'BioShock' for iOS Now Available Worldwide

Bioshock for OS X: 7.25 GB
Bioshock for iOS: 1.65 GB

And yet it seems some people are surprised that the iOS version doesn't look as good as the desktop one.

007p said:

By which point the ps6 will probably be out and you'll be thinking the same again

The issue is the controls and the screen size. Graphics on a portable device will never feel as good as console/pc. It's easy to say in a few years when they look like ps4 games, but then we'll compare them to ps6 games and they'll look just as bad as they do now.

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Actually, I fear that the PS4 will be the last dedicated gaming console that Sony will ever sell. I believe the willingness to shell out $400 for a rig that primarily plays games is going to fade. While the PS4 can also stream movies and shows--no one buys it for that. I remember back in the day when many people bought the PS3 because it was cheapest Blu-ray player on the market at the time and that's all they used it for.

For being such an old game, that trailer is remarkably good. I never did play it when it was new, but I might just do it now.

NameUndecided said:

Third generation iPad owner and this is the first time I've personally seen an incompatible app. It begins!!

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game developers have had steep hardware requirements for their games since the beginning of games.

TechZeke said:

Which is why I plan to rid my iPad 3 this year and shoot for an iPad mini retina 2. Or, if a 5.5" iPhone 6 does exist, I'm throwing all my money into an unlocked 32GB 5.5" iPhone 6 and calling it day.(iPad is by far my least used device) I may still do that even with the 4.7".

The warning signs of the iPad 3's demise were when Apple decided to refresh it with the iPad 4 so quickly.

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Planning on doing the same. You wouldn't have any idea what a 32gb verizon lte 3rd gen would be worth?

jtinch said:

Planning on doing the same. You wouldn't have any idea what a 32gb verizon lte 3rd gen would be worth?

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Since a new 16GB iPad 4 wifi is $400, I would put your iPad 32GB LTE at anywhere from $350-$450. Kind of a broad range, I know, but with the fustercluck(no mods, I'm not trying to circumvent the profanity filter, I literally use this term) that is the iPad range right now, it's really hard to gauge price.

Your model is $389 on the refurb store, so my range is about right.

Good game (mostly because of the scares and graphics), but overrated. I think people are overhyped about it because of the plot twist (which I already suspected way before reaching it), which didn't even make much sense.

Akarin said:

Did the original version make money? Yes? Let's port.

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I understand that, but I would imagine their approach would be more like creating a spin-off or a mobile only game based off the Bioshock brand. Not make a bad port of an old game already.

How will you convince people to buy this? Get our harder to control, worse graphics, old game ?

I think with this approach, people will not buy this game, then publishers will be thinking "Oh, triple A games do not work on mobile platforms, lets just keep selling puzzles and Temple Run clones"

Swordylove said:

Good game (mostly because of the scares and graphics), but overrated. I think people are overhyped about it because of the plot twist (which I already suspected way before reaching it), which didn't even make much sense.

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It's more than just a plot twist, the audio diaries fill out the background story and really rhymes with Atlas Shrugged.

Anyone else having problems with Gamecentre with this game?

LSUtigers03 said:

This is so disappointing. One of the things that made Bioshock so amazing was the stunning beauty of Rapture. Here's a video that shows a visual comparison. When you see it side by side with the 360 version it really shows how bad the iOS version looks.

YouTube: video

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Why? Besides the lighting effects and a decrease in quality of the image, I say it looks pretty damn good on a PHONE. This game has what 5 years, just look how fast phones have catched up with consoles. There was a time that laptops couldn't play almost any PC game that was current. Probably in the next 2-3 gens of phones they will be 1-2 years apart in quality which could mean that phones could become the fourth console in this next gen.

And it would be really interesting to see how much better it could look, assuming this is a primary cause for the lower quality, if there wasn't a 2gb(?) app size limit.

Hilariously Sad --

Can be bought on steam for $3.99 and played with a natively compatible 360 controller on my Surface with much better video quality.

and they want us to pay $14.99 for this?

Suppose the only boon would be playing on a phone -- if you're jonesing that much for bioshock to play on a tiny phone screen then more power to you i guess

runs like total crap on iphone 5. $15 my ass.

saturnotaku said:

Bioshock for OS X: 7.25 GB
Bioshock for iOS: 1.65 GB

And yet it seems some people are surprised that the iOS version doesn't look as good as the desktop one.

