Bioshock

"From the least anticipated to the most wanted"

Wyclef Jean

I'm really looking forward to Bioshock. At least year's E3 I managed to con my way into a closed-door viewing and was floored. It immediately became my personal 'best of show' and sky-rocketed to the top of my most-anticipated list. When I heard it was coming out for the 360 and PC simultaneously I rejoiced because it meant I wasn't going to have to upgrade my PC just for the game (something I haven't done since, I think, Dark Age Of Camelot launched).

Bioshock is everywhere right now. The buzz is reaching a fevered pitch. There were three excellent sources of Bioshock news this week that deserve some attention.

First, an excellent 'preview' piece over at Gamers With Jobs (such a great name). Two choice quotes:

“…Levine's trying to do the same thing with BioShock, while still delivering a game 16-year-old cheese eating high school students will want to play. "We have these philosophical notions, but you've got to deliver. You gotta bring home the monsters. You gotta bring home the superpowers." In short, he's become a commercial realist.”

"You don't elevate the discussion by saying 'listen to me!'" says Levine. "You get it by saying 'look this is awesome, oh and by the way we're also talking about being a human being. We're also talking about power.'"

I like to call this 'The Simpsons' model. To me one of the brilliant accomplishments of The Simpsons is that it manages to appeal to those looking for base humor (Homer drinks beer and burps) but has another layer of humor that will appeal to those looking for something a tiny bit more cerebral. They 'lure' you in with the easily accesible but every so often manage to squeeze in an issue or two when you're not looking.

For more Bioshock goodness check out the latest episode of the 1up show. One of these days I want to write more about the 1up show. If you aren't subscribed to their podcast, you should be. Games journalism meets soap opera is not a hybrid I thought would work -- but it does.

Finally hit up Joystiq for a slew of videos, some of which may or may not come from the 1up show itself (I didn't watch them all).