BRIGHT SIDE OF NEWS About | Advertise | Contact BSN USER Login
| Register 		SUBSCRIBE Newsletter | RSS Feeds
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Email this to a friend.
Your friend's e-mail:
Your Name:
Your e-mail:
Message subject:
Comments
Widescreen shots by: Anonymous on 2/19/2010
GPU is a Radeon 5850 but it is irrelevant since the same applies to nVidia GPUs.

First a reference screenshot, at 1680x1050:
http://www.imagebam.com/image/a9489068865300
Notice how the edeges of the window align nicely with the image. A 16:9 will see a little bit less from the edges.

Next we have a screenshot in a 4:3 resolution, 1024x768:
http://www.imagebam.com/image/15662268865294
Notice that now, from the same position we see a lot more.

http://www.imagebam.com/image/a771c168865297
Wow, in 5:4 we see almost the entire the helmet!

And the icing on the cake, an Eyefinity resolution, 2900x800 (I somehow managed to delete the 3660x1050 but it's the same aspect ratio):
http://www.imagebam.com/image/f91dd968865303
A lot is missing vertically.

It seems that the best resolution to play this game in is a square one (1:1)! Then you will be able to see the maximum amount on both vertical and horizontal. Widescreen is badly screwed, just like in Bioshock 1.0. If you STILL don't believe me, check the official forum where a lot of people are complaining about this and where a solution is promised for sometime in the future.
Not seeing it by: Sean Kalinich on 2/19/2010
Ok, I looked at it with the following resolutions. 1920x1200 1280x800 and 1024x768.
I am not seeing the issue you are talking about.

What flavor of GPU are using? So far I have tried on two nVidia GPUs. I will check on an ATi 5870 next
Checking by: Sean Kalinich on 2/19/2010
I am taking a look at what you mentioned to see if I notice anything similar
Technical issues, more details by: Anonymous on 2/19/2010
If you don't believe me do this simple experiment: in-game set yourself in a position where you can see two reference points right at the top and the bottom of the screen in a wide-screen resolution like 1680x1050. This works really well with something like a door or a doorway. Press ESC, go to options, change resolution to something like 1024x768 (4:3). Notice that now you can see MORE vertically than you could see before. The difference is even more noticeable in 16:9 vs 4:3 and things get really ugly in Eyefinity resolutions like 3360 x 1050 or 5040 x 1050.

As for AA, I should mention that you can only force AA in the drivers on DX9. This means that you have to choose between nice looking water and nice looking edges. With DX 10 checked in graphic options you can't force AA since the producers didn't bother to write the necessary shaders. That's how it's been on all Unreal Engine games: no AA shaders, no AA on DX10, even with AA forced in the drivers.

It is pretty obvious that the producers didn't bother updating the engine since their main target was the XBox360 platform, but it is inexcusable that they built the game on the Bioshock 1 v1.0 codebase instead of the Bioshock 1 v1.1 codebase featuring the widescreen fix.
@Technical Issues by: Sean Kalinich on 2/19/2010
Our Short Attention Span review is not a full blown technical analysis of any product.
That having been said we are working on a follow on for both BS2 and Borderlands.
These will be more complete. I did not see any issues with wide-screen on either the mobile or desktop platform. My thoughts are, as we have said in the past many games do not support non-standard resolution. as such there is often clipping (which would describe what you are seeing) As BS 2 was designed to be a "theatrical" game 16:9 or 16:10 is the ratio that it is working inside.

I did not note any audio issues either, but then again neither system I used has a Realtek audio CODEC in it. One is Sigmatel and the other is Via.

Your comment on shader code is interesting. It is a little more complex than "get some shader code from ATi or nVidia" But then again even in the original BS AA was either on or off there were not levels. Still you are correct, I did forget to mention the lack of any AA in the game. You can enable it through through the drivers though, it is just not available in the game engine.
Technical issues by: Anonymous on 2/18/2010
Maybe you should comment a little bit about the technical issues encountered in BioShock 2:
- improper wide screen handling, the wider the screen, the less you see vertically. This is really bad on Eyefinity setups. Funny that this issue was fixed with a patch for BioShock 1 but it's present in 2.
- the lack of anti-aliasing under DX10, as explained in the Batman Arkham Asylum fiasco, all the producer had to do was to get some shader code from ATi or nVidia, and voila, AA under DX10.
- problems with on-board sound chips from Realtek.
- a general lack of improvements in the engine over BioShock 2.
Please by: Anonymous on 2/17/2010 by: LooseCannon on 2/18/2010
Sounds like someone needs to give their head a shake,come on ! At least identify yourself,it amazes me what anonymity leads too.

I gave it a quick try earlier and i've played the original also........

The horror theme is lost on me as you play a big daddy which to me was the central part of the horror/suspense aspect of the game.
The water effects seem worse in this one comapred to first (maybe something to do with consoling (yes i have a name for it now))

It does run extremely smooth even on my lower end video card.The Characters seem to have more depth than the first,better scripting etc,although they can get repetitive when talking.I notice some instances where the characters would just stand there when they should be doing something,almost like the animation scripting was left out or just not included. The combat is improved over the original.

After an hour of play its just average for me...maybe we are getting spoiled
@who made it by: Sean Kalinich on 2/18/2010
I credited Irrational Games, however Both Bioshock and Bioshock 2 are take from the core concept of SystemShock and SystemShock; 2 both were LGS games.

Ken Levine, who was one of the people at LGS and a founding member of Irrational Games called Bioshock a spiritual successor to SystemShock and SystemShock 2. This was a sentiment that was echoed by many of the developers of the game

It has been widely acknowledged that without the SystemShock series Bioshock would never have happened. As such I stand behind my comment.
WHO made Bioshock? by: Anonymous on 2/18/2010
At the start of the article you credit Bioshock to the reminants of Looking Glass Studios... dude there's two people who used to work at Looking Glass who were on Bioshock, it was developed by Irrational Games (a core team of 30+ and some 150 other credited individuals, none of whom worked at Looking Glass), Looking Glass had nothing to do with it.

(FYI I worked on Bioshock so yeah I'm pretty sure about this)
by: Anonymous on 2/18/2010
I think that the game didn't change since thr first part. Graphics is the same, so it looks more like an add on rather than a new game. Anyway- better to try it before buying. I don´t know if I can post a link here(just delete it if not)- but you csn try it here, just for familyrization: http://www.technica-at-home.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49:bioshock-2-fulleng
@Please by: Sean Kalinich on 2/17/2010
And what would you like to see different in our game reviews?

If you have suggestions we welcome them, but to make a broad comment such as the one you have made offers nothing.

@5+
I agree with you that being able to run this game on inexpensive hardware is a huge plus. However, I am not impressed with the linear game play so far.
Please by: Anonymous on 2/17/2010
Please Sean stick with hardware and leave game reviews to someone else.
5+ for 2K by: Anonymous on 2/17/2010
You can play this game with 100 $ GPU in Full HD in max detail! This game shows how dependent game makers are on hardware industry and how many game developers suck!
Bravo 2K!
by: Anonymous on 2/17/2010
If you play Bioshock 2, you have to use electricity
© 2009 - 2011 Bright Side Of News*, All rights reserved.
© 2009 - 2013 Bright Side Of News*, All rights reserved.