I’ll never forget the first time I played GLQuake for example, or Quake 2, or Unreal etc, all unforgettable experiences. I just don’t get that feeling anymore. Plenty of games look stunning, not least Bioshock, and I still wander around them just gazing wide-eyed at the scenery, but I never get that “Oh my god!” feeling like I used to.

The wow factor of new developments like 3D, coloured lighting, particle effects, high res textures, wide open levels, real time shadows etc is all far behind us and nothing is surprising or exciting anymore

Look at Oblivion and compare it to its predecessor Morrowind, Oblivion is a lighweight game in comparison, and the more Beth talks about cool ‘features’ of Fallout 3, the more I fear it’ll be empty and lifeless just like Oblivion was.

BioShock was a great shooter, but not the awe-inspiring experience Levine tries to convey here. It’s a brilliant shooter-with-RPG-gimmickery, but nothing we never saw before (except for, maybe, the impressive stylistic creation that is Rupture).

Games nowadays no longer seem to have that “Oh my god, that’s impossible! Look at this, it’s great!” aspect, except in the graphics department. And that is like porn.

With any luck having introduced some of those System Shock-esque features, setting and story to a wider audience will allow them to be a bit less action focused in future.

Unfortunately you could also argue that trying to wean those straight-up shooter fans onto a more RPG-like, story and exploration heavy style of game in that way might backfire.

You could also argue that those market divisions simply don’t exist and they just need to promote a System Shock/Deus Ex style game properly for it to be successful.

Powers are great, though. More powers please.

oh, and why do developers feel the need to make games harder the further into them a player gets!?! especially when they seem willing to throw atmosphere and game balance out the window at the same time

I’d also be interested to hear if they’re including PS3 support by default from now on, or whether it’ll still be 360/PC first, PS3 later.

From my point of view they spent a long time working on the maturity and depth of the backstory for the Bioshock universe, but the gameplay itself didn’t really progress in the same way – at its heart it was still a shooter. It’d be interesting to hear if they have plans to progress the game itself in future episodes, or whether they plan to stick to the same basic template.

..And I get him after you guys are done.