BioShock Infinite [ Page 2 ]

A new Fact from Myth episode for Burial At Sea DLC

I loved these videos when Bioshock Infinite was nearing release. It really helped get my interest piqued, though it was already piqued to the peak (see what I did there?)

This Fact from Myth follows the rumors of the mythical city of Rapture, where we'll be going again for the Burial At Sea DLC. This video didn't grab me as much as the first ones, but then I already know what Rapture is like, and I already know that Booker and Elizabeth will be going there. Still, it's a nice little tease for the DLC that should be out this holiday season.

BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea

"BioShock Infinite is a first person shooter where players assume the role of former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt who is sent to the flying city of Columbia on a rescue mission to save Elizabeth, who has been imprisoned since childhood. Through the powerful bond they form, Booker is able to augment his own abilities with her world-altering control over the environment."

This upcoming Bioshock Infinate DLC looks awesome but can some explain to me how Booker and Elizabeth show up in Rapture? Unless its spoiler territory I am curious what your thoughts are.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/31/2013 at 02:30am

It's most definitely spoiler territory. A small hint: Think about the second word of the title.

I am *so* excited for this. I can't wait.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/31/2013 at 02:34am

Interesting, thanks Travis. Very interested in playing Infinite and I imagine ill pick it up when it hits GoTY. Do you suggest I complete the original first?

Oh, apparently new Bioshock Infinite DLC is out today too, "Clash of the Clouds."

http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/30/bioshock-infinite-dlc-returns-to-rapture-clash-in-the-clouds-out-today-3904503/

Let me know how that turns out, curious what the quality of all of it will be.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/31/2013 at 03:01am

Yes, I suggest you complete Bioshock 1 first. Bioshock 2 is less necessary. Ken Levine didn't even really want to make that one, it was made by a totally different team, and isn't necessary for the plot of Infinite.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/31/2013 at 03:08am

Will do, thanks Travis.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 08/01/2013 at 10:37pm

Really disappointed that they opted to go to Rapture again. That story has been told...twice. Seems like such an easy choice that I instinctively rebel against it. Why didn't they explore the "Infinite" possibilities and take Booker & Elizabeth somewhere we hadn't seen? Oh well...perhaps the NEXT DLC will show some semblance of the imagination and creativity that led the first and third installments of the series to be so popular.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/02/2013 at 02:43am

beansmyname, did you play Infinite? There are some good story possibilities in Rapture, and they couldn't really go back to Columbia again. Though I guess they could have gone in an entirely different direction, but that's better suited to a new game rather than DLC.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 08/02/2013 at 05:05am

I did, Travis. Absolutely loved it. Not just for the wonderful story but for the telling of that story. I was glad they resisted the temptation to make an open-world game where the player shuttles back and forth from checkpoint to checkpoint and instead gave the player a Disney-style attraction with violent animatronics gone awry.

As I was composing the earlier response, I had a similar thought about revisiting Columbia, specifically Songbird. That was the character I most wanted to see again in DLC. As interesting a character as Songbird is, it's story has already been told. Songbird's direct involvement in the latter part of the game and the bits and pieces of its history provided by Elizabeth's part of the tale imbue more than enough life into Songbird. Columbia shouldn't really exist for Booker the way it did, either.

Visiting another dimension(?) in DLC makes more sense to me than another Bioshock because writing another sequel that parallels these would only seem cheap. You know, like Bioshock 2.

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What if Elizabeth reacted to how you play?

This is one of my favorite fan dubs ever. How Elizabeth would react to you being a moron in Bioshock Infinite. No real spoilers in this, so feel free to watch while preserving your ignorance!

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/09/2013 at 12:17am

Thats really funny. Booker plays how I do at times. Sometimes you just wanna run and gun, you know? :D

jdodson Admin wrote on 01/01/2014 at 09:46pm

Watched this after having beat the game. This is really funny. It's a good thing she didn't actually treat me like this when I walked off. I also spent a TON of time rummaging through the trash and yeah, it's kind of gross.

