James

By Pentadact


Games

 

Television

 

Films

 

Music

 

Links

 

Personal

 
 

About

 
 
Let Tom Francis tell you all what it's like, being male, middle-class and white.
 

 

At Random

 
 
Ted Danson makes such a compellingly sympathetic villain, and Glenn Close such a frighteningly ornery hero, that you end up riveted by the duel but unable to root for either side. The web of bizarre, volatile relationships between characters has the plot spasming wildly, untenably with episode.
 

 

Last Comment

 
 
"This IS the only result that shows up when you Google “Tom Francis” + “fatal weaknesses” ."

Freakinswiit on I Propose A Less Serious Vote
 

 

Least Hated

 
 
The Invincibles
Idea for a deathless superhero game that sparked a great discussion.
First Night, Second Life
A surreal break-in on my first night in the ultra-liberal virtual world.
 

 

Subscribe

 
 
All Posts
Games
Television
Films
Music
Links
Personal
Comments
 

Boston and Bioshock

 
 

Cephalopods

It’s almost hard to believe that game critics aren’t taken seriously as writers.

Dan and I spent last week in muggy Boston reviewing Bioshock. I can’t say anything about the game until the magazine comes out, but I can leave an encrypted message about it here, then provide you with the key when it’s out, so you’ll be able to see that I really said what I said now and not then, which by then will be now and this will be then. Encrypted message follows, do not attempt to decode.

OMFG

I’ve reviewed everything about the trip except Bioshock itself over on the PC Gamer blog, and I’ve just today finished my review of the game itself, which’ll be in the mag on August the 2nd.

As with the Oblivion review, I reworked it obsessively, and I was up till four last night tinkering with the final sections. And it occured to me today, still redacting, that actually producing an entertaining article is fairly low on my list of priorities when I’m doing this. I seem to always be writing with the developers in mind, which I suppose is not a bad way to ensure you justify your thoughts adequately.

Edit: I stopped writing this, not because I’d reached the point, but because I was half-watching Angel at the same time and got distracted. I think I was going to say that this was actually a terrible way of doing things and I should try the other one.

As for the game, I’m in the amusingly contorted situation of being able to say anything I like about the three hours I played in London a while back, but nothing about the full game. Of course I wouldn’t say anything about those three hours that I’d later discovered to be untrue of the game as a whole, so the very act of saying something would itself be revealing about the full game and therefore disallowed, even if I’d already thought it beforehand. So… I think I can say it has guns?

The latest video shows some great stuff, although it’s being played on 360 so the combat looks a bit rubbish there, if you ask me, a person who’s played it on PC. INFER WHAT YOU WILL.

‘Dean’ is the Irrational guy playing it, not your character. I say this because for a long time everyone thought you played someone called Joe, because it was always designer Joe Faulstick being referred to in the demonstration voice-overs. Your character is, it pains me to reveal from my first three hours with it, called Jack. If you wish to make the logical leap to assuming he’s called Jack for the entire game, I cannot stop you.

Comment
 
 
Dabs: Relieved to hear it's good. And Boston's awesome, one of my favourite parts of the US. Congrats on finishing off the review.

The_B: Are you at least allowed to say how much is going to be action-y, and how much is going to be exploration-y?

Or was that covered in the preview? I forget.

John Walker: It's "until" or "'til"!

ARGH!

"Till" is something a shop uses to take your money.

bob_Arctor: Dear John,
You are wrong.
Till is actually older than until, and is therefore not a shortened version of until, and " 'til " is therefore not correct through the etymology.
Please look it up and don't get bother getting angry over things like that unless you are sure yourself.

Tentaculat: Apologies for interrupting the etymology debate, but this has been been playing on my mind. If you look very closely at both pictures, do you notice anything slightly odd about the hats Tom and his mate are wearing?

The_B: They both have oddly human shaped growths coming from the bottom of them?


...sorry. :(

RogueSoul: The foriegn objects on their heads indicate to me that octopusses will feature in BioShock. Maybe.

RogueSoul: The foreign objects on their heads indicate to me that octopusses will feature in BioShock. Maybe.

