BioShock ships over 2.2 million
by Scott Jon Siegel 
{ Jun 5th 2008 at 4:42PM }
It's clear that with this news, Take-Two's gearing up for BioShock mania. Combine strong sales with the recent announcement of BioShock on PS3, news of the Verbinski-directed BioShock film, and the inevitable BioShock 2 announcement from 2K Marin, and we're on the cusp of the next big franchise in gaming. Good thing or bad thing?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Jun 5th 2008 4:44PM
...
That pic makes me silently rage.
knighty @ Jun 5th 2008 4:46PM
In your pants, amirite? ...Sorry.
I'm a little surprised it's not more than that personally.
Ghen @ Jun 5th 2008 4:47PM
its ok knighty, the picture came from 4chan so it probably has subliminal messaging in the .jpg that makes you a pedo.
thenino85 @ Jun 5th 2008 5:00PM
I rarely agree with anyone that has a DBZ character for a forum name, but that is a stupid picture. The whole point of the Little Sisters that they were creepy looking monsters that you could justify killing. Here they're cutsy little anime girls. Could the artist of the picture gotten the source material any more wrong?!
Aside: this is something that seriously bugged me about Bioshock, and one of the reasons I will not accept that it was a masterpiece of gaming. For all the talk of its supreme story, it was just too conventional and predictable. Here are the freaky creatures that are running around, desecrating corpses, and you're suppose to just blindly accept what some completely random woman says about saving them, when by her own admission she created those monstrosities? Sure, everything comes around in the end, and you become the saint for saving them, or the devil for killing even ONE of them. But that's the problem. It was far too binary. It was this automatic "saving anything remotely humanlike good, killing anything remotely humanlike bad" drivel that permeates bad literature. How is that interesting? Good (modern) literature makes the choice difficult. It doesn't paint everything as black and white, just shades of very uncomfortable grey. And no matter which choice you make, something bad happens. Granted, stories in the classical style can get away with binary good-versus-evil, but this was not a story in the classical style. It's like the game wanted to be a modern moral story, but then it fell back on binary good-versus-evil due to artistic laziness. Ryan was not obviously evil, and the player was not obviously good. Despite all of GTA4's flaws (and it has a lot of flaws, don't get me started, did not deserve a 10 at all, but that's another rant), its choices were one of its strengths. There really is no obvious right answer to any choice it asks you to make.
knighty @ Jun 5th 2008 5:06PM
Who cares if the artist doesn't stick to the original source....it's a cute picture.
iiijeremy @ Jun 5th 2008 5:32PM
@ thenino85:
I definitely hear what you are saying concerning Bioshock's supposed moral choices, but I was a bit surprised when you mentioned that you felt GTA4 did a better job on this front, as I didn't see GTA4's moral choices as being any better than Bioshock's. I thought GTA4's story was unforgivably shallow and predictable and I can't for the life of me understand why it (solely the story, not the game as a whole) received such high praise from critics. But to the point at hand...
Throughout GTA4's moral choice situations I felt like I never had enough information to care one way or the other about my decision. Ivan, Clarence, whatever Dwayne's ex-girlfriend was named .... I couldn't have possibly cared less about making those choices. The experience felt a lot like this: complete chase mission, complete hitman mission, go bowling with a friend, enjoy some sandbox play, and *BAM* decide the fate of a character. It felt completely out of left field and, without really knowing much about the characters, how could you feel attached to their fate?
Again, I thought the moral choices in Bioshock were also superficial, but I give them an edge because they at least attempted to pull at your heart strings with how they designed the characters. All in all, both were great games that received well-deserved praise, albeit a bit too much praise, particularly in the areas of story and moral choices.
I will say that I love the potential that exists with Bioshock's story and I hope they do a worthy job of fleshing it out with Bioshock 2.
Okay, enough of my ramblings. Let me know what you think, man.
Oi Chez! What do you want Fizz? @ Jun 5th 2008 6:01PM
I agree the concept is fully broken = the image is broken.
Probably made by some brainless nonce who wanted to do a "purdy pickture" rather than make something creatively valid.
Mr.ESC @ Jun 5th 2008 7:27PM
That pic makes me silently rage.
Indeed but give it credit coming from 4chan this probably the only image Big Daddy isn't reaping the Little sisters.
Anonim @ Jun 6th 2008 10:47AM
HQ of picture version please?
knighty @ Jun 6th 2008 2:32PM
http://warehouse8.cliftondesign.eu/121066718476.jpg
Enjoy :P
copa @ Jun 5th 2008 4:45PM
You are a very brave man, Scott Jon Siegel. I really wouldn't go searching 4Chan for Little Sister fan art.
Eli Gundry @ Jun 5th 2008 5:18PM
While risky, it paid off.
By which I mean it brought a huge smile to my face =)
Mr.ESC @ Jun 5th 2008 7:21PM
I wonder if he is aware that after searching in 4chan for that fanart he is now on the FBI list of potential pedos. Don’t be surprised if Chris Hansen knocks your door own of these days.
