Free Bioshock DLC on the way!

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/30/bioshock-patch-free-dlc-due-next-week/

Along with a patch, we're also getting some other goodies.

[Ramiel]

Sounds good, I wonder what all will be added, hopefully maybe some new weapons or, dare I dream, more achievement points

[1WEBHEAD]

So it's free?

Neato!

I hope it's some more plasmids. . . .

[1WEBHEAD]

After the huge, business-centric news of the merger of Activision and Vivendi, we think you might need to clean your mind out with a little meaningless, silly, but awesome news:

New, downloadable plasmids are coming to Bioshock next week.

2K community manager Elizabeth Tobey told Shacknews that the a new, free Bioshock patch will "at least include extra plasmids for players to mess around with," as well as a way to disable Vita-Chambers for hardcore play, and bug fixes.

EDIT: Also improved: The much-needed field-of-vision improvements for 0widescreen displays.

What the new plasmids are called and what they do isn't known yet.

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/681238/Bioshock_Patched_With_Plasmids.html#comments

SUH-WEEEET!!!!:D

[Thorlief]

w00t. That sounds kinda nice, and expected. It's not that in such a story driven game they couloif added more levels, heh

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

w00t. That sounds kinda nice, and expected. It's not that in such a story driven game they couloif added more levels, heh

And the option to turn off the Vita-chambers will hopefully shut up a lot of folks who moaned incessantly.

I'm sorry, but after the 5th time I said 'just don't use them, make your own save-point system, problem solved', and was answered with 'Bwah, but then I'm just purposedly hampering myself, this is broken...now I'm going to go beat a Big Daddy to death with a wrench after being resurrected twenty times, and come back here ready for more whining', I was ready to jump through the screen and strangle them.

[Gilda Dent]

w00t. That sounds kinda nice, and expected. It's not that in such a story driven game they couloif added more levels, heh

Actually, I think they could. Surely we didn't get to see all of Rapture. There are a couple of options--add in a quest or two after the climactic battle, or even add in a new side quest or two into the body of the game.

There are any number of things they could do. Have Jack find the necessary components to free all of the remaining Little Sisters en masse. A quest to figure out how to free the guys trapped in the Big Daddy suits. Putting together and dispersing a formula that would cure the splicers and return them to sanity.

It could be done.

[Agent Helix]

Actually, I think they could. Surely we didn't get to see all of Rapture. There are a couple of options--add in a quest or two after the climactic battle, or even add in a new side quest or two into the body of the game.

There are any number of things they could do. Have Jack find the necessary components to free all of the remaining Little Sisters en masse. A quest to figure out how to free the guys trapped in the Big Daddy suits. Putting together and dispersing a formula that would cure the splicers and return them to sanity.

It could be done.

Perhaps have somebody finally explain what the freaking point behind the Little Sisters is in the first place.

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

Perhaps have somebody finally explain what the freaking point behind the Little Sisters is in the first place.

How do you mean?

Their purpose in their world itself?

The purpose for the player?

The moral purpose? What?

[Gilda Dent]

Perhaps have somebody finally explain what the freaking point behind the Little Sisters is in the first place.

It's explained in game. Dr. Tenenbaum discovered a sea slug that secretes a substance (Adam) that causes the human body to produce stem cells, which can heal or alter the body in profound ways. She couldn't find any legitimate places to support her research, so she went to Fontaine for funding. The slugs don't produce enough Adam by themselves to be useful, but Tenenbaum finds that she can get more by implanting them in children and then making them throw up, resulting in a great increase in the amount of Adam harvested. Fontaine needs a source of children to use as Adam factories, so he sets up the Little Sisters orphanage to mass produce it. It's Fontaine that chooses that it be only girls, for reasons that aren't explained, possibly because he has other uses for the boys as they grow up, as soldiers. Tenenbaum's explanation is that Fontaine said that it made for "one less bathroom at the orphanage".

Over time, the demand for Adam grows so great that the little sisters can't produce enough, and most of the inhabitants of Rapture are addicts, so the little sisters are trained, brainwashed really, to extract it from corpses with those big needles and reprocess it inside themselves. Because the Adam is so valuable, and because Rapture eventually is overtaken by the war between Atlas and Ryan, the Big Daddies are created to protect the Little Sisters from poachers while they're out gathering.