One thing I did think about as I was playing the game though was "why do people throw so much money away?"

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 01/02/2014 at 02:50am

Way to necro Jon.

But yeah, this is very poignant after having played the game. You spend a lot of time in the trash, eh?

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 01/02/2014 at 02:56am

Oh, I just saw there was a part 2. Way better than the first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_PRofjuXbU

jdodson Admin wrote on 01/02/2014 at 05:16am

That's great too, thanks for sharing. I wonder what other games they clipped the guys voice from.

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Achievements: Are They Worth It?

After days of work, hours of frustration, and a rage that very nearly claimed a controller, I claimed the 'Scavenger Hunt' achievement in Bioshock Infinite. For those of you not in the know, the parameters of this particular achievement are as follows:

1) Beat the game on the hardest difficulty, which includes a hundred dollar charge per continue. no money, no more game. You have to reload at your last checkpoint.
2) Not spend any money at a Dollar Bill machine. While this may not seem like a big deal, health, ammo, and salts (Which is basically your mana) are at a serious premium in 1999 mode, and these machines are basically the only easy source, outside of hoping to... Read All After days of work, hours of frustration, and a rage that very nearly claimed a controller, I claimed the 'Scavenger Hunt' achievement in Bioshock Infinite. For those of you not in the know, the parameters of this particular achievement are as follows:

1) Beat the game on the hardest difficulty, which includes a hundred dollar charge per continue. no money, no more game. You have to reload at your last checkpoint.
2) Not spend any money at a Dollar Bill machine. While this may not seem like a big deal, health, ammo, and salts (Which is basically your mana) are at a serious premium in 1999 mode, and these machines are basically the only easy source, outside of hoping to scour from the environment or having some thrown to you. By choosing to complete the achievement, you are foregoing the only way to make this mode easier.

I watched the credits roll, and the "Achievement Earned" notification popped up on the screen. All that work, all the annoyances and frustration, all for that. Not even something that I can show off in-game somewhere, like achievements in Team Fortress 2. As I sit and watch the credits wrap up, I am struggling to justify the headache I just put myself through.

And then it hits me. To me, it's not about having something to show off, though that is a plus. I found myself challenged even on medium difficulty, and hard was a scary prospect. I decided to forego hard, and jump in head first, and just knock out 1999 mode. I had heard that outside of the paying for continues, there was not a whole lot of difference between the two modes, so I thought why the heck not. I felt like I needed to give myself a challenge, and it only made sense to REALLY challenge myself, and add the Scavenger Hunt achievement to my docket.

For a very long time, I've had a hard time shaking the feeling of failing at most everything I do. My self-esteem is something that has always been easy for me to undermine, and feeling like I've done something right is an experience that does not come often. Call me silly, or strange, or even stupid, but my achievement list, or trophies, or gamer score stands as a list of my accomplishments, no matter how big or small. They stand as a personal record of challenges I've risen to, and a road map of challenges to come. I look at the Platinum trophies I have for Assassins Creed 2 or Uncharted 3, and I see proof that I can follow through on something I set my mind to.

I have days where I feel like I don't do as well as I could at work, or that I'm not being the husband I should be, even if I'm doing everything right. I can't help it. Perhaps if my boss gave out arbitrary, useless, but awesome rewards, I may feel like a better employee. If my wife learned how to make the 'trophy unlocked' sound when I remember to take out the garbage,..

Simply put, are achievements worth the trouble? For me, yes, they are.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/16/2013 at 01:59am

Thats really cool man, I hope you keep hitting strides you enjoy. I envy this kind of dedication myself and hope that I can find a game that warrants me putting this kind of love into its harder aspects. I am playing through(post will come) Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past right now and playing through it entirely by memory I accumulated a few decades ago is a kind of achievement I am pretty proud of. Scoured every area of that game and it still comes to me.

Are there any things left for you to achieve with BioShock Infinite?

