Random Wednesdays

So of course, in addition to its apparently soul-wrenchingly terrible box art, the other controversy of note concerning Irrational Games’ BioShock Infinite is the rather frank racism that appears in the game. Not that the game’s message is specifically a racist one; the opposite is true. But Irrational reasoned that since they were making a game set within a particular historical period, they probably should take some inspiration from the historical figures of that day and age in crafting the dialogue and attitudes of characters in BioShock Infinite’s story.

Unfortunately for modern sensibilities, even people like Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson had some…pretty unflattering things to say about Jews and African-Americans. And BioShock Infinite, it would seem, doesn’t shy away from portraying this. This is a good thing, though, and a gamble on Irrational’s part that gamers can deal with such topics maturely.

(Insert joke about how the game is being released on Xbox here.)

Rock, Paper, Shotgun got an advance look at the PC version of the game, and the first part of their write-up about it looks at the game’s fascinating setting. The first five minutes of the game were recently posted online, and would seem to reinforce the message that RPS’ writer brings: the game looks awesome, and seems quite thematically rich. The ending of the game, by the way, is apparently…something unprecedented, though I honestly can’t imagine what Ken Levine means when he describes it as such.

Also, the game’s lead writer, Drew Holmes, gave a couple of interviews recently, discussing the game’s themes and commentary on racism, and its character development…especially that of Elizabeth, the female protagonist that will be the player’s constant companion during the game.

On the Baldur’s Gate front, a few more reviews of Overhaul Games’ re-release of it have been published, most of which are positive (though not all). A new, and large, patch for the game was also released recently.

And EverQuest Next was in the news again just recently, its developers trying to explain to people that they aren’t trying to make World of Warcraft 2. I don’t know if there’s anything to it, but I can’t help but notice that Ultima Online seems to get brought up a lot when EverQuest Next is discussed, and as far as I can recall the game is intended to be an open-world, sandbox-style game…possibly in the UO vein. (The president of its developer, Sony Online Entertainment, also had some interesting things to say about free-to-play, which I believe EverQuest Next is supposed to be.)

Oh, and it’s worth noting that Gamasutra listed Project Copernicus as one of their games that defined 2012, if only because it went to show just what risks attend developing large, AAA MMORPG in today’s gaming market.

7 Responses

  1. Infinitron says:

    No Chinese characters in Bioshock? Suchong was a major character!

  2. Sanctimonia says:

    Is this the new RIOT? In any case here’s something random:

    It’s a damn shame this game didn’t make its funding goal on Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/879484120/antharion

    This is one of the most Ultima-like games I’ve seen in a while, and they just barely missed their goal. Too bad I didn’t notice it earlier or maybe it could have had an article here to push it over the line.

    • WtF Dragon says:

      It’s not REALLY the RIOT, but you’re more than welcome to post random details here, as it has been quite some time since a RIOT was last published.

      • Sanctimonia says:

        Well then this one, I tell ya brother, is just right for you: http://youtu.be/y4eTUFlGg1U Tell me if it ain’t?

        And Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Human customs are reassuring, even to me.

        The rap music ends pretty quickly then it gets into the good stuff, so just listen straight through. Nothing goes on for too long; I edited each one to make sure it was a cohesive aural narrative. It took me a couple of hours researching and editing, so no small feat.

  3. Sanctimonia says:

    I’ll be damned. They did make it: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/879484120/antharion-an-old-school-rpg?ref=card

    The failed campaign ended Nov. 17th and the new one ends Jan. 5th. Apparently the Kickstarter staff’s newfound wealth has loosened them up a bit.

    • WtF Dragon says:

      What an odd blend of art styles that game features. I agree that it does seem very Ultima-like, though…I’ll see about posting a newsbit about it.

      • Sanctimonia says:

        Haha, yeah. If Ultima were originally Japanese and the graphics were heavily localized to appear American I imagine that’s what it would look like; nearly style-less. That aside, when I saw the gear management GUI, manual opening of doors and futzing around with things on a table all I could think was Ultima VI and VII. Caught me totally off guard.