Isn't BioShock built off one of the Unreal engines? That would also have more or less built-in LAN/dedicated server support. So in essence they'd have to strip that out which would make even more work. I realize that BS was made as a single player game and quite a bit of effort would be involved to change the game mechanics to support it but their excuse sounds pretty weak to me.

Not that it really matters to me as I'm only interested in the single-player aspect anyways. So I'm just hoping that didn't suffer at the hands of making it multiplayer.

Post #63 by Zephalephelah:
Okay kwyjibo, I’m going to take you seriously & tell you what’s up. In the 90’s when 32bit Windows took over the scene, people had to upgrade their systems at least every 6 months.

From an earlier comment in the same post I don't get the impression that you're a high-end/bleeding edge gamer, so I have no idea who or what made you upgrade your system every 6 months. I have no idea who these other "people" are either. No one I know has ever put themselves into such an upgrade loop. Perhaps you and these people have money to burn, I really can't say.

I consider myself a mid-range hardware type of guy when it comes to gaming, and have always been able to play current games without problems. My first PC was purchased in 1989 and since then I've upgraded 4 times, for a total of 5 computers. The last two have been the only ones that I've had to perform "update upgrades" (ie video card or RAM). So all things considered my upgrade schedule has been roughly every 3 years. I realize, especially in the last few years, that hardware is improving exponentially and I have no problem upgrading when necessary. However, my card still decent and is still considered a mid-range video card, and looking at video card comparison charts confirm that. What really irks me is when developers but in intentional blocks to prevent things from working, and from my understanding the Unreal engine that Bioshock is using does support the earlier pixel shaders.

Anyways, it was just an observation/comment on my part. My card is still good enough to play everything else on the market so I have no intention of shelling out $200+ for a new card just for one game.

<i> Just found out my old X800XL (Shader Model 2.0) is apparently not supported.</i>

I'm in the same boat and a little ticked (my X800XL was originally purchased for Oblivion as well :). Against my better judgement I actually went out and bought it today only to find out it wouldn't play on my card (no mention at all on the box regarding the Pixel Shader requirement); fortunately I took it back and with a little fighting I got a refund. AGP cards seem to be getting scarce so it looks like I may be forced to upgrade the entire system. A shame too as the card is still pretty good (imo). PC gaming seems to be turning into a big hassle and almost has me considering just getting a console. It'll probably be easier and cheaper that way (and most games seem to be cross-platform nowadays anyways).

On a side note....any of you think the game suffers from console-itis? The game did install from me and what I saw/experienced in the menus kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

I don't think Doom 3 deserves a 94% but it was still a good game. It certainly didn't break any new ground in the FPS genre but it was still a lot of fun. Ultimately I think they made D3 just to show-off their new engine.

FF was really an under appreciated game, imo.

As for BioShock, I'm not sure what to think. From what I've seen it looks great, but I'm not going to rush out to buy it. The cross-platform thing concerns me, so I'll wait for a demo or wait to see how it does in the reviews.

Thief 3 was a complete POS, so much so I have yet to complete it. Very disappointing. I think it's biggest problem is that they were developing cross-platform and suffered from consolitis. It seems very few games can move successfully from PC to console (or vice-versa). I think it is possible but developers don't seem to take enough care to understand their target markets.

Meh indeed! Glad I'm not the only one with that feeling. I remember first hearing about the game and it sounded like it had potential, but after seeing that trailer it looks like it lost it all. Looks like a really dull game.

Yes, I'm aware of that. But the point of my message was that aren't really losing money. They just didn't make as much as the previous quarter.

From the article:
"Gross profit increased six percent to $1.879 billion"

I hate it when these big corporation whine making it sounding like they're losing money.