Travis Admin wrote on 04/16/2013 at 03:15am

I have good and bad feelings about achievements. I like a good mix of stuff you're going to do anyway, to chart your progress, and fun stuff to do. I was really annoyed with finishing up Fallout: New Vegas and having some achievements left that consisted of doing a certain amount of damage with weapons I didn't care about.

I mean I did them anyway because with Bethesda games I'm a hardcore completionist. I created a hard save and then went to the strip and blew up securitrons. But it didn't add any extra challenge, just busy work.

Nick_Donahoo Post Author wrote on 04/17/2013 at 07:01pm

Now I just have fun and do a little mopping up. Voxophones, infusions, and drunk killing. .

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Bioshock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia

Doom: The Board Game is my favoriate board game of all time. So when I saw Plaid Hat Game's upcoming Bioshock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia I was pretty interested. The goal of the game is to build an army to fight booker for ultimate control of Columbia. It looks like you and the other players can have control of Elizabeth in some fashion but the details are a bit sparse as of now.

The game pieces and overall build look fantastic to me. I imagine ill see this in my local game store pretty soon and want to give it a shot when it does.

Have you picked up a board game for a video game before? If so how did it turn out for you? What do you think of Bioshock Infinite: The... Read All

Bioshock Infinite Review: part 1

Let me just start by saying this game is visually stunning. The graphics really pop on my Sony Bravia 3D TV. I think we've now gotten to the point in gaming where the graphics improvements in future generations really won’t change the industry as much as they have in the past. I can’t imagine a higher polygon count making this game any prettier. Sometimes I just had to stop and look at the beauty in this game. This gave me a great opportunity to take a break for some Doritos and Pepsi while I sat back and enjoyed the beauty that the game could push through my Sony Bravia TV before jumping into the action.

The gameplay is solid. The shooting mechanics feel basically... Read All

When does a Game become Art?

Often, many stories rely on the 'Audience Surrogate' Trope. The inclusion of the audience surrogate or 'Outsider' character, is necessary, as it gives a reason to explain things that are commonplace in the world we are visiting, yet are utterly alien to us as a viewer or reader. The truly unique thing about video games as a medium is that the line between audience and audience surrogate is blurred to a point of indistinction. While we may feel for the characters in a book, it's still a passive experience. It's someone telling us a story, and as good as it may be, we are still victim to a layer of insulation between ourselves and the characters. The unique thing about... Read All Often, many stories rely on the 'Audience Surrogate' Trope. The inclusion of the audience surrogate or 'Outsider' character, is necessary, as it gives a reason to explain things that are commonplace in the world we are visiting, yet are utterly alien to us as a viewer or reader. The truly unique thing about video games as a medium is that the line between audience and audience surrogate is blurred to a point of indistinction. While we may feel for the characters in a book, it's still a passive experience. It's someone telling us a story, and as good as it may be, we are still victim to a layer of insulation between ourselves and the characters. The unique thing about video games is that it removes that passive aspect, and instead of being told the story of the Lamb of Columbia and the False Shepherd, or the real purpose of Sir Francis Drake's journey, you step into a floating city and search for the girl that will clear your debts, or brave the desert to find the Atlantis of The Sands.

****WARNING: Spoilerific Spoilers ahead. you have been warned. If you have not completed Infinite, then, for the love of all that is Holy, do not, I repeat, DO NOT ruin it for yourself. Heck, if you haven't completed the first two, just stop here, mmmkay?****

Andrew Ryan's thundering voice led us through the first half of Bioshock. No bones were made about the angry man booming through the loudspeakers being the ring leader, sending wave after wave of splicers to stop this 'topsider' from destroying what was left of his fair city. The fact that the game didn't end with the Fall of Ryan was a huge twist, and took the game from merely good, as the death of Andrew Ryan would have been where most games finished, and vaulted it into a truly great story. As Atlas dropped the phony accent, and hit you with that fateful 'Would You Kindly?', the game was truly afoot.

A Man Chooses. A Slave Obeys.