In game terms they represent the classic "risk for reward" choice for the player. They carry a resource that can be used for powerups for the character, but the player has to take a big risk to get that resource. It's possible to play the game ignoring the little sisters, as you can get tonics and plasmids without spending Adam to get them, but you're greatly limited in doing this.

They also offer the major moral choice in the game.

There is also the gender theme going on--girls are being used to extract a sort of male essence (Adam) from others, the powerful men in Rapture are dependent on and exploit young females for their own needs (a theme also shown in how Ryan and Fontaine treat Diane). In contrast, the player, represented by a male avatar, has the option to treat them with respect or as a resource.

[Agent Helix]

There's never a good explanation as to why Rapture employs little girls as their primary method of resource collection. They simply exist in the game to make the player feel sorta bad when they choose Harvest instead of Rescue, thus creating those "moral choices" that were so played up prior to release. However, since there isn't any REASON given for them being little girls, they ARE simply there just because, thus rendering the moral choice for what it is. A simple question of 'Which game ending do you want this time'?

The closest thing to an explanation is Tenenbaum saying "I know why it has to be children, but why little girls?" in one of the diary entries. Why indeed, Tenenbaum. Why indeed.

Regardless, it's a minor complaint for an otherwise stellar game. (Gameplay-wise. Story-wise it's a bit trash.)

[Jmacq1]

There's never a good explanation as to why Rapture employs little girls as their primary method of resource collection. They simply exist in the game to make the player feel sorta bad when they choose Harvest instead of Rescue, thus creating those "moral choices" that were so played up prior to release. However, since there isn't any REASON given for them being little girls, they ARE simply there just because, thus rendering the moral choice for what it is. A simple question of 'Which game ending do you want this time'?

The closest thing to an explanation is Tenenbaum saying "I know why it has to be children, but why little girls?" in one of the diary entries. Why indeed, Tenenbaum. Why indeed.

Regardless, it's a minor complaint for an otherwise stellar game. (Gameplay-wise. Story-wise it's a bit trash.)

You must've missed that audio diary where Ryan notes that the little girls are better from a marketing perspective, as well. It's actually all pretty well explained. And yes, it makes for a better story because it makes the Little Sisters more potentially sympathetic, and I'm sure that was part of the point. If they'd made them into little ugly creatures or adults or even boys, the impact isn't the same. Most game players would "harvest" adults or creatures without a second thought. Making them little girls absolutely makes the choice have the illusion of moral weight. Criticizing it for being an illusion and a game mechanic seems kind of silly, when you consider that ultimately everything in the game is an illusion, and everything's going to boil down to game mechanics sooner or later.

[Agent Helix]

No, I didn't miss that Ryan one. Remember, that diary is written (or spoken) AFTER the decision has already been made to use little girls. Gilda's explanation seems allright, but smacks a bit of supposition to me. Still, like I said, it's a really MINOR criticism I have with the game, and my initial post was more just a joke anyway.

[Gilda Dent]

No, I didn't miss that Ryan one. Remember, that diary is written (or spoken) AFTER the decision has already been made to use little girls. Gilda's explanation seems allright, but smacks a bit of supposition to me. Still, like I said, it's a really MINOR criticism I have with the game, and my initial post was more just a joke anyway.

Everything in my post regarding the in-game explanation is either directly stated or strongly implied in the diaries, Tenenbaum, Ryan, Fontaine, and Suchongs specifically.

[Agent Helix]

I don't think I got all of Suchong's diaries, so that's plausible.

Honestly, by the end of the game, I just stopped caring about the story in any fashion, because it takes an extreme drop the second the Atlas ruse is over. Thinking about any of it past that point makes a fair bit of it collapse into a series of ludicrous contrivances that would make Spider-Man 3 blush in shame.

Seriously, Fontaine couldn't have at least sent you a letter that said "Would you kindly get a boat?"

Oh well. It's all moot, because I fell in love with Bioshock when I killed a guy with his own hat.