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As long as apple ships 16 gb ios devices with 1gb of ram, that's what we'll get

LSUtigers03 said:

This is so disappointing. One of the things that made Bioshock so amazing was the stunning beauty of Rapture. Here's a video that shows a visual comparison. When you see it side by side with the 360 version it really shows how bad the iOS version looks.

YouTube: video

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Wow. It isn't as if the 360 version is a looker. Bioshock on PC is sheer beauty.

Does that mean they can add dynamic shadows and fog back in if they use metal on iOS8?

I'm going to go ahead and...buy a PS4 now.

iJandro said:

I'm going to go ahead and...buy a PS4 now.

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Which doesn't play Bioshock at all....

MacBH928 said:

Why would they release a 5 year old game in degraded graphics?

I am no expert, but last I heard was that porting a game takes serious effort. The kind of players who want to play Bioshock probably had it at least for 3 years by now.

I'll never understand how publishers decide what games to release

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I actually JUST got it — but definitely not on iOS. I grabbed a used copy for XBox 360 at Gamestop for about ten bucks and am playing it on a big screen. Why anybody would want to play a game with cool cinematic scenes or watch a movie on a tiny screen, I have no idea.

octothorpe8 said:

I actually JUST got it — but definitely not on iOS. I grabbed a used copy for XBox 360 at Gamestop for about ten bucks and am playing it on a big screen. Why anybody would want to play a game with cool cinematic scenes or watch a movie on a tiny screen, I have no idea.

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you are forgetting that the iOS version is also more expensive, its $14 and you can't sell it after you are done with it which keeps me even more confused who is going to buy this game.

I understand these publishers are looking for 100k+ sales usually

MacBH928 said:

you are forgetting that the iOS version is also more expensive, its $14 and you can't sell it after you are done with it which keeps me even more confused who is going to buy this game.

I understand these publishers are looking for 100k+ sales usually

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Uhh, I'm not forgetting any of those things. If you read my post, you'll see I bought the game to play on Xbox 360 and not iOS.

Crazy how powerful our mobile devices have come in the last few years. I really enjoyed playing this game on the Xbox 360 (along with the 2 follow-ups). Graphics look really nice for a mobile game, but I could never get used to touch controls on an FPS. Still, impressive.

Suture said:

Crazy how powerful our mobile devices have come in the last few years.

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I know its impressive, but when you think about it, we really should be ahead by now.

When the PSP was released 10 years after PSX was released, it had better graphics. Today mobile phones are released almost 10 years after the 360, and they are no where near as capable.

It might be unfair comparison but I just wanted to point out that mobile devices from early 2000's were more powerful than consoles from early 90's , but mobile devices from mid 2010's are no where near as powerful as mid 2000's consoles.

MacBH928 said:

I know its impressive, but when you think about it, we really should be ahead by now.

When the PSP was released 10 years after PSX was released, it had better graphics. Today mobile phones are released almost 10 years after the 360, and they are no where near as capable.

It might be unfair comparison but I just wanted to point out that mobile devices from early 2000's were more powerful than consoles from early 90's , but mobile devices from mid 2010's are no where near as powerful as mid 2000's consoles.

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Interesting, hadn't ever thought of it like that. And now that I do, there hasn't even been a real "wow" innovation in phones in the last few years either.

Suture said:

Interesting, hadn't ever thought of it like that. And now that I do, there hasn't even been a real "wow" innovation in phones in the last few years either.

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The trouble is you are forgetting how rapidly the world of technology is accellerating.

It took twenty years for an emulator of an NES to run on a mobile phone (Symbian S60, I believe had the first "workable" one... ahh that chubby little Nokia 6600 =)).

Now every year the CPU/GPU is "2X, 3X, 4X" faster than the one before it.

Shouldn't that mean we'd have at LEAST PS3/XBOX360 quality in our phones? Nope. We are still severely limited by three things:

HEAT, Space, and Power Consumption

The power of these devices is incredible, but when you start getting into processing power that outputs the equivalent heat of a George Foreman grille, it becomes impossible to disperse it in such a small package.

Then, notice the power ratings on the back of your PS3? How about that massive brick of a power supply on the 360? Ya... 3.7V at 1A or less just aint gonna cut it.

Finally space. If we had the full 8GB version we could surely have a lot more detail. We don't. They crammed it into less than 2GB.

It's an astonishing acheivement, and even though I'll probably only spend 30 minutes playing it, I bought it just to encourage them to KEEP DEVELOPING.

Most importantly: NO MORE IN APP PURCHASES!!! I WILL PAY $50 for a "mobile" game if it's that good and if it has NO IAP!!!