The change from Atlas's slave to finding your own way with the help of Tennenbaum was, to that point, the most poignant moment I had experienced in a game up until that point. I had played many games with a decent story, and titles like Uncharted had managed to be thoroughly entertaining, if a bit one-dimensional. It was in the closed, claustrophobic corridors of Rapture that I first found myself completely emotionally invested in a story. I had played games before that gave me a moral or tactical choice on how to proceed, but this was the first time that an 'evil' play-through made me feel repulsed by my own actions. It wasn't until well after the credits rolled that I realized how deep Andrew Ryan's words went. A Man Chooses. A Slave Obeys. Regardless of what happened in Rapture before I came into it, I decided if the world above welcomed a ship full of orphans, or was exposed to an army of super-powered psychopaths.

Delving back in some short time later, the Iconic words of Andrew Ryan still rang in my head. Subject Delta was, as a prototype Big Daddy, more than just a slave. Even with the absence of choice, a slave still has the freedom of thought. While this took a certain amount of choice that the first game prided itself on, it was this lack of freedom that really made this experience memorable. One of the sadder stories from the first Bioshock was learning how tragic the story of the Big Daddies are, knowing how they are stripped to less than human and conditioned to care for nothing but the well-being of their charges, By the time you reached the end of the first game, you realize that it is not them, but the Splicers, and maybe you, the player, that are the real monsters. Seeing the world from inside the diving helmet did not give me the sense of raw power I expected from the heavy hitters of the first. Instead, I felt the vulnerability these behemoths must have felt. I walked the halls of Rapture a target, a pig fattened for the slaughter among the starving masses. I expected to be an unstoppable force. Instead, fear often turned me into an immovable object. Upon revisiting the earlier days of Rapture, I found myself apologizing to these gentle beasts as I liberated their Little Sisters from Suchong's spell, and delivered them to the loving arms of Tannenbaum, knowing it wasn't their fault we had to fight.

I rowed (Well, I didn't row. DOESN'T row) to the lighthouse again, expecting to be moved. What I didn't expect was the sky screaming out in red, and sucking me into it. As I rose above the clouds, I immediately forgot about the majesty of my first glimpse of Rapture. I had long thought that the towering underwater city would be the bar I measured all other game locations by, but it was raised so much higher as soon as I glimpsed the massive statue of Columbia. Upon visiting Rapture, my first human contact was not precisely human, and definitely not cordial. To be welcomed so warmly into Columbia took me off guard, but I decided to roll with it. This was not a fallen paradise, no ruined Eden. True, there were seeds of unrest, but it was no different than the rest of the world at the time. To step into this floating wonder in its prime was so unlike my trips to Rapture, I scarcely knew what to do with myself. I darted into an alleyway anytime a constable came sauntering around. By the time I came to the carnival, I had started to feel like maybe, just maybe, things would be alright. Hey! I won a raffle! What's the prize, I wonder?

Suddenly, the polished veneer of this utopia is stripped away, and things fall into perfect focus.All of those happy faces were rich, white, and affluent. My prize? First ball thrown at a black and Irish mixed-race couple. To see how precariously this city hangs, not just physically but politically, was mind-blowing. As the game progressed, and It turned out that it was my actions that turned this rebellion from a fringe movement to a full blown violent uprising, at least in my perceived series of event, I couldn't help but feel deeply responsible for the bloodshed I was witnessing. My every action, no matter how noble the cause, just made things worse. We jumped into a world where the Vox had the guns they wanted, which launched us head-first into a civil war that had the streets running red, both metaphorically and literally. I made a deal with a devil, and saw the fruit of my labors first-hand. Not only have I ruined this flying city, but I have destroyed the innocence of the woman I came to save. I've taken her from wide-eyed wonder and dancing on a beach to a cold-blooded killer in nearly the blink of an eye.

As the game progresses, and I discovered the true identity of Father Comstock, the hopelessness of my situation truly comes into focus. No matter how you look at it, I did this. Everything this poor, sweet girl suffered was at my hands. As I stand, waist deep in the water, things suddenly become crystal-clear. To love Elizabeth is to hurt her. There is no possibility of keeping the daughter I came to love without leaving the world open to the horrors of Father Comstock. Truly, the only kindness I could pay to her is to prevent her. Anna, the little girl that will have a chance to visit Paris with her father, a Booker that never even considered the Baptism, may grow up to do wonderful things.