 
 

Comment

 
 





 
 

Recommended

 
 
 

 

Status

 
 
     

     

    Favourites

     
     
    Fluxblog
    By Matthew Perpetua
    (Music)


    A steady stream of free happiness in mp3 format. Matthew gets me into new bands on an almost weekly basis.
    Defective Yeti
    By Matthew Baldwin
    (Life/films/books)
    Alarming overheard conversations, bad review round-ups, a book club for the lazy, and Matt's highly quotable family.
     

     

    Images

     
     
     

     

    Comics

     
     
    QwantzPenny ArcadeXKCDDresden Codak
     

    Previously, On James...

     
     

    I Propose A Less Serious Vote     Valve Completely Out Of Weapon Ideas, Beg For Help     I Know The Commander Because He’s My Pal     Blizzard Announce That Tom Francis Is Right     Regarding Matt’s Location     Oh My God What The Fuck Barbecue     Cube In Memoriam     Pyro Flare Pistol Thingy Shown In Meet The Sniper     Field Studies 3: My Pretties     Field Studies 2: I Will Save You From The Wangs     Field Studies 1: Sporegasm     Muxed Feelings     You Don’t Have To Be An Engy To Work Here But You Do     Someone Already Made An Ubersaw     Team Fortress 2 Unlockable Ideas     A Riposte To Valve’s Defense Of PC Gaming     Randy Smith Has The Worst Game Design Ideas Ever     Sire, My Regard For You Is This Big     Crysis Suit Modes Revisited     Fractal Hasselhoff And Football Management     What A Shame     The City That Rarely Enters Sleep Mode     The Most Needlessly Complex Terror Plots In Film History     No-One Drove In New York, There Was Too Much Traffic     In One Thousand Two Hundred And Ten New York Minutes     That Band You Like Has A New Thing Coming Out     A Slice Of Fried Gold Rush     Achievement Unlocked: Typed Achievement_Unlock     Bracing Oneself     It’s A Democratic Gaming Landscape, Bitches     Non-Problems Of The Obscenely Over-Privileged     Wanking ‘Not Inappropriate’ To Government Commerce     Dispensing Justice     Getting Owned     This Just In: Frogs Aren’t Morons     Der Uberdoktor     Jon Stewart On Presidential Elitism     I Actually Can’t Stop The Music     Offlyin’     The Life And Inevitable Death Of Bloopi     PC Gamer Blog: Five Years Of Foolishness     Anne Diamond Reviews Games     Fail Dogs     Review: Soulstorm (Fire Indeed Hot)     There Will Be Country For Old Men In Real Life, Baby     The Far Cry 2 Team     PC Gamer Tells Greg Costikyan To Shut The Fuck Up     Valve Decided Against The Overhealer     Austin Translation     Preview: World of Goo     ‘Meet The Scout’ Imminent     PC Gamer Blog: Greatest Videogame Weapon of All Time     Bill Hicks: Another Dead Hero     Vortessence Hangover     Nick Montfort On Portal Vs The Passage     I Eat What I Slaughter     Jonathan Blow On Making Enough Money For Food     Audiosurfing The Shipping News     Team Fortress 2 Badlands Exploit Patched     Lost, Season Four, Spoilers, Obviously     Badlands     James 2.5 Explained     PC Gamer Podcast: March     Chris Livingston Considering A TF2 Comic     Come In     Actors Out Of Context     Murder Incorporated     Books That Make You Dumb     Powered Down For Redesign     New TF2 Maps And Medic Change In Two Months     Molecular Gastronomy Blog     Team Fortress 2 Update Reactions     Things Round Here Have Changed     My Goatee     Things I Forgot To Talk About Round-Up     GalCiv2: Still Genius     Analysing Team Fortress 2     Gamespot Finally Do The Logical Thing     Deus Fucking Ex Fucking 3     Crysis Week: The Endingening     Episode Two Death Maps     Masq     SO… MUCH… CAKE…     On Rock     Review: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare     I’m Not Allowed To Do This     I Played Through The Crysis Demo Holding A Surprised Korean Guy     The Greatest Spy In Team Fortress 2     FEAR: Perseus Mandate Is The Best Game Ever     Hellgate London Thoughts     Beautiful Piano Rendition Of The Portal Song     I Played Through Episode Two Holding A Goddamn Gnome     Pushing Daisies Continues To Be Incredible     