Also you are condemened to hell for entering 4chan,lol.
Oh and for all anons here just 2 words
Mr.ESC @ Jun 5th 2008 7:22PM
THE GAME.
BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ Jun 5th 2008 10:55PM
You just lost it, Mr. ESC.
browntown @ Jun 5th 2008 4:50PM
Not much for GOTY. It should have done better, but its still pretty good. Its sold as well as some other big games. Though then again now adays selling anything less than 5 mill is looked down upon.
Nein @ Jun 5th 2008 4:52PM
The image may have been found on 4chan, but it was probably made on 2ch.
LaughingTarget @ Jun 5th 2008 4:56PM
2chan, 4chan, doesn't matter. As far as I'm concerned, seriously screwed in the head doesn't need any deeper classification heirarchy.
Vegnagun bwf @ Jun 5th 2008 4:52PM
Scott, you're a /b/tard?
Nailio @ Jun 5th 2008 8:11PM
Belive it or not, Not every person who visits 4chan is a /b/tard spouting meme idiot. Theres plenty of other boards on the site, and all people seem to pay attention to is the stupid one.
Besides, the picture was likely found in /a/ or less likely, /v/.
HighFiveJesus @ Jun 5th 2008 8:41PM
its funny how the pedophiles and super nerds have this big category of filth so they know exactly where to go.
ballistic3188 @ Jun 5th 2008 4:52PM
cute yet disturbing... i like it
Marty @ Jun 5th 2008 4:57PM
2.2 million seems low to me. It'll be interested to see if it fares decently on PS3.
Cyro @ Jun 5th 2008 5:10PM
You think is going to sell more on the PS3?
Marty @ Jun 5th 2008 5:45PM
No, I don't. That's why I said it'll be interesting to see how it does. GTA did 11 million in a month, and BioShock did 2.2 million in... over 6.
Lars @ Jun 5th 2008 8:10PM
11 mil is above and beyond exceptional. Over 1 mil is outstanding.
I'm surprised it did as well as it did actually. Well, scratch that, actually I knew it was doing well because of so much consistent praise. But I'm surprised because it really didn't seem that spectacular to me. I kept forcing myself to play it even though it just didn't grab me. I kept thinking "this has got to get better soon..." but it never did.
I guess I'm just a rare case (though the only other person I know who played it felt the same way). I didn't really like the cheesy style. And the graphics were pretty poor by today's standards. The first 10 minutes it started out really strong, but then it was so much like a generic 1990's survival shooter that I was just bored with it.
BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ Jun 5th 2008 11:00PM
Simply put, GTA has a far wider appeal than BioShock.
GTA is an established franchise. Previous entries in the series are also multi-million sellers. It has a lot of different things to do, so it appeals to different people for different reasons.
BioShock is a new franchise, so it doesn't have an existing fan base like GTA does (unless you consider BioShock as a spiritual successor, of sorts, to System Shock). It's a 1P FPS, so it's range of appeal is much more narrow (Halo, for example, sells well because the multiplayer is appealing to a lot of people).
So, uh, no surprise GTA4 did a lot better than BioShock.
(though, I personally would rather play BioShock than GTA4... I'm just stating facts before personal opinion)
Wii60Warrior @ Jun 5th 2008 5:30PM
That pic is really cool. Almost like anime. Where did you get it from Joystiq?
I love stuff like that...
jackbauer (mk:4811-7496-3209) @ Jun 5th 2008 6:20PM
HAHA
Mr.ESC @ Jun 5th 2008 7:25PM
The fantabulastic site called 4chan just as it says in the BOTTOM OF THE PICTURE.
Enter to 4chan especially Random go ahead you'll like it.
BPM [MKWii: 2578 3585 8392] @ Jun 5th 2008 11:01PM
It's a trap!
Alex @ Jun 5th 2008 5:44PM
If you feel this is wrong, you should see the Carameldanse version, or the antrophormized versions of Portal, GLaDOS is one cute tsundere loli.
Oi Chez! What do you want Fizz? @ Jun 5th 2008 5:56PM
Kinda pales compared to GTA IV.
Alexisonfire @ Jun 5th 2008 6:18PM
People are shocked by an anime picture of the little sisters.
I'm more shocked someone in japan played the game.
Megadanxzero @ Jun 6th 2008 4:09PM
Yes because people outside of Japan couldn't possibly draw in an anime style...
Charlie_Six @ Jun 5th 2008 6:27PM
Although I don't find the gameplay in either Bioshock or GTA4 particularly good, I do wish Bioshock was the one that sold 11 million copies, instead of GTA4. GTA4 is too "low art" if you know what I mean, and is not a good poster child for video games in general.
Bioshock ain't high art but it's a lot higher than GTA4.
Quentin @ Jun 5th 2008 6:41PM
I bet someone from DeviantArt did it. They will Anime-ize ANYTHING popular.