But she's still not the girl that danced on the beach, or sang in the bar's basement, or cried as she said goodbye to her dear and precious Songbird. As the credits rolled, I didn't say goodbye to a game, or even a story. I said goodbye to Elizabeth. I clutched my controller and cried. I couldn't keep it together when the credits kept rolling, and "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" chimed out. I stayed up half the night piecing together the emotional trauma I just experienced. I am, and will from this point forth, be changed by my experience.

The definition of art is "the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance."

Bioshock Infinite Giveaway winners!

http://img.wallpaperstock.net:81/bioshock-infinite-wallpapers_24451_1920x1200.jpg

First off, congrats to our winner on SteamGifts! That winner isn't online at the moment, but once all the dust has settled from that giveaway and it's delivered, I'll edit this post for proper congratulations.

Now, what you've all been waiting for! This has been the hardest contest to judge. It came down to two entries. We were in agreement on who the top two were, but we agreed that both were equally awesome. So we decided to flip a coin to pick. BUT THEN we decided to throw that coin out the window and just buy a second copy!

Congrats to our two winners, Sparklepop and Nick_Donahoo!

Nick's post was beautifully written, and anyone who had yet to play the game could get... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:22am

Congratulations to @Sparkelpop & @Nick_Donahoo! I want to also thank everyone for entering, you guys are all wicked awesome!

BigBadGoat wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:23am

Well deserved winners. Congrats!

Sparklepop wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:36am

Thank you so much! I am literally freaking out right now!

Thank you so much! I never win anything so to win a game in a series that is my top 5 of all time is incredible!

Oh...happy...dance....incoming!

Sparklepop wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:37am

I also tried to get out raiding tonight in WoW so I could still be happy...even though wiping forever tonight won't phase me, I think!

Nick_Donahoo wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:38am

If you kind folks would excuse me, I think I just wet myself. going to go change my drawers, and possibly do a silly dance.

Brandon_Waters wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:40am

Grats all!

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:41am

@Nick_Donahoo: Hahahaha, well you know if you did it would be cool because its the Internet and its not like anyone would know unless you said... oh wait. :D

Spencer_Lingo wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:51am

Congrats lads! Now I'm left wondering how many people entered...

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:53am

@Spencer_Lingo: Id say around 30 on the site, but that's just a guess.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/26/2013 at 04:08am

Congrats to the both of you! Very good posts!

mate211 wrote on 03/26/2013 at 05:47am

Congrats! :)

Jason_Kabir wrote on 03/26/2013 at 08:56am

Nicely done chaps!

samauditore522 wrote on 03/26/2013 at 05:59pm

congragulations !

Nick_Donahoo wrote on 03/26/2013 at 08:10pm

many thanks to everyone with their kind words. I doubted I was going to stand a chance, and I still feel like SparklePop trumped me, so the generosity of the folks that run this site is absolutely astounding. Ask my wife, I was still doing a silly dance about it this morning.

Sparklepop wrote on 03/26/2013 at 08:56pm

Yes, thank you for all the congratulations!

I'm still happy dancing over this. (But come on, who doesn't happy dance?!)

Nick_Donahoo wrote on 03/26/2013 at 09:01pm

Hey, I still am, too...

IceMice wrote on 03/26/2013 at 10:37pm

congrats :P

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Rise, Rapture! Rise!

In anticipation for Bioshock Infinite, I got it in my mind to sit down and play where it all started. I put in the game, survived the plane crash, and swam to the Lighthouse for the first time in years. I found myself humming along to 'Beyond the Sea' while waiting for the bathysphere, oblivious for just a moment to the horrors that awaited me. I still found myself with a sense of wide-eyed wonder as Rapture laid itself out in front of me, actually gasping as a whale swam between 'skyscrapers'. I took the trip, and even had a sense of hope as the neon lit above me. "All good things of this world flow into the city."