Ten Minutes To Go     The Best Three Things On TV     Life Complete     This Just In: The Scout Is A Dick     Not Being A Spy     SO… MUCH… BLOOD…     Weirdly, You’ve Been Tanned - Suspicious For The Winter     Structurally Superfluous     Top of GameTab: Wikipedia Edits From Sony IP     Heroes Season Two     My Favourite Disaster     Quick BioShock Warning     Rock, Paper, Shotgun     British Airwaves     BioShock Review Review     Gollum Beat Box Like You Never Seen     The Machine Of Death Winners     System Failure     The Order of the Phoenix     The Completist: Tribes: Vengeance     Quickly     Boston and Bioshock     Cloak And Tagger     Gamespot Finally Do The Logical Thing     The Completist: Far Cry     This Month In Terrible, Part 2: London Olympics Logo     This Month In Terrible, Part 1: Anti-DRM T-Shirts     The Finale Post     Not The Finale Post     Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa-     Starcraft 2     Grrraaahahahahaa!     Mystery Trip     Access Denied     Invasion of the Body Snatchers     New-Album Deathmatch     Can I Just Say (3)     Back!     ‘Iv’     Desktop Tower Defense     Whoa     Noble Jedis     I Don’t Know About You Folks     Infinitely More Exciting Than Anything     Exploded     A Couple Of Things!     This Is Taking Ages     Best Interview Ever     Let Them Eat Facts     He’s Gone Too Far     Highlight Of 2006 (3/3)     Highlight Of 2006 (2/3): Snowboarding To Safety     Highlight Of 2006 (1/3): Previewing Oblivion     Yeah, Me Too     Somerfield     24     iPwn     2006     First Screenshots Of Introversion’s Next Game     Dexter: Series One     Woo     Dexter Again     Primer     Just ‘Cause     Spoiler Test     Heroes     Not Everything You Find On Flickr Makes A Lot Of Sense Right Away     Posts About Games Writing Suck So I’m Writing A Post About Posts About Games Writing     Supreme Commander     A Weak Russian Sunset     Event-Inspired Idea: Cellphone Breathalizer     I Am About To Play One Of These Games     Dexter     Bad News     24: Drink When…     Blood Money And Sex     Veronica Mars     Too Zune     Something I Didn’t Understand But Still Feels Right     James 1.0     Dangerous Animals Found Dangerous, Term Remains Mystery     Don’t Blog While Stupid     Should I Hit The Weak Spot For Massive Damage Now?     25th Hour     Porn Shoes     A Life In Questions     Paris Laptop Consciousness Drip     This Next Test Is Impossible     Found And Lost     Team Fortress 2, Episode Two And Portal     Not Lasting     Pandora’s Checkbox     Episode Three Conjecture     Episode Two Conjecture     Trivia: My Firefox Extensions     Half-Life 3: Episode 1     Can I Just Say     Top 100 Musings #1: Battlefield 2     Maths Cop 2: The Revengening     Waa?     Out Of Office Auto-Blog     Oblivion Review     I Took A Photograph Of You In The Herbacious Border     If Things Go Right     New Ritual     Favourites     World Of Lifecraft     Elsewhere     Some News, JC     This Is The Winter Of Our Disco Tent     Villainy Like It Oughta Be     FEAR     Battlefield 2 Stats     Brain Storm’s New Clothes     Fahrenheit     Sorry     Quote From What I’m Watching     NaNoWriMo - Hard FAQs     Mockba     SWAT 4: The Game     First Night, Second Life     Disappointing Results     Maths Cop!     NaNoWriMo     Google Oozes Connectivity     Lost Season 2     Serenity     Oh Screw It, I’ll Mention The Revolution     Flying     Introducing: Brain Storm     Concerned     This Month In Awesome     Rain     SWAT 4: The Movie     On Bringing It     State Of Things     Quest Ideas     Quest Que C’est?     WordPress Wizard     Reasons To Freeze To Death     Phew     Futurama     The West Wing     Firefly     Lost     The Great     The Fantastic     The Top Few     Mulholland Drive     Adaptation     Grosse Pointe Blank     Memento     LA Confidential     Diablo 2     Battlefield 2     Half-Life 2: Deathmatch     Deus Ex 2     N     Morrowind     Half-Life 2     Deus Ex     Charles Darwin     Friedrich Nietzsche     Ludwig Wittgenstein     Tom Francis