounds like the audio will also get some more love than usual? The last time I was excited about game sound was back before Thief came out. One of my favorite game sound moments is in Myst, when you're on the walkway out to the spaceship. There's something about the way the wind almost blows out the microphone that just grounds me on that virtual island like nobody's business.
  

I really like reading technical stuff about game development, since it's often a mix of stuff I know about (programming) and stuff I wish I knew about (game design, programming in a game context (e.g. bullets and magical hats instead of accounts and transaction services).

[mikemariano]

It sounds like the audio will also get some more love than usual? The last time I was excited about game sound was back before Thief came out.

The last time I got excited about game sound was Thief II, which had terrific optimization for one of the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy cards. It was their "EAX" audio that made a huge difference.

Sound is what makes such a tremendous difference between indoor and outdoor environments. It sounded so good to hear guards walking over tile, moss, and other surfaces.

Man, somebody should really do a "Let's Play" for the Audigy EAX Gold Mine tech demo. I thought it was fun!

[Kolzig]

Irrational Games wants to give someone a chance to have their name appearing somewhere in Infinite.

http://www.irrationalgames.com/insider/name-in-the-game/

Strangely the site seems to be down since yesterday.

[Forbin]

Strange that this just got bumped. I was just thinking about our talk about media literacy while listening to the latest HAWPcast. They talk about the approachability of artistic movies.

[Orv]

Strange that this just got bumped.

Indeed. I was just thinking about the discussion a page back or two, in which I longed for both, to paraphrase, meaningful companions and a talking protagonist (you). Having just finished Dragon Age 2. . .

I've slightly soured on the idea, let's say.

[Sully907]

I doubt my name has much of a chance of getting in, since my last name has been a character before, but I entered anyway. Would be cool.

[Nappi]

Sully Tentacle I presume?

[toblix]

I guess Norwegians are not eligible for the contest because our names are too cool.

[Kolzig]

Hahah, yeah that's quite strange that Norwegian are not eligible to take part in this.

Participants must be (a) legal residents of the 50 United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding Quebec), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxemborg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland, and ( 18 years of age.

Also why people from Quebec are not allowed to take part? Italy, Portugal, Czech, Slovakia and most East European countries are also on the blacklist.

[Orv]

I find it odd that they allow actual French, but not proto-French (Quebecois.)

[Roderick]

The Quebecois are proto-French? I'd say the French are the proto-Quebecois.

[toblix]

Maybe their script doesn't allow for a tall blond by the name of Lutefisk Fjordson. Anyway, I'm terrible disappointed, as I think I would make a fantastic contribution as one of the guys that attack the player in the bar.

[miffy495]

As a Canadian, I once wondered why Quebecers were excluded from our contests (yes, even in Canada they can't enter things) and looked it up. To the best of my memory, any kind of contest that has an element of randomness without rewarding any kind of skill is regarded by the Quebec provincial government as "gambling" and is illegal. Some companies try to get around this by having it be random, followed by the winner having to answer a "skill testing question" to receive their prize (usually some arbitrary arithmetic) but unless you're willing to go through with that, no entry for the citizens of Quebec.

[Orv]

The Quebecois are proto-French? I'd say the French are the proto-Quebecois.

Misuse of the term proto. I should have said "wanna-be". But proto sounds cooler.