Of course, as soon as the lights went out, I... Read All In anticipation for Bioshock Infinite, I got it in my mind to sit down and play where it all started. I put in the game, survived the plane crash, and swam to the Lighthouse for the first time in years. I found myself humming along to 'Beyond the Sea' while waiting for the bathysphere, oblivious for just a moment to the horrors that awaited me. I still found myself with a sense of wide-eyed wonder as Rapture laid itself out in front of me, actually gasping as a whale swam between 'skyscrapers'. I took the trip, and even had a sense of hope as the neon lit above me. "All good things of this world flow into the city."

Of course, as soon as the lights went out, I remembered exactly why I love this game. The sinister voices, the slinking shadows. The innate sense of wrongness in this sunken city. I was taken to being awestruck at the shell of this new world, to seeing how the inside has rotted, all in the course of a few seconds, and it still gives me a chill. This, however, did not hold a candle to the first time I heard the voice of Rapture's lord and benefactor, Andrew Ryan. In one moment, we go from hearing how grandiose his dream started, to witnessing firsthand how the cancer of this sunken city has even affected the man a the top of it, I am the ultimate outsider. Atlas, the kindly voice on the other end of the radio, is my only friend in the entire world, and every other person in the entire city is looking to take my entrails, and make a lovely hat out of them.

The cap of the opening act of this game came in the form of meeting my first Big Daddy. In my first play through, I has only caught glimpses of these behemoths in the game, and had been terrified by the promo material. These beasts were huge, and terrifying, and utterly inhuman. They oozed violence, and were about as cute and cuddly as a rabid badger. Coming back, it was no easier. If anything, It was harder to approach these beasts, not because I have fought them before, but because at this point, I am totally unprepared. I have fought these monsters without problem when we were on equal footing. If given a chance to prepare, and take the fight on my own terms. Looking at my meager handgun, a few paltry shotgun shells, and plasmids that I has just started to be good with, I was firmly in David and Goliath territory. The true horror of this was that I has to start the fight. I was a non-entity to this hulking beast, and he would remain neutral as long as I would.

The truly incredible part of this set piece was the knowledge that between myself and the Big Daddy, I was the monster here. They were simple, mostly mindless beasts. Their entire purpose in life was to protect their Little Sisters, and cared for nothing outside of that. I go from wandering stranger to the idiot kid that pokes a bee's nest hoping for honey. I've not felt a greater, scarier, or more emotionally charged fight than my first Big Daddy. Not even the Dragons of Skyrim gave me that same rush. Instead of shouting "FUS-RO-DAH!" at my foe, the best I can muster is a "Please, God, Don't Kill Me!". Even knowing what was coming this latest time around, and having been through it all a few times before, this fight still caused me to pause, set down my controller, and reflect. Even now, it took a few moments to get my hands to stop shaking and my heart to find a regular beat. I had nightmares that night of drills and diving suits.

Rise, Rapture! Rise! I know I'll keep coming back.

I have hope that BioShock Infinite will start on as high of an emotional note. Even if it doesn't, the look and feel seems epic enough to keep my attention. Having a shoot-out with a mechanical, chain-gun wielding George Washington? Sign me up!

Note: This was written for the BioShock Infinite Contest held just prior to the release of BioShock Infinite. Even though, it was a blast to revisit Rapture, and I'm glad the folks here at Cheerful Ghost gave me an excuse to get back in the ol' bathysphere.

Would You Kindly?

Who doesn't remember their first time delving into the world that are the Bioshock games?

When the first Bioshock came out, I wasn't much of a gamer. I played World of Warcraft on a casual basis and that was about it. I was going through a rough time in my life, at this point (I'll save you the sob story because really, who wants to read that?!). And video games were my way escaping.

I'd always had a love for things that were a little on the darker side. Movies and books, mostly. And then imagine my suprise when my roommate comes busting into my room at one in the morning, holding up a copy of Bioshock. "You gotta play this." was all he said before throwing it at me... Read All Who doesn't remember their first time delving into the world that are the Bioshock games?

