Fred Dutton – SCEE Blog Manager writes:
"So, just a few hours to go before we consign 2012 to memory and forge ahead into the mysterious, murky unknown of 2013. Was it a good year for you? Did everything pan out as you’d hoped? I do hope so.
For gamers as a whole, I think there’s no disputing it was an absolutely blistering 12 months. Whatever your predilections, there was a smorgasbord of wonderful titles to gorge upon this year."
IGN: "We spent six hours playing a recent build of Judas, the next game from BioShock creator Ken Levine, followed by a lengthy conversation with the renowned game designer to discuss the long wait since BioShock Infinite, bringing the "narrative LEGOs" concept to life in Judas, what the game is all about, and much more."
YT video : https://youtu.be/aIqmnoo8Ui...
with new gameplay segments
I’m tentatively hopeful for this. Love Bioshock. As far as the narrative Legos we shall have to wait and see. The early trailer for Infinite showed off a lot of stuff that didn’t make it into the finished product, and Levine is notoriously difficult to work for, so if this narrative stuff makes it into the came will be curious to see how impactful it is. I’d be fine with something more in the vein of the first Bioshock. Not much like that now, especially since Arkane’s fall from grace.
I didn’t realize Levine’s new studio was under 2K Games just like Irrational was. What was the point quitting Irrational and then 2K dissolving the studio only for him to open up a smaller studio still under 2K? Why not just downsize Irrational, keep operations going and have the brand recognition. Cuz it’s not like Judas is a departure from his normal style. Must be a story there
Cloud Chamber, under 2K, is the new studio developing the next Bioshock (4?) game.
I imagine he had a negative experience building Bioshock Infinite, due to the pressure on the team. As you pointed out in your other comment, lots from that game was cut out or changed before release. I suspect he wanted the opportunity to step back and create a game in a timescale that allowed him to deliver the product he wanted.
Irrational may have also been locked into certain contracts under 2K, and opening a new studio may have allowed him to negotiate new terms.
Throughout the history of video games, there have been titles that permanently shifted the industry. These games are generally not hard to spot, as their influence quickly earned them a place in our pop culture. Tetris, Super Mario 64, Halo, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, or The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, each of these games caused massive shifts in their respective genres and gaming as a whole. But for each of these, there are also games whose influence, though significant, is largely forgotten.
“Future experiences [are] already under development at Gearbox," says Randy Pitchford
I'm actually surprised by this, I feel like it came and went very quickly without too much interest
but good to see!
Well, it was relatively short and no True Vault Hunter mode to replay the campaign. The DLC was horribly short, lame and overpriced, which didn't help.
Probably had a significantly smaller budget, so it was able to smash lower targets while not being immensely popular.
I wonder how Borderlands 3 did overall as well. I've seen that game for under $15 multiple times (and in multiple clearance racks for $5).
A sequel will need a lot of work. They didn't lean nearly enough into the fantasy elements, which left the combat feeling like Borderlands rather than a new franchise. The end game is trash, there's no new game plus, no proper DLC/expansions, etc. The drop rates for loot were god awful.
It had a lot of great ideas but in terms of gameplay it felt way too safe, like Gearbox was too scared to stray too far from Borderlands.
I legit thought it was intended to be dlc at first for b3 which kind of explains why it didn't
Yeah, fuck those drop rates. Trying to farm for something specific was futile. Especially for the armor. Need to match 2 classes instead of 1, and then there's the whole Ascended, Primordial, etc thing that made it even harder. Add another class into it later lowered the chances even further. They really needed to tailor drops so you had a better chance of getting your own classes drops.
This is why I stopped playing. I'd spend an hour or two every day farming, filling my inventory, loading up loot bunnies with crystals, and consistently get nothing to show for it after a month of trying to get an upgrade for one piece of gear.