When the first Bioshock came out, I wasn't much of a gamer. I played World of Warcraft on a casual basis and that was about it. I was going through a rough time in my life, at this point (I'll save you the sob story because really, who wants to read that?!). And video games were my way escaping.

I'd always had a love for things that were a little on the darker side. Movies and books, mostly. And then imagine my suprise when my roommate comes busting into my room at one in the morning, holding up a copy of Bioshock. "You gotta play this." was all he said before throwing it at me and leaving. My roommate had excellent tastes in video games and he knew me well enough to know what I'd enjoy. So, I figured I'd give it a shot (after the fact, I found out he'd only given me the game because he didn't think I'd make it past the first Big Daddy because apparently girls are bad at games...right).

It took me all of about 5 minutes to decide that I loved the game. After watching the opening cinematic of the plane and water on fire, looking like something out of a dream, I was all, "Dude!..!!!" and I made it through almost the entire game before I could even think of sleeping. And the next day, I finished it up. I was completely in awe of the story of Jack and what took place in Rapture. And I couldn't get over how creepy the Little Sisters were (even though I've refused to harvest in any play though which by now, has been several).

This was the first time I was in awe of a video game. I'd never seen that side of a video game, that can be fully emersive and have you wondering what will happen next and never knowing what is waiting around the corner. And from then on, I was hooked. I was a gamer. (And funnily enough, "Would you kindly" has become somewhat of my saying and it will make other Bioshock fans stop in their tracks, every time! It's like a gamer mating call or something).

Bioshock became the first series that I was eagerly await a sequel for. I'd never done that with a video game but from the time I heard of Bioshock 2, I was already over-the-moon excited for it. In my tiny little town, there wasn't much to do and the community of "gamers" was small but the local video game story had a midnight release (another first for me and how amazing that was is an entirely different story!). I couldn't wait to get home to try it out and with a case of Redbulls, I couldn't stop playing. It was all I'd hoped it would be.

And now, some 3 years later, another installment is here! A lot of things have changed since then, including me losing my job that I had for 5 years. Long story short, no midnight release party for me. No chance to wait in line with others that have been waiting on this game for years. And as much as it saddens me that I won't get that experience, it makes me even more sad that I don't know when I'll get the chance to get my hands on what will be such a phenomenal game.

And even if I don't get this game, everyone better enjoy the hell of out it. Don't be afraid to lose yourself in the magic that is Bioshock.

Would you kindly?

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/24/2013 at 11:35pm

Thanks for entering, you are in the contest but we are going to take the post off the main page!

Thanks again.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:22am

If you ate Chinese food tonight, your fortune cookie would totally say "Good news is coming your way."

http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/1139

Sparklepop Post Author wrote on 03/26/2013 at 01:33am

...What?!

Nick_Donahoo wrote on 03/26/2013 at 08:02pm

A hearty congrats to you, and a world of gratitude that they had two winners. I fear you may have beaten me in a straight write-off.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/26/2013 at 08:34pm

You were quite close. I won't name names, but one of us was about 2% more in favor of Nick, and one was about 2% in favor of Sparkle. Thus why we decided to flip a coin, but then decided not to let either of you miss out.

Nick_Donahoo wrote on 03/26/2013 at 08:45pm

And for that, I shall be writing in a lot more often, to repay this awesome site for their abundant generosity.

Sparklepop Post Author wrote on 03/26/2013 at 08:54pm

Oh, Nick, as soon as I read yours I didn't think I'd have won! Yours was wonderfully written and congrats on winning yourself!

I stayed up until 6am, waiting on it to finish downloading so I could have a taste. And now I'm back at it. I can't explain the giddiness to have that awe-struck feeling back again.

Nick_Donahoo wrote on 03/26/2013 at 08:56pm

Well, then, shall we agree that there was badassedness abound?

Sparklepop Post Author wrote on 03/26/2013 at 10:00pm

Yes! That, I can most definitely agree on!

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